Fitbit app shows steps for user but steps activity api calls returns 0

[healthifyme]

Hi all,

We at HealthifyMe allow users to sync their FitBit steps with our app. The are some cases where the user has tracked steps and sees the steps tracked in FitBit Android app (attachment below). But when our servers try to pull the steps activity timeseries from FitBit, it returns 0 steps for all the days.

data = fitbit_user.time_series('activities/steps', period='7d')
steps = data['activities-steps']
print json.dumps(steps, indent=2)

[
  {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-24"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-25"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-26"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-27"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-28"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-29"
  }, {
    "value": "0", 
    "dateTime": "2016-06-30"
  }
]

Any help towards figuring out this discrepancy would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks!

[JeremiahFitbit · Accepted solution]

Fitbit's own apps use the same API as you're using, so if you're seeing different data, then it means that the tracker has not actually synced.

There is no delay between data syncing with Fitbit’s app and being available via the API. As soon as the Fitbit app uploads the tracker information, the Fitbit app then downloads the information via the same API you're using.

The Fitbit app can retrieve the current totals displayed on a device and display them in the Fitbit app when there is a live Bluetooth connection. However, this is not a data sync and no detailed information is available until the tracker actually syncs.

People can go to the account/settings tab in the Fitbit app to see when their device actually last synced.

[healthifyme]

Jeremiah, thanks for the response. When I go to account -> settings I don't see the last sync time. I am using the Android app (v 2.28).

[NTruesdell]

I am experiencing this issue as well. Presently for an affected account the Fitbit iOS app displays 2500 as the step count for the current day while an API call returns 0. What is odd is that this only appears to affect some accounts while others are returning good data.

[JeremiahFitbit]

@NTruesdell: Please see my answer above. https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Web-API/Fitbit-app-shows-steps-for-user-but-steps-activity-api-calls...

To determine if you're seeing an unsynced or synced value, you can sign into https://www.fitbit.com/ , click on the gear icon, and see when your device last synced. If it hasn't synced, the API can't return the value you see on the device.

[JeremiahFitbit]

Information on how people can see their devices' last sync times in Fitbit's apps is now at https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1877#lastsync .