Apple Health Sync 2018

[Jamesia]

There's a 19 page thread that began in 2012 about FitBit syncing to health. The moderator gave a very non-answer and the topic was marked as solved. The issue isn't solved!

The moderator's reply used a lot of words to say, no we've been busy doing other things that we wish you'd focus on, but that doesn't actually address your question in the slightest. The unfortunate thing is, I've read countless complaints about the lack of Health sync capabilities and the fitbits failure to accurately count steps (counting steps when people are driving or sleeping, something that never happened with my Jawbone tracker (Lord rest its soul)) that I'm not sure whose priority list Fitbit really cares about. Yes, your app needs to sync with Apple Health! The majority of the US population, who embraces technology, has at least one apple device. Heck even my 80 year old grandmother has an iPhone! Also, can you please, please make a tracker that is at least as good as a $15 pedometer is at counting steps?! Please!

i'd like an honest answer so I can make a decision about whether or not to return the Fitbit tracker I bought this week. 

[BlackUnicorn]

In a way Fitbit is following Apple’s strategy... create an ecosystem that people find difficult to leave. Apple prides itself on unity of its services prioritising these over integrations with other vendors, and creates API’s so other organisations do the hard work if they want to integrate. I guess It would be akin to Apple ensuring their watch was integrated with fitbit’s dashboard; it just won’t happen. The advantage Apple has is that it stores its services on a smartphone, something people cannot live without. It’s a single point of interaction for most tech related activities. Whereas a fitness tracker - we’ll you wouldn’t travel back home from work just because you forgot to take it with you, now, would you?? Maybe the rise in voice assistants might change this in future, but until then Fitbit will continue to avoid rectifying any of these requests for integration. 

[Recoveringtekie]

Too late, I switched to Garmin precisely because of this reason. We'll see whether they lose more people like me who value openness of data over minor feature advantages. BTW they claim that my data is mine, but when you go to export it, I see that you can only do 1 month at a time. I'm not sure this will hold up to GDPR standards, but that's a different issue.

[Piersonrife]

I understand that, but the difference is that Apple makes core products (products that other things can connect to and communicate with - like your computer or smartphone) Fitbit is a company that makes peripherals. They don’t make any hardware for their trackers to connect to, they just make the trackers. Also, Apple makes a better product than it’s competition. Apples mobile products also work fairly well with Windows services. 

When Fitbit starts making smartphones, then they will be in a position to decide not to sync with their competition and remain in their own ecosystem. Until then, all they are is one of many peripheral manufactuers and don’t really have an ecosystem to sustainably keep themselves closed in. 

[SunsetRunner]

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@Piersonrife wrote:

 I use a 3rd party app to bridge the gap between Fitbit and Health, so it’s not even remotely difficult to move your data. 

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Could you please tell us which third party app you use? 

[BlackUnicorn]

There are pro’s and cons with every strategy, your highlighting one of those cons. They would of evaluated this with many other options and decided it is an acceptable risk. Until this issue ends up in the news or Trumps Twitter feed it’s unlikely to change. Remember also that this is a very complex issue, although it may be simple to us, there’s a myriad of other reasons for their strategic decision. 

[Piersonrife]

I’d also like to point out that Apple does make some of their services available to non-Apple vendors. For example, you can get Apple Music on an Android phone. 

[BlackUnicorn]

But I bet they don’t share the user data with their competitor (google play or Spotify). Imagine using apple’s iTunes service through Spotify, it would be crazy! But I bet there would be others out there who would, and would be happy to promote open data. Maybe Fitbit’s best option is to follow Nike’s example, they ditched their band and worked with Apple on the watch and integration with their fitness trackers. Maybe Fitbit lost their bid on that one, who knows. It’s unlikely FITbit see themselves as a peripheral company. They’re hell-bent on owning the wearables crown. I wish things were different, i’d Love to connect with HealthKit so I can compare with my wife who is on Apple Watch and do so on Fitbit’s dash, but unfortunately neither would budge on this issue I don’t think. 

[Piersonrife]

They may not see themselves as a peripheral company, but they are. They make things that are designed to connect to other peoples things. They make fitness trackers, which are peripherals to tablets and smartphones, and they’re no longer the only company in this market. They will never be able to compete with their competition if they don’t use HealthKit, and I think they will see that in the next few years. 

[SunsetRunner]

Try HealthBit, it works much better

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well. 

I understand your concern and how important it is for you that the Fitbit app can sync with Apple Health. At this moment there are no plans to implement this feature however, we continue to evaluate new partners and will update you if we have news to share. Fitbit has a history of working with the community to bring potential features to reality, and we thank you for taking the time to share your ideas and suggestions.

I hope this can be helpful and resolves your inquiry, if there's anything else I can do for you please feel free to reply, I'll be happy to continue helping you. Happy stepping!

[Piersonrife]

Why is it that - even though users have been asking for this functionality for years, and Apple provides the tools to do so - Fitbit does not find it important to impliment this ability?

[Skippermark]

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@Piersonrife wrote:

Why is it that - even though users have been asking for this functionality for years, and Apple provides the tools to do so - Fitbit does not find it important to impliment this ability?

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Thanks for the reply, Marco. @MarcoGFitbit

https://www.cultofmac.com/545255/fitbit-hopes-google-will-help-it-beat-apple-watch/

@Piersonrife Fitbit and Google are teaming up. I'm not certain, but I'm guessing this will tie into Google Fit. I get why they're doing it, but this limits options even more. If you want to track your health more than just basic stats, you can use iPhone with Apple Watch or Garmin or Android/Fitbit.

Yes, you can still use iPhone/Fitbit, but you won't get the deep integration you would if you use Android/Fitbit.

[Piersonrife]

Which simply means that a lot of Fitbit users that use iPhone will eventually switch to another smartwatch/fitness tracker, and with many people making the switch from Android to iOS, this narrows the market for Fitbit even more. 

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Piersonrife and @Skippermark, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

With regards to your proposed integrations, our team continues to evaluate new partners and will update you if we have news to share. Fitbit has a history of working with the community to bring potential features to reality, and we thank you for taking the time to share your ideas and suggestions. Even though an integration with Apple Health is not foreseen in the near future the Fitbit Web API is available for any 3rd-party developers that would be able to create an iOS app that would sync Fitbit data with the Health app. 

Once again, I appreciate your patience and understanding, have a great day. 

[JamesBlackburn]

The 3rd party sync apps for Fitbit can only access ‘daily data’. As far as I can see Fitbit are deliberately trying to make it hard to make the data available in Apple health. 

As a developer the issue here is with Fitbit wanting to control your data, and not with Apple. I have a Nokia Withings scale, withings watch, and a doctors app, all of which use and share data through Apple health. 

I ppurchased a charge 2 today not knowing about this Fitbit policy. I’m not trying to understand how to return it. Had I known this was Fitbit policy I would have bought the Garmin next to it!

[Piersonrife]

I agree. It doesn’t sync to iOS, it syncs to Fitbit. There’s a difference. I’m glad that I didn’t actually buy mine, and if the device I have is any indication, I don’t think I would ever buy a Fitbit product. 

[JamesBlackburn]

Thanks, agreed. I’m returning mine and will replace with a Garmin.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing great. 

As mentioned before, at this moment there are no plans to implement an integration between Fitbit and Apple Health, therefore I will now close this thread. Please keep an eye for further announcements in case this changes in the future.

Happy stepping!