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. 

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

The thread was marked as solved because the answer was given. Fitbit does not sync to Apple health. There are no plans for this in the forseeable future. I’m guessing that Apple does not want to help the biggest competitor of their Apple Watch, but who knows. Sorry if this is not the answer you want. But it is the answer. I agree, it would be nice for the two to sync. 

[Jamesia]

I hear you Carol, but Apple is not the responsible party. Apple is no more intimidated by Fitbit than they are by my six year old daughter coding Lego robots. Jawbone and Garmin trackers both work with the Health app. Unlike them, Fitbit has made a conscious decision to disregard this request from a large and vocal part of their consumer base and they have to take responsibility for that decision. I'd love to know the real reason.

Regardless, I'm returning my steps miscounting, no health syncing tracker and saying good riddens Fitbit.

[SunsetRunner]

Sorry to hear that, @Jamesia. I’m curious. How do you know for sure that Fitbit Made a conscious decision to disregard this request? 

[Jamesia]

Carol, the first request that I'm aware of (which had significant support from customers) was made back in 2012. That's more than 5 years ago. Fitbit can't claim ignorance of the customer outcry nor ignorance of what it's competitors offer. Rather, they have made a conscious (aware, informed, cognizant) decision not to satisfy this customer request or match their competitors as it relates to this feature. 

[SunsetRunner]

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@Jamesia wrote:

Carol, the first request that I'm aware of (which had significant support from customers) was made back in 2012. That's more than 5 years ago. Fitbit can't claim ignorance of the customer outcry nor ignorance of what it's competitors offer. Rather, they have made a conscious (aware, informed, cognizant) decision not to satisfy this customer request or match their competitors as it relates to this feature. 

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Again, @Jamesia, I respectfully ask how you know for a fact that Fitbit “made a conscious (aware, informed, cognizant) decision not to satisfy this customer request or match their competitors as it relates to this feature?” 

[Jamesia]

Because it's 5 years later and the feature isn't available. Also, you said yourself that there are no future plans to add the feature. That's how I know. It wasn't an unconscious decision. They know they haven't done it. 

[Skippermark]

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@SunsetRunnerwrote:

I’m guessing that Apple does not want to help the biggest competitor of their Apple Watch, but who knows.

Actually, Apple has nothing to do with it. Healthkit is open to all developers, but Fitbit hasn't chosen to support it.

Unfortunately, that's a bummer for people like me, who are Apple Health users. I'm in the market for a new device, but that leaves Fitbit out of the equation. 😞

[SunsetRunner]

Agreed! I was just trying to figure this out and came across your post. Frustrating when trying to get the most out of the tracker/apps available!

[Piersonrife]

I was just talking with my wife about this tonight. Fitbit says they’re releasing new products to directly compete with Apple Watch, but until they adopt HealthKit, they will never be able to compete with Apple Watch, no matter what they bring to their lineup. 

[JEMooreLA]

My Aria scale is useless. 

[sarah_lin8]

@Jamesia, you have to understand Apple is very private with their products. That's why there's no quick reply for iMessages because Apple has a very closed environment. Don't get me wrong I love Apple but they think they can do everything by themselves, which is true, they can. That's why they have their own iOS, and there's no quick reply or Health syncing with Fitbit. Fitbit is trying to work with Apple but since Fitbit is one of Apple big competitors on the Health tracking stuff, it's not really going anywhere. I do hope we can sync with the Health app soon but as of right now, it's not going to happen soon.

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[Piersonrife]

Doesn’t Apple have HealthKit for 3rd party developers to use? There are also a ton of 3rd party apps and devices that already do work with Health. Now, I’m not an app developer, but if companies like Xiaomi, Garmin, and even Weight Watchers can have apps that work with Health, I’m sure that a company like FitBit - who have been into the health tracking business for much longer than Apple, can find a way to impliment HealthKit into their apps. That is the only way FitBit will truely be able to compete with Apple Watch.

Sent from my iPhone 7+

[Jamesia]

sarah_lin8 I hear you, but I'm not buying it. Garmin and Jawbone (Lord rest their soul) had no problem working with Apple to make their devices compatible. So if you expect me to believe that Apple and not FitBit is the problem, sorry, that boat won't float!

[Piersonrife]

Right? Apple may have a much more closed ecosystem than their competition, but they have so many APIs available to 3rd party developers to allow them to work with Apple products. Many of the things - like Health - were developed with the soul intent of bringing 3rd party data from several individual apps to a single, easy to manage, view, and share app. I mean, sure they came up with Apple Watch along with Health, but Health has been open to 3rd parties since day one. Watch is also the only Heath device Apple has … while Health tracks so much mre than just your heartrate and how far you’ve walked. HomeKit is another example. Apple doesn’t make a single product for home automation … they juat provided a way to help manage it. AirPlay and AirPrint are other examples of this. (HomePod just came out less than a year ago, while AirPlay has been out for a few years). 

The only reason FitBit doesn’t work with Health is simply that they don’t want to. 

[Jamesia]

Piersonrife makes a salient point, with several examples to support Apple's willingness to ensure 3rd parties can share with Health.

It's clear that some FitBit users and/or employees have been drinking the kool-aid and repeating an unsubstantiated party line about why FitBit doesn't sync. It's such a weak response that it's sad really. I'd respect the company so much more if it just told the truth.

[Skippermark]

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@Piersonrife wrote:
Doesn’t Apple have HealthKit for 3rd party developers to use? There are also a ton of 3rd party apps and devices that already do work with Health.

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Yes, they do. Any manufacturer can use it to create apps that integrate with Apple Health. To me, it seems that Fitbit would benefit greatly from doing that. Their products are good, not super expensive and someone who don’t want all the features of a device like the Apple Watch would still be able to get the benefits from using Apple Health.

[Recoveringtekie]

Fitbit have seemingly made the conscious decision to not support HealthKit because they probably believe that if they lock-in their customers to their health data dashboards that they will somehow keep them from moving to Apple Watches or even other cheaper trackers that do support HealthKit. Imagine that you are a Fitbit user with many years of stats and you are looking at a new tracker, if you could easily move your data over to health, you could buy a cheaper tracker and maintain your data.

This is a cynical and ill-fated product strategy. In this day & age you cannot use lock-in to keep your customer base. The solution is build better products not hold your users data hostage. I'm sad to see them on this steady slide towards irrelevancy. 

[BlackUnicorn]

This is a very much strategic choice made by Fitbit to ensure their survival. I’m a Service Designer and User Experience specialist and know from experience this is a conscious business decision that has been made. Fitbit values your (user) data, it’s what helps them improve their products and services. It’s prime value proposition is a graceful, and pleasant dashboard to record your data and fitness trackers. All of these business value items are in direct competition with Apple and their suit of health and fitness services. By withholding an easy method of transfer of data Fitbit is ensuring 1) most people will not be sharing their valuable data with Apple, 2) that they play within Fitbit’s community (dashboard) and 3) they stick with Fitbit products because it’s very inconvenient to switch. In reality they are just protecting their competitive advantage, however I’ll-fated it may appear. Hopefully Fitbit develops a better business/service model that will allow them to compete more competitively and without sole reliance on the above mentioned value props. So will we see Fitbit sync with Apple products in the near future, most likely not. But you can stay with Fitbit and get your Apple friends to join too 😉

[Piersonrife]

If it really is a decission designed to keep their „competitive advantage“, it’s a very poor way to do so. They’re not really being competetive, and is an indication (to me) that they acknowledge that their products are not that great. Your product should be what keeps customers, not holding their data hostage - which it really isn’t. 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.