Can I participate in challenges if I have an Apple Watch?

[Buble]

Just got an Apple Watch instead of the Ionic due to the phone answer feature, is there a way to use the Fitbit app so I can still do challenges with my pals?

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @Buble. Here is what the help page says. I hope it helps.

DO I NEED A FITBIT DEVICE TO PARTICIPATE IN A CHALLENGE?

People who don't have a Fitbit device can still participate in a challenge if they get the Fitbit app and choose MobileTrack during setup. MobileTrack uses your phone to track basic stats like steps and estimated calories burned.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1531/?q=Challenges&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1#tracke...

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Buble, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's always a pleasure @SunsetRunner, thanks for all your help with this situation. 

@Buble, as @SunsetRunner, even though the Fitbit app is not compatible with the Apple Watch. you can still participate on challenges with your friends by setting up MobileTrack. MobileTrack is available on iPhones starting from the iPhone 5S. If you have that specific model or an newer one, please follow these steps to set it up:

1. Open the Fitbit app and tap on the Account symbol at the top right corner of the screen, then tap on "Set up a New Device"
2. Select "MobileTrack"
3. Follow the onscreen instructions. 

I hope this can be helpful, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

[Buble]

Thank you 

[MarcoGFitbit]

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

You're very welcome, I'm glad I was able to help. In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you will find great tips and encouragement from other members and if there's anything else I can do for you, please keep me posted!

[Skdodge]

Is Mobile Track on my IPhone syncing with my watch?

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Skdodge, thanks for joining the conversation, it's great to have you on board the Fitbit Community. 

Thanks for your participation in the forums! Please note that MobileTrack is a complementary feature used by the Fitbit app to count your steps and calories burned when by any chance you forget your Fitbit device at home and you're not wearing it. Please note that if you're using your Fitbit device, the Fitbit app will sync prioritize the information coming from the device instead of MobileTrack. Now, if you don't use your watch during an entire day, when you sync it, the information coming from MobileTrack will be synced to your watch. 

I hope this resolves your inquiry, if there's anything else I can do, please feel free to reply. 

[Mknz]

Will it only take the steps recorded by my phone or will it also take the steps recorded by my Apple Watch that are synched with Health?

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Mknz, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

I appreciate your question and your participation in the Forums. Please note that only steps recorded through the Fitbit app using MobileTrack will count towards challenges. Steps recorded through your Apple Watch or steps recorded by the Health app in your phone will not count as it's not possible to link the Health app to Fitbit and viceversa. 

I hope this resolves your inquiry, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

[CM1965]

This was answered, but I wouldn't call it "Solved."  There's no way to participate in Fitbit challenges with an Apple Watch (or Samsung or Google wearable).  Mobile Track doesn't solve anything, as it's a totally different thing (using your phone as opposed to your watch).  This is frustrating to me as a Fitbit shareholder.  I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Watch for its communication functionality and I'm using it for step tracking because it doesn't make sense to wear a Fitbit also.  Smartwatches are proliferating and more people will ditch their Fitbits.  Fitbit needs to adapt or it's going to become obsolete.  Monetize the customers who move to a different wearable but want to continue to use Fitbit analytics and participate in challenges with their friends by charging a nominal fee for use of the Fitbit portal if you don't have Fitbit hardware.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @CM1965, I hope you're doing well, it's nice to see you around the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for sharing and voicing your feedback. Please note that steps recorded by MobileTrack count towards Fitbit Challenges. 

I understand your concern about the Fitbit app not being able to sync with Samsung Gear devices, however at this moment, our team doesn't have plans to release this feature. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. For now, our team will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time.

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us and we will let you know if anything changes. Have a great day. 

[CM1965]

It would be nice to have your response to my actual suggestion.  I wasn't focused on integration with the Galaxy Watch (Gear was the previous generation of Samsung wearable).  My suggestion was: 

"Monetize the customers who move to a different wearable but want to continue to use Fitbit analytics and participate in challenges with their friends by charging a nominal fee for use of the Fitbit portal if you don't have Fitbit hardware." 

It seems to me that Fitbit is trying to become the Apple of fitness trackers.  I think that's a very tough proposition given that you're competing against not only other fitness trackers, but also Apple itself (and Samsung, et al).  I really like Fitbit's analytics and competitions, and at this point they would keep me, and probably countless other users, engaged with Fitbit (i.e., a customer).  But since Fitbit has chosen not to integrate with smartwatches, smartwatch adopters don't even have the option of being a Fitbit portal customer.  Why not try and keep them engaged?

[SunsetRunner]

The MobileTrack does not fully make it possible to track your steps towards challenges.  I have had my Apple series 3 watch for over a week now and it automatically detects some of the steps not all of them using mobile track.  It was also recommended to purchase synch solver and the myfitness sync apps and none of these actually synchronizes all your steps to the challenges.  It will sync your steps in FitBit and you will see your actual steps in the log but these numbers do not crossover completely to the challenges which is actually very disappointing.  I got rid of my Fitbit because it was an Charge HR 2 and the band constantly broke within a matter of months.  In the time that I have had my fitbit I have had to replace the bands four times and this last time I was fortunate enough to have found the leather band on sale for the cost of the activity band $29.95 because normally it costs $69.95 and I had to order it from BestBuy and wait a week because they no longer sell bands for the Charge HR2 in any store.  

I had hoped that by coming here there would be a definitive answer where someone who does not want to purchase another FitBit device can find an answer but apparently there is no crystal clear, sure fire method to get a non-FitBit device to be able to sync with the challenges.

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner Wrote: “I had hoped that by coming here there would be a definitive answer where someone who does not want to purchase another FitBit device can find an answer but apparently there is no crystal clear, sure fire method to get a non-FitBit device to be able to sync with the challenges.”

You have an definitive answer. You are trying to sync non Fitbit devices with Fitbit software. As much as we may like it to be so, everything can’t work with everything. There is no sure fire method to sync a non Fitbit device to the Fitbit software. 

[SunsetRunner]

@CM1965. This is the wrong place to argue your point. The readers of these forums do not have the ability to put your suggestion into action. You have a good idea of monetizing customers who have non-Fitbit devices but please post it to the New Feature Suggestion forum. This forum allows others to vote on your suggestion. Fitbit developers can gage interest, and if the interest is there, they can present a business case to corporate. 

[SunsetRunner]

Yes but the post says that there is a solution.  That is misleading.  The solution does not fully work.  Don't advertise it or such or reference software/apps that do not work.  Someone posted here earlier that they Sync Solver app has not worked for quite some time and if so, why is this being marked as a solution?  

I came here looking for a solution, I already spent more money than the Charge HR2 is worth replacing the band repeatedly, and now that the HR3 is out, you can hardly find a replacement band if perchance the band breaks again.  

Instead of being snippy with your reply, perhaps you could understand why so many people here are moving away from FITBIT products because they are tired of putting more money out to fix accessories that you cannot find in stores anymore because as soon as a new version comes out FITBIT pulls all the old products.

Instead of stating incorrectly that this is a solution why don't you tell people don't waste their time purchasing sync solver or any other IOS app because it will not fully work with the FITBIT software?

It shouldn't matter that people are trying to get a non-FITBIT device to work, it's been done in the computer industry for years and if you want costumers...you make it work and like someone else previously stated - charge for it.

[CM1965]

That's not really accurate (and I'm sure you didn't mean to sound snarky).  Anything CAN work with anything; the issue here is that Fitbit DOES allow some third party integrations (though they are not reliable in my experience) and isn't giving a clear answer as to whether there's a strategy behind it.    @SunsetRunner's question is a good one.  All I can figure is that Fitbit wants to steer people to their devices, but I think that's a losing strategy in light of the Apple Watch and Android wearables.  

[SunsetRunner]

No @CM1965...she was being snarky....she did the same to me.

[CM1965]

@SunsetRunner I appreciate the feedback.  My initial post was answered by a Fitbit moderator, so I was just following up.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @SunsetRunner, thanks for joining the conversation, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community. Thanks for taking the time to reply @CM1965 and it's always nice to see you @SunsetRunner, I hope you're doing well. 

I appreciate your insight and feedback about this situation. Please note that at this time, only steps from your Fitbit device or MobileTrack count towards a challenge. That means manually logged activities and activities tracked through any third-party apps aren't included in your challenge total. Additionally, keep in mind that SyncSolver and other third-party apps that sync data from an Apple Watch or Samsung Gear to Fitbit are not apps developed by our team, which means we do not provide support for them. 

With that said, I would like to suggest you, as @SunsetRunner did to submit your insight as a suggested idea, please check the board in case your idea is already included, to prevent duplicates. 

Finally, please note that if the thread appears as solved is because a member of the Community has already tagged it as solved. We, as moderators, do not mark threads as solved. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, I hope you have a great day.