Can I use a Fitbit device without an account?

[obiguuns]

Why do we need an account to use the app on our phone?  Most people don't need to sync their data with a web service.  Sure, it's handy- but it shouldn't be required.  Please, Devs, add a "I don't want an account" or a "I'll set up my account later" button to the splash screen.  Heck, if it's that important to you, feel free to bug me about it every couple of days or so.  Pop up a window asking me to sign up.  Make it big and flashy.  Do your best to convince me how bright and beautiful my future will be if I only had a fitbit account.  But don't MAKE me get one. 

IRONY * ELEVEN: I had to set up a fake gmail account and a fake fitbit account to post this question.  Don't reply to my new fake gmail account.  I've already forgotten what the name was.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Rich_Laue]

I don't really understand your stement, "I had to setup a fake email and fitbit account to post".
First thing that confuses me that when setting up an account, fitbit sends a confirmation email to confirm that it is valid, so in what way is it invalid. Your statement should read "I had to setup a second email and fitbit account, so that this forum won't know what my main Fitbit account ID is".
As for the Fake Gmail, no it is not fake but it is a second email address associated with you, it is just one that nobody knows.

Now the way Fitbit works is that nobody here, including the moderators have access to your email. So your safe.
I assume your tracker is also connected to this second email, since any fitbit user that knows the email that has a fitbit associated with it will be able with a simple search see this.
Second thought is that while the forum login is associated with your fitbit account, they are different. throug the forum name we can find out the fitbit account name, but kno img the Fitbit name does not allow anybody access to you forum account.
If your looking for privacy just turn everything to only me in your fitbit account.

So why is a fitbit account needed?
Your tracker is an online connected device
On the tracker. Our only able to see what you have done up to now slurring the day
Yesterday's dates is lost on the tracker
No sleep will be able to be anylized
Same with any activity such as a run/walk.

If you really don't want the tracker connected to an account, then go into the app or dashboard - log into the account associated with your tracker and remove it.. Your tracker basically i will function like a $5.00 tracker from Five Below.. I just thought about it, even the Five Below tracker has an online account, but requires the user to manually enter the data, this could easily be entered into a spreadsheet.

Give it a try and let us know how it works out.

Or just connect your tracker to a second email address and never give this address to anybody,

[RobertoME]

Hello there @obiguuns and let me welcome you to our Community in the hope you see these responses. @Rich_Laue you are right with your post and I hope this information you provided helps other users too, who might have the same question. 

In order to use a Fitbit tracker, is require to have an account since this is the core of how your tracker will work. All your data is based on your demographic information enter from your account. To give an example,; it will measure the rate on how you burn calories thought the day, also you can adjust the accuracy on how the distance is recorded and change the sensitivity of the tracker at the moment to track steps. This are only a few of the many features you can enjoy if you open an account. Also will control the internal clock of the tracker so it can maintain your data accurate, otherwise your tracker wont give you correct information.

Also as @Rich_Laue mentioned before, you can set a fake email address so your tracker can operate as it should. I believed many of third party services as other Fitness trackers, but not limited only to these, require an account nowadays. I cant remember how many accounts I have for every service or app I use.

Hope to see you around and if you have questions keep us posted.

[HopeTingles]

Obiguuns is absolutely correct.  There is no rational reason why an account should be needed to use the fitbit monitoring device and no reason why any of my private data should ever be sent to the fitbit company or anyone else.  Have any of you actually read the user agreement and the privacy statement -- pages and pages of legalese designed to discourage you from reading it to make it unintelligible to those who make the attempt.  Why does fitbit not make it clear in the advertisements for their devices that these devices are useless unless you establish an account and agree to share your data with them and their related partners?  This is a company that is preying on its customers, seeking private data for whatever profitable purposes they can make of it.  Learn from the Facebook scandal.  Don't give corporations your personal data.  They will abuse you.  I am packing my new fitbit Charge 2 back in the box and returning it immediately.  These are scary times people.  Be aware.   

[Rich_Laue]

@HopeTingles age, date of birth, gender, height. weight and timezone to set the tometare the only personal data that is sent to Fitbit. 

Fitbit is setup as an online social network for the ability to encourage each other. 

Yes it would be possible. To only syncing through one device, and not be worried about losing all the Fitbit history when the one device gets stolen or replaced .What happens when the app runs out of memory to store additional data? 

Since only the one phone will store memory the user will not be able to enter any challenges or access their data on the computer or tablet .

[noyfb]

Totally I agree with OBIGUUNS. 

Why do I need an account.  Why can't I just download the data into my phone or computer or whatever?  My sister bought this for me.  But I'm thinking I'm going to give it back to her.  Asking for my sex, my age, height and weight as a prerequisite for having an account is highly invasive.  You know with security today, your assumption should be not "if you get compromised, but what is your mitigation for WHEN you do get compromised?  Because you will be compromised." 

If I have to sync with my computer, then why is an account with FITBIT  with my age, height, weight....etc... to you involved?  That's my personal info that you are going to compromise me. 

[Rich_Laue]

The gender age weight and height is to determine a general idea of stride and bmr. Along with calories burnt. Besides Fitbit never asks for a name or specific location, only needing an idea of how to set the time. 

Then again Fitbit is promoted as an online community and that basically means a connected device. 

A user does not sync with a computer or phone, but syncs through a computer or phone. A Fitbit syncs with the users firbit account. 

[Femo]

I have a similar question guys. Can I use my fitbit versa as a watch without all the fitness tracking features? I usually don't feel too comfortable wearing my versa all the time and having so much electro magnetic fields moving around me for long periods. So is it possible to just turn off all the fitness features and just wear it like a normal watch?

[Rich_Laue]

I'm not aware of any way that disable the recording of steps. The Versa is unusable as a watch until it is setup and the Fitbit software is needed to setup. Part of the setup process attaches the Versa to a Fitbit account. Until it is setup the display only prompts the user to set it up.

Why buy a connected device if one does not want it to be connected? 

[SunsetRunner]

I had decided to give FitBit a try.  There was nothing, and I mean *nothing*, to indicate that I would be required to setup an account on the FitBit servers with personal information and "be social" about my personal information.  Absolutely and entirely unacceptable. Also completely unnecessary from a technology perspective.  Information can be transferred from the device to my phone/computer without any sort of iteraction or storage of said information anywhere outside my phone/computer.  This is simply an attempt to sell my personal information which is completely unacceptable when I have paid a substantial amount of money for the device in the first place.  I will be returning these devices immediately for a full refund and will make sure that no one I know ever buys anything from this company.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @SunsetRunner, I hope you're doing well, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and would like to thank you for your question about Fitbit and privacy.

We believe in being transparent about our data practices. We work hard to keep your data safe. We give you settings to control how your information is shared, and we ask you for your information so we can provide you with great products.

Please review our Privacy Policy at https://www.fitbit.com/legal/privacy-policy. There you will learn about the data we collect, how we use it, the controls we give you over your information, and the measures we take to keep it safe.

I hope this can be helpful, please let us know if you have additional questions.

[SunsetRunner]

I did look at the privacy notice and among other concerning issues, it
states that you share my information with 3rd parties for things such as
marketing purposes and I have no control over that.

It is very simple.  It is my data about myself.  I do not want it shared
at all.  Not at all.  Not in the least.  I do not want it to leave my
device(s) because the moment it does, I have lost control of it.  I have
returned your product because of this issue and you have lost sales
because you do not allow your paying customers to keep their data private.

Eric Karlson

[MarcoGFitbit]

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

Thanks for coming back after reading our privacy policies. We really appreciate our members's input and feedback and I would like to thank you for yours. Our team is always looking to improve the Fitbit experience and I appreciate you have voiced your opinion.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply.

[jedwardh]

I would also like to voice my dismay that it's necessary - not just to set up an account, but also to have specific software which does not run on Linux.

I bought the device for my elderly mother who wants to use it as a basic step counter which she will check manually. The option of saving data for long term tracking is nice, with two big caveats:

 - It should be a supplement to the basic step counter function, it should be possible to skip the software setup for those who don't want it.

 - It should be possible to opt out of sharing any data with FitBit while still privately tracking and analysing long term data. The wild west days of companies collecting and selling user data with no opt-out option are ending, and companies who bury their heads in the sand over this issue will lose community trust and then fail. Wake up if you don't want this to happen to you.

Thank you for giving the appearance of paying attention to user concerns in forums, I hope it results in actual changes in your future behaviour. I am also considering returning the device I ordered for my mother because you have chosen to block access to it for people using Linux, even if we just want a step counter and clock. Now I am faced with the task of setting up the device on my phone and then removing it and hoping that the device still works.

[Rich_Laue]

@jedwardh you could use a computer setup your tracker.

You did buy, what is well known to be a connected device. 

Yes you could set a Fitbit up and then remove it from the account.

In a few days the clock might need to be set to the proper time.

[jedwardh]

No, I can't use a computer to set up the tracker without also buying a copy of Windows (or buying a Mac). All of my computers run Linux only. Or are you saying that there is a web-based option hidden somewhere which does not require a closed source operating system to run?

Also, though I understand that this is a connected device, I (like other users in this thread) would like some control over what it does with that connectivity. Specifically, I want it to store my personal data privately, and not share it with a company who will sell it to others without giving me any opt-out option.

[jedwardh]

@Rich_Laue: In case it isn't clear why I'm upset about all of this, let me clarify:

In order to use the device at all, I had to agree to your Privacy Policy. The lack of an opt-out button makes my agreement meaningless. I didn't read it. Of course I didn't - making it a mandatory step in the setup process means it's an obstacle to get past, not a choice to make. Knowing that my mother could not use the device she had requested without me agreeing to this policy, I pressed Agree because the only alternative was to return it. If it had been mine then I would have, but as I say, it was a device she requested and then it was my task to set it up.

In the case of something like Facebook, it's technically necessary for users to agree to some of their data being collected in order to use the service. In this case, there is no technical need for such agreement for the features which matter to my mother. In the future opt-out dialog you can alert users that that they may lose access to some connected features.

Your Android app requires a lot of permissions which are absolutely not necessary. Your privacy policy tells us about some of the data you collect, but it does not say that you strictly do not collect anything else. Your privacy policy says "We may disclose such information publicly and to third parties" and then gives some innocuous-sounding examples of how you might disclose it, but it does not say your strictly will not use it in other ways. You say the data is de-identified, but many de-identification systems have subsequently proven to be flawed, and you give no detail of how you strip identifying information. In this context, your statement "You did buy, what is well known to be a connected device," says to me:

"This device is well known to be connected, so if you didn't want to run our spyware before being allowed to use the device in any way, you shouldn't have bought a fitbit".

This is why I am unhappy.

[SunsetRunner]

Actually, no.  There is nothing in the product literature that indicates that one *must share* one's private fitness data up to a cloud server in order to use the device.  There was every reason to expect that I could simply copy the data from the fitbit to my phone without having to push it up to a cloud server for public dispersal.  And as others have noted, the EULA is entirely vague about what is collected and what is done with the resulting personal data (saying "... might include doing X, Y, Z" is saying nothing about what *else* they might be doing).  This is why I simply returned mine (ka-ching, no sale).

[Rich_Laue]

https://www.fitbit.com/legal/privacy-policy

@jedwardh you seem to think it is my policy, you have "Your Agreement" multiple times,  it isn't and I'm not connected to or work for Fitbit.

Fitbit has it setup, like apple and garmin, with an online account. Doing it this allows access to your account from multiple devices, as well as having a leaderboard and competitions.

[SunsetRunner]

Why can't I use my Facebook login?

I hate making new accounts. 

Strava lets you use Facebook and Gmail. 

Why can't Fitbit do the same?

Maybe they need a few lessons from the guys at Strava who have a better idea about what they're doing.

Moderator edit: format and word choice.