FitBit will not be integrating with Apple HealthKit and it’s Health App

Well it seems that FitBit will not be integrating it’s Fitness data with the newly released Apple Health App via HealthKit.

You can see this very commented post at Fitbit’s Forums, where FitBit gives the following statment:

 Status: Reviewed By Moderator

We do not currently have plans to integrate with HealthKit.

It is an interesting new platform and we will watch as it matures, looking for opportunities to improve the Fitbit experience. At the moment, we’re working on other exciting projects that we think will be valuable to users. The question we want you to keep in mind when providing feedback is: What do you imagine a HealthKit integration would entail and what do you expect to get out of it?
Your voices are being heard. We’re actively reviewing your responses and providing feedback to our product development team.

Now they say they are listening and want to your feedback, but there are already 32 pages of feedback of people wanting this integration, and they do say they have no plans to integrate with HealthKit.

FitBit does have a $49.99 a year premium service called Benchmark to get better info on your fitness data, so they want to make money off of your data, but they already offer free integration with Microsoft’s Health Vault, which negates any argument about having to pay to access your data how you want to.

Health and HealthKit are one of the most exciting new features of the recently released iOS 8. It is a new central repository for your health data, that eventually will even be able to pass information to your doctor if something changes with your health. It is meant to not only work with the new Apple Watch, but with other fitness trackers and devices. And Apple even showed the FitBit app in their presentation, hoping that Fitbit would integrate.

Now I have been a FitBit user from the beginning, with an original, a One and a Force (which I returned because it was giving me a rash) and an Aria for weight, and got a FitBit for my mom as well. So I have been a very good customer. And I have even been saving my refund check for my Force to see what FitBit would be replacing it with, but this makes me think I would be better off putting that money into an Apple Watch.

I have been quite excited by the Apple Watch as it is a Fitness tracker and also a replacement for my Pebble Watch, but the one day battery life and lack of waterproofing has me quite nervous, but the Fitibt Force was not WaterProof and neither is the One.

So maybe it is time to start thinking about moving away from Fitbit. I could sell my One and my Aria and get an Apple Watch and either an iHealth Lite or iHealth Body Analysis Scale (iHealth already has HealthKit intergation from their 4 apps and 9 devices!).

FitBit really needs to get on the ball here or they are going to lose a lot of customers who don’t want to be stuck only within their ecosystem.

Fitness in Post a very cool new web site

There is a very cool new web site that was pointed out by HDSLR Shooter, and it is called Fitness in Post. It’s aim is to get us post people who spend way too much time sitting down, to get in better shape.

It wants us to exercise and also recommends standing desks. And it has things like community fitbit boards to see who is exercising the most.

I would love to have a convertible standing desk, but I mostly work in different offices with set desks, so that really isn’t an option most of the time. And I have an Aeron at home, but never get that nice of a chair at work. I would love to try one of these Isometric Ball Chairs though.

Anyway, and interesting site, and worth checking out.

FitBit offered me a refund on my Force

So finally FitBit offered me a refund on my FitBit Force, which I am not going to take. I do like the Force. It is a good tracker, and I like having it on my wrist as it makes me think about it more often, I just don’t like that it falls off all the time, and I think because of that I am either going to lose it or it will fall in water and die

I think Fitbit needs to rethink the band and make one with a normal watch band, or even better a watch band that is easily replaceable, and make the fitbit waterproof. And maybe they will with the next generation, but it doesn’t look like they will be rethinking it with this generation. I just hope they learn something from this as I am pretty sure I will lose my fitibit before too long.

Now I just need to get my Fitibit one replaced so that I have a backup when I do lose my force.

Submitted a support ticket with Fitbit, said to use a rubber band!

So I submitted a support ticket with Fitbit about the defective strap on the Fitbit Force, and got a reply.

They told me to watch this video on how to put it on. http://j.mp/16cgbdf And no I am not putting it on wrong!
And then they said to try using a rubber band! You have to be kidding me? The Force is so badly designed that they recommend using a rubber band? WTF!??!?!?! And how exactly? All the way around so it blocks the screen and presses on your wrist, or tied around the defective clasp, so it rubs wrong on your wrist? Neither is a viable solution!
Some designer decided to try and re-invent the watch clasp, but there is a reason they make watch clasps like they do, because they work, and they have for a long time! The watch band on the Fitbit Flex is just a bad design that falls off, so this product wilk get lost, or broken or fall in liquid and die!
Already there are more One Star Reviews of the Force on Amazon than 4 star reviews, because of this design flaw. And Fitbit has even started to respond. I have a review up already at http://www.amazon.com/review/R1VJ9GURZ4267F/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00F6WRW2Q&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag= as do many others!
Fitbit needs to redesign and replace with a normal watch clasp, and recall the defective units!

Fitbit Force, a decent fitness tracker, with a horrible, defective watch strap

The Force is a wrist based fitness tracking, that tracks steps, stairs, distance and estimates calories. And it has a liitle screen to display your results or act as a watch (though you wear it on your dominant yand, so it is on my right wrist instead of left, which takes some gettimg used to). 


The Force is my third Fitbit product, I had an original fitbit which I washed and a Fitbit One which had it’s battery die, and support never repplied to me to get it fixed. And now my dad who gave me this also gave me the awesome wifi fitbit Aria scale to track weight. The Flex is a decent fitness tracker, though has some serious issues, the first of which is the strap!

Instead of a normal watch band that would stay on, you press it this together to hold it on, but it does not stay on. It falls off me at least once a day. And even went into the toilet once, and it is only splash resistant (not a good thing for something you wear all the time like a watch), though I saved it. And it comes off almost every night while I sleep, which does not help the sleep tracking. Fitbit tried to re-invent the watch band and failed miserably! A normal watch band would have earned this aa great review, but I have not even had this a month and am sure I will lose it soon!

The two metal pieces that fit into the watch band holes.
Snapped together, though not very well.


And the stair tracking is flawed at best. It doesn’t track going down stairs at all, and you have to really be swinging your arm for it to track while going up. I was holding my iphone while going up 8 flights and it only registered 3 flights, though it normally registers 8, which is just annoying.

Another complaint is that it has lost some functionality. The original FitBit and the One both had a fun little flower you grew based on your daily exercise. Useless but fun, but this is gone from the Force.


And while it does a pretty good of tracking even without arm swing, it does register steps where you don’t get them, like raking or working in the yard, which is kind if a cheat, but expected because it is on your wrist. I do like it on your wrist as you don’t forget it.

Battery life seems pretty goid, lasting a good week, even when bluetooth synced to my iphone for syncing, and only takes an hour and a half to charge.

A decent tracker, but they really need to put a normal watch strap clasp on it, so it doesn’t come off so easily, and water proofing would be nice too!


And i do think fitness trackers are great as you dp push yourself more because of it. I park further away, or go up more stairs because of the tracker, and wanting to do better. And seeing your friends and family results adds to that as you want to do well. I just wish the Force stayed on better!

My FitBit One Died, less than 2 weeks over 365 Day Warranty!

Really annoying really. They have a 1 year warranty, but it is 1 year and 2 weeks out and it is dead! What a pain. Have contacted FitBit to see what they say, but am not hopefully since they are so specific on their warranty!

It just won’t take a charge anymore!