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Am I being ridiculous to want a fit bit, and a Apple Watch?
- Thread starter mellofello
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I like the social side of the Fitbit ecosystem so have gone back to using my Fitbit One during the day. I switch to my Charge when I'm home as it's better for sleep tracking (which may not be saying much but I find it useful). The One is much, much more accurate than the Charge at counting steps though so I'm pleased to have gone back to it (the Charge over-counts wildly based on arm movements but hardly bothers counting at all if I'm wearing my winter coat). The One and my Apple Watch generally give a pretty similar step count.
I'd also suggest avoiding wrist-based Fitbits on quality control grounds. My Charge started to fall apart after a few months. Fitbit replaced it speedily enough but the replacement is also falling apart. I'm in the EU so they'll have to replace this one once it gets a bit worse but it's not ideal (and I gather that in the US once you've hit the one year anniversary of the first one they stop replacing them). A lot of people are allergic to Fitbits too.
I'd also suggest avoiding wrist-based Fitbits on quality control grounds. My Charge started to fall apart after a few months. Fitbit replaced it speedily enough but the replacement is also falling apart. I'm in the EU so they'll have to replace this one once it gets a bit worse but it's not ideal (and I gather that in the US once you've hit the one year anniversary of the first one they stop replacing them). A lot of people are allergic to Fitbits too.
If you log in to Fitbit via desktop site, you can enter exact information such as walking stride length and running stride length. It's extremely accurate.
Which part of Sync Solver has been broken for weeks? I use the "Green Icon" Sync Solver (Health to Fitbit) to move my Apple Watch steps to the Fitbit website. As of today, it is working for me.
TxWatch
Does it work with Fitbit's competitions? Their App Store description today says it doesn't. The social aspect is the only reason for me to think about Fitbit, too.
Interesting that your Fitbit One reports a step count closer to what the Apple Watch reports than the Charge. I have a Fitbit One that I used for about a year and a half before getting my Apple Watch Sport. I still carried the FB One in my pocket for several months and the step count for a day of about 10,000 steps was always within a few hundred steps of my Apple Watch. I have seen many posts by Fitbit owners who say their Apple Watch is way off, but maybe it's their wrist-based Fitbits that are off?
I just use my FB One for sleep tracking these days.
Sean
No. The Watch has never worked for the Fitbit competitions and I knew that before I purchased the Sync Solver App. My previous reply was asking what stopped working in the last few weeks. Your screenshot shows a date of October 2015, which is several months.
TxWatch
Exactly! The date at the bottom shows what was new as of October 8, 2015. Which means the functionality was removed several months ago, not a few weeks ago as I asked in my first reply.
Let me ask it again. What changed in the last few weeks that was different from the update last October? It has worked the same for me all along because I bought my Watch in November.
TxWatch
Let me ask it again. What changed in the last few weeks that was different from the update last October? It has worked the same for me all along because I bought my Watch in November.
TxWatch
Thank you for clarifying the change. This is different from what the App store said in October before I purchased the App. This new change does not matter to me as I do not compete in Fitbit activities or care about my 7-day totals on their website.
I use Sync Solver to collect $5 from my insurance company for every day I have more than 3000 steps in my Fitbit account. The Apple Watch daily step functionality of Sync Solver has worked since I bought the App and it continues to work today, so it is not broken for my situation.
I think it is a major mistake for Fitbit to limit the tracking activities for non-Fitbit devices, but I guess they are worried about Apple putting them out of business. (Fair enough)
TxWatch
I use Sync Solver to collect $5 from my insurance company for every day I have more than 3000 steps in my Fitbit account. The Apple Watch daily step functionality of Sync Solver has worked since I bought the App and it continues to work today, so it is not broken for my situation.
I think it is a major mistake for Fitbit to limit the tracking activities for non-Fitbit devices, but I guess they are worried about Apple putting them out of business. (Fair enough)
TxWatch
Yup, exactly. It's part of why Apple doesn't sell Fitbits in their retail stores anymore, too. If my AW's data were used fully by Fitbit, I'd be using their software, servers, and developer support without paying them a dime.
How Jawbone makes money by allowing everyone to use Jawbone services, though, I have no idea. Maybe their hardware sales are strong enough.
I suppose Jawbone is hopeful that their ongoing legal actions against Fitbit will eventually pay off. It's interesting to read their take on the Apple Watch vs a Jawbone band: https://jawbone.com/blog/using-new-apple-watch/
I guess when it comes to fitness trackers the market race is still in selling devices rather than fitness/health software, and right now Fitbit is the big fish with the name recognition and the most active social fitness network. I have many friends and family members who have Fitbit devices, and I doubt most of them have ever heard of Jawbone. The few that did look at the competition went with Fitbit because they wanted to be on the same social fitness network as their friends, family and/or coworkers.
I guess ideally friends and family would use a device independent network like Strava or Lose-It, but it's not always easy to convince people to switch to something else. Kind of like trying to convince the other Apple users in my family that there are more universal ways to share photos than by using Photostream
I'm willing to use something else, but the other Apple Users just think the Android users in our family should switch to iPhones and iPads Sean
It seems that Fitbit has the social aspect down. Which is why I got a Fitbit flex in the first place and still continue to use it 2yrs later. And if it broke, I'd replace it despite having my AW. Doesn't seem to me that Apple is trying to match that. Which is kinda a shame.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Apple to create a social fitness network. If Apple did create their own fitness network it seems that it would support any device or app that can already write to the Health app, but the Health app would of course require an iPhone. I think that would be Apple's approach: You can use whatever brand of fitness tracker you want, as long as you have an iPhone.
Sean
I hope Apple does create their own fitness network. Then, I could ditch the Fitbit App and Sync Solver because my Insurance Co could get my Watch steps directly from Apple.
I know, I know, keep dreaming...
TxWatch
Me neither... Until my iP6 decided to error on backup. To the computer and iCloud... I can't backup. I have no choice but to wipe it today and hope it works then. Really hoping it works because I'm stuck on 8.1 and my Apple watch arrives Tuesday.
i still wear my fitbit one. I wear it all day to track steps and I still put it on my wrist at night to use as a silent alarm. even if/when this one breaks, I'lll probably get another one just for the silent alarm (unless apple greatly improves the battery on the watch so that I can wear that all night instead... as it stands now I have to charge the watch at night and barely get by all day without it getting to 10% or even turning off.)
Something's not right -- maybe a third-party app or complication running amok. Mine is almost never below 30-40% at the end of the day before I top it off and wear it overnight.
I agree. My Watch is normally at 60-70% and occasionally runs down to 40% at the end of a very active day. I charge it every night, since I prefer not to wear a watch at night. You might have an App that is misbehaving and using your battery more than needed.
TxWatch
I just got a blaze. It's by no means a smart watch, but as a fitness/step tracker for moderately active crowd it seems pretty perfect. The best part of Fitbit is their app and metric tracking. The best thing about the Blaze so far is the comfort and constant HR monitoring.
While the AW is cool, I'm not into the whole smartwatch notification thing, I just want to track steps/exercises/sleep and integration well with lose-it. The Blaze is perfect for that. Also, I really like having something to wear when I sleep. I'm constantly waking up and it's nice to be able to check the time quickly and then get my sleep stats.
The step count on my AW and FitBit One never even close. As of early afternoon, the FitBit is 800 steps ahead of the AW. As the day goes on, the gap will continue to widen. Sometimes, the gap has been 1,500 steps or more. I've done two calibrations with the AW, but they're still not close. My wife's AW and FitBit Flex step counts are usually much closer and sometimes she gets more steps on her AW.
Apple Watch does not provide a nice Battery Usage screen like they have with the iPhone, so the process is manual. Here is an article which explains how to clear some of the common Watch OS 2 battery life issues:
http://www.imore.com/battery-life-problems-watchos-2-heres-fix
After following the procedures above, you can add the Watch Apps back to your normal routine one at a time. If you keep a close eye on battery usage with a Battery complication or glance, you should be able to determine which App is causing your issues.
In the past, I have had issues with Bluetooth Music that keeps streaming after I remove my headset, Siri not closing correctly and draining my battery. In all cases, power-cycling the Watch has cleared it up once I realized it was draining.
TxWatch