Fitbit App

[Bull3232]

Anyone have some inside knowledge or speculation on if Fitbit is going to have an official app coming out once we all get Bluetooth 4.0 with the next update?
I also understand that the 3rd party app Fitbit tracker had good reviews other than not being able to sync due to the Bluetooth limitations. Will that app be able to sync with Bluetooth 4.0?
Thanks, just been wanting to pick up the new force, but would be way more convenient to sync to phone rather than computer.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Have you contacted Fitbit? Their Twitter handle is @fitbit.

 

[Bull3232]

Haha thanks. I just sent a tweet and an email to their customer service. Hopefully they will see that there is a lot of people on windows phone wanting fitbit support.

 

[BrandonFrisby]

Hate to necrobump this thread, but this is an area I'm really interested in as well.

Even with the BT4.0 implementation, there's apparently issues. Some inside digging from the Fitbit Sync API Google group yielded this info, straight from the API Team themselves:

My understanding is that while certain Nokia models have been certified for Bluetooth 4.0, Windows Phone 8 does not yet support BLE, so it is not currently technically possible to sync a Fitbit device with a Windows Phone 8 device.

To which, a developer replied they know it's coming, and would like to access the code to enable sync to be prepared. The same team lead responded with:

I appreciate your enthusiasm! And I know that this is not the answer you want, but I hope you'll understand our perspective.

All Fitbit tracker synchronization is handled by Fitbit's apps. Device communication is complex and error prone due to varying implementations of Bluetooth. Fitbit wants to provide a consistent and reliable user experience, so it maintains exclusivity of this functionality.

While Fitbit does not have a Windows Phone app yet, you can still take advantage of the Fitbit API to track activity, sleep, food, and more. All of the available functionality is at <https://wiki.fitbit.com/display/API/Fitbit+API>.

Basically:

BT4.0 =/= BLE, and Windows Phone 8 (the OS) doesn't support it yet. Thusly, it's not a Nokia thing, but a Microsoft thing. As usual, it seems.
(Link to info here)
Even when it does, apparently different phones use different libraries of BLE, so in order to keep a consistent customer experience, independent developers no can haz information needed to 'hack' their own sync methodology.

Understandable, otherwise under-informed consumers would jump to the "FitBit sucks" conclusion, when, really, it's the incompatible sync.
Frustrating, because should make universal BT4.0 support, even if it drains battery a bit quicker. Just add in a disclaimer, like:

"This device doesn't support the full functionality of your FitBit -insert product name-. Performance or battery life may be affected. See -insert info or weblink- for more information."

But, if FitBit had the money to do such things, I'm sure they would. We just need to stay vocal and demand support for the specific devices we use. I'm thinking even if only 520 owners band together, this could get done by next Spring.

Thoughts? Maybe from some of the other developers out there pulling their hair out over this?