I mean, when google bought fitbit they already had you under their control. You were already part of their ecosystem and using a fitbit account didn’t mean anything really for your privacy. Now this feels more like an organizational cleanup. Trying to get rid slowly of the brand and make it more google centric, maybe force people to tie their data into their old google accounts to remove user duplication but really, the watches were already connected to phones with you google account most likely.
Either way, I’d recommend anyone interested in these devices to check the pebble brand. They got quite big back in the day, too big actually and they crashed. But they are coming back with really nice devices now (very long battery life too, screens always on that consume very little, and other features equally nice) and they have been open sourcing all their apps, os for the watch, and everything. Far more trust worthy than any other brand in my opinion. I’ve had a few of their watches and was heartbroken when I had to abandon them after their batteries were failing and had some issues. The thing is I got them in around 2015 and I was using them daily until 2 years ago and one is still going strong but the battery only lasts a few days (“only”, compared to the over 10 days I used to get). The garmin watch I got 2 years ago is started to get issues with the battery, lasts around 5 days now when it used to last around 12 at the beginning. The watch is nice but a bit disappointing in a few aspects like battery and clunkiness and the fact it is trying to be more than I need it to be (I don’t want GPS in the watch, maybe for some sportier people that like to go far without phones but not for my use).
Yeah I didn’t care as much about degoogling 3 years ago when I got it. And I hadn’t opened my eyes to what lengths these companies do to limit your freedoms for their gain. I will definitely look into the pebble when it comes out.
What do these things do that requires accounts with anyone, google or fitbit themselves? Or even internet for that matter? I thought they were for tracking fitness or health related statistics of the wearer, something that can only be done with local sensors on the thing itself, does the analysis of the data those sensors collect require so much complexity it can only be done on remote hardware?
they upload your medical information to advertisers and data brokers, and connect it to your name and email address, that’s what needs an account.
Right but do they pretend there’s any reason that would benefit you?
Syncing to your phone and analytics. But Fitbit doesn’t give you the option to get those analytics through third party apps.
Mine died literally 1 week ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do ever since. I used it for basic notifications (SMS/Calls), my morning alarm, and for calendar/medication reminders. I’d already decided I wouldn’t get another fitbit, but having it was central to my routines. I’m tossing up between an Amazfit which seems to be based in NL which would be a plus (in addition to Gadgetbridge support), but I’ve also just been given an (older) iPhone, so a refurbished Apple Watch has some appeal. It comes at the same time my S10+ has decided to slowly grow a spicy pillow, and as much as I would like to get a 2nd hand Pixel(for Graphene), I just don’t have money for one. I’m not a huge Apple fan, but I dislike them less than I dislike Google at this point.
Cant recommend GadgetBridge enough…
A coworker and I both bought Fitbits and it was when we bought our second one that we realized both lasted approx 2 years before dying. I switched to Garmin after that, she went with a no name. It was just as well because after Google bought Fitbit they changed so I had to pay for Fitbit to tell me how well I slept last night?
I just hate how you’re locked into their app regardless. I want more control of what metrics and reminders I want to get. Fitbit can give you a reminder if you havent done your 250 steps this hour. Garmin can remind you to make steps every now and then. What if I want custom reminders like “vibrate if heart rate has been below x for y minutes” or choose graphs that I can put as widgets. No control over any of it.
Hah, neat. Manager bought me a fitbit for Christmas. Guess now I won’t use it anymore and now get a dumb flip phone as planned.
I bought a Garmin watch over Fitbit because it works with Gadgetbridge.
What is gadgetbridge and what do you get out of it?
Another person beat me to it, but it’s basically an open source app for wearables and other related devices. It aggregates all of my health metrics and made it so I never once had to connect my watch to Garmin’s cloud services. All of my data is just stored locally on my phone.
You can see the supported devices here: https://gadgetbridge.org/gadgets/
Look really good! :)
an open source app for wearables, its on fdroid. works without contacting manufacturer servers, but for some devices you might still need the official app for first time setup
At the moment I still have iOS, so maybe for my next phone!
I had a fitbit for 4.5 years until it just died. It was useful, but once google bought them I’m glad it did. I have a Huawei watch, it’s so advanced it feels futuristic, so many great features. I only wish the interface was a little bit more customizable, but the amount of info it gives me about my health is great, helps keep me motivated and is like less than half the cost of an Apple watch. Highly recommended.
When shit like this happens, companies should be required by law to provide an easy way to use your device with another provider, or they should provide root access so the FOSS community has the opportunity to provide an alternative backend. Google is a big company. If they want to keep customers, they can do it by providing them value rather than locking them in.
All companies should be required to provide firmware source code and driver source code with any electronics they sell. They’re selling a product, I get to decide how to use it.
This is exactly how they worded warnings for my Nest Thermostat before one day killing the service and trying to upsell me a newer, more expensive model.
It’s time to say goodbye to Fitbit before Fitbit says goodbye to you.
Nest is so tragic. Great independent company who made a sleek, high-end, innovative product. Bought by the most evil company* and completely enshittified. I don’t want to create more e-waste, so I still have mine and capitulated to their account demands. I almost look forward to them killing what I have now so that I can support a competitor.
*two-way tie with Meta for most evil
Bear in mind that as they age, you have increasingly unstable lithium bombs on your wall.
Nest smoke alarms were inspired and truly the best I have ever used. So pissed Google destroyed them.
Nah Nest was made by an ex Apple engineer, retained Apple’s “philosophy” of locked down walled garden everything, and introduced the idea of cloud controlled home automation to the masses. Killed off the idea of smart thermostats and smart home devices in general having a local server that does everything in your own home. Fuck that shit.
Also, for something pretending to be eco friendly, the amount of disposable packaging it came in was disgusting. A fucking thermostat that had more packaging than an iPad.
I abandoned any attempt at interacting via the app and treat it as a normal thermostat.
I agree it’s a great product, although when Google took over I did start noticing some behaviors like heat suddenly getting cranked up high at weird hours of the morning.
If it’s a gen 1 or 2 you can flash it
Thank you so much for this.
You’re welcome! :)
Oh but the best part about Nest is that if you don’t upgrade it doesn’t go offline. It stays online sending data back to Google. So it’s not like they pulled the plug, they just pulled the plug on service because they wanted to and they’ll still sell your data for profit. Double whammy.
If you do a Takeout request of Nest data, you will find a hundreds of megs JSON file with every change you made to your thermostat, every time you walked by it, any data it could harvest. A breadcrumb trail of your entire home life. I switched back to old fashioned offline battery thermostats.
Fuck.
Unless you flash it to not talk to Google anymore.
Google have owned Fitbit simce 2021
So it means there’s no reason to require a google account since they’ve shown it hasn’t needed one for 5 years.
It’s like all the RTO mandates. We’ve shown WFH works just fine for 5 years and kept your companies afloat, there’s no reason to pull people back in to the office now.
On the other hand - they could access that data all the time since they bought it. This just simplifies this a little bit to tie it to your “real” account and combine it with all the other data about you
They did access the data. Read about the Pebble IP fiasco.
With OIDC technology there has been zero reason for any particular provider to be necessary for app usage. All providers that accept OIDC is valid, they’re just forcing the scope down to just their provider.
You guys need to understand it’s about controlling a walled garden.
However Fitbit accounts had different privacy policies and terms of service, IIRC. Bringing them under the Google umbrella likely allows Google easier data harvesting/combining from a legal perspective. They did similar with Nest years back before they completely butchered it.
If you’re interested in tinkering, or you just want a watch you can completely own, Pebble has returned.
I love the idea of pebble, but I’m using it as a fitness tracker (steps and pulse etc). I wish there was a fitness tracker where I have full control of what metrics I wanna monitor and how to monitor them and when it should vibrate etc. none of that I have with Fitbit.
I realise pebble is designed for tech enthusiasts and not really for fitness, but the time 2 does have a step counter, heart rate monitor, and sleep tracker.
Is it possible that a community made app could do what you want?
Oh you’re right, I think it does indeed have what I need. I wonder what open source app I could get for my iPhone now that EU has forced Apple to allow third party app stores.
Yes, but I haven’t managed to find something yet. It seems it should be easy enough. I have an iPhone though still. I don’t want to replace it until I have to.
Obligatory fuck Fitbit for killing the pebble.
I was considering ordering the Pebble 2 Duo last year, but when I finally decided to pull the trigger they were sold out. :(
I ordered a duo, but they ran out sooner than expected, so I guess I’m getting a time 2. I can’t really complain because it is better, but I was excited for the barometer.
It doesn’t look like they sell a dedicated fitness tracker. As far as I know, Fitbit is still the only company who makes a dedicated fitness tracker which isn’t a smart watch. The market just doesn’t seem to want to compete with them…
Garmin too, but it didn’t suit my needs. I tried it.
It looks like Garmin has the Vivosmart, which is a fitness band and not a watch. The last time I looked into Garmin trackers I only found the one that isn’t rechargeable. Looks like this one is rechargeable.
This might be my next tracker when my Fitbit dies.
I bought vivoactive and sent it back because its app couldn’t do what I wanted.
Simple solution…stop using health trackers or anthing that requires an app. Be brave, be bold and realistic. Does this crap really improve your little wage slave life. Just like Nancy Reagan “Just say no” betas
What? The technology is not the problem. The devices are great in general and can help a lot of people. I don’t get this kind of thought process: “This tech doesn’t help me therefore it is useless for everyone you are just dumb for using it!”. For people with ADHD and other neurodivergence aspects this kind of device help plenty, and there’s plenty of other use cases out there aside of those.
The tech can provide a fully private and good service, but we need to make sure that companies cannot abuse their power which clearly right now it is an issue in most cases.
OP, check the pebble devices, they are bringing them back and they have always proven to be very good for any of us that used them. Now the devices are completely opensourced and even when the company went down all devices kept working. They are probably one of the few that can actually be trusted.
I wanted something that reminds me every time I have been sedentary for too long by vibrating so I can get up and move. I often get lost in my research and I don’t want it to affect my health. There are other ways to deal with this yes.
Yeah I don’t understand why people buy this crap. I’m pretty sure people can organise an exercise routine and get fit without the help of a data tracker and collector.
It’s like all the Amazon and Google bullshit people put in their house for a bit of convenience.
There is a ton of information that smart watches can tell you, I don’t think you fully understand the scope. I have a Huawei one.
