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I own a Fitbit, but am considering an Apple Watch Series 7 because of Fitbit’s problem with bugs and their tendency to hide more and more features behind a paywall (subscription). Fitbit has amazing automatic sleep tracking, which is great since I have very varying sleep routines, but what about the Apple Watch? Can anyone that with experience of the Apple Watch explain: If it has any automatic sleep tracking at all, or is it strictly tied to the manual schedule that you specify? Is it good for anyone with very varying sleep routines? How’s the quality of the sleep tracking? Are you forced to use the “Sleep” focus mode in order for it to register your sleep?

I’ve been a Fitbit user for a couple of years, but I’m very tired of the insane amount of bugs on the watch itself. Since I’m an iPhone user I’m considering the Apple Watch 7. On Fitbit there’s a lot of features in the app that require that you pay a subscription fee, is there any features in the Apple Watch-/Health-app that requires a subscription fee?

Summary It turns out people with Apple Watches or Fitbit watches are more prone to visit the doctor due to the notifications these watches have about irregular heartbeats. A study found that individuals with atrial fibrillation using smartwatches with these sorts of features were able to gather more data about their condition and were more sensitive to using more health care resources than those who did not have smartwatches. Interestingly enough, at least the Apple Watch is FDA approved only to those WITHOUT existing heart problems, but this didn't stop people from using the data provided to help cardiologists diagnose the status of an existing heart condition of a patient. Quotes My thoughts It's really cool to see that smartwatches which are seen as more of a gimmick by some can actually be used to benefit one's health and help with providing data about heart problems that could help individuals seek help in a timely manner. The chances are that some of the people who got these watches would've never gone to the doctor without being notified about an irregular heartbeat, and maybe this will motivate companies more to create devices that give as accurate health information to customers as possible. I personally would see such a thing as a major selling point for smartwatches, and a very welcome one at that. Sources https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/2/22463322/wearables-afib-apple-fitbit-doctor-visit https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2780408

I own a Fitbit Versa 2 and around St Patrick's day, 2022 I updated the device from the Fitbit app as it was suggesting there was a new version. A few days following the update I noticed my sleeping data wasn't being tracked and that my heart rate was constantly reading 77 and not changing. I then tried power cycling the device and eventually resetting to factory defaults, and every suggestion I could find from googling the issue and looking at people who were reporting similar issues but nothing worked and now the heart rate is just reading nothing. During this i also noticed that I wasn't the only one having this issue, I have seen dozens of posts with usually a more then 3 people saying they also had their versa 2 devices heart rate function stop working after the most recent update, and some people had their devices brick entirely after updating not allowing the device to go beyond the initial startup logo. Along with the posts of people having the same issue being high in number, so were the number of people very angry as Fitbit was just responding with generic suggestions like "Go to settings and turn on the heartbeat function", and "try this specific steps to restart or reset the device". Fitbit has a 1 year warranty for its products except in Europe where 2 years is the requirement by law, and given that the Versa 2 launched in the Summer of 2019 and its successor arrived a year later in the Summer of 2020 i think it's fair to say that majority of Versa 2 holders are outside their warranty period. I don't really have a problem with the 1 year warranty, but from every person I've seen post about this issue and myself included all Fitbit had to say in response was "Did you try restarting it?", then after that they go right to warranty where I would bet that majority of people are outside their 1 year and they then say they can't cover it under warranty and give a code for 35% off a Fitbit device on their store. I've asked if they have any plans to attempt a fix by rolling out a new update but I haven't heard back on this yet. I had the device for 2.5 years without any issue and following that update the main feature of the device no longer works. I don't know if this is planned obsolescence or mere incompetence but either one is disgraceful. I would recommend staying away from Fitbit products if you care about e-waste or having a company brick your device and then claim "We can't do anything to fix this as its outside warranty" despite that the only reason its broke is an unnecessary update they pushed out. Below is a link to one of the forum posts and I've attached my correspondence with customer support. https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Other-Versa-Smartwatches/Versa-Sudden-Malfunction/m-p/5118251#M268554

Ok looking at replacing my now very old LG G watch W-100 due to failing battery from age and lack of support for WearOS 1.x today. (had the hacked 2.x on it but reverted cause of lag and battery drain) But I was wondering if there is a more advanced media control app (or player/watch app combo) out there that can do more then simple play/pause and next/back for locally stored music on the phone. I.E. Transport bar control and access to things like changing artist/albums, play list and so on. and if so what OS are they for? Like Wear OS, Tinzen, Fitbit etc

Hi LTT community. Last week I welcomed a baby into my home and have not been able to enjoy my tech like I had in the past. So, I decided to dedicate my effort to things like keeping baby happy and asleep with walking. I started a group on Fitbit for those interested. https://www.fitbit.com/group/22WZ5S It would be fun to hear from other new fathers or grizzled fathers about keeping healthy or challenging others in step challenges. I don't know if there is another group on LTT or Fitbit (not that I know of) that has a tech enthused but father mindset. Would love to hear what others think. Support is always needed during the times where no sleep can be had.

After their last successfull kickstarter campaign it seems like Pebble will be bought by Fitbit. There is nothing officially announed yet but it seems to be quite likely. As a kickstarter backer of the time 2 I am quite worried. The backers might get a product which will be not supported in the near future. Next to the other smart watches pebble was one of the best alternatives. I hope this will be not the end! Source: http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/30/13802996/fitbit-buy-pebble-deal-reportedly-close

Source: The Verge Google has acquired Fitbit for a sum of $2.1 billion. This acquisition hopes to benefit both Fitbit and Google with hardware on FitBit's side and software development on Google's side. It wil be cool to see how well Fitbit can grow thanks to now being under Google's wing. Seems like an awesome prospest for Fitbit to grow their software and possibly integrate Android features into the Fitbit smartwatches.

So Black Friday deals are here and looking at an Apple Watch series 3 (NIke+ version too as there the same price) and the fitbit versa 2. Maybe Series 4 if price is right. Does anyone have experience with either and which would be the better buy? Oh also I'm an iphone user.

Hi all, So I recently bought a Striiv Fusion 2 activity tracker as feature wise it fit what I wanted out of a smart band (Media controls, Notifications and well fitness stuff) but unfortunately found that the band was incompatible with my Huawei P10 Lite, I got the Striiv for $80 and was wondering if there were any alternatives that would work for my phone at around the same pricing? Note: Pricing and Availability must be for New Zealand Cheers, Liam McGill

I would like to see reviews of fitbits and iwatches and various warables... I don't know how much interest there is, or if it's in your wheelhouse...

so my friend has a versa 2 that he bought one and a half weeks ago. he wore it every night for the sleep score and sleep stages but never got to see the results. he slept at 11 pm and woke up at 8 30 am but according to Fitbit he slept for 3 hours 12 to 2 am and 5 to 6 am. this info is also not in sleep stages but in some weird bar graphs and it says above it "see why you didn't get full sleep stages info". I made him wear the watch 2 to 3 fingers width above the wrist bone and also flipped(heartrate sensor facing the inner side of the hand) still it showed these kinds of data. one day I tried his watch and in the morning it worked perfectly for me. whats going on?

source: http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/07/wearable-maker-fitbit-must-face-lawsuit-over-sleep-tracking-claims/ http://ia800308.us.archive.org/34/items/gov.uscourts.cand.287359/gov.uscourts.cand.287359.1.0.pdf this is not the 1st time FitBit's wearables are subject to scrutiny from the scientific community previously, a study claimed that FitBit's hearth monitoring was "off": the latest encounter with a judge has them possibly facing a class action for misrepresenting sleep monitors - read pdf liked on top judge had this to say: the problem with FitBit's hardware, as plaintiff alleges: the plaintiff cites a 2012 study that alleges FitBit's hardware doesn't accurately track sleep: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21971963 FitBit's defense was that the science was "bad" FitBit has the opportunity to mount a different defense to be presented to a different judge but this case can very well go to court or settle

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/23/study-shows-fitbit-trackers-highly-inaccurate.html Fitbit has some 'splainin to to. Fitbit wants you to take this with a grain of salt. Fitbit's argument doesn't seem to hold however. I'm taking 2 things away from this article: the study's results should be taken with a grain of salt and that fitbit's devices are not as accurate as they claim to be, which his hugely problematic, given their widespread usage and marketing. As the article mentions, such innacurate readings are very dangerous for those with heart conditions that might result in an unhealthy heart rate. Hopefully fitbit is held accountable for this and either start to produce more accurate devices or clearly state the issues with the devices to the consumer.

Cheap FitBit's today only at Woot. All refurbished. All with a 60 day warranty. Shipping is $5. FitBit Surge (Refurbished) — $159.99 (list $249) FitBit Charge HR (Refurbished) — $94.99 (list $130) FitBit Charge (Refurbished) — $64.99 (list $130) Fitbit One Plus Sleep Tracker (Refurbished) — $54.99 (list $100) FitBit Flex (Refurbished) — $44.99 (list $130)

Hey I am looking for a new fitness tracker/smart band. My jawbone up 24 just gave up on me so I decided to look for a new one. I would prefer one with a screen or another way to see the time, my activity... Directly off the band. Something like the Fitbit charge hr, Nike fuelband se, (surge), vivofit... I am 16 years old and am interested in mid distance running and I am doing this for quite a while now. But I don't really like having a lot of band, watches etc on my arms whilst running. But I still need something to see how fast I am running and stuff like that. For that I have another garmin running watch. So having another big watch on my other hand wouldn't be very nice. It would be best to have a good fast and easy usable stopwatch on the band to see my lap times whilst running intervals. I also really like the point system on the Nike fuelband se. Features like music play or other things were I need my phone are unnecessary, because I never run with my phone. I only sync the data to an iPad in the evening or so. Which band would you guys recommend for me? Thanks in advance.

I've been using fitbit flex for a few months now. It's a great device that helped me stay active and increase my metabolism to stay fit. I've wanted more options like being able to switch modes into different types of exercises (eg- running, simple cardio, jogging, swimming etc.), watch my heart rate to do better and record my path without the bulk of a phone, calorie counting (but I think we have to wait for things to change in the industry as a whole). Sure, I can custom enter the exercise into the fitbit app or into website but having an automated solution would decrease errors also saving time. Looking forward to this device. Please share your thoughts on this upcoming (rumored) device and also share news about other fitness trackers which you've used or more likely to and why you think it's better. Would you buy this or have set your sights on something else? http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/19/7007345/this-is-the-fitbit-surge