1 yr. ago • 97%

Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing

noyb.eu Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing

noyb filed three complaints against Fitbit. The health and fitness company forces new app users to consent to data transfers

Technology @lemmy.ml Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing

Technology @lemmy.world Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing

31 comments

Just here to push https://gadgetbridge.org/

Get a smartwatch, replace the stock companion app with Gadgetbridge.

Watch talks to Gadgetbridge, Gadgetbridge talks to watch. All over Bluetooth.

Gadgetbridge has no internet access, up or down. It cannot send out any of your data. It remains sandboxed on your phone.

You can totally uninstall the stock companion app.

58
- I notice FitBit isn't supported though.
  
  Although that's understandable. The wife had one and it wouldn't talk to the official app reliably either.
  
  15
  
  Yeah these manufacturers make it harder to connect to, i already have to get the decryption key from the SQL database of the MiBand app to use my MiBand with Gadgetbridge. I guess FitBit saves it somewhat safe, that's why it's unsupported
  
  7
- I like the idea of this. At present time it doesn't look like any Fitbit-branded devices are supported, unless I'm missing something.
  
  12
- Permanently Deleted
  
  10
  
  Shitbit is hilarious
  
  2
  
  I love my Garmin, but it is a kinda closed system. I'm not sure how easy it is to develop your own apps for it, but the default ones, while very good, definitely have their problems.
  
  1
- I really wanted to use gadget bridge. But they only support obscure watches and some Chinese knock offs.
  
  Amazing concept, but I guess its really hard to reverse engineer some of the protocols these major watch/fitness trackers use.
  
  1
Any fitness watch with internet access, by definition, is spyware, yes or yes. Personal and health data are too succulent for large companies not to turn them into profits. There are fitness apps that save data locally, if you want to monitor your health status during your workouts, there is no need for a Cloudservice for this purpose, the data from a workout is not so much that it cannot be saved on a cheap SD card, with much a transfer via Bluetooth to the PC or Mobile, if you want to review this data.

17
If only a high quality, open source, repairable smart watch existed...

16
- I've been looking to replace my fitbit with a Pine Watch or similar. I wasn't able to determine the Pine Watch's compatibility with generic android apps from their website.
  
  (And while I'm quite comfortable hacking on my own devices, they were out of dev kits last I checked.)
  
  If you use one, can you comment on how well it integrates with the Android ecosystem?
  
  In particular, I'd like to be able check my glucose monitor's output from my watch. My CGM already provides a general android smart watch widget, but since the Pine Watch is kind of its own thing, I'm uncertain if it'd work.
  
  If you can confirm or deny the functionality of general android widgets, that'd be super helpful for me.
  
  If not, no worries. I'm just hunting for someone with hands-on experience to pose my questions to.
  
  11
  
  I switched to a PineTime watch from a FitBit about two months ago. I use a Pixel with GOS and no play services.
  
  In my experience the PineTime is only good for heart rate monitoring and step counting, because so far that's all mine has been able to do. The PineTime is nice for what it does and as a watch, but if you want more health monitoring look elsewhere.
  
  5
- I have it. It definitely not a Fitbit drop in replacement. It's more of a notification center on your wrist. I use it for that, and it's awesome for that.
  
  3
- Why is that clock 27$ in us and 62€ in eu
  
  3
- If it had an ECG function I would buy 10 of them
  
  2
  
  Garmin has a decent privacy policy for now
  
  3
- Look, I like PineTimes and have one myself, but calling it a smart watch when considering Fitbit is...really a stretch.
  
  2
  
  Load it up with aftermarket firmware until the total cost comes out to the price of a Fitbit and you'll be able to bounce off satellites and have an AI analyze your every wrist flourish to determine vital signs.
  
  2
- Thank you for the information, but please remember that there are ways to share that link without sounding like a condescending dick...
  
  1
  
  Yours comes off as more condescending than mine.
  
  It's a joke "if only this existed!" and it does. I didn't call anyone names like you just did.
  
  3
I use an Apple Watch. It regularly (about every 2 weeks) to review who and what data I’m sharing with studies. I can easily opt out again, and the system is opt in only.

7
- No different than the situation with iPhones and Android phones, really. Apple has made their money once you buy the device, and views your personal data as a liability. Google is an ad company that happens to make hardware, and views your data as necessary monetisation potential.
  
  11
  
  Those are two different situations though?
  
  2
  
  As much as I hate apple products (tho new chips are wild), I got to agree here. I don't know ehat apple does with your data but it does seem to my uninformed eye that they do better than the rest.
  
  2
Just in time for the Pixel Watch 2 release ✅

6
- Which is made by the same company (Google owns Fitbit), so?
  
  16
  
  That was the point my dude.
  
  1
Godamnit ! Again I missed out on the data sharing opportunity. My uncle got an apple watch and said that I am missing out on all the cool features. I replied , I dont want anything that connects to internet. He laughed.

4
I was forced into using a Fitbit last year, and I instantly went back to my Samsung Galaxy watch when I got the chance. Samsung Health is annoying on iOS, but at least you don't need to send all your data to Samsung in order to use it

4
Well . . . yeah.

Kids, folks, trusted benefactors - everything's taking your data. Tell it no or don’t buy it.

TheWorld: This thing is amazing! Buy it and give it your data! Me: wtf TheWorld: #1 This thing grosses eleventy billion dollars first quarter! Internet: guyz thing stealz data omg (Repeat)

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