Beating my Fitbit friends with my Apple Watch

[coreymcl]

I really wish Apple had spent the time to include some social aspects to the Activity app. As a recovering Fitbit user I'm connected with friends and family and love seeing my name on the top each and every day. Seeing someone getting close to passing me is all the motivation I need to get up to ensure they don't.

To manage this since I got my Apple Watch I'm using an app called Sync Solver. This app syncs my Apple Watch data to my Fitbit account. In fact there are 2 Sync Solver apps one for each direction of sync'ing. While it's a manual solution I am able to continue to complete against all my Fitbit friends and at the same time keep all my health data stored in Apple's Health app including my daily weight from a Fitbit Aria scale. It's not a perfect solutions but it's working for me.

I hope this is hopeful for other recovering Fitbit users.

 

[pkcable]

Sounds like you found a good solution. Hopefully Apple or a 3rd party developer is working on something better. I agree this is a fun and interesting part of fitness tracking and should be included. I would bet we see this in a future watch update.

(Still waiting for my watch!!!!)

 

[dianahk]

I canceled my fitbit account and that is not a simple task. I miss the social aspect to some degree, but I am finding the apple watch is having me be less step obsessed and allowing my activity to evolve. Not all of my activity is step based, even though much still is. I am glad you found a solution!

 

[impaler]

Adding social aspects of Activity/Workout apps is one of my top requests and desires.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I guess I'm in the minority because I don't want to use my Watch in this manner. I'm not interested whatsoever in posting my fitness and health info to Twitter, Facebook or any other social network.

 

[impaler]

I guess I'm in the minority

I believe you are. I have over 20 friends that share info and motivate one another through sharing accomplishments. I never post anything more personal than the fact I ran five miles, and pace/run time info. Knowing Apple, they'll allow us to specify only what we want to share.

 

[dcscott]

I noticed that Sync Solver requires two apps at $1.99 each however there are two other apps in the app store that are only $0.99 and are bi-directional. Has anyone tried either of these. They are called Manager For Fitbit and Sync for Fitbit.

 

[Greek Geek]

I guess I'm in the minority because I don't want to use my Watch in this manner. I'm not interested whatsoever in posting my fitness and health info to Twitter, Facebook or any other social network.

Yes I'm with you on that one. Before I got my AppleWatch I was an avid FitBit user, and I tended to keep my activity data private, rather than broadcast it to the world. I didn't always do it that way, but found that when I started measuring body composition that it would often lead me to lose lean body mass if I overdid the activity just to compete, so I it wound up being more efficient to let my results dictate how much energy expenditure I needed, rather than basing it on what somebody else did. That being said though, I do still see how it can motivate people who normally struggle to psych themselves up for activity. So I do still agree that it would be nice to be able to have the choice, and make those decisions for ourselves based on what works best for us personally. I'm sure that things will improve as time goes by and great posts like this allow the developers to learn how we use the devices. (Both the similarities and the differences) Knowledge is power, and power is (...wait, I think I need to recharge my battery!) lol.

 

[runner7395]

I have a small group of friends on my Fitbit list that I compete with and didn't want to give that up so I wore both for a while. I then noticed they weren't even close on steps. 20K on Fitbit vs 17K on Apple Watch and that has been pretty typical. I stopped wearing my Apple Watch when running and went back to my Garmin.

 

[Just_Me_D]

.... That being said though, I do still see how it can motivate people who normally struggle to psych themselves up for activity. So I do still agree that it would be nice to be able to have the choice, and make those decisions for ourselves based on what works best for us personally. I'm sure that things will improve as time goes by and great posts like this allow the developers to learn how we use the devices. (Both the similarities and the differences) Knowledge is power, and power is (...wait, I think I need to recharge my battery!) lol.

Well stated...

 

[Just_Me_D]

I have a small group of friends on my Fitbit list that I compete with and didn't want to give that up so I wore both for a while. I then noticed they weren't even close on steps. 20K on Fitbit vs 17K on Apple Watch and that has been pretty typical. I stopped wearing my Apple Watch when running and went back to my Garmin.

Would you be disappointed if you found out that the Watch was the device that was accurate and not the Fitbit?

 

[bamf-hacker]

I use a Garmin Vivoactive as my activity tracker, at least until my  Watch shows up... I picked up the Sync Solver app since I was a Fitbit user for years and all my friends were getting mad that they could not see me anymore...

Well apparently I did not set up Health Kit correctly, because after my first sync I had 400K steps in a week. I usually get 130-150K per week, Whoops

For now I deleted all of my step data in Health kit and will try again.

 

[runner7395]

Would you be disappointed if you found out that the Watch was the device that was accurate and not the Fitbit?

I have tested the Fitbit since I have had them for a couple of years and found them to be pretty accurate. I realize nothing will be exact which is fine I just think the Fitbit fits my needs for tracking steps, for now anyway.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

Former Fitbit Charge user. When I got my Apple Watch, I obviously quit using the Charge, but I left the Fitbit app on my phone and set the app to use my phone's step counter.

Works for me and I still keep up with my Fibit social buddies.

 

[miketko]

So I have found that the apps are synching my steps from my iPhone but not from the watch. How do I fix this?

 

[miketko]

I really wish Apple had spent the time to include some social aspects to the Activity app. As a recovering Fitbit user I'm connected with friends and family and love seeing my name on the top each and every day. Seeing someone getting close to passing me is all the motivation I need to get up to ensure they don't.

To manage this since I got my Apple Watch I'm using an app called Sync Solver. This app syncs my Apple Watch data to my Fitbit account. In fact there are 2 Sync Solver apps one for each direction of sync'ing. While it's a manual solution I am able to continue to complete against all my Fitbit friends and at the same time keep all my health data stored in Apple's Health app including my daily weight from a Fitbit Aria scale. It's not a perfect solutions but it's working for me.

I hope this is hopeful for other recovering Fitbit users.

How are you able to sync steps from your apple watch and not from the phone. After syncing I'm showing less steps on Fitbit app than in health kit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[blueyz628]

I'm using Sync Solver (the blue one - there are 2 apps). Working well so far.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

Those who are thinking of getting Sync Solver - Health to Fitbit hoping to compete with your Fitbit friends in challenges. Take Note:

Why do my steps not count towards challenges?

Fitbit has decided to not allow steps from third-party apps to count towards challenges (because they are logged as activities). See the Fitbit Challenges FAQ for more details.

If you want to sync steps from your iPhone into Fitbit, we recommend that you use Mobile Track in order for the challenges to work.

 

[hearmeoutx]

Those who are thinking of getting Sync Solver - Health to Fitbit hoping to compete with your Fitbit friends in challenges. Take Note:

Why do my steps not count towards challenges?

Fitbit has decided to not allow steps from third-party apps to count towards challenges (because they are logged as activities). See the Fitbit Challenges FAQ for more details.

If you want to sync steps from your iPhone into Fitbit, we recommend that you use Mobile Track in order for the challenges to work.

I honestly did not notice that it was not working with the challenges. That is interesting. I am hoping eventually FitBit offers an app for the Apple Watch. I wouldn't even mind if they decided to have a small charge for it, since those people would not be purchasing their product


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[supajoe33]

I was wondering I own a fitbit and use it for all my activities. I also am waiting for my Apple Watch to come. Besides for the differences in the OS, Is it comfortable running or doing aerobics with the watch?? I already had a fitness tracker that was similar to a shape of watch and it always got In the way. Is anyone having any issues with the comfort??