RIP Fitbit

If you’re a Fitbit user, you probably already know this, but back in 2021 Google acquired Fitbit for two billion dollars (that was a lot of money back then!). For a long time now you were still able to buy a Fitbit device and sync it through the Fitbit app, and not have to think much about Google. But Google’s been slooowwwwly eating them up, moving accounts and data over into Google, and ultimately discontinuing the Fitbit app. As part of that they are finally closing down the Fitbit API. Which is what we’ve been using since 2012 (!) to automatically update Fitbit-connected Beeminder goals.

Google is continuing to support older Fitbit devices (alongside the Google Watch), but all that data goes into the Google Health app. Which is not accessible to us at a price that we can afford or justify. (Nerd version: Health data is classified as Restricted Data by Google, which means they won’t allow YOU to give your data to us, unless we meet certain criteria, which requires a yearly third party audit by a pre-approved auditor that costs thousands of dollars).

So bye bye Beeminder+Fitbit integration. Sob emoji.

Any goal you want to keep must be converted to a manual goal before Friday, October 30, because on Friday we’re going to automatically archive all active Fitbit goals to avoid derails.

To do this, go to the settings tab below the goal and scroll to the Fitbit section. Click the “Remove Autodata” button and you’re golden. The goal is now a manual entry goal. We won’t archive it in our Friday sweep and you can enter data manually to the goal.

Don’t like typing numbers into your goal like a plebe? Read on for how to re-automate it.

For iOS users

If you are using a Fitbit device with your iPhone (or iPad, I suppose), you can already send your fitness data to Beeminder through the Apple Health integration in the Beeminder iOS app.

1. Convert to manual (already done per above).
2. Give permission to Google Health to write data to Apple Health:

• In the Google Health app tap Connections icon in the top left corner

- Tap on “Partner Apps” under Apps and services - Add the connection: Tap on “Apple Health” and then “Get Started”, and then “Agree” to Sync Google Health with Apple Health. - Select which data Google Health and Apple health share. This is the important part. Either use the “Select All 84 Topics” link at the top, or if you choose to be selective, make sure you are selecting the scopes in the **WRITE** access section. You’ll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list of 84 regardless, to find the “Continue” button. - The final question it asks is “How much data would you like to share with Google Health”. Past 30 Days and Future Data is sufficient. Beeminder only syncs the last seven days. - Tap Allow, and then Done, and you should see Apple Health under the “Connected” section of Partner apps in your Google Health app. 3. Add Apple Health to the goal in the iOS app. There are detailed instructions for how in [the Beeminder help docs](https://help.beeminder.com/article/61-apple-health#setup “Beeminder help article for Apple Health setup”).

For Android users

The next release of the Android app will have Health Connect support, assuming we survive the app approval process.

In the meantime, you can enter data manually on the goal, or let us archive the goal and start fresh when the next version of the app is released.

For anyone

We have other health and fitness related integrations you should check out! We integrate with Strava, Garmin, Oura, Withings, and Runkeeper [1].

For the dedicated nerd

If you are sufficiently savvy, you can fork a repo we vibe-coded and set up your own Google Health autodata integration. The README has the basic instructions, but it’s not to be undertaken lightly. Google doesn’t mint “personal use” authentication tokens, meaning you have to not only configure and maintain the script, but also your own Google OAuth client. Boo Google.

Footnotes

[1] Well, Runkeeper is barely a thing anymore. Apparently ASICS, the shoe company, bought Runkeeper and it’s impossibly uncool now, but unless they kill the API, we’ll keep on supporting it.