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Some users say they're getting rid of Fitbit because they don't trust Google
- ChuckMcM 7y agoFor me the change is ownership was just the last straw, their incredibly crappy app and the difficulty in downloading my data was a more significant factor.
- criddell 7y agoSame here. I'm not going to use a health monitoring device from an advertising company.
- fluidcruft 7y agoI flip-flop on that. I mean you just get more relevant and useful ads? Running shoes on sale? Cool if I need some. But you also don't want ads publicizing private health info to people who are nearby. Like, I don't want to sit down and watch "TV" at a friends house and have to wonder why I'm seeing ad after ad for valtrex.
- criddell 7y agoI used to be on the relevant ads side of the equation. Then I realized that I have been pumping data into Google for two decades and I still get terrible ads. I've let Google peek into many parts of my life and they aren't giving me more useful ads now then they did in 1998. Plus, if I need shoes it's not hard to find shoes. I order from Zappos and they show up tomorrow.
- madoublet 7y agoI always thought their app was really nice, but I have never tried to get data out of it.
- whitebread 7y agoI’ve had the same experience. I left Fitbit for Garmin early 2015 and switched back to Fitbit early 2017. Garmin has better overall health tracking but the app user experience is (was?) woefully lacking. I enjoyed and enjoy the Fitbit app and its 90% of the reason I went back. However I am one of the ones trying to de-Google, so I’ll see how a data dump goes. Trying to find a device that toes the line between health tracker and smart watch as artfully as the Versa 1 does that isn’t produced by a monster Corp should be fun as well
- XCSme 7y agoThe app is pretty smooth and nice, syncing is usually good, maybe it's a bit limited in the stats it offers, but for me (tracking my weight, calories, and active hours) is good enough. Didn't try other apps though, so can't compare. I have been using it for over 2 years now almost daily and I'm pretty happy with it, especially that I can track my table-tennis activities and see how hard I actually tried.
- llarsson 7y ago"Google could know which medications I take, and what any medical diagnosis's I have," Carpenter said. "It makes me feel sick to my stomach." Google already knows what diagnoses people have, simply because people have been searching their symptoms. Remember when Google several years ago boasted about predicting epidemics faster than the health care system, based on searches?
- daliusd 7y agoThey are not doing this anymore [0] and I assume there is a reason for that. UDPATE: Here is the reason: "And then, GFT failed—and failed spectacularly—missing at the peak of the 2013 flu season by 140 percent. When Google quietly euthanized the program, called Google Flu Trends (GFT), it turned the poster child of big data into the poster child of the foibles of big data. " [1] [0] https://www.google.org/flutrends/about/ https://www.google.org/flutrends/about/ [1] https://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-flu-trends/ https://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ryanmercer 7y agoThat just says they are no longer publishing it. That is very intentional phrasing. >Google Flu Trends and Google Dengue Trends are no longer publishing current estimates
- daliusd 7y agoAs well they say they are working with universities on that. Basically, they are doing something most probably, but not necessary have something valuable.
- Zenst 7y agoMaybe that people look up all kinds of things not related to themselves. For example, read an article and it mentions some illness you have not heard of, you double tap the illness in question and right-click and search for that. Things like that will skew results. Heck, if google based my health upon what I've googled over the years then they would of had me flagged as dead many times over.
- kop316 7y agoFor an anecdotal story, my finacee just went from a Fitbit to a Soleuos Fitness tracker. The change in ownership was one reason, but the reason was that the one she had broke 3 times within the first year of her having it. The first two times she sent it back, and the third time she gave up on it and didn't want to buy another Fitbit. But I think seeing how Nest turned out is a great reason for not wanting to buy a Fitbit after being bought my Google (forcing tighter integration to Google, depreciating APIs to make it useful for other integrations, no really new innovation).
- nkrisc 7y agoI had recently begun considering a smart watch to replace my original Pebble, and was considering Fitbit, but this is exactly why I won't be going with them. I'm slowly De-Googling and spreading my digital life across multiple providers instead of being at the mercy of a single one. I don't expect my total privacy exposure will be significantly less, but it's more about not having my email, media purchases, phone integration, and more all tied to just Google.
- cosmojg 7y agoPINE64 is working on a privacy-respecting Linux smartwatch dubbed the PineTime: https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PineTime https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PineTime Once my Pebble Time dies, I think that's where I'm going.
- JohnFen 7y agoYes, I'm very interested in this as well. My Pebble is still working fine, but the day will come when I need to replace it, and this is the only thing I've seen that looks like it might be able to do that. The page says that it's 5 years away from release, though.
- comfydragon 7y agoExpected Release: Q1/Q2 2020, pending on development result I think the "Availability" note means how long they plan to support it and/or sell it.
- JohnFen 7y agoAh, thanks for the correction!
- 9dl 7y agoWhat for you will use "smart watch"? For real. There is not so much they can do and even less they can do properly
- acollins1331 7y agoFitbit is a terrible product. Enjoy paying smart watch prices for a tiny screen that tells you your heart rate.
- jrockway 7y agoI have a watch with gears in it that only tells me the time. It cost more than an Apple Watch, too. How stupid of me!
- rvz 7y agoIdeally I would prefer a SmartWatch that has AsteroidOS [0] preinstalled that on the software-level is free from Google. Such a watch might be very difficult to obtain. Even by flashing existing Android Wear devices not only it requires several steps, but the unfortunate lack of apps might be a big turn-off for many people. Either that or my money will be going to an Apple Watch. [0] https://asteroidos.org/ https://asteroidos.org/
- worldsayshi 7y ago> Either that or my money will be going to an Apple Watch. Because at least you're not the product?
- thekyle 7y agoI wonder if something like the PineTime would run Asteroid OS without much hassle. It seems to be a GNU/Linux distro under the hood.
- koolhead17 7y agoAnd yet they use Android daily. :D
- MichaelApproved 7y agoClassic example of an article in search of a movement. Take a handful of tweets that share an opinion and write an article that makes it seem like there's a mass exodus. It's ok, you don't need anything more than a handful of tweets to back your claim. Yes, some people are privacy conscious and are going to stop using Fitbit but how many are actually doing it? A lot? A few? Who knows. I'm sure author has no clue but that won't stop them from writing this empty article.
- Retric 7y agoI don’t know about anyone else, but I just got rid of my Fitbit and never spoke of it on social media. My guess is it’s limited a few thousand to low tens of thousands of people which is not economically meaningful on it’s own. But, it does show another side of the privacy debate. Many companies are selling data not because it’s significant revenue, but rather because they have no reason to leave money on the table. This kind of small scale boycott may actually be meaningful for those internal decisions, which IMO is interesting.
- jplayer01 7y agoI'm sure the number is fairly insignificant, especially for a company as big as Google. As for myself, I requested that all my data be deleted when I first heard rumours about the buyout, and I haven't used my Fitbit since.
- x0x0 7y agoI also deleted.
- koheripbal 7y agoWe are not representative of the general population, so our anecdotes are almost worthless.
- zeta0134 7y ago
- omarhaneef 7y agoI basically use Fitbit for sleep tracking more than any other feature. And I used to be a loyal Jawbone Up customer (yes, replacing it every few months when the band snapped) for the same reason. This may be off topic since it has nothing to do with this acquisition, but does anyone know of a equivalent or superior sleep tracker that you wear on your arm?
- PMan74 7y ago27 million active Fitbit users at end of 2018. "Several" say they are getting rid of the devices because of a lack of trust in Google. How many constitutes "several" is left for the reader to calculate. 27? 270? 2,700? Poor journalism.
- flattone 7y agoIf I buy anyone in my family a home speaker, or Fitbit, or other thing for holiday I'm getting laughed back into my car
- Medicalidiot 7y agoAnecdotes don't necessarily correlate to populations.
- flattone 7y agoThey certainly don't but this entire discussion board is either people talking about their views and their experiences or sharing information and resources about things that correlate to populations so have I done something wrong here?
- savrajsingh 7y agoYou might be able to estimate how many users are jumping ship by looking at the resale market (say on eBay) and if it’s spiked recently.
- whoisjuan 7y agoThe average Joe that uses Fitbit probably doesn't even know that this transaction is happening. Sometimes we think people read the same news we read and understand things the same way we understand them. That's definitely not the case.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y agoThat was my thought - even the people who know may or may not care, but certainly everyone who owns a Fitbit doesn't know - my wife's work handed them out for Christmas one year - those people won't have any idea. I'm also not sure why a sudden distrust of Google over Fitbit. It's not like Fitbit wasn't in a position to misuse your data as well. Google is just better at it.
- vader1 7y agoI bought a Garmin the day Fitbit sold out and haven't touched the Fitbit since. I'm very happy with the switch, the Garmin (Vivosmart 4) app and device are actually better than Fitbit's on almost every account, so that's a double win :) The only unfortunate consequence is that Garmin's import service only imports very coarse data from your Fitbit export, so all detailed historic records are lost unless you manually dig through your Fitbit export files. I hope Garmin will still provide a 100% complete importer in the future.
- ravenstine 7y agoI'd buy a Garmin if they provided a FitBit importer.
- agumonkey 7y agoopen source and reverse engineers assemble
- ravenstine 7y agoIf only we could get a sense of how many people would actually use such a thing. I've got a feeling that 97% of FitBit users don't care, but if enough of them did then it could be a potentially profitable(albeit short-lived) piece of software.
- vader1 7y agoThey do: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=HfJ4xPchdD3cmZ2qtDpOR8&productID=73207&tab=topics https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=HfJ4xPchdD3cmZ2qtDpOR8... But it currently only imports coarse data, e.g. your average heartrate on a given day. Not the granular minute-by-minute information. Sleep statistics currently aren't imported at all.
- cbHXBY1D 7y agoI sold my Fitbit for a Garmin in the last month and the importer really didn't do much. Fitbit only gives 31 days of data.
- imgabe 7y agoPersonally I stopped using Fitbit a long time ago because the band came unglued and it fell apart.
- sergeev 7y agoI am wearing xiaomi band. [trolling] What could be a problem?
- goatinaboat 7y agoFitbit users are getting rid of the devices because previously all the services were bundled with the cost of the physical device but now they want you to buy the device and subscribe to Fitbit Premium. Source: first-hand contact with Fitbit users in the Real World
- drtillberg 7y agoIndependent tech in the 2010s is like independent banking in the 2000s. You find a decent partner and 6 months later you roll over and see BigCorp beside you. I struggle to see how this even is consistent with the spirit of the Fitbit terms-- the purchase of the company transfers ownership of user data, which Fitbit assured customers it would never do. Time for some common sense concerning this consumer-unfriendly trend.
- jbarberu 7y agoI used to have a fitbit, it broke within the warranty time and sold the replacement rather than actually keep using it. Since then I've been thinking of getting a new one, but the Google acquisition instead prompted me to have my account deleted.
- TheCondor 7y agoI’ve owned/own 4 Fitbit products and was planning my change before this news. The privacy thing is an issue but compared to your phone, it’s pretty small potatoes. The issue that really irks is the products seem to take software updates that make them worse, often with bad bugs. Like my ionic will vibrate when a phone call comes in and continue to until the call ends. Bands wear out too quickly and are expensive to replace. The watches themselves seem to die at an almost predictable rate. Then the price is sort of in this sweet spot of being inexpensive enough to not hurt you but expensive enough to be frustrating when it’s not right. I like the concept but I think Fitbit doesn’t have enough data points to be really useful and then the execution is mediocre. Maybe google will be good for them but I think I’ll switch
- jschwartzi 7y agoI was planning on switching to iPhone at some point next year while I figure out how to replace the smart phone with a dumb phone plus other devices.
- HaloZero 7y agoMy blaze has the same calling issue... The Blaze though has standard watch bands so you can replace it inexpensively with any type of watch band as long it's the right size.
- mscasts 7y agoPro tip for Fitbit users that want a great alternative: https://www.withings.com/ https://www.withings.com/
- npongratz 7y agoAt first glance, these products looked compelling. But how is Withings actually any better? Per https://www.withings.com/us/en/legal/privacy-policy https://www.withings.com/us/en/legal/privacy-policy: >"How do we use your personal data? ... >Marketing, advertising and making recommendations[.] Your personal data may be used to offer surveys, competitions, discount coupons or events in which you are free to participate. We may provide you with information on our Products, such as new features, sales offers from Withings or our partners, or to announce new Products. You may opt out of marketing offers by logging into your Withings account and managing your notification preferences. ... >Modification of the present Policy[.] Withings may modify the present Policy with or without previous notice, block the access to the website, or change its access conditions " Will all due respect: eff that. As others have noted here and elsewhere, marketing and advertising -- especially that using my personal data -- is adversarial. I paid for a thing, just let me have that thing. And before anyone unhelpfully suggests, "they have an opt-out policy"... well, we all understand that once your intimate, valuable data is siphoned off your wrist, the horse has left the barn, right? That genie is out of the bottle, that bell has rung, and all kinds of other euphemisms that illustrate how the data is no longer in your control, and all the opt-outs in the world are not going to actually delete all your data. It's been forked to Utah, backed up, sharded, "anonymized" and combined with all the other data you've generated on devices sold by other companies -- for every single "partner" that paid them, as well as everyone who did not pay them, in the cases of Utah and corporate espionage. An actual alternative would be a device that has no connectivity to my pocket surveillance slab or anything with an uncontrollable baseband processor, nor connectivity to the Internet generally. Let me be in actual control. Thanks for the advice, but I'm sticking with my Casio dumbwatch. Doesn't peep on my daily activities, but it accurately tells time and I love that thing. Bonus is that I have to think about its battery only once a decade.
- JohnFen 7y ago
- martin_a 7y agoI'm using a Fitbit and I'm thinking about just uninstalling the app. The watch is set up like I want it to, it can show my heartbeat during training, the steps of the day and the time. Obviously without the app and data synchronisation I will not get weekly fitness reports, but I don't really care about those. Maybe my next watch will be a dumb one again. Didn't get that much out of a smart watch as I expected.
- dumbw4tch 7y agoAre there any good alternatives out there? (leaving Apple/Google products aside).
- nevir 7y agoAfter having worked at Google, it is the only company I actually do trust with my data. (But I am also ok with them using it to customize my experience, and even target ads) Their internal privacy controls are extensive. As a human, it is nearly impossible to access someone's data, even when debugging code/ML models/etc. And when you do need to, it requires exhaustive oversight/approval, and _everything_ is audited.
- 9dl 7y ago>Their Internal privacy controls are extensive. And what about "External privacy controls"? I think that even fb devs can say such thing but...
- Medicalidiot 7y agoOne thing I have to say is that Google is competitive because of the fact it has so much data. It wants that locked down to keep that advantage. At the same time, I am uncomfortable with the power this affords them over people.
- throwaway35784 7y agoDo users have access to the audit logs of those who have accessed their information?
- shantly 7y ago1) That can change at any time, 2) Those data are never going away, and may not (=will not) belong to Google forever, 3) Data that exists can be demanded by the government, justly or otherwise, and they will get it—private companies running a dragnet spy operation on everyone is only marginally better than the government doing the same directly, 4) Targeted ads are adversarial. So are ads in general, really—yes I know they can be useful but I'm talking in general, and in practice—but it's definitely more off-putting to be spied on then have that information used against you. 5) Google's incentives suck, their ethics suck, and I don't trust one bit that they won't do all kinds of nasty shit with the data they've collected the moment that looks like it's best for their bottom line.
- abalone 7y ago> Google explicitly said in the deal announcement that it won’t sell their personal or health data. That’s not all. Google also said they will not use your data to target ads. In a forward looking statement about the deal. That’s significant.
- JohnFen 7y agoThis sounds snarky, but I honestly don't intend it that way... Google's statements on this are only significant if you trust Google.
- anonymouswacker 7y agoI'm just an n=1, but I got rid of my two Fitbits (returned to Costco as they were still within 90 days) primarily for this reason.
- guyzero 7y agoThis is fine, people can do what they want, but they're deluding themselves if they think small companies are perfect stewards of data. How exactly do these people know that Fitbit wasn't already selling their data using it in a way they don't approve of?
- macintux 7y agoOne reason I like sharing smaller slices of my privacy with smaller companies is that it makes it harder to correlate everything. I have no doubt Google can tie together every aspect of my life if I let them.
- JohnFen 7y agoOne advantage of smaller companies is that the amount of damage they can do is more limited.
- mavhc 7y agoBought a device that uploads data to the internet, surprised when it's not used for their benefit. Stop buying devices that require internet access, you have a supercomputer in your pocket that they can connect to. And a home network.
- make3 7y agonot a single statistic or data point. this is really garbage content
- parliament32 7y agoFor what it's worth: I switched from Fitbit to Garmin about a year back, but hearing about the Google purchase actually made me log back in to my old Fitbit account and request deletion of all my data.
- 867-5309 7y agosome say
- eecc 7y agoI saw some while killing time at an electronics store. My thought train went something like: Uh, nice. Oh wait. Fitbit? Wasn’t it just acquired by google? Ah I need to get off gmail too..
- krtkush 7y agoOrdered a Garmin few days back for the same reasons.
- cbHXBY1D 7y agoSame and I'm kicking myself for not switching sooner. If you care about improving your running ability then getting a Garmin is a no-brainer. The PacePro feature which just arrived on my FR245 is incredible.
- C14L 7y agoThey should probably send a GDPA request to delete all their data as well.
- pbalau 7y agoI find this very naive. The op is not trusting Google because someone told them not to trust Google. They were trusting Fitbit because nobody told them not to. How did Fitbit make their money to pay for the online services? Only from selling devices? You really believe that?
- dawg- 7y agoI don't think Google cares about this relative handful of people. They will keep moving on and 90% of society will go with them. I often wonder what will happen to the few individuals who are willing to push tech/privacy issues so far that they will be okay with being left behind. In 50 years will we have communities of amish-like people who choose to continue living as if it's 2005?