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This is troubling. I've been a fitbit user for a few years. I've contemplated hard between an Apple Watch and Fitbit. I decided to stay with the Fitbit for a fe

This is troubling. I've been a fitbit user for a few years. I've contemplated hard between an Apple Watch and Fitbit. I decided to stay with the Fitbit for a few reasons: * Longer Battery Life * Sleep Tracking * Smaller device on wrist with the Charge 4 vs Apple Watch. Can people suggest alternatives to Fitbit? My favorite feature is the sleep tracking (but who knows how accurate it is). Does Garmin or Apple have comparable features to Fitbit, especially with sleep and battery life?

novok 6y ago
Apple has native sleep tracking now and I've been using it myself for years. I would like to warn you that you shouldn't trust the waterproofing although, because they use glue to seal the watch screen against the gasket, and temperature variations can eventually loosen that glue, as I found out to a broken series 3 watch one day after swimming in a heated swimming pool and then going skiing the next day. Apple health is one of the few things they actually end to end encrypt[0], so there is no data to sell currently. [0] They should E2EE everything on icloud, including imessage backups, which they don't, but I suspect there is some covert US govt pressure stopping them from doing so. https://bgr.com/2020/01/21/iphone-icloud-backup-isnt-fully-encrypted-and-its-the-fbis-fault/ https://bgr.com/2020/01/21/iphone-icloud-backup-isnt-fully-e...
nonbirithm 6y ago
I use a Misfit Shine with Beeminder to track an exercise habit. It can track steps walked and sleep schedules. Only compromise is that you have to manually sync by holding it up to your phone.
t-writescode 6y ago
The way I've dealt with Apple Watch battery life is to treat it like it has a low battery life. Almost all notifications are disabled. The screen turns off when I'm not looking at it, and so on. I get around 2 days out of it - easily a day and a half, but that allows me to charge it when I feel like it, usually when I'm taking a shower. I own a 6. I've got most of the health tracking stuff turned on, since that's what I bought it for.
deadmutex 6y ago
> This is troubling. Isn't this article just speculation vs actual announcements from companies?
propogandist 6y ago
Look into the Xiaomi MiBand 4 / 5, they're around $30. Battery life can last 2-3+ weeks with litte heart rate monitoring. Sleep tracking is there, but I can't comment on it's accuracy, although it should be pretty good. It's better than Fitbit in every category, and significantly cheaper. There's plenty of 3rd party app support and it's easy to extract data into a privacy conscious health app, if you don't trust any of the apps too.

novok 6y ago

Apple has native sleep tracking now and I've been using it myself for years. I would like to warn you that you shouldn't trust the waterproofing although, because they use glue to seal the watch screen against the gasket, and temperature variations can eventually loosen that glue, as I found out to a broken series 3 watch one day after swimming in a heated swimming pool and then going skiing the next day. Apple health is one of the few things they actually end to end encrypt[0], so there is no data to sell currently. [0] They should E2EE everything on icloud, including imessage backups, which they don't, but I suspect there is some covert US govt pressure stopping them from doing so. https://bgr.com/2020/01/21/iphone-icloud-backup-isnt-fully-encrypted-and-its-the-fbis-fault/ https://bgr.com/2020/01/21/iphone-icloud-backup-isnt-fully-e...

nonbirithm 6y ago

I use a Misfit Shine with Beeminder to track an exercise habit. It can track steps walked and sleep schedules. Only compromise is that you have to manually sync by holding it up to your phone.

t-writescode 6y ago

The way I've dealt with Apple Watch battery life is to treat it like it has a low battery life. Almost all notifications are disabled. The screen turns off when I'm not looking at it, and so on. I get around 2 days out of it - easily a day and a half, but that allows me to charge it when I feel like it, usually when I'm taking a shower. I own a 6. I've got most of the health tracking stuff turned on, since that's what I bought it for.

deadmutex 6y ago

> This is troubling. Isn't this article just speculation vs actual announcements from companies?

propogandist 6y ago

Look into the Xiaomi MiBand 4 / 5, they're around $30. Battery life can last 2-3+ weeks with litte heart rate monitoring. Sleep tracking is there, but I can't comment on it's accuracy, although it should be pretty good. It's better than Fitbit in every category, and significantly cheaper. There's plenty of 3rd party app support and it's easy to extract data into a privacy conscious health app, if you don't trust any of the apps too.