Power Sync for Fitbit

I am grateful this app exists while I’m living out the life of my Fitbit (I think I’m giving up on Fitbit after this one tho). I just wanted to bring up a small little thing. It does sync to apple health, but it seems to just add all the Fitbit steps on top of my health steps from my phone, which on my walks means I’m clocking double. The reason I downloaded this in the first place wasn’t because I care about the Health app, it was for a game (Pikmin Bloom) that counts your steps based on the Health app (if you allow it) so I’m not really complaining due to that, because now I look like I’m doing better in the game. And I’m not above doing that right now, but it seems to me it would be better if it only added the difference between the Fitbit and phones step counts to be more accurate. I just look at my Fitbit app for my actual health information, so I’m fine, but figured it was technically something the devs might like to know.

I know you can expect ads with a free version of an app. However, this app has incorporated a dark pattern to try to get you to buy their premium version. A dark pattern is “an element of manipulative interface designed to trick the user into taking actions that they might not have done freely.” This occurs when you open the app and are met with a “Sync Now” button. A split second later, a pop up covers your screen and a “Get Premium” button covers the location where the “Sync Now” button used to be. This means if you casually open the app, and immediately click the button that triggers **the one piece of functionality this app has**, you’ll likely tap the “Get Premium” button on accident. This pop up also does not immediately show you a dismiss option, so users may think they need to buy premium in order to continue using the app. The app does work, and I would consider getting premium for the auto-sync functionality, however I find dark patterns to be be reflection of how well a developer value’s their product and their users, and don’t believe one should need to be tricked into buying something that’s actually worth the money.

The reason I purchased this app, like many others who have tried it, was because I was hoping that this would be the answer to my problem of organizing all of my health data in one place. While it does bring in some data, Fitbit’s own data share policies are more of a hindrance to this app’s potential than the app itself. Fitbit has gathered multiple data points but only allows an average to be shared and added to Apple Health data. If the developers and Fitbit could continue to work out their issues, I believe that this app has great potential. As a Fitbit owner, the data is mine. Fitbit collects it because I bought their product. How I choose to use my data is my business. So long as I grant permission to a 3rd party such as this app developer, then I should be allowed to share that data. Until there is better cooperation between this developer and Fitbit, you should know this is not the answer you are looking for to solve your Apple Health data management issue.