Fitbit

A small 2015 study had participants wear multiple devices on their wrists and hips while performing different walking/running speeds on a treadmill. Fitbit devices worn on the hip accurately measured steps taken within 1 step of 100% accuracy. Devices worn on the wrist, however, were off by an average of 11 steps per minute. When measuring the number of calories burned, Fitbit devices worn on the hip underestimated by an average of 6%, while devices worn on the wrist overestimated calories burned by 21%. Authors concluded that both the Fitbit One and Fitbit Flex devices reliably measured step counts and energy expenditure, with hip-based Fitbit devices being more accurate than wrist-based devices.[34]

A 2019 study found that the Fitbit Charge 2 accurately measures the average heart rate of healthy adults during sleep, and that it is most accurate for medium range of heart rate.[35]

A 2019 study found that Fitbit Charge 2 relative to EEG, overestimated sleep efficiency by about 4%, but there was no difference in measured total sleep time.[36]

A 2019 review found that Fitbit devices, which utilize the sleep-staging feature, show a better performance than non-sleep-staging models, especially in differentiating wake from sleep.[37]

On February 20, 2014, Fitbit worked with the Consumer Protection Safety Commission to recall the Fitbit Force because some users experienced allergic reactions to the materials used in the product.[38] On March 12, 2014, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) made the recall official.[39] At that time, there were 9,900 reports of skin irritation and 250 reports of blistering.[39]

In April 2017, a woman claimed her Flex 2 malfunctioned and caught fire, causing second-degree burns on her arm.[40] Following an investigation, Fitbit was adamant that the exploding tracker was caused by external forces, and assured customers that it was not aware of any other complaints and that they could wear their own Fitbits without concern.[41]

On March 5, 2015, Fitbit announced that it had acquired fitness coaching app developer Fitstar for $17.8 million.[42][43]

On March 12, 2016, Fitbit acquired smart credit card company Coin, which included key personnel and intellectual property, but excluded any of Coin's hardware products, which stopped being produced around the time of the acquisition. Fitbit shut down the Coin Rewards and Coin Developer Program during the acquisition. Coin said that existing Coin cards will continue to work until the battery runs out and that existing Coin cards will remain under their one-year manufacturer's warranty.[44][45]

On December 6, 2016, Fitbit acquired assets from Pebble, including key personnel, as the company decided to stop producing wearable technology. The acquisition excludes Pebble's hardware products.[46][47]

On January 10, 2017, Fitbit acquired Romania-based smartwatch startup Vector Watch SRL. Vector said that there will be no new products with the Vector name, but that existing Vector watches will continue to work.[48]

On February 13, 2018, Fitbit acquired US-based software startup Twine Health for an undisclosed amount. A Fitbit spokesperson said that “nearly all” of Twine Health's employees would start working at Fitbit.[49]

Alphabet Inc. announced its intent to acquire Fitbit on November 1, 2019, pending approvals.[50] The deal valued Fitbit at $2.1 billion.[51] The sale is expected to close in 2020.[52] On January 6, 2020, Fitbit shareholders overwhelmingly approved of Google's acquisition.[53] The acquisition deal is still pending regulatory approval as of June 2020.[54]

Fitbit has won numerous awards, including runner-up at TechCrunch50 in 2008[55] and Innovation honoree and best in the Health & Wellness category at CES 2009.[56] In 2016, Fitbit ranked 37th of 50 for most innovative companies for that year.[57] In 2016, the company was ranked #46 on the Deloitte Fast 500 North America list.[58]

To set up and use the hardware, one has to create an account with Fitbit and agree to data collection, transfer and privacy rules.[59]

Starting in June 2011, Fitbit was criticized for its website's default activity-sharing settings, which made users' manually-entered physical activities available for public viewing.[60] All users had the option to make their physical activity information private, but some users were unaware that the information was public by default. One specific issue, which technology blogs made fun of, was that some users were including details about their sex lives in their daily exercise logs, and this information was, by default, publicly available.[61] Fitbit responded to criticism by making all such data private by default and requesting that search engines remove indexed user profile pages from their databases.[60]

The company's devices have also been used in criminal investigations; in one instance, a rape claim against an unnamed intruder was turned around to a criminal charge for false reports based on data from the claimant's Fitbit.[62][63][64][65][66]

The company's proposed sale to Alphabet has resulted in concern that Fitbit user data could be combined with other Google services data or sold for purposes such as targeted advertising, causing some to look for alternative devices.[67] In response, Fitbit stated that user data would not be used or sold for advertising by Google, citing that trustworthiness was "paramount" to the company, and that the sale would not change their historic commitment to user privacy and security.[68]

In December 2019, it was reported that the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice intended to review the merger between Fitbit and Google due to concerns that the purchase would allow Google increased access to personal data.[69]

A Fitbit device played a role in solving a murder.[70] Connie Dabate was murdered by her husband Richard Dabate. Initially, Richard framed the situation, telling police and law enforcement officials that an intruder had broken into their home and fatally shot his wife. However, Connie's Fitbit tracker showed that she was at the gym at the time Richard told police his wife was shot. Using Connie's Fitbit and analyzing her movements, analysts were able to create a timeline that proved Richard had created a false story.[71]

On March 10, 2015, a woman fabricated a story[72] in which an intruder appeared in her employer's home she was staying at and raped her. Risley told police that a man had assaulted her around midnight. Police found a Fitbit lying on the floor when they arrived at the scene. Prosecutors used the Fitbit as evidence and data to determine what had occurred. The Fitbit revealed that the woman was active throughout the night, and the Fitbit surveillance analysis demonstrated the woman had not gone to bed like she stated to the police, proving that the woman had lied to the police.

A Fitbit device played a role in solving another murder in 2018. Anthony Aiello murdered his stepdaughter Karen Navarra while visiting her home and her body was found five days later. Data from her Fitbit fitness tracker showed that her heart rate spiked when Aiello visited her and stopped five minutes before he left. Aiello was arrested in September 2018 on murder charges and was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail.[73][74]