Fitness tracker recommendation for Android?

[Soen Eber]

I want to get one. It's about time, and I'm looking to spend around $100 on a quality used tracker (figuring around $200 new). It needs to be rechargeable and have a decent battery life (3-5 days), track my heart rate along with the usual stuff, and ideally I would like to plug in my headphones and listen to music and audiobooks and downloaded podcasts. I also would like it to have alarms and interval timers (10 minutes work, 1 minute reset, etc) and, if possible (but only nice to have) sync with google calendar.

Is this doable? I have an android tablet and will be very shortly getting a Moto G6

 

[Seven]

I think it's mostly doable, I was looking into something like this recently as well. There's so many smart watches out there it's extremely confusing to sort through. The Fitbit Versa actually sounds like it might have most of the features you're looking for. Although I know that heart rate monitors are typically not very accurate in watches. Also $100 is not enough to buy a new one, and I have no idea if they sell them used or refurbished.

 

[Cristalle]

Go to Swappa.com and buy a used one from someone. You might want to look at Fitbit Versa or the Charge 3, or the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Go to Swappa.com and buy a used one from someone. You might want to look at Fitbit Versa or the Charge 3, or the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro.

One of the Fitbit watches like the Versa sounds like the best option. I'm in the market for a new smartwatch and am eyeing the Fitbit Ionic. However, as far as I know, there are no watches with headphone jacks. Some might connect to bluetooth headphones, but I'm not sure which. As for the Samsung Gear, if it uses a rotating bezel to control aspects of the watch, you might want to avoid that. I've had two Gear 2's in this family, and in both watches, the bezel was the first thing to fail. The battery life in those things range from a little over a day to a little over half a day (in those cases, I have to shut down the watch and restart it to get day-long battery life again).

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Fitbit Charge works well with Android. It can do some notifications and display text messages. Does not control music.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

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[Cristalle]

None of the watches have headphone jacks, you have to use Bluetooth for music. The Charge 3, Versa and Ionic all do this.

The Gear Fit 2 Pro does not have a round face. Please google these items.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Does anything Android have heart health monitoring of the same caliber as the Apple watch?

I don't like the Apple watch at all, but it may be worth getting because I suffer heart failure and I'd like to know sometimes whether I'm falling asleep because I'm tired or because my heartrate has gotten too low. And monitoring for irregularities is just something I'm curious about.

ETA I forgot about this thing:

AliveCor® KardiaMobile EKG Monitor

And as a not ugly watch that does heartrate and sleep monitoring:

Withings Steel HR Sport Smartwatch

 

[Anya Ristow]

FWIW I have a fitbit I don't use because of advertising in the app. In addition to being crass, it also has a "bug" where the close icon to dismiss the ad does nothing, and fitbit's recommended solution is to click on the ad, which does get you past it to the app, but it also brings up the promotion in a browser.

I even bought stylish bands for that stupid thing, and it sits in a box somewhere. I should sell it.

 

[NyteWytch]

I've had a FitBit Versa for almost a year now. I love it for what I get out of it. I have yet to have a popup ad or promotion. I've tested the heart rate monitor of the versa versus the polar heart rate band that straps to my chest and they were within one or 2 beats of each other most times. I don't really use mine for smart app or multimedia stuff though. I mainly just track my activity, heart rate, steps and sleeping oh I do use the alarm also. I have enjoyed downloading new faces for it (especially seasonal ones). I probably have to charge it every 4-ish days or so. Though it will go surprisingly long on a very low charge.

 

[Anya Ristow]

I have yet to have a popup ad or promotion. ... I don't really use mine for smart app...I mainly just track my activity, heart rate, steps and sleeping

The ads are in the app. You have to use the app for detailed sleep tracking, which is why I bought mine (charge 2?). If you don't need the app with the Versa then that is good news. But I'm not buying one. Ads started appearing in the app about the time I bought mine, and I still get notices that people are still posting to the epic complaint thread on the fitbit forum. If they'll add ads to an app for a device people have already paid for, I don't want to give them the opportunity to do the same to my watch. The press said they did the ads in the app in response to competition. How will they respond to continuing pressure? WHatever it is, they won't do it on my dime.

 

[NyteWytch]

Third party ads or ads for their stuff? I open the app several times a week and have yet to see anything other than their coaching upgrade option (and that I have probably seen maybe 3 or 4 times in the last year). Not trying to be snarky, husband and I haven't noticed this (he has the ionic) so just wondering.


*edited to add*

How to stop advertising on the app.

Looks like there is a banner of some kind maybe? I have not seen this but looks like if it is clicked it never shows again. Maybe I clicked it when I first got it.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Third party ads or ads for their stuff? I open the app several times a week and have yet to see anything other than their coaching upgrade option (and that I have probably seen maybe 3 or 4 times in the last year). Not trying to be snarky, husband and I haven't noticed this (he has the ionic) so just wondering.


*edited to add*

How to stop advertising on the app.

Looks like there is a banner of some kind maybe? I have not seen this but looks like if it is clicked it never shows again. Maybe I clicked it when I first got it.

That thread was from about the time they started the ads. The people answering questions there were not, if I recall, fitbit employees, and whether they were or not, they did not know (at that time) how the ads worked. They suggested people just click the ads, which would bring up the promotion in a browser, and when they went back to the app the ad would be gone. Until the next promotion.

There were two kinds. One was a banner within the app, like between sections in the scroll or something. The other kind was full-screen ads, which had a close icon that worked only occasionally. All the ads were for new fitbit products or other promotions. I subscribed to a couple of the threads and I still get notifications that people are contributing to year-and-a-half old threads. I haven't checked for new threads.

Here's one. There are a few screenshots posted, the last one May 6 of this year.

The Fitbit Community

Anyone else suddenly started having adverts on the Fitbit app? It’s really annoying and only started today since the app updated. Annoyed that I paid a lot for the fitbit Surge only to have loads of adverts on the app...can it be disabled? Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

community.fitbit.com

 

[Cristalle]

FWIW I have a fitbit I don't use because of advertising in the app. In addition to being crass, it also has a "bug" where the close icon to dismiss the ad does nothing, and fitbit's recommended solution is to click on the ad, which does get you past it to the app, but it also brings up the promotion in a browser.

I even bought stylish bands for that stupid thing, and it sits in a box somewhere. I should sell it.

I've had a Fitbit for a couple of years now and have never seen an ad. How old is your app? And what phone is it connected to?

 

[Kara Spengler]

Does anything Android have heart health monitoring of the same caliber as the Apple watch?

I don't like the Apple watch at all, but it may be worth getting because I suffer heart failure and I'd like to know sometimes whether I'm falling asleep because I'm tired or because my heartrate has gotten too low. And monitoring for irregularities is just something I'm curious about.

ETA I forgot about this thing:

AliveCor® KardiaMobile EKG Monitor

And as a not ugly watch that does heartrate and sleep monitoring:

Withings Steel HR Sport Smartwatch

Samsung phones have a heart monitor.

 

[Soen Eber]

I got a Fitbit Versa without a charger from Craig's List ($90), and have 2 chargers ($9, one for home, one for travel) and a nicer watchband coming from Amazon and eBay.

 

[Cristalle]

Does anything Android have heart health monitoring of the same caliber as the Apple watch?

I don't like the Apple watch at all, but it may be worth getting because I suffer heart failure and I'd like to know sometimes whether I'm falling asleep because I'm tired or because my heartrate has gotten too low. And monitoring for irregularities is just something I'm curious about.

ETA I forgot about this thing:

AliveCor® KardiaMobile EKG Monitor

And as a not ugly watch that does heartrate and sleep monitoring:

Withings Steel HR Sport Smartwatch

The Fitbits generally are. But you may want to go to wareable.com for reviews of different wearable devices.

 

[Soen Eber]

So far loving the fitbit Versa, it's a great watch and fitness gadget. I also picked up a refurbished Moto E4 Plus based on it's reviews, ruggedness, replaceable battery, and being able to put Lineage OS on it when the time comes so it'll last me a few more years.

If any web developer is looking for project ideas, the Versa has a well documented developer's kit with good resources and an easy learning curve: it only requires html, css, and javascript. With it and the Ionic (earlier version) still being newish, there's not a ton of apps for it yet but I think there's still a good demand for new apps what with the Versa being so popular. You'll want to do your research before trying to make money from it though.

 

[Anya Ristow]

ETA I forgot about this thing:

AliveCor® KardiaMobile EKG Monitor

I got one of these things BTW. Really cool, and kinda scary. I wish I had a twenty-year-old ekg as a baseline.