Even in the US, the GDPR means companies have to at least pretend to care about data privacy,
A company I worked for a few years ago quite literally "noped" out of GDPR compliance by spinning off all its overseas business into a new company and walking away from the market entirely. That was a pretty big sign for me that the company was a piece of shit and when I started looking for a new job.
The monetisation of user data is really enshittifying products. At this point I wouldn't be against if a company would find it a "feature" to not require you to login/make an account and share data.
I have two Fitbit Charge devices. I took two months off using it. I went to go use them, one will simply not boot (turns on for 1/2 seconds and shuts off) and the other now will only stay charged for a few hours and dies. I'm not sure what's going on here, but it seems suspicious.
IIRC you can't turn off Fitbit devices. You have to drain the batteries completely so that the device powers down by itself. Utter shit design, but it is what it is.
I have owned probably a dozen Fitbits over the years.
Not coincidentally, I own a dozen dead Fitbits.
Honestly you are better off buying the cheapest Chinese product on Amazon. Fitbits are pure fucking diarrhea in wearable form, and I eagerly await the class action lawsuit.
A few years ago I bought a xiaomi fitness tracker for 30 euros. Used every day until I got bored of it. Left it in a drawer for a year, tried it recently, still works just fine.
Not that I'd necessarily recommend getting one, but if the battery on yours is already dead, I agree that is suspiscious. Sounds like it's by design.
Those xioami fitbands are great for the price, if you want basic tracking without needing your phone or just want a really cheap smartwatch that can control music or your cameras shutter.
But their battery also doesn't last more than 2 years if you charge it every 3 days. At least the 2 and the 4 died within 2 years for me.
I don’t think any Fitbit I’ve ever owned has lasted more than a year. The good thing about the company is that they have a pretty good warranty program and as a result, I haven’t paid out of pocket for a new device in over three years.
I have a charge 4. People don't like it because it has no colors, I don't like it because it has no sdk to support making new apps on it. Apparently it has very good sensors that I would have loved to manipulate and use for my own personal use cases. But alas.
Looking to buy a new tracker soon since it helped me understand my heartbeat and sleeping patterns better. I'm looking for something FOSS where it's easy to make and share custom widgets.
My charge just died on me(again. I've had three firbits while my wife's apple watch is still going strong). I was planning on moving to Garmin (maybe they are better than Fitbit/Google about data privacy), but my wife talked me into seeing if my Fitbit was under warranty. It's not, but they offered me 50% off any fitbit on their site.
This obviously makes my decision harder. I can get a new inspire 3 for $49 or I can try to figure out which Garmin out of their 1000 variations is right for me. Most of the ones that interest me are ~$300+
Is Fitbit a google product? I actually didn’t know that!
I know Apple Bad on Lemmy, but I’m still using my first-generation Apple Watch. I love it very much., even though it’s ancient and a bit slow now. Battery still lasts all day, which is nice for how ancient it is.
while it doesn't support Fitbit models so it's pretty useless in this particular case, look into Gadgetbridge. it does support lots of different smartwatch brands, and helps you keep all the data on-device without phoning home.
Why do people use smart watches. I don't get it. You want to track health stuff, get a running/sports watch. Otherwise just enjoy the freedom of not being bombarded with notifications unless you take your phone out. You're not that busy