Fitbit

Fitbit is a line of wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, quality of sleep, and stairs climbed as well as related software. It operated as an American consumer electronics and fitness company from 2007 to 2021.

The Fitbit brand name was originally owned by Fitbit, Inc., founded by James Park and Eric Freidman. The company was acquired by Google in January 2021 and was absorbed into the company's hardware division.[1]

In 2019, Fitbit was the fifth-largest wearable technology company by shipments.[2][3] The company has sold more than 120 million devices and has 29 million users in over 100 countries.

History

Fitbit LLC was founded as Healthy Metrics Research, Inc. in San Francisco, California, on March 26, 2007, by James Park (CEO) and Eric Friedman (CTO). In October 2007, it changed its name to Fitbit, Inc.[4][6]

In January 2015, the company successfully defended against a trademark lawsuit from Fitbug.[7] On March 5, 2015, Fitbit acquired Fitstar, a fitness coaching app developer, for $17.8 million.[8][9] In June 2015, the company became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $732 million.[10][11][12][13] In May 2016, Fitbit acquired a wearable payment platform from smart credit card company Coin.[14][15] In October 2016, CEO James Park announced that the company was undergoing a major transformation from what he called a "consumer electronics company" to a "digital healthcare company".[16] On December 6, 2016, Fitbit acquired assets from Pebble for $23 million.[17][18][19][20][21] On January 10, 2017, Fitbit acquired Romania-based smartwatch startup Vector Watch SRL.[22][23]

On February 13, 2018, Fitbit acquired Twine Health.[24] In February 2018, Fitbit announced a partnership with Adidas to release an Adidas-branded Fitbit Ionic; it was released on March 19, 2018.[25] In August 2018, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBS) announced a partnership with Fitbit in which BCBS included Fitbit's wearables and fitness trackers in its Blue365 program.[26]

Products

The first product released was the Fitbit Tracker, launched in 2009.[37][38]

In 2012, Fitbit began offering activity trackers, along with a website and a mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile.[39] This allows the trackers to sync to devices such as mobile phones via Bluetooth, or to a Bluetooth-equipped computer running Windows or MacOS.[39] Users have the ability to log their food, activities, and weight, to track over time and set daily and weekly goals for themselves for steps, calories burned and consumed, and distance walked. The app also offers a community page where users can challenge themselves and compete against other users. The social element anticipates an increase in motivation, and finds that users take an average of 700 more steps per day when they have friends on the app.[40] Users can also choose to share their progress pictures and achievement badges.

In 2017, the company released its Fitbit Ionic smartwatch,[41] and in 2018, it released a redesigned, lower-priced version of the smartwatch called the Versa.[42][43]

The Fitbit Charge 3, a wristband health and fitness tracker introduced in October 2018, was the first device to feature an oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensor; however, as of January 2019, it was non-functional and Fitbit did not provide an implementation timeline.[44] The Charge 3 comes with two different-sized bands: small and large. The small band is around between 5.5 - 7.1 inch and the large band is 7.1 - 8.7 inch. The screen is larger than the Charge 2 by approximately 40%. Charge 3 comes in two color combos: a Rose-Gold case with a Blue Grey band and a "Graphite Aluminum" screen case with a Black band.[45]

On December 17, 2018, Fitbit released the Fitbit OS 3.0, which included an extended dashboard, quick logging for weight and water intake, and goal-based exercise mode. The new extended on-device dashboard (Fitbit Today) would include more data regarding sleep, water intake, and weight.[46]

There are three versions of the Fitbit Versa, standard, Special, and Lite.[47]

In December 2018, Fitbit added an API and open source tools to allow developers to better build apps for its smartwatch products.[48]

On January 2, 2019, the company announced the release of the Fitbit Charge 3 in India.[49][50]

On June 3, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced Fitbit Flow, a ventilator in response to the shortages of ventilators in medical centers and hospitals around the world which are needed to treat critically ill patients.[51][52] Despite getting emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration,[53] the company does not consider Fitbit Flow as a drop-in replacement for traditional ventilators. Instead, the product is meant as an alternative when the more expensive option of traditional ventilators is not available. Therefore, the company intended for Fitbit Flow to be used only during the COVID-19 pandemic.[54]

In August 2020, Fitbit also announced new smartwatches, the Versa 3, the Inspire 2, and the Fitbit Sense, which includes new health metrics and analysis such as stress sensing, oxygen saturation, and skin temperature. The Sense also promises to show changes in skin temperature to catch signs of sickness.[55]

Certain Sense, Versa, Ionic, and Charge products support Fitbit Pay, which is a digital wallet that uses NFC to make payments at point of sale. Google has stated their intention to eventually discontinue this payment method in most regions on July 29, 2024, and fully replace it with Google Wallet & Google Pay. Fitbit Pay will remain active Taiwan, Japan, and Saudi Arabia past the set discontinuation date for an unspecified length of time.[56][57][58]

In August 2022, Fitbit announced new smartwatches, the Versa 4, the Inspire 3, and the Sense 2, featuring incremental improvements mainly in fitness tracking features and battery life over the last iterations.[59]

In 2023, Fitbit released the Charge 6, which added support for Google Maps and YouTube Music.[60]

Reception

Recalls

On February 20, 2014, Fitbit worked with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to recall the Fitbit Force because some users experienced allergic reactions to the materials used in the product. On March 12, 2014, the CPSC made the recall official. At that time, there were 9,900 reports of skin irritation and 250 reports of blistering.[68]

In April 2017, a woman claimed her Flex 2 device malfunctioned and caught fire, causing second-degree burns on her arm.[69] 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.[70]

During 2018, 2019 and 2020, Fitbit received reports of its Ionic smartwatches overheating, causing second-degree and third-degree burns.[71][72] On March 2, 2022, Fitbit issued a voluntary recall of 1.7 million Ionic smartwatches, citing overheating issues with the battery posing a burn hazard.[73][74] At the time of the recall, there were 78 reports of skin burns in the United States and 40 internationally (and 115 reports of overheating in the US and 59 internationally).[75][76] On January 23, 2025, Fitbit was fined a $12.25million civil penalty for failing to immediately report the burn issue to the CPSC.[71][72]

Privacy concerns

Use in court cases

The company's devices have been used in criminal investigations.[84][85][86]

On March 10, 2015, a woman fabricated a story that an intruder appeared in her employer's home in which she was staying and raped her. She 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 as she stated to the police, proving that the woman had lied to the police.[87][88][89][90]

In 2017, a Fitbit device played a role in solving the murder of Connie Dabate by her husband, Richard Dabate.[91] Initially, Richard lied to police and law enforcement officials, claiming that an intruder had broken into their home and fatally shot his wife.[91] 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 created a timeline that disproved Richard's story.[92]

In 2018, a Fitbit device played a role in solving another murder. 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.[93][94]

See also

• Pebble (watch)
• Quantified self
• 199 Fremont Street (San Francisco building that formerly housed offices of Fitbit)

External links