noyb filed three complaints against Fitbit. The health and fitness company forces new app users to consent to data transfers
  • sudneo@lemmy.world
    20·
    1 year ago

    The whole landscape of health trackers is depressing. I bought a fitbit last year as I could expend it at work, and I ended up leaving it in a drawer exactly for the uneasy feeling of sharing very sensitive data. Health data is probably the most impactful on personal lives (insurances, banks, etc.), and it’s astonishing to me how it’s too much to ask to a company that makes watches to have watches as their mine business model.

    I understand sharing data for further analysis etc., but I should be able to use my health tracker locally, only talking to my phone app and nothing else, similar to how gadgetbridge works. I was eyeing banglejs specifically to be able to do this, even though it’s not really a health tracker.

      • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
        3·
        1 year ago

        I always check what’s supported by Gadgetbridge before buying something, can’t say thank you enough to the volunteers behind the project.

        • TheYang@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 year ago

          And ZeppOS watches (most/all Amazfit watches) are well supported!
          Can’t recommend it enough, for anyone privacy conscious at least

          • Fredy1422@lemmy.ml
            1·
            1 year ago

            The only thing that when use my amazfit bip with gadget bridge is a lack of (configurable) weather tracking. But doesent bother me.

            • TheYang@lemmy.world
              1·
              1 year ago

              not 100% sure, because weather is a bit device specific.
              But usually you should be able to install either weather notification or quickweather (use an API key for OpenWeatherMap) and have that data sync via gadgetbridge to the watch.

      • lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        1 year ago

        And the PineTime as an Open Source Smartwatch. I’m not using much of the fitness tracker functionality, but counting my steps is very important for me.

        • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
          1·
          1 year ago

          Last time I shopped for a smartwatch the PineTime was tempting but the shipping was more than the cost of the device itself… so I went with the bangle.js2.

  • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
    10·
    1 year ago

    And this is why I refuse to buy devices that depend on “the cloud” to essentially work at all. Getting harder though…

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    10·
    1 year ago

    If a given form of data sharing is illegal, then you shouldn’t be able to consent to it, especially now that we have awareness of dark patterns used to pressure people to consent to surrender their rights away.

    The same reason a click-wrap TOS cannot be binding (as of 2020, I think) because it’s too easy to run a contract by customer the length of Richard III and the end user give up and click without reading (or comprehending).

  • Whisp@kbin.social
    4·
    1 year ago

    I know this might be a far shot, but does anyone have any recommendations for a privacy respecting smart watch?

      • bruce965@lemmy.ml
        2·
        1 year ago

        I have one. It does the bare minimum (show time, count steps, show notifications), everything else doesn’t work very well, including the heart monitor. But the battery lasts for almost a month. And it’s completely offline, no cloud services. I would still recommend it.

    • chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net
      2·
      1 year ago

      Apple is generally really good with privacy stuff. The health data stays on device unless you enable iCloud backup/sync. You can choose what app (if any) you’d like to share which part of your health data with (at which point you’re beholden by those app’s workflows and privacy policies). You can read directly from Apple here.

      But the limiting factor is that you’d need to buy in to the rest of the ecosystem… or at least an iPhone. Not an issue for me, but YMMV depending on personal preferences.