How to sync Fitbit with Strava : SOLVED

[PhantomWolff]

** FOR THE SOLUTION TO THIS, PLEASE JUMP TO THE PENULTIMATE COMMENT

Fitbit and strava dont sync heart-rate between each other if you have an activity shared or dont manually start GPS recording, Fitbit also doesnt allow for blank activity uploads... you can see your heart-rate data and such but nothing else and on export its blank so cant be used nor uploaded anywhere

and so to get your fitbit heart-rate you can use https://exain.com/fitbit/

the issue is this site doesn't work with it and no matter how i edit the file to try and make it compatible with the site i just cant get it to work

so please add native support for the site or give us an example of say a CSV file with correct time stamp layout and such, as opposed to simply stating "None of the files that you uploaded had any valid time stamps" and then leave us sat there like WTF!! at least show me what its ment to look like

ive added what it looks like when its exported using that site because as far as i can find there is NOTHING else that will export Fitbit heart-rate from either a GPS-less activity or straight from fitfit at all for that matter, tho the site does only suck it right from fitbit so would need manual cropping or the site to dismis most of the tracking points and match it up with an actual activity downloaded from say strava

need me to expand on anything or reword it entirely or what ever then just ask

[fulmar2]

Hi There -

I'm having a little trouble understanding everything you are saying, but to break it down a little:

My site does have information on how to upload a CSV with the proper format. That can be found by clicking on the question mark near the upload button. There are also other question marks that you can click that reference this. So you can see, I have added a screen shot:

How to get help with uploading CSV files to convert to GPX

How to format CSV uploads to convert to GPX

Having said the above, it may not actually be necessary to convert to a CSV file for the sake of uploading to my tool. I'm pretty sure that Fitbit produces GPX and TCX files - you might want to call them directly and ask how to do this. In this way, you might be to just sync the heart rate file with Strava (it wouldn't have a map, I know)... and then use my tool to merge the files. For donors, my tool can directly retrieve activities from Strava without you even having to download.

Anyway, please send me more information (preferably by direct contact instead of this forum) so I can help you personally. If I find information that looks like it will help other people, I'll post it to this forum with clear details and screen shots.

[PhantomWolff]

ok well there is an example but its on the upload portion of the tool... add it to the part after because without you saying where it is, its existence was unknown and it also just makes sense to have it on the second part next to the error and timestamp tool... which didn't work mind you and not a clue why, it just didnt

onto the fitbit part... you can ONLY view it from fitbit, the second you hit export what happens is it comes out blank with nothing inside because without GPS data FitBit doesnt bother (meaning you HAVE to use a FitBit device to record the activity otherwise heart-rate data is not obtainable outside of FitBit)

so an external tool has to be used to suck the heart-rate data for the entire day as sucking it from the activity is IMPOSSIBLE (use to be but isnt anymore) when there is no GPS data... which as i already said happens when someone shares an activity or you use anything other than FitBit to record it. FitBit then breaks and cant export the Heart-Rate Data from the activity and becomes Read-Only from FitBit only

https://exain.com/fitbit/ is the easiest and probably the only way to get heart-rate data from fitbit

the issue is the site doesn't like its timestamps which should take only a few dozen minutes to add to the site and allow XLM files from https://exain.com/fitbit/ to be used to grab heart-rate data

then the downloaded activity from strava can be paired with the heart-rate data from https://exain.com/fitbit/ and boom FitBit's BS self-imposed issues are removed seeing as FitBit refused to export Heart-Rate data unless you manually record the activity on your FitBit instead of paired from Strava to FitBit

Either that or make it so the timestamp format from https://exain.com/fitbit/ can be converted to an acceptable one using the timestamp tool or something

[fulmar2]

Phantom -

I'm sorry if you're frustrated with the location of the FAQs, and I'll consider what you said about putting links to FAQs in more places.

As I mentioned before, I think this would be better if you could use the direct contact form so we could exchange files. Nevertheless, if you prefer to continue this as a public discussion, maybe you could attach files to this thread so I can examine them. I did follow your multiple links to exain.com, but I am simply not 100% certain that this is what we need to do to make this easier for everyone. Also, there are multiple steps to make this happen, including the need to create a fitbit account and the necessity of owning a fitbit for testing purposes - I'm not sure I'm ready to take those steps yet.

My question is this: What happens if you simply sync your Fitbit with Strava? According to Strava, you can do this:

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/art ... and-Strava

Once you sync your fitbit with Strava, you can then go into my tool and check the boxes for each activity. To be totally clear, I made a mock-up screen shot displaying how you might combine a GPS track with a fitbit heart rate activity:

How to merge FITBIT Heart Rate data with a GPS track

Once you get to the second page on my tool, make sure that the box saying "Randomize ID Tag" is checked. That will enable you to upload a duplicate activity (because this new merged track will be a duplicate of the stuff you have already loaded; only difference is that the heart rate and GPS will be merged).

I hope that this solves your issue without having to resort to more complicated solutions with file conversions to CVS, export, etc.

**ADDENDUM/UPDATE**

I just re-read the Strava link that I posted above, and it appears that Strava will refuse to sync if you don't have GPS coordinates in the file.

So, let's go back to Plan A: I'm going to need a CSV file so I can test. I see you posted a screen shot of the CSV above, but you will need to send me a CSV file so I can give it a go. I think that I will try to implement "native support" for the export that you provide - but that MIGHT NOT be possible (I don't want to override any other CSV import types)... but if there are enough unique identifiers, my hope is that you will be able to dump a CSV file directly from that app into my tool. I need the file to do this, though. As I said above, direct contact is best, but you can also upload a CSV to this forum.

[PhantomWolff]

Nothing special in the file so im gonna put it here incase anyone wants to figure out what im talking about, but if you do want me to start using direct messaging i can

here is what gets outputted when you use https://exain.com/fitbit/

its an XLS file so would require another file format to be accepted alternativly the site could ask that XLS is converted to some other format and that be used instead

i had to put it in a zip file cus XLS isnt supported for attaching

im hoping it could be done by exporting as CSV with a name change from Date & Time to timestamps or something if XLS cant be added

[fulmar2]

I took the file you sent me, and I opened it with Libre Office. Next, I noticed that the first header was "Date & Time" so I changed it to "Timestamp" (as indicated in the FAQs that I mentioned to you earlier in this thread). Next, I selected "Save As" and saved as a CSV file. I imported this to my tool and it worked. Please see screen shot below.

Uploading CSV Heart Rate File from Fitbit to merge with GPX file.

One thing I noticed about the time stamps in that file is that they begin at midnight (UTC). So, unless you did happen to start at midnight UTC, you might also have to do a time-shift. I'm not 100% certain because it is possible that you just exported your heart rate for the entire day. If that is the case, then you might not have to time-shift. I do have another tool that allows you to align time.

So, with the CSV file, all you have to do next is upload the GPX file along with this one and merge them. If you upload two files, you will get a button that is named "smart trim" - and if your GPX activity fits "within" the heart rate file, it will trim them down so you don't have to.

Hope that helps!

[PhantomWolff]

i should have just uploaded the file to begin with cus it seams like it took you no more than 5 minutes to get it to work

Thanks so much for everything you do with these tools and the support we get in the forums