I wrote about Fitbit before, in fact several times. Some of our friends had Fitbits and they said it helped them keep track of exercise and lose weight. So, Mark wanted to get them, too. I caved in as they were less than $100 apiece as I recall.
Well, fast forward about 18 months and one of the fitbits is broken and the other one is not taking a charge. The Aria 2 scale turned out to be a nightmare of incompatible software and a poorly-written app. It never could keep track of who's weight was who's and almost every weighing was listed as "GUEST". When I tried to assign the GUEST entries to individuals, it kept switching them back to GUEST.
My friends who all had Fitbits now have Apple watches as they are in the Apple ecosystem. I managed to cobble together a working Fitbit from my broken unit and Mark's bezel and wristband. That lasted about another six months and then stopped taking a charge. They're no longer in a drawer somewhere, they're in the trash.
Mark was undeterred and wanted to get another Fitness tracker. So we ended up buying a Huawei Fitness tracker online for cheap. I bought a Samsung "active" phone which also tracks Fitness and weight.
But recently, I was looking at the Aria scale which is still working, and decided to try programming it again, since we have a hotspot which is left on all the time. I logged on to my Fitbit account after doing a password reset was able to load the app on my phone. I tried the scale again and this time, instead of saying "GUEST" it actually logged my weight properly. The app seems to have improved and doesn't seem to have the bugs that it had before. And I'm pleased to report that since I've been using the scale again, I've lost 10 pounds so far. It's a start.
UPDATE: I believe the scale updated its firmware when I synced it with my Fitbit account. But I could be wrong about that. Whatever the reason, it finally seems to be working as intended and no more of these stupid GUEST readings, or at least a lot fewer of them.
I sent an invite to Mr. See, and I was able to log him onto the scale as well and easily convert his "GUEST" readings to his account. Finally, several years later, the Aria 2 scale is working as it was supposed to originally.
But it may be too late for Fitbit. Since they came out with their product, a number of "me-too" products have come out, including the Apple watch and various knockoff Fitbits, such as the Huawei model that we bought for cheap.
The reason we bought the Huawei model is that the original Fitbits and Aria 2 scale were so disappointing. There was no compelling reason to stay in the Fitbit universe. Between the the poor performance of the products and the number of "me-too" fitness trackers entering the market, Fitbit was doomed. People who paid $50 a share at the IPO were disappointed when Google bought the company for about seven bucks a share back in 2021. At least Google has the IT people to fix the app and the website, though.
Fitbit is a prime example of two characteristics of technology stocks. First, an idea whose time has come is not necessarily a profitable idea. Second, if you're first to Market you're often last in the marketplace. Fitbit blazed the trail for others to follow - others who learned from Fitbit's mistakes. Moreover, competitors were able to incorporate Fitbit characteristics into their existing ecosystems. Apple was particularly good at this, as Apple users like to stay within the Apple environment. Why bother having a Fitbit, when an Apple Watch has far more features?
Sadly, the financial media, particularly the shouting guy, exhorted us to buy these IPO stocks, claiming that they're going to go through the roof. But this isn't always a guaranteed thing. In fact tech stocks tend to be very risky investments as the few that succeed, succeed spectacularly, but the majority end up in the trash heap.
What Google plans to do with Fitbit is anyone's guess. I guess they want to do a "me-too" of the Apple watch for the Android ecosystem. At least Google has the resources for proper coding and app development. And maybe newer Fitbit products will be an improvement in quality and durability as well.
Of course, the damage is already done. Fitbit has acquired a reputation of having unreliable hardware and sketchy software. That alone was the reason we switched to the Huawei fitness tracker and didn't bother looking at the Fitbit products, which were also more expensive. I guess they figured they could command Apple prices.
Then again, in the Google universe or I guess "Alphabet" as we're supposed to call it now (not me!) the cost of operating the Fitbit division probably amounts to a rounding error. The people doing coding and app development for Fitbit were probably sent there in exile from the main part of Alphabet as punishment for some misdeed.
Anyway, I'm thankful they finally fixed the software so that I can finally use the scale, over four years after I purchased it. Whether or not Google will pull the plug on Fitbit in the next four years, remains to be seen. Unfortunately, that's the problem with tying pieces of hardware to specific websites or apps. Once the manufacturer withdraws support for the software, you basically own a brick.
