Wear OS watch or Fitbit?

[Joshua Luther1]

I currently have a Galaxy Watch 5 that is paid off. My insurance is changing next year and it will likely require me to wear a watch or Fitbit to track my steps. I will have Blue Cross. Blue Cross allows Fitbit to sync my steps automatically.

The way I connected Fitbit to sync with Samsung Health is by using My Fitness Pal to be the app that connects the two. Blue Cross will only sync my steps automatically from Fitbit so this was the only workaround for it.

Will this be good enough should I use a Fitbit as well. The insurance will pay for a cheaper Fitbit tracker but not for something more expensive. I'm thinking I will still get the Fitbit and try and wear both my Watch 5 and Fitbit. I'm concerned about the apps going into deep sleep or developers eventually stopping syncing between them. Or how much of a battery drain the two extra apps will have on my phone and/or watch.

Which leads me to whether I should just trade in my watch 5 for a Pixel watch 2 that works with Fitbit out of the box or just wear the watch and Fitbit or continue to use my watch 5 only.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'd be wary of using that technology with an insurance company. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-m...-want-patients-use-wearables-could-be-problem

 

[Joshua Luther1]

I'd be wary of using that technology with an insurance company. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-m...-want-patients-use-wearables-could-be-problem

They don't require it unless I want to pay a higher premium because my BMI is higher than 30. With it being higher than 30, in order to get a lower premium, I have to agree to enroll in WW or in the BCN weight management program. It only requires me to wear a Fitbit and average 5000 steps a day to get the lower premium. I have to get a physical and my PCP has to fill out a qualification form. It's either that or I keep my PPO plan and pay double per month of what I'm paying now for basically the same benefits that the HMO will have. My cholesterol and BMI are the only things that are slightly higher than what is considered healthy. But they said my cholesterol isn't high enough to require medication. It's only for one year, so I can reevaluate it next year when I re-enroll for my insurance. It's all through my employer.

 

[Laura Knotek]

They don't require it unless I want to pay a higher premium because my BMI is higher than 30. With it being higher than 30, in order to get a lower premium, I have to agree to enroll in WW or in the BCN weight management program. It only requires me to wear a Fitbit and average 5000 steps a day to get the lower premium. I have to get a physical and my PCP has to fill out a qualification form. It's either that or I keep my PPO plan and pay double per month of what I'm paying now for basically the same benefits that the HMO will have. My cholesterol and BMI are the only things that are slightly higher than what is considered healthy. But they said my cholesterol isn't high enough to require medication. It's only for one year, so I can reevaluate it next year when I re-enroll for my insurance. It's all through my employer.

OK. I hope it works out for you. It doesn't appear that there are any regulations that prevent insurance companies to use trackers to deny insurance coverage.

 

[Joshua Luther1]

I'm only halfway into my day at work and Samsung Health shows that I've walked 4500 steps whereas Fitbit says it's only 2600.

So I'm not sure if the problem is the two apps aren't syncing correctly or what. I have Fitbit connected to My Fitness Pal and then MyFitnessPal connected to Samsung Health. I think there's an issue with the syncing. Because when I look at my Fitbit steps within the MyFitnessPal app, it shows more than what is showing up on the actual Fitbit app. So it appears that the issue is between MyFitnessPal and Fitbit.

I'm more apt to believe that the Watch 5 and Samsung health is pretty accurate with the amuof steps as I do work a job where I am on my feet and walk a lot.

I guess the only way to figure out what is causing this discrepancy is to get a Fitbit and wear both for a while to see how close they are.

I just can't seem to find a way to accurately sync Samsung Health with Fitbit. My steps are being uploaded to Samsung health from my watch. Then it goes from Samsung Health --> MyFitnessPal --> Fitbit. What would cause the steps to be that much off?

The screenshots are Samsung Health, Fitbit and MyFitnessPal.

 

[Joshua Luther1]

Ok. I think I may have found a solution. I googled it and came across the app Health Sync. This seems to have fixed it for the time being. I'll report back in a few days.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Ok. I think I may have found a solution. I googled it and came across the app Health Sync. This seems to have fixed it for the time being. I'll report back in a few days.

Google have an app called Health Connect that seems to work pretty well. I've only used it between Google Fit and Samsung Health myself though.