Unable to Retrieve Fitbit Data

Owned by Andrew Rankin
Last updated: Nov 05, 2020
3 min read
This article pertains to: Legacy API (V1) Inform (v2)

Why couldn't I retrieve my user's Fitbit data through Validic API when I see that the user was able to successfully connect a Fitbit Account to the App Marketplace?

The most common cause of this issue is that a different Fitbit account was unintentionally connected to Fitbit App in the App Marketplace. This is a common case wherein Fitbit user's create a new Fitbit account when getting new Fitbit devices when their original Fitbit accounts were already synced to your Marketplace. In order to help troubleshoot this, we would like to offer several options:

  1. Have the user reconnect to Fitbit App in your App Marketplace and make sure that the user's correct Fitbit account is associated to the provisioned Validic User ID as well as the internal user ID.

  2. If the Fitbit account seems to be properly synced to the Validic User ID, the next step will be to have the user sync his or her Fitbit device to that Fitbit account. A Fitbit device can be seen as synced to a Fitbit account by looking at the User's Fitbit Account Settings. Please see sample screenshots below.


    One way to verify this further and check the consistency is by utilizing Profile.json. For added reference, please see our support article on Utilizing the profile.json API Call.

    The profile.json API Call specifically shows a Fitbit user's conected device. An example of a Fitbit device synced to a Fitbit account will get you the following sample API response after making a Profile.json API Call:


    { "profile": { ... "devices": { "fitbit": { ... "battery": "Medium", "device_version": "Zip", ... "last_sync_time": "2015-10-13T10:49:31.000", "type": "TRACKER" } } }, "applications": [ { "name": "fitbit" } ] }



  3. If the first two options are done and the expected Fitbit data is still not retrievable through Validic, another option is to have the user login to his or her account on the Fitbit Web Portal and click on the Avatar icon. The user will then be brought to the profile page along with the Public URL information: (please see example below)

The last six characters of the Fitbit public url is the Fitbit provider uid. Kindly, send us this information for us to check our logs if the correct Fitbit account is associated to the Validic User ID.