Fitbit battery monitor

[sambarlick]

Hi,

Is it possible to access and monitor processes or alerts internal to another app?

I have a fitbit device and i was wondering if it was possible to use automagic to create a flow ti monitor and then alert me that the fitbit battery is low?

The fitbit app monitors the devices battery but doesn't do a good job at alerting me when it is low.

Thanks, Sam

[Martin]

Hi,

Apps usually don't make such internal information available to other apps. Unfortunately I don't have a fitbit so I can not test how the app works and how an alert could be intercepted/created.
Does fitbit reliably show a notification when the battery is low? If yes, you could create a trigger Notification on Statusbar Displayed and create a more insistent alert.

Regards,
Martin

[sambarlick]

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your reply.

The fitbit app doesn't notify about the battery status, it's supposed to but it doesn't.

It only displays the battery level internally to the app.

I have just found the function control ui, is it possible to maybe capture the information somehow if the app doesn't broadcast the information externally?

Thanks again Martin.

[Martin]

Hi,

It highly depends how Fitbit displays the text within the app. Control UI could copy the text displayed by Fitbit when Fitbit uses a regular text label but it would not work when Fitbit paints the battery status graphically using a picture. Additionally, the Fitbit app has to be open and visible on the screen for Control UI to work. If this works for you, you can use Show Overlay Control in Control UI, open the Fitbit app and then press Info to highlight the components on screen that Automagic can interact with.

Regards,
Martin

[sambarlick]

Hi Martin,

The control ui function couldn't intact with the battery display in fitbit.

There are 3 apps that im aware of that are 3rd party that do display the battery information, they however access the website and not the app. So i tried to see if control ui could interact with the website and battery information. The control ui seems to sometimes recognise the text display but won't copy the information. Only click or grab bounds or scroll. If i try to manually write copy it doesn't return anything.

I guess it's not do-able.

II you have any ideas it would be great but I'm out of ideas.

Thanks Sam

[Martin]

Hi,

I'm currently experimenting with some Bluetooth LE functions. If Fitbit properly implements the official bluetooth LE battery service, it might become possible to read the battery level directly from Automagic (but I can't promise anything yet). Support for Bluetooth LE conditions and triggers will take quite some time until it becomes available in Automagic and it will certainly start as an experimental feature since I have only one device to test Bluetooth LE at all.

Regards,
Martin

[sambarlick]

Hi Martin,

I'm pretty sure that fitbit uses bluetooth le.

I discovered last night that i cab access some of fitbits running services. For example when the app is syncing to the device i can set the phone to vibrate, but i can only use a condition to access that and not trigger.

I also discovered last night that fitbit have a developers form for external devs and 3rd party things.

I will have a look around there and see what i can find.

That sounds really interesting that your working on bluetooth le. Y that would be a really useful feature for automagic. Unfortunately i read on that fitbit form that the fitbit devices only sync with the app but that data is available to external sources.

Thanks again Sam.

[sambarlick]

I spoke to someone on the fitbit form.

They suggested i can access the app data using the apps API.

Is it possible to access the api using automagic?

Here is a webpage that shows the code (i assume it's Java, I know C and a little C++, but not Java).

https://wiki.fitbit.com/plugins/servlet ... ew/1638450

[Martin]

It looks like the API is based on HTTP GET/POST calls so it's theoretically possible to access the information in a flow with some HTTP Request actions. Most difficult part will be to authenticate your request: https://wiki.fitbit.com/plugins/servlet ... iew/884796. I suppose it will be a very difficult task to load the battery level in this way.
Did you check that the Fitbit website provides accurate battery status information? Maybe it's the app on your device that checks/uploads the battery information unreliably so it would not help to check the level on their servers at all.

[sambarlick]

The way i understand it, the device syncs with the app and then the app uploads the data to the website.

I think it is preferable to get the data from the app rather than the website.

My issue with the app is it is supposed to notify me when the battery is low, but it doesn't.

If i access the app it syncs and then shows me the current battery level amongst other things.

Would APIs be useful to access the app or just the website?

Thanks, Sam