Fitbit
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | : FIT |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | San Francisco, California, United States (May 1, 2007) |
| Founders |
James Park Eric Friedman |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
James Park (CEO) Eric Friedman (CTO) |
| Products | Fitbit Tracker |
| Subsidiaries | Pebble |
| Website | www |
Fitbit (: FIT) is an American company headquartered in San Francisco, California, known for its products of the same name, which are activity trackers, wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness. The first of these was the Fitbit Tracker. Some evidence has found that the use of similar devices results in less weight loss rather than more.
Alongside its trackers, Fitbit offers a mobile app and website that can be used with or without the Fitbit Tracker, although owning one is recommended. Users have the ability to log their food, activities, and weight, to track over time and can set daily and weekly goals for themselves for steps, calories burned and consumed, and distance walked. The devices also come with a USB dongle, to sync data to the account via Fitbit Connect.
In those who are overweight or obese, some evidence indicates that the use of wearable technology combined with standard behavioral weight loss intervention results in less weight loss after two years of use when compared to usual weight loss interventions. There was no evidence that the devices altered the amount that people exercised or their diet compared to control. It is unclear whether these devices affect the amount of physical activity children engage in.
A small 2014 study of eight fit band devices during a 69-minute workouts that included 13 different activities found the bands were at best "reasonably accurate", with the Fitbit Zip and Fitbit One scoring 10.1% and 10.4% error ratings, respectively.
A small 2015 study had participants wear multiple devices on their wrists and hips performing different walking/running speeds on a treadmill. Fitbit devices worn on the hip accurately measured steps taken within 1 step of 100% accuracy. Devices worn on the wrist, however, were off by an average of 11 steps per minute. When measuring the number of calories burned, Fitbit devices worn on the hip underestimated by an average of 6%, while devices worn on the wrist overestimated calories burned by 21%. Authors concluded that both the Fitbit One and Fitbit Flex devices reliably measured step counts and energy expenditure, with hip-based Fitbit devices being more accurate than wrist-based devices. These measurements did not address the question of health effects.
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Wikipedia