Our SDK Deprecation Process

We constantly strive to bring new features and fixes to Fitbit OS and our SDK, but each new SDK version creates additional overhead to our engineering process. Therefore, we have decided to document our deprecation strategy so that developers can plan their app updates accordingly, as older SDK versions are removed from Fitbit Studio and our Command Line SDK.

We always plan to always support two SDK versions concurrently. This means that as one new version is released, the oldest version will be removed.

In the next few weeks we will actually be ending support for the 2 oldest versions of our SDK to align with this new strategy. This means that you'll be no longer able to build an app or clockface in Fitbit Studio which targets SDK 1.0 or 2.0.

To continue building your project in Fitbit Studio after the update, you'll need to upgrade your project to target the latest SDK. Don't worry, this is a pretty simple process!

All you'll need to do is select the latest SDK version in your project configuration and make any necessary changes to your code to take account of the additions or changes. For instance, when migrating to SDK 3.0 and your app should remain running for longer than two minutes, then you'll want to disable the app timeout. We will always provide details of the API changes within our SDK Migration Guide.

If you are using our Command Line SDK, you can upgrade your project by running either of the following commands in your project directory:

npm users

npm install --save-dev @fitbit/sdk@~4.0.0

yarn users

yarn add --dev @fitbit/sdk@~4.0.0

By upgrading, you'll be able to take advantage of the new features we've built into the latest version of our SDK. As an example, SDK 3.0 compresses your application so it's smaller and, as a result, faster for your users to install.

If you don't wish to update your project at this time, you'll also have the option of exporting your project from Fitbit Studio, and using our Command Line SDK instead. Older versions of the SDK will continue to be available on npm, so you can always build older projects offline in this way.

Going forward, we'll continue to support the latest version and the one previous version, giving you plenty of time to update your existing projects. For complete details, see our SDK Deprecation Policy.

In the future, we may stop accepting applications built against older SDKs for submission to the Fitbit App Gallery. As such, we encourage you to always use the latest SDK version when writing new applications, and consider updating your SDK version when submitting updates for existing applications.