Conduct health research with the Fitbit Web API

Last revised on May 18, 2022

Fitbit is excited to support the use of the Fitbit Web API for health research. If you’d like to use the Fitbit Web API for health research purposes, there are a few steps you need to take.

1. Starting August 16, 2022, identify your application as “Health Research" when registering the application. When you register your application at https://dev.fitbit.com/apps, you will be asked to categorize your application based on the intended purpose. Select “Health Research” as your application’s category.
2. Fill out a Health Research intake form. After your application has been registered at Fitbit and the client ID has been created, you will receive an email asking you to fill out a Health Research intake form. This form will ask for information including study description, study outcome measures, and ethics board approval.
3. Wait for Fitbit to approve your intake form submission. Once you submit your completed Health Research intake form, hold tight! Fitbit’s clinical research team will review your submission and contact you, usually within 7 business days. The team will either advise you on how to adjust your submission if they have questions about your study, or give you the go-ahead to proceed with your research using the Fitbit Web API.
4. Share your research findings with Fitbit. Once your approved study is complete and you’ve synthesized your research findings, please share your research findings for inclusion in the Fitbit Research Library by submitting details of your publication
   here.
   • If you share information about the research data set outside of your organization, for instance, by publishing your research findings, you must mitigate the risk of re-identification of research subjects. In particular, certain types of Fitbit user information, like users’ daily step counts, may be publicly visible on Fitbit in accordance with users’ privacy settings, or on social media if users choose to post their information there. When selecting your de-identification technique or assessing the re-identification risks, you must consider whether your research datasets could be linked to this publicly visible information.

FAQs

The following FAQs apply to apps wishing to use the Fitbit Web API for health research purposes.

When does the Fitbit Web API Health Research Policy go into effect?

All new health research studies that begin after August 16, 2022 will need to comply with this policy.

What if I’ve already created a Fitbit client ID before August 16, 2022, but I’m starting a new health research study after the policy takes effect?

You will need to submit a health research intake form for any new health research studies starting August 16, 2022.

Where can developers learn more about the Fitbit Web API Health Research Policy?

The full Fitbit Web API Health Research Policy can be found here.

How will developers be contacted about filling out the health research intake form?

You will be contacted via the contact email address you included when submitting your app.