Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
Just here to push https://gadgetbridge.org/
Get a smartwatch, replace the stock companion app with Gadgetbridge.
Watch talks to Gadgetbridge, Gadgetbridge talks to watch. All over Bluetooth.
Gadgetbridge has no internet access, up or down. It cannot send out any of your data. It remains sandboxed on your phone.
You can totally uninstall the stock companion app.
I notice FitBit isn't supported though.
Although that's understandable. The wife had one and it wouldn't talk to the official app reliably either.
Yeah these manufacturers make it harder to connect to, i already have to get the decryption key from the SQL database of the MiBand app to use my MiBand with Gadgetbridge. I guess FitBit saves it somewhat safe, that's why it's unsupported
I like the idea of this. At present time it doesn't look like any Fitbit-branded devices are supported, unless I'm missing something.
I really wanted to use gadget bridge. But they only support obscure watches and some Chinese knock offs.
Amazing concept, but I guess its really hard to reverse engineer some of the protocols these major watch/fitness trackers use.
Any fitness watch with internet access, by definition, is spyware, yes or yes. Personal and health data are too succulent for large companies not to turn them into profits. There are fitness apps that save data locally, if you want to monitor your health status during your workouts, there is no need for a Cloudservice for this purpose, the data from a workout is not so much that it cannot be saved on a cheap SD card, with much a transfer via Bluetooth to the PC or Mobile, if you want to review this data.
If only a high quality, open source, repairable smart watch existed...
I've been looking to replace my fitbit with a Pine Watch or similar. I wasn't able to determine the Pine Watch's compatibility with generic android apps from their website.
(And while I'm quite comfortable hacking on my own devices, they were out of dev kits last I checked.)
If you use one, can you comment on how well it integrates with the Android ecosystem?
In particular, I'd like to be able check my glucose monitor's output from my watch. My CGM already provides a general android smart watch widget, but since the Pine Watch is kind of its own thing, I'm uncertain if it'd work.
If you can confirm or deny the functionality of general android widgets, that'd be super helpful for me.
If not, no worries. I'm just hunting for someone with hands-on experience to pose my questions to.
I switched to a PineTime watch from a FitBit about two months ago. I use a Pixel with GOS and no play services.
In my experience the PineTime is only good for heart rate monitoring and step counting, because so far that's all mine has been able to do. The PineTime is nice for what it does and as a watch, but if you want more health monitoring look elsewhere.
Thank you!
I have it. It definitely not a Fitbit drop in replacement. It's more of a notification center on your wrist. I use it for that, and it's awesome for that.
If it had an ECG function I would buy 10 of them
Garmin has a decent privacy policy for now
Look, I like PineTimes and have one myself, but calling it a smart watch when considering Fitbit is...really a stretch.
I use an Apple Watch. It regularly (about every 2 weeks) to review who and what data I’m sharing with studies. I can easily opt out again, and the system is opt in only.
No different than the situation with iPhones and Android phones, really. Apple has made their money once you buy the device, and views your personal data as a liability. Google is an ad company that happens to make hardware, and views your data as necessary monetisation potential.
Those are two different situations though?
As much as I hate apple products (tho new chips are wild), I got to agree here. I don't know ehat apple does with your data but it does seem to my uninformed eye that they do better than the rest.
Yet their ad services keep raising in value, so i wouldnt completely trust them.
Just in time for the Pixel Watch 2 release ✅
Which is made by the same company (Google owns Fitbit), so?
That was the point my dude.
Godamnit ! Again I missed out on the data sharing opportunity. My uncle got an apple watch and said that I am missing out on all the cool features. I replied , I dont want anything that connects to internet. He laughed.
I was forced into using a Fitbit last year, and I instantly went back to my Samsung Galaxy watch when I got the chance. Samsung Health is annoying on iOS, but at least you don't need to send all your data to Samsung in order to use it
Well . . . yeah.
Kids, folks, trusted benefactors - everything's taking your data. Tell it no or don’t buy it.
TheWorld: This thing is amazing! Buy it and give it your data! Me: wtf TheWorld: #1 This thing grosses eleventy billion dollars first quarter! Internet: guyz thing stealz data omg (Repeat)