Fitbit works over Bluetooth and their website has both a free account (which is all I’ve ever used) and a pro account. I think the pro account has coaching advise and stuff. I find the free account suits my needs. I hope they don’t change that.
This is key. Like CGM, a fitness tracker is only useful if you find the information valuable and act on what you’re seeing. For me, I am not a regular exerciser if I am not prodded to get out and exercise. So for me, being able to see my daily steps and have targets for exercise (5x a week is what mine was set at) and reminders to get up and move every hour or two is really valuable. Something like the fitbit is not really useful if you are an athlete wanting to improve performance or something, I think it’s too basic for that. But for the average person who just wants to make sure they fit exercise into their route and track food and weight (I’m trying to lose weight), I find it very valuable. I like that the fitbit picks up activities like stationary cycling and elliptical without me having to remember to do anything to initiate or log them (ditto with the sleep tracking).
There were other little things about the fitbit in particular that I liked. I used the daily vibration alarm instead of an alarm clock to get up each morning. I liked the my wrist vibrated when my phone rang, because I don’t always hear it ring (I have no interest in any other notifications aside from that, though). I like the sleep tracking, because some weeks I’m feeling particularly tired and wonder if I’m coming down with something, but then look back and see that I’ve only had an average of six hours of sleep a night, which explains it and provides me with something to work on. I’ve had problems with heart rate skyrocketing in the past, so having a way to check my heart rate anywhere I am is reassuring in a way if I’m feeling off. Not that I’d really trust the fitbit as a medical-grade monitor, but I wore it for about 18 hours in emergency once when my heart rate was running at 150+ all night and every time I compared it to the hospital monitor it was pretty spot on. It also somehow tracked the fact that I only got about three hours of fitful sleep that night! I have sleep apnea, so I find the sleep apnea aspect of the Ionic intriguing, but we’ll see if it actually comes to fruitiion and is actually useful.
I think if could be more valuable to everyone if there were a way of combining exercise and CGM data like I was discussing above…that way people could see how exercise impacts their BG and work on strategies to keep their BG under control.
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Things for the informative response Jen! I think I would find the ability to easily compare my CGM data with what’s coming out of the fitbit. Outside of interest though, I don’t know how much this would change my management. Perhaps I’d be surprised at how much it informed my decisions though.
I don’t actually currently run my G5, as I found I wasn’t using the data as much as I could, so I save it for when I’m going on holidays, or have a few busy months coming up at work.
If I had a more holistic data source though I may be tempted to run it all the time. If only it wasn’t so expensive.
I know but will the watch work without the app? They seem to be designing this way to force more money out of you. Apple did this recently with the cloud by making it nearly impossible to get large numbers of photos off of there easily by deactivating select all to transfer photos. Thus forcing you to pay for more and more storage and stay locked in the system. I’m very dissapointed in them and this whole system.
Yes, from what I’ve read you will be able to pair Dexcom with the watch directly without using a phone. You can also use any fitbit without the app, you just won’t get any downloaded data, only the live data on the watch. Some parts of the fitbits I have used in the past do require the app to set up, such as the silent alarms. I’m not sure whether the Ionic will be able to set that stuff up on the watch since it now has an actual OS. There is no cost associated with the fitbit app or a fitbit account, so there’s no money involved there unless you want a premium account for some reason (no one I know has a premium account) or they change it in the future (I don’t think they will, no other fitness tracker charges money for their accounts/websites).
This seems to say you do need a phone and a different app. Whether you need a data package I can’t tell. I have an older phone so I’d need to get a new phone. Apparently the next Apple Watch will pair directly with dex without a phone. But you still need the app on your watch- I’m not sure about the data package.
Yeah, I don’t know what’s required for setup, especially on the Dexcom side as I’m still using the G4 and have never seen or used the G5. But what I menat with my earlier comment is that I’m pretty sure that, after everything is set up, the Dexcom transmitter will send data directly to the Fitbit, without the need to carry a phone around. I only have 1 GB of data on my phone, which is not much these days, and I’ve never had a problem. You can set your phone so that Fitbit/Dexcom or whatever doesn’t sync data to the cloud unless you’re connected to wifi. I’m not sure what phones are supported. I’m using an iPhone 5 and so far haven’t run into problems, but since it won’t be getting any more updates of iOS, that may change. I didn’t think that having an older phone might be an issue. Hopefully I won’t need to upgrade.
That would be great if it’s true. But this article seems to say you need a phone. I don’t use my phone except for calls and text mostly it’s slow and too small. It has tons of space but no good for Dex. I tried it 2-3 years ago and it was so slow in the app and ran the battery down. The receiver is much better. But a pain to have due to wearing it and water damage etc.
I wonder if alarms will be any good on the watch though? I’ll still carry the receiver most likely if I ever get a watch that is😹
Yeah, maybe I misread the article I saw. I just tried to find it again but now there are so many articles on google that I can’t find it. lol. If you need to carry around a phone to see the data, I’m not as excited. They seem to be marketing the Ionic as something you could take and leave your phone behind (music on the watch itself, payments from the watch, etc.), so hopefully that will hold true for the Dexcom. But you probably do need a phone to set everything up, I would guess. The Dexcom for me is just a nice add-on, though. I was planning on getting the Ionic just for fitness tracking even before I saw the Dexcom stuff. If I end up getting a t:slim pump, assuming it comes to Canada next year, that would hopefully have Dexcom on it and so I’d upgrade at that time if the Ionic requires carrying around a phone.
On my Charge HR I could feel the vibration alarm easily. The Ionic has no speakers just as the other Fitbit models don’t have speakers, so it will be limited to vibration alerts. I’ve heard people complain about the vibrations on the currently available Fitbits, so whether or not you like them probably depends on personal preference.
If I get the G5 the receiver is optional here in Canada, and since I’m paying for it out of pocket, I wouldn’t get one. The only reason I would upgrade to the G5 would be to get data on either the t:slim or the Ionic, so I wouldn’t be spending hundreds of dollars on something I would only use as a backup.
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Makes sense. My tslim doesn’t get data from Dex I have the older one but will upgrade in 2018. I just got the G5 mobile app on y iPad finally. However I can’t turn off sound alerts. I guess I’ll get the Apple Watch prolly but I think the Fitbit may be more comfy and cheaper maybe? I dint know if it will work with my iPad etc. as far as I can tell a data package isn’t needed. Just a wifi connection to set register the transmitter.
I have had this dream that someone would decide to invent a Fitbit glucometer where you would just stick a little tiny testing strip into the Fitbit and it would read your BG. I would not care if I had to use a lancet but in my dreams the Fitbit would just read my BG without a strip. Always having your glucometer on your body would be great.
I would also get all the data sent to my phone or computer. It would make MDI so delightful. I love the Fitbit now. I get all content when it sends me the happy beep that I have reached my daily goal for exercise. I wish that I could get happy feedback for taking my BG because it had always been difficult for me to take my BG five times a day. I rarely get to that goal.
I just got an Ionic today. I haven’t actually used it yet (it’s just doing software updates as I type this), but so far I can say that the display is fantastic (even brighter than my iPhone and is easy even for me to read), and it seems much more durable than the plastic Fitbits. I do think the price ($400 CAD) is a bit steep. They should have made it $100 cheaper. However, I bought it because I’ve been sorely missing my Charge HR these past few months, really want a Fitbit that can track swimming (and also so I can check the time when swimming to make sure I catch my bus home), and would find a wrist CGM display very useful. So I’m banking on the fact that it’ll support Dexcom and/or Nightscout (I’ve seen there are people already working on the latter). I called Dexcom yesterday to get a quote on the out-of-pocket cost of the G5 in Canada, since I’m still using the G4 at the moment. They didn’t know anything about the timeline of Dexcom integration.
@Jen - In terms of the Ionic integration with Dexcom, my biggest question (other than your already asked question of WHEN) would be if this can be used in CONJUNCTION with a SmartPhone.
Currently the G5 transmitter only allows a single Smart Device to connect to it when using the Dexcom G5 Mobile App. It makes sense that one would want a direct connect from the Dexcom Transmitter to both a Smart Phone and a Smart Watch. As you point out, many physical activities (swimming as you mention is a great example) are natural fits for a “watch only” scenario. However that does not necessarily mean you want to give up ENTIRELY on the cgm data on your phone.
Currently there are no direct connects available for any watches using the Dexcom provided software.
Hopefully when this happens, Dexcom will recognize the Smart Watch in a different category from the Smart Phone and allow simultaneous Bluetooth connections from the Transmitter to both a Smart Phone and a Smart Watch. At the same time of course, the Transmitter must be allowed to also connect to either the Dexcom Receiver or a compatible integrated Pump.
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My ultimate hope is that I would be able to get data from the G5 directly to the watch with no phone involved. My understanding of the G5 (as someone who doesn’t use it yet) is that it can’t actually transmit data underwater, but that it can store data for several hours on the transmitter and then upload it to a device when a connection is re-established. I don’t personally have any need to see readings on a phone, so it’ll be interesting to see how support works out.
I’m betting the first version of the Dexcom Ionic support would still require a phone. It seems odd to me that Dexcom even limits the number of devices connected…why not just make it unlimited? That’s what I’d prefer.
Dexcom G5 Manual
" Wireless communication does not work well through water so the range is much less if you are in a pool, bathtub, or on a water bed, etc."
“IP28:
Protection against insertion of large objects and immersion in water up to 2.4 meters for 24 hours
Protection against submersion in water”
Meaning - yes - the Dexcom Transmitter works under water. But reduced range.
And also yes - All G5 transmitters currently shipping now store 3 hr of cgm data on the transmitter. In order to upload to a device, the device must also support the backfill technology.
BTW - It is only the Dexcom Transmitter/Sensor combination which is water resistent. Specifically the Dexcom Receiver is NOT water resistant. Do NOT get the Dexcom Receiver wet.
Good question. I do not believe the answers I have gotten to this question.
I thought you’d be interested to know that Fitbit just updated the Ionic, and within the exercise app (where you can track workouts like running, biking, swimming, etc.) there’s now a “always-on screen” option in the settings for each exercise type. So this is something the Dexcom app should definitely be able to have within their app. There doesn’t appear to be an option to have the screen always on while outside of the exercise app specifically, though. Also, while an app is active, when the watch is woken up via raising the wrist or pressing the side button, it shows the open app, not the watch face.
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Thanks. Will continue to watch (pun intended 
) the developments of the Ionic and apps…
There are some apps that pull Dexcom data from the iPhone’s health app, and populate the activity with your CGM values. But they do it 3 hours later. I guess that is the deal Dexcom has with Apple for their health app - they can have the data…but only after a 3 hour delay.
Curious if this Fitbit deal will use the same model with the delay. You could see it 3 hours later but not in real time.
My understanding is that in the new year we’ll get CGM displayed on Ionic watchfaces. I sure hope so, at least, because that’s part of why I bought the Ionic over the Apple Watch (and because I wanted a good activity and sleep tracker).
It would also be nice to see CGM values directly within activity reports. That would make managing exercise easier than it is now (right now I have no way of recording exercise as nothing is downloaded into Diasend even if I record it in my meter or Dexcom receiver).
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Training Peaks lets you see CGM data as part of the activity, but it is delayed. So it can’t be used during the exercise, but rather it can be used for analysis after-the-fact.
I have no idea the deal Fitbit made with Dexcom, I was just wondering. I hope it is real-time.