
Ask HN: A smartwatch that does not send your data God knows where? - dariosalvi78
I do medical research involving wearables &#x2F; smartwatches and I don&#x27;t want patients to have to use an app that sends their data to some random, probably foreign, company&#x27;s server. This is especially problematic within Europe and GDPR because fitness data can be seen as health-related information [1], especially in a medical context.<p>I am interested in the typical stuff: step counts, (24h) heart rate and possibly sleep detection. Nothing exotic.
To conduct my research, I would need to access the data, either because the user sends it to me, or (better) I can build myself an app that retrieve the data via Bluetooth or a local file or a database of some sort (e.g. HealthKit).<p>So I am looking for a wearable that either a) has its own app, but keeps the data locally (and makes it accessible) or b) has a known Bluetooth protocol I can access with my app or c) is programmable.
The device must be compatible with both Android and iOS, because we want to use patients&#x27; phones.<p>I am really struggling to find one.<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edps.europa.eu&#x2F;sites&#x2F;edp&#x2F;files&#x2F;publication&#x2F;15-05-21_mhealth_en_0.pdf
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dsalzman
Apple Watch. Leverage HealthKit/ResearchKit.
[https://www.apple.com/researchkit/](https://www.apple.com/researchkit/)

High quality sensors. Data is encrypted e2e

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dariosalvi78
I need compatibility with Android, so the Apple watch is a no go

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jamarls
You can check here some great watch perfectly compatibility with Android
[https://www.smartwatchpicks.com/best-standalone-
smartwatch/](https://www.smartwatchpicks.com/best-standalone-smartwatch/)

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sho_nuff
Have you considered the Bangle.js from Espruino
([https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js](https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js))?

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dariosalvi78
yes, I have pre-ordered one in fact. I hope it will be of enough quality for
my research!

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sho_nuff
I did encounter another but as I understand it, it is intended for developers
only [1].

[1] [https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/](https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/)

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G4E
You should check the project gadgetbridge[1]. Its aim is close to what you
want to achieve : an opensource app to retrieve data and monitor without
sending it god know where. I have used it for 2 years now with an amazfit bip,
which was never sync with the official app, not even once. The project is
really active, with roughtly a new release every month.

[1][https://gadgetbridge.org/](https://gadgetbridge.org/)

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m-p-3
I considered to Amazfit Bip and while shopping I saw the Amazfit Bip Lite. One
thing I've read is that Amazfit/Huami/Xiaomi started putting a server-side
activation on their newer devices, so I'm not sure I want to passively reward
that kind of behaviour by buying their hardware..

[https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Huami-...](https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Huami-
Server-Pairing)

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runjake
A Garmin running watch with non-default settings should be able to meet your
requirements.

