Ok, so I know I ended the last post with some implication that Google was destroying FitBit. Thats probably a bit hyperbolic, but in reality it was more like the "slow no" of just pulling all SDK support and removing support for anything that wasn't some affiliated Google product. Like slowly lowering your foot on a wasp.
For instance, suddenly there was no SDK support at all, no plans to allow you to build directly for new watches (some speculated this was due to the release of the newest Pixel watch, which honestly, from a business perspective, makes sense). Using the watch as a BT remote was no longer supported, Spotify got dropped, and then basically all third party app support was dropped. Actually it was a bit worse, it was supported but only if you have YouTube Music, and that requires a subscription for it to work via the watch. Needless to say there was quite a bit of forum uproar.
When did I find out about all this? Oh...ya know...right after I purchased what I thought was an epic deal on a Versa 4. In hindsight, I wonder if that was the reason for such an epic deal. I've had good luck with the lifetime of the Versa line in general, averaging about 2 years, usually until the HR sensor died off. I've probably got a drawer with them all in there somewhere. This event however, basically restarted the whole process of finding a new watch. Of course, I could still continue to use Glance (as mentioned here), but it really continued to irritate me that I couldn't skip music tracks on a run, or manage volume level remotely, or that ultimately support was just running out. I did have dreams of writing my own watchface too, and that was pretty much canned.
I revisited the whole "which watch?" question and re-evaluated the Apple watch. Honestly, I was spoiled by the 5-7 day battery life I had enjoyed with the FitBit, so it was not an appealing option to me. I'd never used the Garmin ecosystem, and, if I haven't mentioned it, I was pretty attached to the FitBit calorie tracking. I realized that if I could find a better calorie tracking application I could probably expand the possible compatible watches.
And this, is where LoseIt! comes in. LoseIt! kind of flips the script on FitBit. Instead of selling devices then tacking on software (and now trying to get subscriptions 😆), LoseIt! is a software first company, that says "bring your own device". Basically, they work with a ton of different trackers, including FitBit, Garmin, Apple, and I think even some they happen to make as well. It was reasonably affordable for a year (again, smart to lead with the subscription, which offers a host of real, effective features), and then it allowed me to open the aperture to Garmin watches, which had decent support and were much more smartwatch than fitness tracker (FitBit). Also, we'll get to this more later, it has a great open SDK and the focus has clearly always been on how they can make the most effective use of a small embedded system (speaks to my background 😬).
TLDR: FitBit is dead, find a better calorie tracker, and you'll open the options to new devices, but the only real option for more than 24 hours of batter is Garmin.
I think you'll notice a theme starting to develop with the story here...I'll try to keep the metaphor to a single genre, but I make no promises.
