A UK-based web application security researcher today noticed that his FitBit account is subject to ‘Friend Requests’ from other FitBit owners.
The researcher known only as -Redacted- today tweeted about a Friend request he received. He proclaims that he bought a FitBit for his own personal usage and to track his exercise goals.
Friends on FitBit profiles can track each other’s exercise progress and message each other, and they also have a leaderboard which tracks who has done the most progress that week.
-Redacted- does not want to share his exercise data with other users so he investigated how to turn off friend requests and make his profile completely private. -Redacted- was shocked to find out about FitBit’s stance on this subject.
FitBit said: “You can make your profile private by setting the privacy of your data… but it’s not possible to make yourself entirely invisible. You can choose not to receive Notifications from friend requests but they will always reach you.”
FitBit was bought by Google in November 2019.