Discovery Vitality in 2016

[Tinuva]

I was thinking about the Discovery changes this weekend. I suspect that storing all the data points might lead to a huge problem for Discovery. Imagine saving distance, gps, heartrate, recorded every second, for someone running a Marathon. 18000 data points. Storage So, all they receive from the 3rd parties are duration, start end time, average heart rate and distance. The problem kicks in that eg on Movecount.com, I can enter a session manually with all the data to give me optimal points. Instead of really doing anything Because the current APIs don't specify if it is recorded or manual entry, there is a huge gap for abuse.

I'm still wondering why they never picked it up. Where was their risk management ?

If I really want to, I can also reverse engineer the Garmin Connect app for example, that connect to your Garmin device, and then sync back to the Garmin website, and check out how it is then set to Garmin device. Then just write my own app to upload fake data to Garmin Connect that seem as if its from a real Garmin device.

So that point is moot. If people really want to cheat, they will still find a way, regardless of how many changes Discovery make.

 

[cerebus]

If I really want to, I can also reverse engineer the Garmin Connect app for example, that connect to your Garmin device, and then sync back to the Garmin website, and check out how it is then set to Garmin device. Then just write my own app to upload fake data to Garmin Connect that seem as if its from a real Garmin device.

So that point is moot. If people really want to cheat, they will still find a way, regardless of how many changes Discovery make.

If you ask me it's just another case of Discovery doing what they do best - blaming their customers' abuse for lowering the value of their services.

 

[Tinuva]

If you ask me it's just another case of Discovery doing what they do best - blaming their customers' abuse for lowering the value of their services.

Yup, that I can very much agree with.

 

[techead]

Discovery are offering to replace the Fitbit Charge HR with another device, free of charge

decent!!

 

[Tinuva]

Discovery are offering to replace the Fitbit Charge HR with another device, free of charge

decent!!

Is it? All they say, is its a heart rate monitor strap, that you can use with an app on your phone.
My best guess is, its a Polar H6 or H7 strap combined with the Polar Beat app. You losing money on that solution if you ask me.

 

[cerebus]

Discovery are offering to replace the Fitbit Charge HR with another device, free of charge

decent!!

Decent? People purchased those devices on the basis of understanding that they could be used for Discovery Vitality points. Vitality did a bait and switch on everyone and now they're offering meager compensation.

 

[techead]

Decent? People purchased those devices on the basis of understanding that they could be used for Discovery Vitality points. Vitality did a bait and switch on everyone and now they're offering meager compensation.

better than sitting with a device gathering dust...

 

[yeldoom]

My take on the Fitbit swap:

• Discovery swaps a device valued at R3k for R700. Builds a huge inventory of used Fitbit devices
• Fix the bugs with Fitbit data collection
• Launch a Fitbit device program (similar to iWatch) selling the 2nd hand Fitbit devices they got in step #1 :twisted:

 

[Tinuva]

Discovery Vitality's rating is still tanking on Facebook. Still see 1start incoming reviews all the time today. Pretty insane how quick it is happening. It is like watching the rand tanking every time Dr Z open his mouth.

 

[asshat99]

If I really want to, I can also reverse engineer the Garmin Connect app...

Why? You can already upload a plain text GPX file onto garmin connect and vitality counts it. The watch just makes a similar file. There is nothing to it.

 

[whatwhat]

I was thinking about the Discovery changes this weekend. I suspect that storing all the data points might lead to a huge problem for Discovery. Imagine saving distance, gps, heartrate, recorded every second, for someone running a Marathon. 18000 data points. Storage So, all they receive from the 3rd parties are duration, start end time, average heart rate and distance. The problem kicks in that eg on Movecount.com, I can enter a session manually with all the data to give me optimal points. Instead of really doing anything Because the current APIs don't specify if it is recorded or manual entry, there is a huge gap for abuse.

I'm still wondering why they never picked it up. Where was their risk management ?

Don't worry about the data, that is a drop in the bucket with what is possible with today's technology stacks.

 

[hj2k_x]

My take on the Fitbit swap:

• Discovery swaps a device valued at R3k for R700. Builds a huge inventory of used Fitbit devices
• Fix the bugs with Fitbit data collection
• Launch a Fitbit device program (similar to iWatch) selling the 2nd hand Fitbit devices they got in step #1 :twisted:

Are they not allowing Fitbit devices now at all??

 

[krycor]

Don't worry about the data, that is a drop in the bucket with what is possible with today's technology stacks.

I have my suspicion that they couldn't keep up with the processing demands and support calls. Traditionally this would be towards December when the support calls stack up but with the weekly thing they likely struggled to support it all so canned the sources which took up the most resources or was not tied into via vouchers.

Why? Discovery system has always sucked badly and I have pushed for support before. Anyway.. I reckon their budget for Vitality Systems did not cover the strain it was placed under nor the support queries getting generated weekly.

 

[Tinuva]

Why? You can already upload a plain text GPX file onto garmin connect and vitality counts it. The watch just makes a similar file. There is nothing to it.

No kidding mr Joker. Now you can do that, but not from 2 April 2016.

Garmin connect will list that GPX file as 3rd party data and Vitality will then ignore it. So you have to go a step further and upload the data the same way the app would for device data, and make it look like it is not 3rd party data.

 

[AntennaMan]

Woohoo!c Finally managed to get some points using my Muvit HR monitor and the Polar app.

MMF still shows on the Discovery side and I can't delink it. That will have to be a fight for another day.

 

[abudabi]

MMF still shows on the Discovery side and I can't delink it. That will have to be a fight for another day.

I also have a phantom MMF link without a valid MMF username.. so I can't remove it. It's been a week since i logged it. Still waiting.

 

[Maelly]

Just so I understand this, so as of now (or is it April?), to get 300 points using Apple Watch I need to do a 45 min Vigorous Activity (Treadmill, Outdoor Run, Indoor Cycling etc) at revised heart rates?

I'm asking this cause I did my normal 30min treadmill two Saturdays back and did not get my standard 300 points instead was only rewarded 100 points for gym visit.

Thanks

 

[Maxx1974]

Just so I understand this, so as of now (or is it April?), to get 300 points using Apple Watch I need to do a 45 min Vigorous Activity (Treadmill, Outdoor Run, Indoor Cycling etc) at revised heart rates?

I'm asking this cause I did my normal 30min treadmill two Saturdays back and did not get my standard 300 points instead was only rewarded 100 points for gym visit.

Thanks

I think that if I understand correctly, it will only kick in in April.

It should be 30+ min at 80% of heart rate. I would contact discovery regarding the not awarding of points. (Not sure how long it will take to get through though with all the people complaining)

https://www.discovery.co.za/portal/individual/vitality-news-device-workout-points

Hope this helps

 

[abudabi]

This is about what I got in the screenshot above, except using the flow.polar.com website at that exact time, I could see my average heart rate for the session up to that point was actually 139.

Are you saying that you used flow.polar.com during your exercise session to get your overall avg HR (and not just the timed interval).. even before you had completed your session ?

 

[Shellyb1]

Discovery Vitality CEO on removal of certain fitness device brands

http://ewn.co.za/Media/2016/03/07/Discovery-Vitality-rewards-system-whos-the-real-winner