Silicone band, worn constantly for about eight months, and the last few weeks I have had an itchy red patch under the strap that fades on the days I leave it off. Separately I have been reading the privacy policy, which is vague enough that I now think about it every night. I am considering going back to wearing it only for workouts. Anyone solved either half of this without giving up the thing entirely?
Take it off in the shower. That is ninety percent of the rashes in this thread solved for free.
The rash is nearly always trapped moisture and soap residue rather than an allergy to the band. The pattern that gives it away is that it fades when you take the thing off and comes back when you put it on, which is what you describe.
What worked for me: loosen it a notch so air gets under it, take it off in the shower rather than washing your hands with it on, rinse and dry the band and your wrist properly a couple of times a week, and swap wrists every few days. If it persists after a fortnight of that, or if it spreads or weeps, that is a dermatologist question rather than a strap question. Mine cleared in about ten days and has not come back in two years.
Also worth knowing that hand sanitiser gets trapped under a band and is far harsher than soap. Two years of that during work and my wrist was a mess until somebody pointed it out.
Showering with it on was absolutely the culprit. Soap under a tight silicone band all day, every day.
Band material fixed it for me completely. Went from the stock silicone to a woven nylon strap with a perforated design for a few pounds and the problem vanished, because the wrist is no longer sealed. The tradeoff is nylon holds sweat if you do not wash it, so buy two and alternate. Cheaper than any other solution in this thread and it took a week to know it had worked.
Export your history every few months regardless of what you decide. I lost about two years of data when a service shut down its consumer app with a couple of months of notice and the export tool was slow and partial. A folder of files on your own disk costs nothing and is the only version of your data nobody can change the terms on.
Pushing back on the wear it less conclusion. Overnight is where nearly all the value is for most people, because resting heart rate trend and sleep consistency are the two things that actually tell you something over months. Daytime step counting is the part you could drop without noticing. If you are going to restrict when you wear it, restrict it to nights and take it off at your desk, which is the opposite of what you were proposing.
@refresh_rhea · last wk. · 2 replies
On the data half, ask three concrete questions rather than trying to parse the policy prose.
One: can I export my full history in a usable file, today, without emailing support. Two: does deleting my account delete the data or just my access to it. Three: is there a setting to keep it local or is the cloud mandatory for the features I use.
Whichever product answers those well is the one I would buy next. The policies are all written to be broad. The export button either exists or it does not, and that is the honest signal.
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@leaky_bucket_ed · last wk.
Add a fourth: what happens if the company is bought. I have had two products change hands and both times the policy was updated in a direction I would not have chosen, with a notification email I nearly missed.
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