What to do with all these Jawbone devices now the company is defunct?

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(TLDR: Jawbone Replacements – Fitbit Inspire HR, Fitbit Charge 3, Garmin Vívoactive 3 Music)

Having gotten a couple Jawbone Up24 devices a few years ago for dirt cheap (<$10 each used)  I thought it was a great deal, until Jawbone shut down their servers recently.  The app no longer works for tracking steps or sleep, you can’t create new accounts or anything anymore.  I think it’s a damn shame that even while the company is dying with no hope of saving it, they haven’t open sources their hardware/software. As a plea to all companies, especially those with millions of devices already in the market, please open your designs to the public if your company is dying!!!  Otherwise all those devices are going to end up in landfills even though they still have the ability to work. I realize that there may be some tech you can’ share such as what’s involved in patent disputes, but at least open the parts of the code that provide basic functionality for hackers to work with!

For the Jawbone UP24 bands I have, I did some googling and found someone who wrote an app that allows the UP bands to vibrate when your phone gets notifications which still works even after Jawbone’s API has been taken offline. This is a great thing to use for things such as calendar notifications or timer on your phone.  Here’s my journey into getting these things to work.

If you don’t currently have a jawbone device, you can get them online second hand pretty easily and for practically nothing nowadays.  YOu can’t buy them from stores anymore though.  I recommend you pick up a UP24 band.

The next step is to fix the band if you need to. I did a hard reset on my band as it wasn’t charging correctly. Here’s the steps

To hard reset your band, please follow these steps:

Press the button on your band 10 times. Try to pace the presses at about about one press every second.

On the 10th press, PRESS + HOLD the button for 15 FULL SECONDS, or until the sun status light appears. Once you see the light, let go of the button. (via https://blog.mornati.net/)

Doing a hard reset will wipe all saved data from the device, but since Jawbone’s servers are down and likely for the count, I don’t think that matters much.

Next download the Jawbone App. As I mentioned before, it won’t track steps or sleep, or allow you to connect to a jawbone account, however you need this to pair your UP24 band to your phone.  This is required after a hard reset. Open the app and click through the screens (don’t try to sign or log in as it won’t work, their servers are turned off) but you’ll eventually come to a point where you need to pair the device as shown in the video below.  This worked for me with no problem at all and without having to log in.

The next part (after pairing the device with your phone) is to download the app to allow you to push notifications called UpNotifications in the play store. You can select which apps you will allow. This app does cost $1.79, but given that you can get the device <$10 (we got one for $3 on ebay), and this app for <$2 I think it’s still worth it. What’s cool is the builder of this app Stefano Brilli documented the process of building this app on his blog.

In the UpNotifications app, simply go to the top and switch on notifications, then go to “select band” and it should be populated in the list with it’s address. CLick that, then select which apps you want to be able to push notifications to the band.

It should be noted that this app might support more than just Jawbones. It detected my FitBit Charge 2 device as well.

Tada! You just saved a functional device from the ending up in a landfill. This is truly recycling in the sense that you’re ReUsing (reduce, reuse, recycle). LIke other forms of recycling, it’s a bit of a downgrade of the band’s once glorious functionality, but at least now you’ve given it a second life.

Another quick note if you encounter problems, the only troubleshooting info I have from the UpNotifications app says to make sure your firmware is updated. SInce you can’t access the jawbone app, I’m not sure how that’s possible. If you figure it out, or have any other hacks for these little guys, feel free to post them in the comments.

I will recommend updating to a different company’s fitness band. There are a ton of options, and I have only tried a few. For instance, I mentioned the Fitbit Charge 2 earlier. This is a great basic step counter and heart rate tracker and when paired with your phone can map your exercises using the phone’s GPS.  I loved the small size and simple interface. It tracks heart rate constantly and does a great job of detecting how well you’ve slept (showing you a chart with deep sleep, REM, and showing how many times you were awake or restless in the night). The heart rate tracker can also estimate cardio fitness score, a measure of how healthy you are overall.

After using my Fitbit Charge 2 for more than a year, I decided that I wanted more features like integrated GPS so I didn’t need to bring my phone with me when I exercised. I tried the Samsung Gear S2. This is a full android device that can make cell phone calls and has Svoice (Samsung’s version of Siri) which I found worked well. It has built-in apps for heart rate, GPS tracking of exercises. (Though I used both the MapMyRun and Endomondo apps for the watch as well). The Heart rate monitoring isn’t constant, rather it can be set to measure when you are still for a programmable period of time (sucha s 10 or 30 minutes). It doesn’t have a native sleep tracker app so I tried a couple apps I downloaded.  Most of the apps available for the phone are actually just watch faces which is disappointing. I love that this watch was waterproof so I could shower and swim with it, and the wireless charging feature.  Eventually I got rid of it though because it had to be recharged every day. I got it used so maybe the previous owner had messed up the battery. Regardless, I moved on.

I settled on the Garmin Vivoactive 3 which I charge about as often as the Fitbit, only once a week. It has integrated GPS so I don’t need to bring my phone to track my exercise. It also has a great heart rate monitor and is one of the few watches with Heart Rate Variability (HRV) monitoring features which can be used to determine how healthy you are. It is also waterproof, and has a full color screen which you can easily see in full daylight.

In all, there isn’t a ton that can be done with the Jawbone’s now that their servers are offline unless someone backwards engineers the communication protocol to set up new bands with an app. This is very unlikely given the current scenario. The best option is to move to another company. Fitbit, Garmin, and samsung’s stock prices are all pretty steady over the last year so I believe they will stick around for the long haul. Samsung owns South Korea so it isn’t going anywhere, and garmin has been in the GPS game for ages.

32 thoughts on “What to do with all these Jawbone devices now the company is defunct?”

  4. How do you connect your Up24 to your phone without having to create an account? the UP app lets you connect the device but jumps straight into creating an account, which it can no longer do. If you exit the app, the device stops being connected to my phone.

    Would love some help.

  6. I miss my Jawbone and was so happy to find this info! U
    But I cant fond UpNotifications in Play? Please helo!

  11. Awesome help, my girlfriend was about to throw her up24 in the trash and i said not to and to wait just incase, u never know right. Sure enough i found this little hack and app and we now share it to receive notifications all the time. Thanks so much, huge help!!!🤗😁😜

  13. Hello! I got a pair of Jawbone Up24s today and didn’t realize the company went bankrupt, rendering them useless. Has anyone found a way to initialize the devices since the UP app seems to not exist anymore? I’m using an iPhone in the United States. Thank you in advance.

  20. Thank you for this information. I too Loved the UP app for my UP24 band but I mainly used it to monitor my sleep. I have a very bad, non responsive to medications, sleep disorder and the Jawbone app really had a great sleep monitoring feature. If you have found one that will work with the 24’s, please let me know. Thanks for the reset tip…it revived mine! 🙂

  21. the app was taken down by apple not jawbone. apple sh!tcans anything not updated on a semi-yearly basis whether it needs it or not.

  23. I didn’t make the app I show in this post. I assume the maker used the Jawbone API and since the company is gone, their codebase is gone as well and the API is as inaccessible as their servers and apps are now. I don’t think there can ever be another update or app that uses the jawbone devices due to this unless whoever bought the intellectual property during the company’s bankruptcy happens to release the code online for free.

  24. Sorry to be redundant, but need clarification…Could we possibly pair the Jawbone to the NuvitaCoreSync App? As long as a tracker can connect through bluetooth you can get your metrics. I was wondering if this would allow us to still use the Jawbone and have the metrics computed by a 3rd party app?
    …Or does your answer above answer my question? We would need a code?
    Thank you, not tech savoy:(

  25. I’m sorry, I don’t know that. I haven’t heard of that app before. Their website says there’s a free trial so it might be worth a try. If you buy through the Google PLay or apple store if it doesn’t work with your device you might be ab;e to return it for a refund. I think their policies are something like 7 day return policy if I am not mistaken.

  27. I just found a new, still in package Jawbone UP24 Band in a forgotten box from a 2017 divorce related move.

    I’d love to use the device and am not sure what capabilities still remain accessible. I’m charging it now and would love a little direction as to the best way to proceed now that the app is no longer available.

    I use an iPhone 8s with the most current iOS version and have a fairly new Blue Tooth equipped PC running Windows 10 Pro.

  28. It seems that the device would have had to be registered with Jawbone’s servers before they turned them off. I am unaware of any hack to overcome this issue. Sorry!

  29. I know I am late to the party, its 2021
    But I still have a job lot of 100+ Jawbone UP’s Brand new Sealed based in London with absolutely zero use to them.
    I do not want to see them end up in a landfill, if they are any use to anyone or if you think you can reverse engineer them for any projects feel free to hit me up.

  31. .Jawbone and its Fitbit save my life. As the company went out of business, my 26 million steps did not go by the wayside. Actually on my iPhone 4 the app is still available to see with my months, days and weeks steps are still visual. That phone and that app turned my life in a different direction. Currently I am using Withings watches and I am closing in on 50 million steps. The sad part is that there are retailers selling jawbones online today, but not telling the consumer the truth.

  32. Hi Floyd, I know it’s a year later, but since you expressed interest, I have about 10 UP24 models (small/pink) or so still sealed in original packaging I could part with if you want. I would happily include ship for $7 a unit if you’re still interested. I would contact you directly but you didn’t throw any contact info on here, so maybe you’ll run across this message, maybe you won’t. Shoot me an email. Thanks.

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