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Garmin please look at Strava for a developer API done right!

Denis_Mir
over 9 years ago
It would be awesome if Garmin would think about its decision to close down its Connect API with a fee of 5000$.

Statement by Garmin:

Garmin has instituted a new policy regarding the accessibility of our developer programs. The previous strategy of freely available APIs quickly became unsustainable due to increasingly high demand. In response, we have established a new pathway for our Connect API. Firstly, there is a vetting process. We are strategically limiting the scope of this program to specific developers that will enhance the user experience. Secondly, those who are approved for inclusion will be charged one-time $5,000 administrative fee to cover the extensive engineering and server support required for the Connect program.


Working in the industry for more than a decade I can say that Strava has an API done right. It is hosted on Github, allows free access for every developer, sets a rate limit for every app and charges only for usage over the rate limit.

https://strava.github.io/api/

It can be that easy!
  • 0 over 3 years ago

    YES! The garmin API approach is hideously terrible.

    I want to access my data, using tools I choose. Commandline, scripts to update names as I want, etc etc.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    It's 2021, and my data is still locked in Garmin. The options are:

    • Export all data, all the time. This would tax their servers even more by requesting downloads of all activities after each single activity.
    • Manually sign in to connect and export in various formats (Which is silly, since this is effectively an API. The act of exporting or providing an API endpoint would have the same outcome)
    • Charge developers $5,000 and force them through an arbitrary approval process. As a user I add value to their platform and aggregate metrics, yet I have to pay to get my own data (And I don't get paid for them to use my data).

    Instead, developers are forced to use anti-patterns to scrape their data and connect to the underlying resources.

    Any use of a proxy will show the requests they make - either through the web or mobile. It's clear they have the capabilities.

    For everything Garmin gets right, this is such a frustrating gap in their offering.