Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Why is my scale xyz not supported?
- Why is my scale not found?
- Why doesn't openScale directly synchronize measurements with third parties?
- Why is my language xyz missing or incomplete?
- How do I get the body metrics (water, muscle, fat percentage) on my SBF70 scale?
- What is a Consent Code and how do I use it?
- Which scale can you recommend?
- Why does openScale need permission to access the coarse location?
- How do I get the openScale debug log file?
I don't own every scale, but openScale is open source and lives from its open source community. If you want to help, you could try to reverse engineer your scale by analysing the Bluetooth 4.x protocol between your scale and the original vendor app, see How-to support a new scale for further information.
If your scale name does not show up in openScale during the search at Settings->Bluetooth->Your Bluetooth scale, then you must first unpair the scale from your smartphone in the Android Bluetooth settings or within an installed vendor app. Please also make sure that your scale is turned on and that you granted the coarse location permission during the search. Finally, check that the batteries of your scale are full enough.
Personally, I don't want to synchronise any health data to a company for privacy reasons. Therefore, openScale doesn't send any data to a cloud, and not having permission to access the internet is a strong guarantee of that. Additionally, most of the licenses used by the cloud companies are incompatible with the GPLv3 license. So openScale won't support it directly, but you can install openScale sync to synchronize your health data.
I don't speak every language. If your language is missing or incomplete, please translate the strings.xml into your language and then create a pull request on GitHub, or use Weblate to translate the app. The current translation status for openScale is as follows:
You probably have user names assigned by the vendor's app "Health Coach" that are not the same as the ones in openScale. Please make a backup of your measurements before you continue! To resolve this problem, delete all users in the vendor's app (or reset the scale with the button on the back), then open openScale and add a new user. After you synchronise with the SBF70 scale from openScale, you should receive all other body metrics.
A Consent Code is a security code used to link your openScale app with your Bluetooth scale, ensuring that only authorized apps and users can access the scale's data. On most scales, the code is displayed directly on the scale's screen when setting up a new user. Some scales may require you to press a button or navigate the menu to show the code — please consult your scale's manual for exact instructions. Enter this code in openScale when prompted to complete the initial pairing, which establishes the connection between your scale and the app.
If you no longer know the consent code, the scale cannot be linked automatically. In this case, you must delete the user on the scale (following the scale's manual) and create a new user in openScale. This will generate a new consent code. The consent code is tied to your openScale user, so it is recommended to create a new openScale user when resetting the scale. The consent code is only required for the initial connection; once established, the app will remember the pairing for future use. Following these steps ensures a secure connection and avoids pairing issues.
As I don't own all scales myself, I can't really say which one works best with openScale, but in issue #96 I wrote down some thoughts that you may consider in your decision.
The answer is simple: the Android API >= 6.0 needs access to the coarse location to search for Bluetooth devices. The openScale app doesn't read your location at any time. Read the official Android Bluetooth Developer Guide or the Android 6.0 Changelog for a more technical description.
- Go to Settings → General and enable the "File logging" option.
- Reproduce the issue in openScale (for example, connect to your scale via Bluetooth to log the communication).
- Once finished, go back to Settings → General and use the "Export Log File" button to save the debug log to your smartphone.
- Share the log in a new GitHub issue by either:
- Pasting the complete log file into a new issue, or
- Attaching the log file directly to the issue.