Meanwhile Facebook said of the purchase: “The Moves team has built an incredible tool for the millions of people who want to better understand their daily fitness activity, and we're looking forward to the app continuing to gain momentum.”
The app runs in the background of users' phones, using location data to monitor activities through the day.
The free app has been downloaded more than four million times for both iPhone and Android phones, according to the firm.
Many of the big technology firms are seeing money to be made from health technology. There is a range of fitness bands and smartwatches on the market already.
Apple is rumoured to be on the verge of launching its own smartwatch with fitness features and Google last month launched software for wearables.
But for Facebook, the purchase of a fitness app is likely to be all about new data which will allow it to better target adverts, thinks Alys Woodward, an analyst with research firm IDC.
“They want to know more stuff about what people do and where they are. This is useful information even if they don't tie it back to the individual,” she said.
Source: BBC News – Facebook buys fitness app firm
What is the meaning of “tie it back to the individual” in this context? I would appreciate your help if you could determine what the words "it" & "they" refer to when saying " This is useful information even if they don't tie it back to the individual"