It can be a few things.

It could be remote workspaces like GitHub codespaces.

But it could also be simpler: vscode is a web app, the native app you install is just an electron wrapper around the web app; so you can host it on a server an use it in the browser.

I have a withings scale and it’s great so far.
Like you, I had a Fitbit one, and I find it sucked and was very unreliable.

It’s worth noting that there is a withings home assistant integration

I think a lot of people here aren’t looking at this in the right way:

They don’t have to accept accounts for student or let students interact. This can be an alternative system for disseminating announcements with optional mechanisms for feedback. All they need to do is federate and then any of their students subscribe.

I’ve been wishing that my my governments (at all levels) would do this so I can get notified of things like changes to bus schedules or closures of highways and shit.