Phone Updating with Tracking Information While Miles Away - How?

[SPF10]

My son has been wearing my alta for the past few days.  I'm at the office which is miles away.  Yet, somehow I'm getting notifications on my phone about the steps he's taking.  How is that possible when the fitbit doesn't connect VIA wifi to anything and only connects to my phone VIA bluetooth - and obviously I'm out of bluetooth range.  I'm at a loss.

[Odyssey13]

Hi @SPF10

I've noticed when I'm around other Fitbit people that they can sync if they are around me. I have my computer set up with a dongle and if anyone comes close, they can sync. Seems the same if people are around my cell phone.

So, is it possible anyone around where you son is stepping might have a Fitbit and he's somehow syncing that way?

So, he likes your Alta. What are you wearing?

[SPF10]

I'm the only one in the family with a fitbit, and the only syncing I have ever done was from the device to my phone, I've never even logged into the fitbit website from our home computer.  

I am totally baffled and confused by the fact that I'm sitting here at my office and I can see that my active little son has already walked 7,500 steps. I cannot think of a single explanation for how the information is being synced/uploaded.

[Odyssey13]

I love a good mystery, but this baffles me. Maybe one of the awesome moderators on the forums will stop by and offer some insight into this.

[Rich_Laue]

probably some body near your son has the Fitbit app on a computer. 

The tracker syncs through Bluetooth, can be as far as 50-75 feet. not WiFi. 

Do you know where your son was at the time of the last sync? 

[SPF10]

We have one laptop at home, which only gets used by my wife, and rarely.  I've never used it to login to the fitbit website or anything fitbit related.  I also know the laptop has not been used in at least a week.

My son does have an iPad and and he inherited my wife's old iPhone 6 (not on cellular), so there is a chance he's connected the FitBit VIA bluetooth to one of these two devices.  BUT, neither of them have the fitbit app installed, so I don't see how it could relay the step information.  

Just now, I received a notification saying that I am 497 steps away from my goal.  I'm at the office, my son is at the house.  I'm at a total loss for how I'm receiving the information.  

[Rich_Laue]

The 497 steps is about you, your app must have just synced. 

As for the phone and iPad your son has. 

A sync would require them to be connected to the homes WiFi and Bluetooth turned on. 

Yes the app would need to be installed and logged into your account. 

[SPF10]

Again, I don’t see how the app synced when I’m at the office with the only device that has the Fitbit app installed, and my son, who is wearing the Fitbit is at home, which is miles away.

While his iPad is connected to the homes wifi, he does not have the Fitbit app installed. 

[Rich_Laue]

You have your one device with you. you are wearing your tracker, when your tracker synced through your one device, that is at your office. The Fitbit server sent you the 497 update for your step count. 

As for your sons tracker syncing, we have provided several possibilities, including if you have a neighbor with the Fitbit app on their computer. 

I'm sure if you want to pay for airline tickets, I could track it down. 

Are you 150% sure that nothing in the house has the Fitbit app on? 

No we can say exactly what is happening, we also do not know what time the tracker synced last. Your app will tell you. 

[SPF10]

I appreciate your willingness to help, but I don’t think you’re understanding the situation.

im not wearing any Fitbit device. There is only one Fitbit device in this scenario and it is on my son.

nobody else in my home has a Fitbit device, and my phone is the only device that has the Fitbit app installed on.

As far as I understand, the Fitbit connects VIA Bluetooth alone.

My office is miles away from my house. There is no way that the app on my phone should be updating with my sons step progress.

Again, the only computer in my home is a laptop that has never been used in relation to the Fitbit, and additionally has been used itself in a week. The Fitbit app is not installed on any other mobile device at the house.

So given that’s the Fitbit requires a Bluetooth connection and a corresponding app to sync data to, I am at a loss as to how I am receiving updates when my son, who is wearing the device miles away is not connected to any Bluetooth in my home, in addition to having no Fitbit software on any device.

[Rich_Laue]

On your app it will tell you what time the last sync was. 

If your phone was with you and the Alta was for away at that time. 

There has to have been some Fitbit app nearby your son, or a computer with the Fitbit software on it nearby. 

This would be the only way the tracker could sync. 

My tracker has synced through my neighbors computer that happens to be about 100 feet away. 

Your missing the point, there is some computer or mobile device that the Alta is syncing through. 

If you really want to know then you will have to do some research. We have not been provided with enough info. 

You say there is no way, but Fitbit says tgattnot only is there a way. but has proved it to you. 

Fitbit connect on a windows or mac will sync every Fitbit tracker thar responds. This is how I am able to sync my 4 trackers and there of my neighbors with a single sync command. 

[SPF10]

So what you’re saying is that a neighbor has a Fitbit and when they sync, my Fitbit which is NOT connected to their device VIA Bluetooth will automatically connect to their Bluetooth device without my granting any sort of permission?

That doesn’t sound right.

[Rich_Laue]

I'm saying it is possible. The tracker dies not need to be paired to a device for it to sync. 

I'm saying that the Fitbit connect will sync any and all trackers that it can find. It does not need to and does not pair the tracker during a sync. 

A tracker does not sync to a phone or computer, the tracker syncs through a phone or computer to the Fitbit server. The server then puts the data into the correct account. 

You gave permission to Fitbit when the tracker was setup. 

[SPF10]

Now that I’m back at the house, I unpaired the Fitbit from my phone and tried syncing it and it would not sync. I then reconnected it to my phone and it synced.  I’ve done this three times and all three times it would not sync unless it was connected.

I can’t imagine it would be possible to pull data from a device VIA Bluetooth unless that device was connected.

Oh well, I’ll just leave it as a mystery. Thanks for the input.

[KateFitbit]

@SPF10 I think the most likely bet is that someone has a PC with a dongle connected, the device would continue to sync 15 to 30 minutes as long as he is near the computer. When you see the tracker unexpectedly syncing I would note where he is and if he is near a computer. 

[Rich_Laue]

While the user is able to remove the tracker from the phones Bluetooth, the user is not able to pair the tracker to the phones bluetooth. 

My suggestion would be to turn your phones Bluetooth off for an hour or two. 

If the tracker syncs. your app will get updated. 

[Bunnybear_05]

Did you ever figure it out? That’s just weird. Did those iPads/old phone ever have the app on them before ? Did the step counts match when you got home ( your phones and the device itself ? ) 

[DavideFitbit]

Good suggestion @Rich_Laue. 

I'm curious to know the details too @Bunnybear_05, it's a good mistery. We would need to have all the information to find out how it was syncing, but I would say what @KateFitbit mentioned is probably what was happening, that someone has a PC with a dongle connected, this happens to me all the time too when I'm at work, my tracker just syncs  data and I don't even have my phone on me. 

[Giampi71]

Isn't possible that on your Fitbit app on your smartphone you are using MobileTrack and indeed measuring your steps on your phone?

It would be a Colombus's egg 🙂

[DavideFitbit]

This is a possibility as well @Giampi71, thanks for sharing!