Alta HR heart rate wrong

[Lotta1]

I have the Alta HR but can’t use the heart rate function any more ever since the latest app update. It keeps overestimating my heart rate when I’m doing things like cleaning. I’ll take my pulse manually and check the Fitbit and it’ll be at least 30bpm higher! It doesn’t come back down either. I’ve tried wearing the watch differently (1, 2, 3 finger widths above my wrist), restarting the device, redownloading the app, put the heart rate tracking as “on” instead of “auto,” I’ve turned the heart rate tracking on and off several times but nothing works. It also underestimates it  during workouts when I manually do my heart rate. I only got this for the heart rate tracking but now it seems like I’ve paid a lot of money for a pedometer I can get for $5. 

[Evejim111]

I am also experiencing the same problem With my Alta HR and I have re-started it device several times already and it’s still the same. My heart rate is recorded at 190 while sitting down and I check this with my Omron BP monitor and my heart rate is just at 60. I look at my heart rate trend and I see that my Fitbit Alta records my heart rate is at peak zone for more than 6 hours. It’s just wrong. Is this a software problem or I need to throw away this device already? Very frustrating. 

[Lotta1]

I've emailed Fitbit support but no good answer yet - one person told me that my heart rate tracking was off (I know, I turned it off because it was wrong and put that in the help request!) and another asked me what exercises I was doing (it doesn't work well when your wrist is bent apparently) and to restart it. I'll tell you if I get a decent answer.

[KPMark]

Yes! I just got online to report this. The Android update was on April 28th and my resting heart rate shot up 4 bpm overnight (April 28 --> 29) and went up from there. We're on May 10 now, and it has stayed up 8-10 bpm over usual for the past 18 months. The only other time my RHR has been this high since I got my Alta HR in December 2017 was in the last week of my pregnancy over a year ago. I'm not pregnant and it was only elevated the last month of my pregnancy anyway. I refer to the heart rate every day and monitor illness and my menstrual cycle with it. It has never been this high for a single day (outside of the early 2019 pregnancy) and now it's been sustained there for almost 2 weeks since the app update. 

I looked at the individual days and the heart rate isn't recording higher than usual. I'm not at any greater stress these two weeks than any other since the pandemic. If I was ill, I'd be sick already because it's been close to 2 weeks. When I wake up in the middle of the night to turn over, I have been checking the heart rate and it's still in the 50s when sleeping, as it always has been. 

I contacted tech support. They told me restart and re-sync my Alta HR. Done that numerous times. They told me to wear it on the opposite wrist. Done that. FitBit, I think we need a new update to fix your RHR algorithm because it's clearly not a single-user issue.

[CCOEK]

I have the same problem. Heart rate reporting ridiculously high for the past two days: this morning, at 8:52 am, I am reporting 5 hrs & 17 minutes in the fat burn zone. I got up at 7. Restarted it three times per another thread, no go. Heart rate is set to “auto”.

[Lotta1]

My resting heart rate has shot up too! It is normally in the low 50s, then all of a sudden, right at the same time as the heart rate started going a bit wonky in general my RHR shot up from 48-53bpm to in the low 60s. It is so bizarre. I haven't hange my routine or anything either so it must be a generic issue across devices.

[Cinderella22]

I have the same issue. Have you found a way to correct it yet?

[Cinderella22]

I found the same issue and cannot correct the problem. 

[KPMark]

Nope, no fix for this yet. I keep checking for an Android app update.
Nothing yet. And no response from FitBit yet. It's been 14 days today since
the problem started.

---------
Karen P. Markham
301-455-5845

(sent from mobile)

[Evejim111]

Yes my experience is exactly like that! I just reviewed my heart rate trends from April onwards and I observed that the ridiculous spikes of 194, 196 started from April 28. I have already re-booted my Fitbit so many times (connecting to cable and pressing 3X) and still this issue persists. I have now stopped using my Fitbit, it just freaks me out when I see my heart rate is 190+ when I’m just sitting down or even during sleep. Even my sleep score is not recording anymore (though that happened since March). 

I hope someone from Fitbit helps us soon! I really like my Alta HR. I even have a new in box spare that I just opened and lo and behold, it keeps on showing battery with exclamation point even after successful pairing and charging for several hours. 

[Reedie1965]

I’ve had my Alta HR since May 2017 and it has always overstated my heart rate by 30 or 40 bpm when I am exercising. I’ve worn my husband’s Charge 3 and used a pulse oximeter and the HR function of my Nu-step. My Alta HR says I’m at 160 to 180 during cool down and the other 3 say 89. It’s flat ridiculous. I came here to see if there was a way to recalibrate it. I see I’m not alone. 

[3x]

Just another Alta user echoing the comments  of everyone in the thread and it is now October practically...Alta HR presently indicating a heart rate of 183 as I type this lying down resting ...go figure?

[Bonsai2020]

True for mine as well. It’s reading 130+ when my heart rate is actually 60-80-something. 

[Lotta1]

I have just given up. I tried reaching out to support but they were really unhelpful, even when I showed them a table of my actual HR and what my fitbit was showing.

I also took it off for about 5 hours last night, it was in my bag when I went out with some friends, and somehow it recorded my heartrate as being 80-130 the entire time. No idea how as it wasn't anywhere near my skin. I have just given up on it being accurate and only use it as a really expensive pedometer now 🙄

[nhossalla]

I’m having the same trouble! I’ve tried everything!

[nhossalla]

My resting heart rate hasn’t worked for about a month! Tried everything to try to fix it!