Heart rate from Alta HR not accurate

[Katelins11]

I got my fitbit Alta HR in Jan 2018. I have loved it and worn it every day. It is now Feb 2019 and the heart rate monitor has been very inaccurate. I can be sitting down and it will read my heart rate as 120 bpm. I will at the same time count my own heart rate and it will be about 60 bpm (my resting HR is usually about 57). I have tried resetting it and have checked all my settings. It’s been doing  This consistently for about a week now and thinks I am burning on average 1,000 calories more than I normally am. I feel like only being just over a year old

i should not be having this problem.

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there @Katelins11, welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums! 🙂

What you describe sounds totally like something your Fitbit Alta HR should not be doing. I would like to help you out with this.

My first suggestion would be to give your Alta HR a quick restart. You can easily do this by clipping your tracker to the charger and plugging the charger to a USB port on your computer or a wall charger. Then, Press the button on your charging cable three times within four seconds and your tracker should vibrate and show the Fitbit logo. This will make your tracker to reboot.

You can see how it goes after restarting your tracker or you can also try to set it up as a new device and start keeping an eye on it from that point. For this, go to the Account section at the top right corner on the Fitbit app and select the option that says "Set up a new device". Follow the on-screen instructions and once you're done, your tracker should be syncing without a problem.

Hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you need any more help!

[Katelins11]

Hello,

I restarted my device last week and this did not fix the problem. I set my device as a new device just now. The tracker said my heart rate was between 90-110 bpm over the next 5 min while I was sitting down. I simultaneously checked my own heart rate every few minutes counting it for an entire minute each time (I am in the health profession so I know how to accurately do this) and my own heart rate was between 55-65. I feel like this is a huge discrepancy. I have not had this issue in the past year of owning my device. This problem has persisted for the last few weeks and like I mentioned in my initial post, has been drastically affecting my account with my calories burned in a day being nearly 1,000 calories more per day than normal. I will be very disappointed with Fitbit if my device can only reliably work for one year.

Thank you,
Katelin

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Shelyons]

My Alta hr was bought it may 2018 and recently it has started to do the same thing...! 

[Wembley78]

I got a brand new one first one ever and sitting still it says 96 bpm. And walking to car and back to chair it goes to 172bpm. It also counts steps when I'm sitting 250 steps every few minutes. 

[Shelyons]

that can’t be right!! Have you spoken with customer services? If it’s new it will still be under warranty

[ccs001]

This is the same crappy boilerplate response on every thread about this issue. Restarting it obviously does not work. Please give an adequate response or I'll be happier switching to a different company since my fitbit isn't working and apparently no one can figure out why and fitbit isn't making any offers to replace it.

[Sbastos1]

Got.mine last november. Was Working just fine until.couple Days ago.. Heart rate off the Roof while sleeping or sitting doing.nothing... I have reboot it, cleaned the sensors, set.as.a.new.device.. i dont know what to Do anymore and very disapponted. Any clarification or help Will be welcomed.

[RLFauber]

I'm having the same problem. It worked fine for six months, then couldn't read my heart rate. After I reset it, it consistently gives readings above 150bpm while sitting. Without an accurate HR, most of its other features are useless. Please, Fitbit, give us an answer that isn't resetting and starting again as a new device. Neither of those work. Thanks!

[jtemail]

In the past 3 days, my Alta HR started recording my heart rate at crazy high numbers like 135 while sitting still for hours.  Then it would log about 320 active minutes in an entire evening of sitting on the sofa watching TV.  I've rebooted it and it is still misbehaving.  It looks like this is a known issue and many people have this issue.  What can be done about it?  I'm not going to fix the issue by buying another Fitbit product?  I'll use my Samsung watch going forward if I can't find a fix.

[JoshuaHalewood]

I’ve had similar issues. Was on a TT-style bike ride averaging 20mph and my hr was apparently peaking at 96bpm. Either I’m a godly rider or somethings not right. 

[Puggle_Wrangler]

Ugh. Yes.

Not only does my ”resting” heart rate regularly measure too high (eg above what my Alta HR records even when I’m sitting/standing), but the measurements seem to top out at about 120.

The HIIT sessions that leave me unable to speak a sentence (ie def in peak heart rate range) don't even register. Max heart rate for that period? 122.

[kalinamalina]

this is happening to me as well! even if i take it off and leave it on a drawer, my fitbit tracks like 12 hours of activity and throws all of my data out of whack. very disappointing as i only brought mine a few months ago!

[Sinead79]

I’m having the same problem with my heart rate monitor. It seems to be doubling my heart rate. I’ve tried restarting it and setting up a new device but it makes no difference. Do you know if anyone has found a solution to this problem? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[alf.crossman]

I’ve just had the same problem with my Alta HR. It tells me my HR is 96bpm while my blood pressure monitor says 46bpm, which is normal for me. None of the Fitbit answers seem very satisfactory, maybe time to change device.