App needs work for cyclists.....

[Squirrel29]

I am using a Charge 4 with App on Android (Samsung S10e). I cycle. There are the following issues that need looking at:

1. If I start an exercise activity from the Charge 4 I can select 'Bike' - also 'Swim' and others (but no Hike). However I the App only gives me options for 'Run', 'Walk' and 'Hike'. The same list of options should be available both in the App and on the device - the App knows it's a Charge 4 that's connected.

2. The auto detection doesn't work properly. If I spend time walking behind my lawnmower I automatically get credited with 'Outdoor Bike' - happens every time. However, if I actually use a bike - outdoors - and forget to manually start the activity, it records nothing apart from active minutes. Not sure if this a fault in the App or the the Charge 4.

[LZeeW]

@Squirrel29   I can give you some feedback on some of your questions.  Starting the exercise with the app is a feature Fitbit calls MobileRun.  Fitbit released MobileRun when its trackers only counted steps, distance, etc.  So, of course, it only has step based activities.  Fast forward to the devices that have an exercise app (Fitbit called this the Exercise Mode and Multi-sport Mode on earlier models).  I don't know why Fitbit never changed MobileRun, but some people might say that it was a way to get users to buy newer devices with better features.  MobileRun still exists because there are many older devices that don't have an Exercise app that are still in use.  There is zero chance that Fitbit will change MobileRun.

You can put Hike on your list of Exercise Shortcuts.  The Charge 4 has over 20 shortcuts, but you can't have them all on your device at the same time.  See this Help article for more information.  How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device? 

I'm sorry, but I don't have an explanation why your Charge 4 doesn't recognize your outdoor bike rides like it is supposed to.  I do know that many users of different Fitbits say their lawn mowing gets recorded as outdoor bike.  The vibrations give accelerometer data that gets perceived as riding a bike.  I suggest that your browse the Charge 4 forum for an answer to you auto recognition issue.  

[Keekers09]

I have a Versa 2, my husband has a Charge 4.  He gets steps even if he doesn't swing his arm, I don't.  So maybe there's more issues on my end with biking, than yours, but I agree that the biking feature needs work.  I used to push my kids' stroller with only one arm so my Fitbit could swing with each step.  I've tried putting it on my ankle, on my shoelaces, in my pocket, but nothing compares to the arm swing.  I'm jealous that he doesn't have to swing his arms, but I prefer my Versa 2 (when notifications work).

First, I bike on a cul de sac with my kids, doing loops.  I only get credit for moving back and forth repeatedly in a straight line -- so I get credited with far less distance than I'm actually covering.  I guess when my kids are older and can leave the safety of the cul-de-sac, I'll get more credit, but it's kind of demoralizing.

Second, it sounds like you should be getting steps due to vibrations.  Am I understanding that correctly?  I get 0 steps for biking, even if I wear the fitbit on my ankle (which really isn't helpful when I'm trying to use the watch and timer functions lol).  I feel like I should get at least some steps for biking, shouldn't I?

Third, I don't know what is going on with my exercise detection.  It rarely ever detects that I'm exercising.  It's a real production to even get the Fitbit to register a walk when I remember to start it on the watch.  I then have to go to the Fitbit app and wait for a sync to finally happen, but only after I've walked far enough away from my wifi, even though I've turned wifi off on my phone.  (I wish this was the least of my Fitbit issues, to be honest.)  If I were more serious about logging my exercises and not just trying to motivate myself to increase my activities in general, I would be really disappointed, especially since biking is one of the few exercises my chronic pain issues tolerate fairly well.

[Squirrel29]

Hi 

I'm with you all the way. What counts and what doesn't is so inconsistent. I've seen the stroller issue reported before. Whilst I kinda get that a non moving wrist - holding a bar that is connected to the ground by a wheel- is difficult to get to determine when a step happens, it can't be that simple. There is no difference in wrist movement between walking behind a stroller and walking behind a lawnmower. Mowing counts - steps stroller doesn't. Why? Does stroller detect a 'walk' activity? Mowing shouldn't detect as cycling - the attributes to match to are nothing like similar.

Cycling should detect as cycling nothing else should be detected as cycling (or anything else that it isn't) - or if that can't be made reliable - it should be removed from the detected activity types. I have no issue with Mowing being auto detected as walking - which it sort of is. 

Again consistency lacking. I get why selected activity 'cycling' doesn't count steps - although active, you aren't actually doing steps. However, if that's the case for cycling directed one way it should be true for cycling detected another - it isn't. 

I now tend to compare days more on active minutes - or cardio/peak time - than steps.

Very disappointed by the 1st response to this question. If this is the official fitbit position it's verging on contempt for their customers. As a chief architect for apps and other software in a business bigger than fitbit was (although nothing is bigger than Google) I know how easy it is to make dropdowns populate with the same data in 2 different places, and have that content be determined by context (eg the selected features of the device connected) - which happens in some places, but not others. 

Beginning to feel that after a promising start fitbit has lost its way, and when the time comes charge 4 will be my 3rd and last fitbit.

[LZeeW]

@Squirrel29   My comments are a personal opinion and are not an official Fitbit position.  Community Council members aren't employees.  I, too, have been baffled by many Fitbit decisions over the years.  Please direct your disappointment at Fitbit, not me.