Bike activity not tracking distance

[R.J.]

Gps does not track distance in biking....the icon of the cell phone comes on ....on the screen of the fitbit but it keeps on searching....bar goes back and forth the time im biking....time, calories burnt,heart rate are all tracked.....even on the map i can see my all roads ...streets i biked in red....but no distances....in the past it would track full distance....even give me a time per Km....BUT distance is tracked  if i use the run or hike??

Ive updated ghe app...its a Fitbit charge 2

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity and format 

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello @R.J. thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'd like to first give you a warm welcome to our Community Forums, it's a pleasure to assist you with your distance concern.

I'm sorry you're having problems with the distance not tracking when you're recording your bike rides, certainly this is not a common situation. Normally, tracking a bike ride from your Fitbit directly and even more when it connects to your phone's GPS, should keep track of your distance without any problem.

Now, there's another instance where your tracker will automatically record your activity for you without you putting your tracker into any mode. This is called SmartTrack and with this feature, it will not record your distance either on bike rides or walks or runs, etc. Just to be sure, I'd recommend disabling SmartTrack specifically for bike rides to avoid this situation. To do so, please go to the app, tap on your Account, scroll down to Exercise and there look for the Auto Recognized Exercises section. Look for Outdoor Bike and in the Auto-Recognize option, make sure it's disabled.

Also, please try restarting your Fitbit following the steps that are specified on: How do I restart my Fitbit device?, such steps will help to refresh your device performance.

Try going out for a bike ride again and see how it goes. Let me know if you need more help with this!

[Malibuu80]

I'm having the same issue. I bike to work every day which is 12km each way and it says I only went .99km with a average speed of 1.5 yet it shows my full route on the map. 

In the exercise mode it takes forever for my phone to connect but I'm not sure it stays connected the whole time.

[R.J.]

I disabled auto recognize biking...i also restarted my fitbit charge 2...and the problem still exist in biking only.....getting tired of going thru all the setting.....other apps are working on my cellular using location and data....there is good cellular signal where i bike......fitbit and cell are 2 feet apart when biking....frustrating distances dont record on biking....i bike 20 km and at.the end says total distance is 0.5km......especially when it did run good in the past......while it still runs 100% on walk..run and hike....Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[R.J.]

I did try every solution indicated and unfortunately the problem still exist.....biking was the most used exercise this summer.....everything used to work well in the past.....other apps on my cell phone are working fine with location , data signal , gps ...just a problems when using my Fitbit.....

[r53jim]

Same issue here this morning. Biked 14k logged 1.2k. Map data shows correctly.

[R.J.]

Yes ....same here i can see my whole ride on the map...but no distances....most days it tells me 0.5 km or 0.4km for a 1 hour ride...its frustrating....it ran well before...getting tired of going thru all the setting trying to make it work....i know its not my cell phone location, data signal or gps cause other apps work fine....Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello again! It's a pleasure to continue providing assistance with this situation, my apologies for the delay in responding. Welcome to the Community Forums @Malibuu80 and @r53jim. Thanks for your reply @R.J..   

Thanks for letting me know about this issue and for trying some troubleshooting steps prior to posting. Let me share with you guys that we’re aware of this specific inconvenience but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future. We'll continue to monitor the situation and keep our specialized teams informed of the impact to each of you. We understand that this isn't the resolution you're hoping for, but rest assured we're always working to improve our products and services.

Your understanding and patience are appreciated, don't hesitate to ask me any additional questions you may have. 

[Jimaitken]

I also have been experiencing this problem with the bike tracking capability.  It used to work but has not worked in the last few weeks.  On a 5 mile ride it will show a straight line on the map for part of the course, and show distance and time data of 0.2 miles and 3 minutes.

Please notify us when a software fix is issued.

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello @Jimaitken welcome to the Community Forums, pardon me for the delayed reply.

I'm sorry to know that you're experiencing the same situation with your Fitbit and your bike distance, rest assured, once I receive an update from our specialized teams that are working on this, I'll make sure to post such information over here. 

In the meantime, let me know if you have any additional questions. Thanks for your patience. 

[MommaGayle]

I have the same problem. It does not auto-detect biking. And if I manually start the exercise,  I finish and the report shows I haven't covered any miles. But the phone app actually SHOWS the route I took.

I've tried the listed help tip to no avail.

[Jimaitken]

I got a reply from fitbit support saying they are aware of the problem and
will let us know when there is a fix.

[RicardoFitbit]

Welcome aboard @MommaGayle, thanks for your reply @Jimaitken. Sorry for the delay in responding.

Just as our Customer Support team stated, we’re aware of this specific inconvenience but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future. We'll continue to monitor the situation and keep our specialized teams informed of the impact to each of you.

Rest assured, we're always working to improve our products and services. 

Don't hesitate to contact me back if both of you need anything else.

[Pgla13]

Was this issue ever fixed? I don't see any distance or map information when tracking bike rides whether through smarttrack or by explicitly tracking in the exercise menu. This used to work fine but hasn't in past few months.

[ianbikeride]

Hi - just read the above posts as I went for a cycle today. Same problem as everyone else has mentioned, I get distances for walking but not cycling. Its pretty frustrating as I bought a Fitbit Charge 3 believing it would do this. It shows time, but that's not really that helpful as I know when I left and got back home! Pretty disappointed with this, I feel I've been mis-sold. Any updates from Fitbit? I noticed someone said it used to work before.      

[Jimaitken]

I have only seen messages from Fitbit that they are aware of the issue. I
have stopped using my fitbit and have switched to a phone app.

What is frustrating is that this feature actually worked very well at one
time, so something they changed broke it. You would think they could
figure it out.

[Ashley-Kew]

Same problem here very annoying Fitbit come on in this crisis the fatbit as I call it is needed more then ever.  Please fix the bike feature I'm sure it's not that difficult - could you allow the app to track bike instead of all the walking ones?   Please fix it I need to shed some lumber and now right now is the perfect time.  Faithfully Ashley  

[ianbikeride]

Hi - since posting my previous message (about the Charge 3 not tracking bike distance), I've had a couple of emails from Fitbit customer service. To be fair they have been very responsive and tried to help. However, the steps given are pretty complicated (for what is meant to be a simple tracking device) AND I still have the same issue as before i.e. the distances aren't tracked (when linked to my iPhone) or I get something like 0.4km for a two hour cycle! They have not admitted that there is an ongoing technical issue, as some others have reported here. Infuriatingly the last email from them implied that I had damaged the Fitbit, but the thing hasn't worked properly from the start!

I intend to escalate this within Fitbit as I feel like they are is-selling the product, in claiming it does something it doesn't do. Before doing so, can I check has anyone got this to work properly when linked to an iphone? Also any ideas on where else we could post this issue, to raise awareness of the problem e.g. any cycling forums?        

[Pgla13]

I have the same issue with versa and Android. I think the problem is that the device doesn't connect to the Fitbit app on the phone half the time. When it doesn't connect properly or loses connection, the tracking is wrong. I have had this problem for months. 

[DavidON]

Has there been a fix for this yet ? It's infuriating. I am on my bike everyday and have no data whatsoever, It's infuriating. I would have bought a Garmin if I knew about this.