Can't edit distance of run on treadmill OR adjust stride length to correct it

[willman3755]

New user here (to Fitbit, and wearables entirely) with a Pixel Watch 2. Great hardware overall but it seems like FitBit software has some long-standing issues!

Today I ran 3.09 miles on the treadmill. FitBit says I only ran 2.34 miles. Allegedly, that's calculated based on some average stride length, that I should be able to update. As soon as earlier this year, multiple people said to go to "activities and wellness" in settings, and change the stride length FitBit used to calculate my run distance. That page seemingly doesn't exist in the app anymore; there's the "Activity" settings page but no stride length setting.

So I suppose maybe I can just edit the activity distance directly, since there's an edit button. Well yes, but it seemingly doesn't save, and immediately reverts to the calculated distance! What's more is I see posts going back to 2017 about this issue!!!

Any fix for getting correct distances recorded for treadmill (and, presumably, other non-GPS indoor activities), or is my brand new watch incapable of this seemingly obviously important feature?

[willman3755]

Whoops - posted this in the wrong category and not sure how to fix or delete/repost. I'm on android.

[LZeeW]

Hello @willman3755 and welcome to the Community.  No harm, no foul.  I moved your post to the Android forum.  This comes up all the time with the treadmill shortcut.  Fitbit uses your walking stride length when you use the treadmill shortcut.  Fitbit suggests that you use the run shortcut with GPS off when you run on a treadmill.  Your distance will get calculated using your running steps x stride length distance.  It is always hard to get the distances to match.  Your treadmill uses the belt distance, which can be off if the treadmill isn't well maintained.  Your stride length can change with different speeds or if you add an incline.

[2Flo9]

It's impossible to modify an activity! The changes you make are never saved.
It's a real disaster! It's also impossible to rename an activity, for example. This problem has been reported for many months.
But Fitbit doesn't give a **ahem** about its customers and their problems.