Fitbit app not calculating walked distance correctly

[stacewood]

My Fitbit app is suddenly not calculating distance walked correctly within the GPS Exercise Tracking.  

Example:

• Route that previously logged as 3.74km, logging at 0.03km
• Route that previously logged as 0.8km, logging at 0.27km

I've not made any changes to my settings in the app since sometime last calendar year.  For distance logging, I open the app, go to Exercise, then tap the stopwatch to get the GPS started, then the arrow to begin tracking.  The timer immediately comes on & stays on until I pause or finish.  The previous distance calcs were correct (verified by multiple methods), & have just gone wrong this week.  

As a bit of additional info...

Checked the stride length, multiplied it by the # of steps recorded, distance showing both on the Fitbit & in the app for the daily distance calculation was correct. 

The visual map that gets recorded in the app when tracking a walk looks fine (correctly represents the route). 

It's just in the app, the GPS-listed distances for walks are incorrect.

Have also deleted/redownloaded/reinstalled app, no affect.

Please advise & many thanks!

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @stacewood.

Thanks for bringing up those details on the matter, and sharing the steps you have tried. Let me help you figure out what is going on.

I'd like to ask some clarifications on the situation that you are experiencing:

• The GPS route is correct after the activity is finished?
• When did this start happening? Was it after an update?
• Do you have a Fitbit device or do you only use your phone for tracking?

Finally, could you share some screenshots of activities with the incorrect distance? They could help us better understand what is going on.

I look forward to your reply.

[stacewood]

Hi @LanuzaFitbit 

Thanks for the reply.  To answer your questions:

• The GPS route (visual) is correct-ish.  Not perfect, but close (see screenshots)
• Per the Play Store, there was an update on May 7--as I didn't manually open/use the GPS tracking the week of May 6-10, I can't speak to that week.  The week prior, all was well.  This week, not so much.
• I have the Alta HR & use the phone app so I have accurate data for specific walks.

By someone else's suggestion, I also tried leaving the Alta HR behind & just allowing the app to track.  Again, it tracked steps fine & seemed to add the correct distance to the dashboard of the app--it's when I tap on the exercise tile that the distance is way off. The screenshots below are all the same route--you can see how off the route/distance are.  The pace is also all messed up in the 2nd one.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @stacewood.

Thank you very much for sharing those screenshots. That definitely helps understand what might be going on.

In this case I'd like to ask you some more questions:

• Has this been a daily thing or is it sporadic?
• What phone are you using?
• What Android version is it running?

I look forward to your reply.

[stacewood]

Hi @LanuzaFitbit ,

It's just started (as far as I can tell) this week, has been daily with the exception of today--I've been travelling & haven't tracked anything yet.

Phone is Samsung S5 Neo running Android 7.0

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @stacewood.

Thanks for sharing those details. 

When you come back from your travel please give it another shot and let me know how it goes. When you do it, try to keep the phone out of your pockets, if you take it in your pockets, to make sure that the GPS connection cannot be interrupted by anything.

I look forward to your reply.