My Fitbit app keeps telling me to enter valid activity

[Helenlouise1]

My fitbit app keeps telling me to enter valid activity, for example walking ect it won't recognise the built in ones in data base, even cleaning. I've reset app and phone and forced stop ect but still not allowing me

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject.

[Gerryco]

Hi AndreaFitbit, 

Thanks for confirming support/development are working on a fix.  I'd like to report same problem, I too am experiencing same issue. 

This problem of not being able to log an exercise activity for several months, each time a new update was installed for Fitbit.  I used to be able to enter "Physio" as an exercise.  When that stopped being a valid exercise at the next Fitbit app update, I was able to log my exercise as "Resistance training" (resistance bands, etc).  Then when that failed after the next update, another Fitbit member mentioned using "Strength Training".  Strength Training could be searched for and saved as a valid exercise until April 11th (last time I logged and saved). 
Yesterday morning, April 12, I had an update to the Fitbit app.  Later in the afternoon, I was no longer able to log an exercise using Strength Training or any weightxxxxx exercises.  Last night, while I was out, my Versa 3 decided to factory reset itself (first time this ever happened since first using the Versa 3 July 7, 2022).  After spending an hour figuring out the issue when I got home and then having to uninstall / reinstall my Fitbit app, from PlayStore, on my Android phone so that I could re-Pair the watch to the app.  I got the watch working again (after also doing updates to the Fitbit app, and the Versa 3 during the pairing process.  Now I'll be spending time resolving items I'd selected other than factory defaults.  

It seems that each time my Fitbit app has had an update, the update negatively affects my ability to log exercise... (this was the main reason I got a Fitbit in the first place).  Please advise if and when we can expect these constant update issues to stop occurring, hopefully at some point in the near future.

BTW...I tried "Workout", and this works...for now!  I really would like to be able to create my own title of "valid exercise", as I did in the past. 
Any ideas when that might return as an option?  

Best regards, 
Gerry 

[barbbowman]

Is this going to be fixed.

Been over a week.

Tried help but no help

[barbbowman]

Tried all these steps and restarting phone and versa on 5 different days

Also done a force stop.

Still not working 

[hippycat]

I've also had this issue for several days. It's very frustrating. (I use a Samsung S9.)

[hippycat]

That never worked in the first place. It also doesn't work now.

[Katchit305]

Those troubleshooting steps do not work for me. I have a Samsung S24 Ultra. I have updated the Fitbit app. Cleared cache and force stopped the app then reopened it.

First, I was getting the error message to enter an valid activity eventhough I selected the activity from the drop menu (the only way an activity can be added). I have been trying to add "Spinning Manual Log" but the option to select it disappears as soon as I hit space to start entering the word "Manual".

[susanhanson3]

It doesn't work. Still get the same error message about entering a valid activity name. Can it be fixed or do I need to buy a new one? I've had mine for almost 7 years. 

[Linda2607]

How do you do this - as soon as I start typing it forces me to select from dropdown list.  I have tried clearing the app cache but it still does this

[sjrily]

@Tchristopher you're welcome, but I can't take full credit that, @AndreaFitbit suggested we type the name exactly as it appears on the screen instead of selecting drop down. I found for my, however, there was no way to go forward without selecting from the drop down (but only after typing the full name with casing).

---

I posted about this in February (activities disappearing from manual logging list), but didn't get anywhere. Much of the thread was me trying to defend why I wanted to manually log activities. Activities no longer listed in search results when trying to manually add

It was here I also mentioned the issue with having to type at least two, sometimes three letters before any activity appears, making it nearly impossible to find a potential "next best" activity to replace the one that disappeared (in other words, without knowing what's available, you'd have to type literally thousands of letter combinations to see what other choices you do is - I was "willing" to type one letter as a way to search,  but yeah.... ) 

And then there's the general inability to edit activities started on the device or auto recognized, like changing "Weights" to "Resistance Training" (started on device, I do both) or " Mountain biking" to "Gardening" (auto recognized).

As it currently is, aside from the two or three activities I can start from my device (that are accurate in terms of what I actually did), exercise/activity logging has become a fail for me. 

I'd really like to see if this will be sorted out before looking a a different device, but how long to wait? Searching the forum for these issues shows they go back over a year, possibly further 

[Katchit305]

I am also considering getting a different device and leaving Fitbit (Google) alone all together. Not being able to accurately log my activities defeats the whole purpose of having it.

[sjrily]

@Linda2607 You need to type the entire name of activity EXACTLY as the drop down shows it, THEN select it from the drop down. 

I think Fitbit is matching what's typed in the search field box instead of the activity name we're forced to select, but just a guess. 

[Gerryco]

Hi Base Runner,
thanks for your response.  I tried what you said, and it worked.  After weeks of typing the entire words with upper and lower case characters to match the pulldown, I noticed that I was typing just the first 2-4 characters to find what I was looking for in the pulldown.  I would then select the pulldown, and it would be placed in the Activity field.  However, it seems that even though the two words "Strength Training" showed up in the Activity field, when clicking on Save link/button, I would get a message in red "Enter a vlid activity name".  So will be entering fully qualified activity name from now one, however this is very inefficient and frustrating that a partial character search which finds an activity still requires to type the whole text in order to be able to save it.
Thanks again Base Runner, 
GerryCo

[TerrieTidwell]

Any progress?  This is very frustrating.  I tried all the troubleshooting tips.  I tried typing "Tennis" just as it is in the drop-down menu.  Nothing works.

[sjrily]

@Gerryco It certainly is inefficient - right now searching only shows us if there's a valid exercise similar to what we're typing (usually).  When we "select" said exercise, we aren't currently "selecting" anything, we're just saying "OK, I typed a valid exercise in it's entirety exactly as shown, now please continue so I can move on." It's matching what we typed, not what we selected, and that's definitely not how search/select options should work. 

So hopefully it's not "from now on" but rather "for the time being." 

The question is how long is the time being? My guess is this is tied in with all the other exercise logging/editing issues, and the time being for those have been considerable. 

Which brings up another question - considering Google has been steadily phasing out Fitbit features and won't be releasing new Fitbit devices (in favor of Pixel Watch how much effort is really going into software support? No doubt the end goal will be to move Fitbit consumers to the Pixel. I'd be more likely to consider that if they were upfront about it; not so much after being strung along and having to constantly find various hacks to use my device as intended for months on end. 

[sjrily]

@TerrieTidwell Did you select "Tennis" from the drop down AFTER you typed full word with same casing? 

You need to select it to get it in the Activity box, then enter your details, then save. 

That should work.... 

[susanhanson3]

Hello Andrea

We need a fix for this soon.  So many unhappy people and many more who don't take the time to contact Fitbit about it.  This issue is super frustrating.  

I had my Fitbit Inspire 2 for 7 years and I thought maybe it needed to be replaced and that would fix the problem.  So I bought an Inspire 3 yesterday and unfortunately the same problem is there. That makes this even more annoying.  

Please help Soon!

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Hello everyone,

I wanted everyone to know that I had my Fitbit Inspire 2 for 7 years and I thought maybe it needed to be replaced and that would fix the problem.  So I bought an Inspire 3 yesterday and unfortunately the same problem is there. That makes this even more annoying.     

We need a fix for this soon.  So many unhappy people and many more who don't take the time to contact Fitbit about it.  This issue is super frustrating.  Fitbit:  Please help asap!

Thank you.

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Moderator edit - merged messages

[LifeBLL]

I just started having this issue today. I have read through the thread and none of the work arounds work for me.

Please update us on the progress of the solution.

[Amb0512]

Same here, and if I click done multiple times it randomly accepts it

[TerrieTidwell]

Yes, I typed "Tennis" and selected it as the only option in the drop-down menu. I got the message "Enter a valid activity name".

[TerrieTidwell]

I just tried to add Tennis for today and it worked! HALLELUJAH! I hope it will still work tomorrow.  Others have reported it working and then stopped working.