Resting Heart Rate

[JCall]

I switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week, and since then, my resting heart rate has taken a jump, even though my overall heart rate through the day is the same.

My resting heart rate for several months since I first got the FitBit has been between 47 - 51. 52 at a push though I considered this high. It would usually change every day, but be somewhere within that bracket. Since loading up and syncing with Android, it seems to be at a static 55 every day, even though my live heart rate at the time of looking is nearly always lower.

When sitting, my live heart rate is nearly always lower than 55, so how is FitBit calculating that my resting heart rate is 55, as when I am actually resting, it is less?

This is an example from this morning, eating breakfast, I'd been up and moving for over an hour at this point, then sat down:

[shipo]

Does your Android phone agree with the Fitbit.com web site?

My wife has an iPhone and I use an Android phone and we've never noticed any irregularities regarding the RHR calculation.  That said, I do notice my RHR will rise for a week or so from time to time; most notably when the weather gets hot or if I'm feeling ill.

Here are two shots of the last month of my Android and Web RHR graphs; as you can see, I was feeling a bit ill about half way through:

Android:

From the Fitbit.com dashboard web site:

[JCall]

Yes, the figures on the website match the app, but I'm assuming the app is what is capturing the live data, and feeding it back to the website, as the app is on the device which it is connected to. I see no reason for there to be discrepancy between app and website in that regard.

It just seems odd that my RHR has been pretty consistent up until this week, when I switched to Android, yet my overall heart rate is the same (judging by the FitBit Charge's HR).

As stated, my live RHR is always lower than what the app says my RHR is, as shown in the picture. On the iPhone, my live RHR would be the same as the recorded RHR, or maybe one beat above/below. To be consistently 6 or 7 beats fewer throughout the day makes me think the app isn't calculating my RHR very accurately.

[shipo]

@JCall, my understanding is regardless of whether your data is synched via your phone (a separate thread embedded in the app which does nothing but send raw data from tracker to the Fitbit database) or a Bluetooth enabled PC via the Fitbit Connect application, there is no alteration of the data between your tracker and the database.

For display purposes, your Android phone, or iOS phone, or web browser then requests the data back from the Fitbit database where it is rendered and displayed.  If both the Fitbit Dashboard and your Android phone agree, then most likely your RHR went up for some reason right around when you switched to Android.

FWIW, I synch as often via my phone as I do with the Fitbit Connect PC app, and there is no variance in my RHR calculation.

Regarding your observed heart rate throughout the day versus your RHR, what does your daily 5-minute plot graph look like?  I would think the graph would show a consistently lower heart rate than your RHR if there was an issue.  Here's what my graph looks like from Tuesday of this week; this graph supports rather nicely my calculated RHR which was 42:

[JCall]

That's fine. I don't believe the app is showing me data that is not in the database, more that however RHR data is calculated is now being calculated incorrectly. It may or may not be because of the Android app, but it happened as soon as I started using it.

My RHR heart rate has not actually gone up. My heart rate overall has not changed. When I wake up it is in the low 40s. It then goes on to rise to the mid/high 40s, and stays between 47-51 when resting thereafter, but usually 48 quite consistently. If I take my RHR manually, the old fashioned way at several points through the day, then it suggests that Fitbit's recording of my RHR is incorrect. On the iPhone, my live RHR would be the same as the recorded RHR, or one or two beats above/below now and again. For my live RHR to be 7 or 8 beats fewer consistently doesn't seem right.

Also, on the iPhone, it would take about 10 minutes or so for it to calculate my RHR in the mornings, then it would refresh and give me the RHR for that day. With the Android app, it gives it to me immediately when I open the app in the morning - 55. It has been 55 for 10 days in a row, where as I don't remember ever having the same RHR more than 2 days in a row on the iPhone app. To me, it looks like my RHR isn't being calculated. Its just sticking at 55, no matter what.

As for the graphs, yes, the resting parts of the graphs hover just under or just over 50bpm, except when I'm out running/walking or when I'm active at work.

[JCall]

Synced via iPad this morning instead. RHR straight down to 51.

I guess I'll just have to keep doing that then. 

[JohnnyRow]

A couple of thoughts which might or might not be related to your situation.

With Android phone, after I get my RHR soon after waking, often when I check again, say 30 minutes later, it has gone down a couple of bpm. I assume you have gone back to look at previous days' values to insure they stayed at 55.

It is common to see heart rate sometimes during the day and definitely at night that are lower than the RHR. Fitbit's RHR is not the lowest heart rate at rest as is usually defined, but calculated by some algorithm Fitbit does not make public. I realize that does nothing to explain difference between iOS and Android syncing.

[JCall]

When I used the iPhone app, I would find that my RHR could sometimes change a couple of times throughout the day as well. That has not been the case with Android, and it has just been an immediate 55 all day every day.

Whilst I'd expect Fitbit's calculation to be based on more than just my lowest heart rate at some point during the day, I would expect it to record my RHR to be the heart rate that it is very consistently throughout the day (or somewhere rather close to that), which in my case is usually 48 (which was reflected when it was being recorded via the iPhone app), though it often goes as low as 43-44 when I just wake up and when I am saying in bed before going to sleep. My live HR goes as high as 55 usually when walking normally or doing very light activity. Definitely not when resting.