Step sync is broken

[chuckbeasley]

For about a month now, step syncing between my Pixel 2 watch and Pixel 6 Pro has been broken. They start everyday syncing correctly. Somewhere it loses sync. For example, right now my watch has logged 4195 steps. When I sync to the phone, it says 4040 steps. This has been happening everyday. I've seen the discrepancy of several hundred steps by the end of the day. The phone always lags the watch no matter how many times I manually reset and sync. So, something serious is broken.

App version 4.26.1 (110119829)

[lincbeck]

This is supposedly a known issue they're working to resolve, but you're right, it's been broken for a month - I first noticed it on Sep 13th. Yesterday I was off by 806 steps, the day before 177, the day before that 26, the day before that 58. It's a different amount every day. Same as you, it's fine in the morning and changes throughout the day.  It's really frustrating that's it taking this long to resolve.  Interestingly, it does appear that the correct info is still be logged - just not in the app. Someone mentioned if you get the weekly progress report it shows the correct info, and it does. It's just not loading properly in the app for whatever reason.

[chuckbeasley]

For them to be working on it for a month seems a bit disingenuous. I'm a software architect. If we release software with a bug, we rollback the change until it is proved fix in testing, not leave it in a production build that is pushed. So, if they know and haven't done a thing about it, that's a problem. It is also a problem because they charge us for Fitbit Premium. It would seem that they would want that to always work because customers are paying. I'm really irritated because this has taken this long to be fixed when it wasn't originally a problem. Something they did created this issue. They need to fix it or refund everyone who subscribes to Premium.

[xlevix10]

It's incredibly frustrating, especially because they've known about this for a month and their only answer is "we're aware and working on it" with no estimated time for a fix or anything. And in fact, I think it's even worse now. Yesterday and today, when I manually sync my steps, not only are the steps on my phone less than my watch, but it actually REMOVES steps from my watch! I watched it twice remove ~75 steps. Not a huge amount, but those are still steps I took that just disappeared from BOTH sources. Typical Google. 

[chuckbeasley]

Yeah, that is particularly enraging. It erases steps on the watch, steps actually taken. For me, in a 24-hour time period, it can be several hundred steps. This being distinctly different from the sync failure. This is actually negatively manipulating the step count on the watch.

[lincbeck]

I updated the app to 4.27 yesterday. Took hours for it to see my watch. Today the watch and app are out of sync still, despite the updated app. So, unfortunately, it seems like this won't be the resolution we were looking for! 

[JuanFitbit]

@chuckbeasley @lincbeck @xlevix10 , A warm welcome to the Community! Thank you for your messages and information.

I've informed our team and they are looking into this. Could you please confirm the Fitbit app version you have installed?
To check that please tap on your profile picture >help. 
On the top you'll see the app info. 

We appreciate your collaboration. 

[lincbeck]

I updated to 4.27 yesterday afternoon. By the end of the day, the step count was off by 3252 steps. Today it's only off by 8 so far, but the gap seems to increase as the day goes by. As others have mentioned the weekly fitbit report email has the same number of steps as the watch, which is a higher/different number than what is shown in the app. Also odd, I have Fitbit connect to LoseIt and UnitedHealthcare. Loseit is showing the step amount reflected in the Fitbit app whereas UHC is showing the amount reflected on the watch. And to make it all even stranger, yesterday, my watch was showing over 10k steps, but the app was showing 7k and when I clicked onto the steps complication and scroll down to where it shows steps for the week, it showed the step count reflecting the amount in the app not the amount in the watch. For me, this started Sept 13/14 and every time I contact support I'm gaslighted into thinking there's nothing wrong, when clearly there have been comments all over this board indicating otherwise, some even from Fitbit moderators. I don't know what the deal is, but it seems reasonable to expect the watch and app to have matching numbers as they always have in the past, and especially for those of us who are Premium users and paying for a service we can no longer properly utilize.

[chuckbeasley]

Per the original post, App version 4.26.1 (110119829)

[JuanFitbit]

@lincbeck Thank you for your detailed reply! 

@chuckbeasley Thank you for confirming your app version.  I suggest you to update as soon as you can see the new version  available in the Play Store. 

This because, normally if the solution is not released on a new app update, it will be worked on the latest (current )one. 

I'll let our team know, so that they can continue working on this. 

[chuckbeasley]

Evidently the newest version wasn't available when I checked this morning. I just checked again and it's updating now. We'll see how things go tomorrow because it is currently out of sync, as usual.

[xlevix10]

I got the update today too, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. Historical exercise data is still not showing up, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this issue is also not fixed. It's mind-blowing that a company as massive as Google keeps making these products worse with no fix. 

[chuckbeasley]

Considering 4.26.1 (110119829) has been on my phone only since 9/25/2024, I feel you. I don't have much faith that it has been fixed. This has been a problem since August.

---

This morning, the watch has 468 steps recorded. I sync with the phone. The step count dropped to 405. Out of the gate, it is not looking good. I'll provide another update later.

[xlevix10]

I had similar experience, I had 384 steps and then synced my watch and it dropped on my watch to 372, though the app and watch did match. Went for a 15 minute walk and synced and the steps do match, so at least there's that. However, this typically happens 1-2 times a week where it seems like it's actually syncing properly and then it'll be out-of-sync again the next day, so we'll just have to wait and see.

[chuckbeasley]

It just went out of sync AGAIN. Pixel Watch 2 step count is 4937. Pixel 6 Pro step count is 4896. It is still broken. And, I just updated to the latest version last night.

[xlevix10]

Yep, came here to say I'm having the same experience. Watch is at 8705, app is at 8616. UGH!

[chuckbeasley]

Right now, the gap is still 41 steps. Watch - 10674. Phone - 10633. If the phone stays on a desk, but the watch is in motion, it should always take the higher count during sync. Even if they are both moving, whichever has the highest count wins. It makes zero sense for the step count to ever decrease and even less sense for the sync process not actually SYNC. Otherwise, why waste money on Premium or even use Fitbit at all when it can't do the basic task of getting the data from hardware and performing the same calculations?

[chuckbeasley]

Another update. The phone has been lying on the desk. So, the only active step counter is on the watch. These figures are after the latest sync:

Watch - 14608
Phone - 14475

The gap has mysteriously increased.

[lincbeck]

So yesterday I was off by 8 for the whole day. Before putting it on the charger I thought, why not try a restart and see what happens. Upon restarting, the number on my watch decreased by 8 to match the app.  Today, everything was in sync until this afternoon when I went for a long walk. When I got back and synced, the watch was showing 8337 but the app showed 8248. So, restarted the watch again to see if they'd get back in sync and now the watch is showing 8346 and the app is still showing 8248. I do not have mobile track on, so there's no reason these numbers should be different. Again, on 4.27 and this issue has still not been resolved by this update. If I weren't paying for Premium and if this weren't so frustrating after a month I'd say that this is almost comical at this point, but it's honestly just beyond ridiculous at the moment. I went ahead and cancelled my Premium, but support isn't offering a refund or any credits. 

[lincbeck]

It's wild that no one has fixed this for a month! Two days on 4.27 now and still a hot mess for me today as well.