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]

I had a good 4-day run this week with everything in sync. Then today, off by 174 steps. The 4 days were nice while they lasted. 

[JenMah]

I'm also having this problem. I'm 400 steps different today between the watch and the app.

I have cancelled my Fitbit Premium subscription due to this issue. Why pay for enhanced data if the most basic functionality is unreliable?

[xlevix10]

That's the experience I seem to have, too. Every time it works for 3-4 days, I think we're good to go and then it doesn't sync properly again. Saturday and Sunday were golden, but I just got back from a 3 mile run and it's off by 346 steps. Still waiting on the 4.28 update to get to me.

[xlevix10]

Completely agree! It's ridiculous that they still expect us to pay full price for a service that's entirely unreliable. I've done the same thing and likely won't turn it back on because of these issues, even if they do get fixed.

[lincbeck]

It does seem like if I track exercise purposely or when it asks if I'm exercising and I say yes, it is more likely to get off sync. Not always the case, but I didn't track any of my exercise today and it's still in sync right now. The four days prior when it was in sync I also didn't track any exercise. 

[lincbeck]

I have also cancelled my premium subscription. There honestly isn't much added benefit from premium and even less when the most basic functions don't even work. 

[chuckbeasley]

It's clearly broken. I even updated to Android 15. Typically, Google makes low-level enhancements that makes the hardware devices a bit more accurate based on machine learning because of all the training data we send them for free. So, imagine my surprise to see my watch step counts decreasing somehow. Not once, not twice. Several times today. This was the watch app, not the phone. Granted, they still are not in sync, but it seems we are getting further away from where we are trying to go at this point. The worst part is the lack of acknowledgement that they've recreated the issue and are working on fixing it.

[xlevix10]

I've noticed very similar behavior. My steps seem to sync perfectly during the weekend when I'm not exercising. But as soon as Monday rolls around and I run or use my elliptical, the steps are out of sync again.

[xlevix10]

I got the 4.28 update yesterday afternoon and will be going for a run on my lunch break, so we'll see if this is finally fixed or not.

[lincbeck]

Updated to 4.28 this morning. Was in sync before. Took a walk. Now it's it out sync again. So...still no fix apparently.

[xlevix10]

Came here to report the same. Went for a tracked run and it's back to being out of sync. The good news (?) is it's only 16 steps out of sync currently, so maybe that's progress? Either way though, issue absolutely is not fixed. 

[lincbeck]

Do you get the weekly progress email? It absolutely has the correct info, so it's definitely being collected behind the scenes. I just don't understand why they are having so much trouble showing the right number in the app. Like you have the data, this should be an easy fix! 

[xlevix10]

I do get those emails and I agree. Same thing with the historical exercise data not showing in the app. The data is there, it's just the app isn't reading it right. I can't believe this has been going on for as long as it has!

[RiekoC]

From what I've seen in some Moderator posts, it seems like version 4.28 was supposed to include the fix for step syncing and seeing all historical exercise data in the app. They've also acknowledged users reporting that version 4.28 didn't fix the problems and stated that they are notifying support personnel about this.

If I learn of any further updates, I'll report back.

[xlevix10]

Appreciate you popping in with the updates, @RiekoC!! I'll just add that my watch and phone are much closer in sync now with my watch only being 5 steps ahead of my app and my steps were never more than 14 steps off from each other. While this is still an issue, it's certainly progress, so I'm hopeful we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the sync step issue. 

As far as historical exercise data goes, it comes and goes when it wants to show, so hopefully it's also on its way getting fixed. 

[RiekoC]

You're welcome @xlevix10 .

I'm glad you're seeing progress with the step syncing issue. Like you, I'm looking forward to when this issue and the historic exercise data showing in the app are resolved. As a Pixel Watch user, I understand the frustration when our devices don't work the way they should and that it seems to take a long time for fixes to be implemented. 

If I learn of any new updates, I'll report back.

[xlevix10]

I'm happy to report that after three tracked activities (two elliptical exercises and one GPS run), my watch and app are fully in sync! This has happened before, so I won't declare this over just yet, but with yesterday being only 5 steps out of sync and today being fully synced, I'm hopeful.

[gtw087728]

I don't want to ruin your hope, but I think the sync issues may have gotten worse. Now my The watch in my phone are showing the same data, but it's the same wrong data. I am confidently sure that I have had eight active hours today and as of an hour ago my watch and my phone both felt the same way. When I just got dropped down to six active hours for today. And my step count dropped on my watch to match what was on my phone, not the other way around.

[xlevix10]

Unfortunately the issue is back for me. I went for a 1 mile walk, 3 mile walk, then another 1 mile walk (all GPS tracked) and my watch and app were totally in sync. Then I went for a 4 mile run and now my steps are out of sync by 254 steps, ugh.

I did also experience on Tuesday that issue you experienced. I hit all 9 active hours and my watch even vibrated at 6 to let me know I did and I saw the little animation and everything. Looked a couple hours later and it dropped to 8 hours. 

[gtw087728]

I hate to say it, but I think it's actually worse now since the 4.28 update. After I went for a walk this evening at around 7:30, my watch showed that I was at 7,430 steps. Now it is 10:30 p.m, 3 hours later, and my watch shows that I'm at 7,120 steps. So between 7:30 and 10:30, even though I've most likely taken at least a thousand steps, somehow I've taken a negative number of steps. 😩 I honestly don't think think they really care. This has been going on for months now.