gps data dissapeared

[LaAnTu]

today i went for a 3 hour hike.. started the tracking in the app. stopped it after 3 hours, even saw the map and the log. then i synced with the charge 2, and the map, gps data was gone!!

how is this possible?! 3 hours i was walking and no **ahem**ing gps data!!!?

confidence in fitbit, yeah, dont think so.. this is a problem, a tracker is meant to give a push to get out there, train! this just sucks.. what now? am i supposed to have another gps e

with me to get the gps data?

and another thing, somebody in here told me to use RUN when i hike because the gps is more accurate. well what about the calories then? they cant be accurate when i hike?!

[RobertoME]

Hello @LaAnTu, good to see you again  in the Fitbit Community. Is this issue happening in a daily basis or it was only on that occasion?

If the issue persists and your GPS data is not syncing please keep this suggestions in mind:

1. Make sure your phone can track your activity when you're out of Wi-Fi range. This is usually achieved by making sure Cellular Data is turned on.
2. Make sure GPS can continue tracking while your phone is locked.
3. Make sure your phone can identify your location.This is usually achieved by enabling Location Services within your privacy settings.

You can also log out from your Fitbit app and restart your phone. As an additional step you can access to your downloaded apps in your phone app manager to delete the cache. Once you have done these steps give it another try.

With calories, rest assure the accuracy is not determined by the type of exercise you choose, but by the intensity you invest on you exercise and your active minutes.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

[LaAnTu]

1. Always outside WIFI range when tracking. Track with internal GPS on phone.

2. GPS always tracks, even when locked.

3. Of course.

This has happened 2 times, FIRST time the GPS data (map etc etc) came back after several syncings. But this time, the SECOND time was different: When you stop the tracking with holding down the "FINISH" button, the app takes you directly to the MAP that shows you the tracking. And! Yes this happened like it always does, but after it synced with the Charge 2 the MAP data disapeared... and never returned. It was there, then it was gone.

I suspect an newly update to the app could be the reason because this was the first track after last update.

About the KCAL there is something wrong. Last exercise i had 1600 kcal burned, that was with tracking with RUN, but I walked. Then I tried manually log the in the same time periode with walk, and yes, with all the right inputs (distance, duration, starttime, etc etc).  For the same exercise logged with WALK manually I got 600 kcal, thats 1000 kcal less. If I tried logging with RUN manually I got 1600 kcal.

So about the KCAL there is something really wrong when by chosing RUN vs. WALK manually gives 1000 kcal difference. what to believe then?

[LaAnTu]

And also.

the kcal is not a one time thing. Logging a previous exercise always gives less kcal burned vs using "track exercise". 

[LaAnTu]

hi again,

today i same thing happened. when for 3,5 hours. 19,4 km. came home stopped the tracking in the app. the gps data was there showing the whole route. then i synced with the charge 2, and the gps data dissapeared. now its completely gone.

this is must be software error. please fix this. must be something with the size of the tracking or maybe the watch overwrites the app tracking because it autodetects walking.

PLEASE FIX!! 

now i have almost 7 hours done in 2 trips and no GPS data. this has to be software malfunction from last update. never happend like this before.

[LaAnTu]

the top one is from today. the bottom one is first time it happened. this looks just like auto recognize. so why does the auto recognize overwrite the tracking done from the app??! thats just stupid. when you use tracking from the app there is a good reason for it, because you know what u are doing. please fix so the auto recognize does not overwrite the gps logging.

[Douglas_Chan]

I have also experienced the exact situation as you did. (I also hiked 3 hours today too!)

Have checked another thread of this board. And some members found that "pause" in-between your app-tracking is causing the problem.

Have also contacted with online Fitbit rep. They provided no solution and just offered me something else.

I hope the Fitbit team can fix the bug asap!

[Douglas_Chan]

It seems like the latest update of the app contributes to the bug. Just like you, I have no problems before.

[LaAnTu]

what a coinsidence 🙂 cool 🙂

yup last update, thats when the shi t hit the fan...!

today i didnt pause at all because i thought that it may be a factor. its is no factor at all.

i have turned of the auto tracking from the watch. have you?

have u had problems with shorter walks? i have just done 2 loong walk since update.

either way gonna try tuesday with auto off. it must be the auto, what else can override the gps tracker inn the app.

seems like fitbit is a company that  will not reckognize their mistakes. thats the feeling i get reading the forums.

[Douglas_Chan]

>>> i have turned of the auto tracking from the watch. have you?

No, no settings changed at all.

>>> have u had problems with shorter walks? i have just done 2 loong walk since update.

Since last update, I have used the app to track activities for three times.

Two got data lost (I have paused the app), one 3 hours hike and one 30 minutes run

One got successful with no pause, this is a 30 mins run

>>> either way gonna try tuesday with auto off. it must be the auto, what else can override the gps tracker inn the app.

Right, I will try this too, thanks for the advice!

[LaAnTu]

first test.

morning walk.

1,5 hours.

auto detect turned off.

everything normal, gps data ok.

now i will test with auto detect on next...

[NolaNonnie]

I am having the same issue with my daily run!!! GPS works perfectly, totals and map show when I hit "finish" then just disappears! Does not log onto my dashboard totals at all! Been happening for about 2 weeks. Have tried restarting phone. No luck.

[JulieMayberry]

Ugghhhh I wish I'd read all this before I bothered having a try... I spotted the GPS on the phone app this morning and thought yayy let's map where we hike instead of downloading mapmywalk... HA! 😞 so my dashboard says I have done 10km nearly 16k steps, only 48 mins active when it should be 3 to 4 hours, and 120 floors climbed (we've talking going up a hill in Tenerife .. Cumbre del Bolico), I wasn't timing it as I presumed my fitbit watch would at least recognise that I was stomping up and back down a hill NOPE 48 mins active, but doesn't actually show that i've done a "daily" activity.

Annoyed ... MUCHO

Did it ever correct itself after a day or so? i'm tempted to put in manually that I exercised today, but I don't want it to think i've done over the 16,000 steps (which I think it will do if I say i've been for a hike)

[donnaqc]

Exact same thing happened to me with my walks. I spoke of my concerns on the Android Google play review for the Fitbit app and they responded saying I should get in contact with them. This is my contact. I am having the exact same issue as this woman and the countless others on this thread. Please fix this asap!!!!

[dlb1001]

I've having the exact same issue as well.  The gps data is recorded successfully, then all of a sudden after it completes the exercise, the gps data just dissappears.  Please release a fix for this.

[dlb1001]

I think I found the solution.  I still have to go out and test it though.  Solution can be found here:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-2/GPS-tracked-hikes-being-recorded-as-un-tracked-walks/m-p/19...

Also  this is a completely ridiculous solution and horrible software design, why would you have an automated tracking overwrite the user generated tracking in the software.  Anyway I'll update after I test this out.

[JulieMayberry]

---

@dlb1001 wrote:

I think I found the solution.  I still have to go out and test it though.  Solution can be found here:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-2/GPS-tracked-hikes-being-recorded-as-un-tracked-walks/m-p/19...

Also  this is a completely ridiculous solution and horrible software design, why would you have an automated tracking overwrite the user generated tracking in the software.  Anyway I'll update after I test this out.

---

Hmm yeah, definitely sounds like an app problem then, after reading that link you posted.  Let us know how you get on.  I might try gps again on a short route march, just so i'm not disappointed - they are suggesting you pause the tracker (watch) instead of the app by the looks of it.  Bit of a daft fault and like you said horrible software design.  I saw the map of the 4 hour hiked route I took come up briefly on phone and was so excited, then when I got home to look properly on pc, it had gone. Miffed was an understatement 🙂

[Douglas_Chan]

So far I am still using old version of Fitbit app, which is perfectly fine for almost everything.

Apparently, the cause of all the problems that are happening now is the update of the app.

If you "downgrade" back to ver 2.43, which I think is the best, then all your problems could be fixed.

I have never updated the Fitbit app since the "downgrade", and I will never set Auto-update in Google Play.

Just don't auto update, or you will end up in despair.

[dlb1001]

Tested it and confirmed.  GPS data did not disappear after I disabled auto recognize exercise.   Even though this mitigates the issue I still think its a bug.  The app should be able to combine a user tracked exercise and an auto recognized exercise and combine the data successfully without dropping the gps data. 

[RobertoME]

Hello everyone and thank you for all your patience about this issue. Indeed, so far this is a glitch that is affecting this portion of the Fitbit app on the Android platform. Since this issue was detected our teams are working hard to roll a fix in future updates, however I don't have a time period to provide.

I've been in conversation with other users and so far not pausing the exercise prevents in some scenario the loss of GPS data.

Thank you for sharing with us this other workaround too @dlb1001. I've seen is working for you.

Despite the fact there is not an official option to downgrade the app to other versions, I would like to mention is not recommendable since other functions and glitch fixes may start failing or appearing at the moment to sync your tracker or perform other activities with the app.

As soon I have more information, I will be posting to keep you informed.