Aria 2 not providing accurate body fat percentage

[Mister_JJ]

My Aria 2 scales have started recording a 1.5% higher (overnight) change to my body fat % and with the same diet & exercise regimen, I'm unsure why this is.  In a 24 hour period (Thursday 8th Nov to Friday 9th Nov) I've jumped from a consistent 14.6% body fat measurement to over 16%.  I've measured and remeasured to see if I get a different result, but it's not changing.

Has there been a new firmware update that has impacted the measurement algorithm?  With no change in diet and a constant and consistent reduction in my body fat over time, I'm struggling to see how I could have jumped 1.5% in a period of 24 hours when it's consistently been decreasing over time. I measure every morning upon wake up.

Are there release notes available for 23.25.4.0 along with dates and descriptions of what has changed?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Mister_JJ Welcome to our Fitbit Community! I'm sorry to hear that your Aria 2 is not providing accurate body fat readings. Regarding your question, Fitbit hasn't released a firmware update. However, I'd like you to try some troubleshooting steps that are helpful for this type of issues: Take out the batteries for 15 seconds and put them back in. After this, weigh yourself 5 times in a row. Just make sure that your scale is placed on an even or flat surface and you are standing on it barefoot.

Keep me posted on the outcome! 

[JTWrenn]

Do you feel that your %s have been stable at all?  My experience was losing weight and the percentage climbing up at a fast enough rate that it was telling me I was gaining body fat lbs, not just %.

So far I have found it to basically be unusable as a % meter at all.  I never expected it to be real world accurate, but hoped for at least a comparative accuracy so I could see progress if not a number that was actually representative of where I was at.

Has your experience been better?

[alembic]

I find the Aria 2 nearly useless for accuracy and measuring trends for body fat %. For an experiment, since I got the Aria late last year, I have been weighing myself on both the Aria and a Whitings scale I have used for the last 2 years. While the weight numbers are the same on both (give or take 0.1 lbs difference between them on some days) the body fat % differs by some 2 to 3 % on the scales, with the Aria 2 giving me the higher numbers always. Also, the numbers fluctuate wildly from day to day -- and yes, I have taken out the batteries, weighed myself 5 times and so on, per the advice here. The thing is that these scales are not that accurate at measuring these metrics - when I had my body composition measured at my gym with a trainer, I got nearly 7% lower than the Aria and also lower than the Whitings. Since then, I had pretty much maintained my weight (give or take 1 lb) and have been working out to increase muscle mass, and yet the Aria keeps upping my body fat % randomly.  I was hoping to measure trends at least, which the Whitings seems to do much better than the Aria 2.

[JTWrenn]

I agree in general but find the Aria 2 particularly horrible at it. I have
never had an impedance scale go against my weight trend for body fat lb %.
Generally it goes down with it and I figure it is a guess, or at least a
relative number...ie that it is not really accurate but the difference, or
change may be accurate or close. The Aria just seems to guess.

I don't really feel like these things should be allowed to be advertised as
measuring body fat. I don't think they do at all.

[AndreaFitbit]

Thank you for visiting the forums @JTWrenn, @alembic. I apologize for the delayed response and thank you for your feedback regarding body fat % registered with Fitbit Aria 2. Thank you for following advised troubleshooting steps. 

@JTWrenn, I got in touch with our support team and they informed me that they are assisting you. I appreciate your comments and feedback. Let me know how it goes.

@alembic, I went ahead and created a support case under your name. Please check your email. 

Thank you for visiting the forums.

[JTWrenn]

Their version of assisting me was to tell me it is normal, then ignore my
complaint. They just overlooked the gained lbs and kept talking about
percents. Really was a bit if a horrible experience.

This is a common complaint I have seen about this scale. The body fat
percentage is so far off and so inconsistent it is a bit laughable.

[alembic]

Andrea, thanks for opening the ticket. As I mentioned in my posts, I use the body fat percentage from my scales for tracking trends and am not too hung up on the actual number. I've learned over the years that the process of tracking helps me stay in shape j than do the variations or the digits of the actual measurements. Having been a Fitbit user for many years, I've seen various trackers evolve eventually, and I am sure this scale, or a future version of it, will improve both consistency and accuracy.

[JTWrenn]

I totally agree with just using it to track progress and was what I was hoping for.  It just doesn't seem to be consistent enough.  I hope they fix it.  The auto logging is very nice.

[alembic]

I hear you 🙂 And I hope they will find a fix for it eventually. Measuring body fat mass is not that easy with these types of scales, but at least getting them to be a bit more consistent would be helpful.

[JuanJoFitbit]

@JTWrenn @alembic I'm sorry for the late response and I understand how frustrating this is for you.I really appreciate your feedback and comments since this helps us to keep improving our products and services.