Blaze and conneection in airplane mode

[Remy1]

Hello,

I go hiking a lot in the White Mountain of NH. There is not always a cell signal in most of the area that I hike in. I normally put my phone in airplane mode to save on the battery. While in airplane mode I can turn Bluetooth back on and connect to my Blaze, but when I open the fitbit app it tells me that there is no network and cannot sync with my device.
I thought that the device and my phone would sync through Bluetooth?
Also is there any way that I can be in airplane mode and still be able to track my hikes?

Thanks,
J

[MikeF]

Your tracker doesn't sync with your phone, it syncs with the Fitbit website and uses the phone as the communications link. Thus, with no phone service you won't be able to sync with anything. However, given that the Blaze is a stand alone device that works fine without being connected to anything I'm not sure why you want to sync when out and about.

[Rich_Laue]

If ypu want to track your walk with GPS, the app needs to be running, not open.

Your post is asking two unrelated questions. 

Can i sync without network? @MikeF answered this one for you. 

Can i track my walk without network?  You do not sync to track a walk.

The answer would be in the question,  Can you turn both BT and GPS on while in airplane mode? If you can answer yes to both then i would say probably, you will need to test it out, for it is your phone and only you would be able to try this out.

Put your phone in airplane mode, turn on BT and GPS. Start up the Hike tracking. Does the Blaze find a GPS signal? Or do you get an error?

[Remy1]

Maybe I wasn't very clear before. Let me try this again.....

When I go hiking in the White Mountains, there are many places that I do not have any phone or data service. During this time I oput my phone in airplane mode, and then turn my bluetooth on, so that my blaze will stay paired to my phone. When I go to check the fitbit app to check my progress, the app says that it "can't connect to fitbit.com, try again later."

So does the Blaze keep this data in the watch and then sync to fitbit.com when I get cell service?
I would have thought that becasue the phone and Blaze were paired that it wouldn't need cell service to show my progress.

Also on my last hike I tried to track my hike with GPS on my phone and I don't think it worked.
Where it what does it track through the GPS on my phone? I saw no added info while I was trying this, or even after.

[Rich_Laue]

That is correct, when you open the app, it will try and sync your fitbit, without internet it will not be able to do this. The Blaze will keep 7 days of minute detail, to sync it needs to be able to send the data to dotbit. Note the app goes out to Fitbit to display Tue data.

There is a mode, seems to happen after a sync, where the app becomes a remote display and doesn't need a network.

[Sfnewbee]

I'm interested in this topic. I would like to use the watch for backpacking and curious about the GPS function. So if a Fitbit blaze is paired with an iPhone will it track your hike when you are not in service?
You can now put an iPhone in airplane mode to save battery and still keep the GPS on. Is this enough for the Blaze to track your hike and then sync it when you're back in service. I'm curious bc I would like to be able to see total mileage and altitude.

[Rich_Laue]

quick answer is yes,

[Sfnewbee]

Do you have experience with this? I just got on chat with FitBit and they said no it was not possible bc the watch does not store GPS coordinates so if you did not have service you can not track gps data that will later sync.

[Rich_Laue]

I have turned off all network to the internet, and the Blaze still connects and records the gps. 

To the best of my knowledge, and what the about connected gps party says, the Blaze recreceived and stores the GPS data from the connected GPS, all the phone speed is send the gps reasons to the Blaze.

Now even I'd the GPS data is stored on the phone, a network will still not be required. The phone doesn't need the internet roo store data on the phone.

[samuelcanfield]

I will be experimenting with this subject today while teaching an ice arrest class on a nearby peak. Will report back with my findings.

[Sfnewbee]

I experimented quite a bit with this last summer with a Charge 2 not a Blaze and it will collect and track all the data while you're out, including GPS, and then its sync ALL the data when you get service again. 

While you're out with no service it will still sync some things like steps, sleep data, and HR but it will not create "exercises" or  show GPS, Altitude/Elevation while you're out.  Only after you sync with a phone with call service. 

[Rich_Laue]

Without an internet vonnection, you still will be able to see live data on through the app, but this is not a sync, which does not happen unless the data can be sent to the Fitbit server.

As for airplane mode, this turns all the radios off thus breaking comunication between the phone and tracker. 

As for memory on the Blaze it has a 7 day detail and an additional 23 of total steps per day.

[newSDuser]

Hi Samuel, 

I was wondering if you got a chance to experiment with tracking w/ the blaze while out on a peak, and if so, what you found out?    I'll be going on a week long backpacking trip later this month and would be really psyched to know that the blaze might actually work out there...  I usually keep my (android) cell phone in airplane mode while backpacking and am still able to use HalfMile's PCT app, so I'm assuming my GPS works while in airplane mode. Thanks!

[samuelcanfield]

I was not able to get the blaze to record GPS data while in Airplane mode. It might be worth noting that I use a much older Samsung Note II.

[Sfnewbee]

I have an iPhone and the gps is always running even in Airplane mode and I have the Charge 2.  It will track my gps while I'm out backpacking but I can't see it until I'm back in service.   

The app will still calculate steps, mileage and sleep and sync that while you're out but it syncs all the fun data when you get back to cell service. 

[Rich_Laue]

In airplane mode @Sfnewbee is bluetooth turned on? Your tracker will need access to your phones bluetooth so that it may have access to the phones GPS.

As for calculating distance, this usually happens in the tracker then durring a sync the info gets put on the fitbit server. Now the app gets its info to display from the same server.

[newSDuser]

Thank you for the reply... I guess I'll just give a go and share my results later this month.