Active minutes not always tracked

[Knd]

I just recently got the charge 2 after my first charge took a crap. Either way, i have noticed that my charge 2 doesnt always record my active minutes. Its frustrating to see i work hard and get no show for my work. Any suggestions? 

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[HeydyF · Accepted solution]

Hey @Knd, sounds pretty awesome that you just got the Charge 2. Now, let me explain you how the active minutes work. Your Fitbit tracker recognizes and awards active minutes when the activity you're doing is more strenuous than regular walking, which includes everything from a brisk walk to a cardio workout or run. All Fitbit trackers calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit trackers estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity. You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs. However, if an activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total. Remember also that, by default, the recommended amount of active minutes is from 20 to 30 minutes of daily moderate to intense activity. Something else that I would like to add is that, trackers with heart-rate sensing do a better job of recognizing active minutes for non-step-based activities, such as weight lifting, strenuous yoga, and rowing. 

I hope this can help you out to clarify how to earn active minutes. Now if you still having more questions, let me know. 😉 

[Knd]

Thank you for your reply and info. The thing that still puzzles me is that i get active minutes on a walk (i walk my Beagle) but wont give me any when I am in a Max Trainer 😳. Should I be changing the status of the exercise I am doing in order to register it? Thank you! 😊

[HeydyF]

Thanks for getting back my friend @Knd!  Yes, sometimes I also get active minutes when I walk, but it is because I'm doing it for more than 20 minutes and because I walk fast, so maybe this is pretty much like your case. However, if you are working out in a max trainer, and not getting active minutes, as you know, the intensity is necessary to get the active minutes. If you are not getting them, I suggest you to restart your Charge 2 a couple of times in a row. Then use it for a few days and let me know the results. 

Keep me posted! 

[Dawnups]

My tracker isn't tracking active minutes and I have followed the instructions for reset. Is there a setting I may have changed to make it stop tracking?

[USAF-Larry]

@Dawnups, there is no "setting" for Active Minutes.  When the tracker detects 10 or more continuous minutes of elevated activity it records it. If there is 8 minutes of elevated activity, 2 minutes of non-elevated activity, then 8 more minutes of elevated activity, it will not record it as Active Minutes.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Dawnups, what's up my friend? In regards of your question, no, there are no settings for active minutes. As @USAF-Larry mentioned, when you reach 10 or more minutes from moderate to intense exercise, then your Fitbit will start tracking active minutes. Or by measuring MET's which are indicators for exercise intensity as yo can see on this explanation I posted above.

I hope this answers your question, but if you have further comments, let me know! 😉

Have a nice day! 

[Dawnups]

I believe it was due to the update.  Today did my normal schedule and it tracked activity.  Thanks for your feedback.
 
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[HeydyF]

You are more than welcome @Dawnups! Sounds pretty cool that your Charge 2 is correctly tracking your activity.. If you have further questions, feel free to keep me posted. 😉

I'll be around! 

[Katler]

So, I have a Flex2 and I walk everyday approx 50-60 min.  Some days it records active minutes, some days it doesn't.  I walk at basically the same intensity each day, and I know the flex2 doesn't have a heart rate monitor, so how is it determining my MET rate??? Also, do I need to activate the GPS tracking to get the active minutes,because honestly that is the only thing that I can see that is different on the days that it is recording active minutes and the days that it doesn't.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Katler, it is great to see new members around the Community! Well, the fact that the Flex doesn't have heart rate, doesn't mean that it can't track MET's or your active minutes. The thing is that, heart rate trackers are more accurate to track calories burn and active minutes, since they use the heart monitor to track this information. Now, if you are not getting all of your active minutes, maybe the intensity of your walking changes from one day to another. Remember that it doesn't matter if you practice an activity for the same period of time every day, if it is not that intense, that time won't be counted as active minutes. So I need you to take that into consideration. 😉 

Give it a try and let me know! 

[Katler]

The only time it seems to track active minutes on my dashboard (or count it as "exercise") is if I actually turn the exercise tracker (GPS) on my mobile device on.  It automatically recognizes my walks, but doesn't include it as active minutes on the dashboard unless I am also tracking it with my mobile GPS.  So I guess my question is, do I have to have my mobile device tracking my walk with the GPS in order for it to record active minutes?


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[RJRose]

I have been having the same issues. I know I have the active time but if I pause before the 10 minutes does it reset as no active minutes? I've noticed that in general walking as in grocery shopping etc it does not count those steps correct? I have reset it the led everything as instructed. Including reset and all the others. Yesterday it tracked and today it has not..only steps.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Katler, thanks for getting back to me! 🙂 You can use the connected GPS on your Charge 2 and your phone. However, this is not a requirement for it to record the active minutes. 

@RJRose, welcome to the forums! By default, if you do at least 10 minutes of moderate to intense exercise, that time will be tracked as active minutes. However if you don't reach that time and reset your exercise, the minutes will be lost and won't count as active minutes. To learn more about how the active minutes work, please take a look at what I posted above.

Keep me posted! 

[Anniemacca]

I've just done a spin class and had to re set times of workout manually which has cancelled all my active minutes for today. What do I do to amend this?

[Rich_Laue]

@RJRose, I  would like to add a point to @HeydyF's answer. During the ten minutes of activity, not all the minutes have to be in the active range but you do need to be moving. So if there is ten minutes of movement but only durring 5 minutes the 3 times the BMR in calories where burnt, then only those 5 minutes will show as active.

@Anniemacca the easiest thing to do is remove the manual log.

Next time you do a spin class, why not put your Charge 2 into its Spinning mode? See http://help.fitbit.com/?q=multisport for directions on how to add spinning. 

[KarinaVS]

Hi

So I have had my Charge 2 for less than a week (after upgrading from a Charge HR) and my device isn't recognising active minutes and I am unable to 'track exercise'. For example, with my Charge HR I would go to the gym set timer on device and do about a 10-20 minute workout. I would do this for each cardio activity e.g. treadmill, cross trainer, bike etc. After my session I would go into the app, tap the 'track exercise' tile and assign 'treadmill', 'cross trainer', 'bike' etc to each workout. This was so useful because I could compare the efficiency of each workout in terms of how long I was spending in each HR range. I can't do this with my Charge 2!! It is so disappointing I can't tell you! This morning I did a 12min warm up on the treadmill (which was recognised as active minutes), and then a 15 min work out on the cross trainer (which was more intense), but wasn't recognised as active mins and neither registered as exercise so I couldn't assign exercise type to each workout and see the corresponding stats. I used the timer function for both. Is this an anomaly or is this how the Charge 2 works now? 

[Anniemacca]

I can't make sense of the active minutes to be honest. Today I did a half hour spin class which I manually logged on my watch, that gave me 25 active minutes. However once I got home I added 25minutes of Pilates (I did this immediately after spinning) manually on my app and it then changed my active minutes to 19!! Sometimes I get active minutes for some menial task and not for something much more taxing, very frustrating really as I'm happy with everything else on my Charge 2.

Sent from my iPad

[Rich_Laue]

@KarinaVS you sure too can do this. When you press tye button on the Charge HR it starts tye manual mode called workout.

On the Charge 2, you would want to use the same workout mode. 

I explain this below.

@Anniemacca it sounds like the manually adde pilates was added wrong. The manual add is manly to be used when tye tracker wasn't ir could not be worn. This will over ride all tracker data during this period, your add said that you where less active then the tracker showed. Deleating this rexird will restore tye active minutes.

So what to do, us the generic mode called workout,  then after a sync re-assign it as Pilates.

See http://help.fitbit.com/?q=multisport 

[jwcsouth]

I do not believe I was not at about the same intensity as yesterday. I had one walk over 98 minutes and the watch said I had zero (0) . I also did the 250 minutes per hour and I met the goal according to the watch but it does not sync to my IPone and I only show 50 minutes on my watch

J