Charge 5 auto detect exercise wrong

[Fairietm]

Once each while folding laundry, washing dishes, and unpacking boxes, my new Charge 5 listed me as swimming. I've also had way too many steps counted. How can I fix this. Is there a house or yard work mode?

Moderator edit: format

[LZeeW]

Hello @Fairietm and welcome to the Community.  The accelerometer in a Fitbit is always measuring and analyzing motion in three dimensions.  It sees what it sees.  I have two suggestions for you:

• You're not the only user who has posted about getting a swim record for folding laundry.  You should adjust your auto recognition settings.  Tap on your profile avatar on your Fitbit app.  Swipe up and tap on Activity & Wellness, then Exercise.  Tap on Swimming and move the Auto-recognize toggle to Off.
• If you wear your Fitbit on your non-dominant wrist, change the wrist setting to Dominant.  Tap on your profile avatar, then your Charge 5 tile.  Change the wrist setting to Dominant.  This changes the accelerometer sensitivity.  It should decrease, but won't eliminate these extra steps.  Wrist worn trackers can over- and undercount steps.  You usually won't get steps when pushing a shopping cart with both hands, for example.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, welcome to the Community forums, @Fairietm.  

I appreciate all the information that you've shared about this problem you're experiencing with your Charge 5. 

Before considering other options, and if you still consider the steps are not accurate, please make sure that you've tried the restart procedure using the charging cable, as described in this article, then check if your device continues to track the wrong activity. In the meantime, you can find more useful information about the accuracy of Fitbit devices and how to adjust your stride length and dominant hand settings here. Most Fitbit devices automatically recognize and record high-movement activities through the SmartTrack feature. To start, your device recognizes activities at least 15 minutes long.

Keep in mind the algorithm is designed to look for intensity and motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking and running. When working at a desk, cooking, or performing other activities with arm movements, a device on your wrist may add some steps. When you’re doing activities that involve arm movement, such as working or cooking, you often walk a few steps in-between stationary periods as well, so the device tries to give you credit for those steps. For most customers, the number of extra steps added by arm-based movement isn’t significant when compared to your overall stats.