Charge 5 has stopped tracking my distance

[CSPR66]

My Charge 5 has suddenly stopped tracking distance since yesterday (19/07/24). All the other metrics are fine (steps, heart rate, calories etc.). I've restarted it through both the device itself and the charge cable, but no luck. Has anyone got any idea how to fix this? Will be going out for a run later this morning, so will see if it tracks my route.

Any suggestions much appreciated! 🙂

UPDATE: It tracked my run, so is now showing my run distance. Will be interested to see if it tracks my distance for the rest of the day...

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[RiekoC]

Hello @Buckeyemes 

The distance issue started earlier this month (July 2024). So far we don't know when the fix will be implemented.

As soon as we hear that there's a fix, we'll report back.

[Lozza199]

I am having the same issue with regards passive distance tracking. However it appears that all of my historical passive distances have been WIPED since transferring to a Google account. Had I known this would be ann issue, I would not have moved my account. Please address this.

[BradGriffin]

Having the same problem and thought my device was dying again. Please push out a software update fix asap. 

[SunsetRunner]

My charge 5 also stopped tracking kilometres completely. Very disappointing. Prior to that it had started switching off during runs. I never used to experience these problems with it so why has it started happening now? I was very happy with Fitbit but am now considering changing for something more dependable 

[Burner5757]

Hi JBar21

I feel your pain. I am not at all convinced by the stride length solution. My Charge 5 will behave correctly for several runs over a few weeks - and then, all of a sudden, stop recording my steps etc on one occasion and it tends to be a more significant run!! The Fitbit then returns to normal again. If it was a stride length problem I would expect the fault to occur on every run.

I never play with the stride length so the fault is completely random - but extremely annoying.

Who knows how long it will take for a fix to be found. I wonder how much energy is being put into finding a solution? Is this, perhaps, a marketing ploy to encourage us all to move to Charge 6 - or is that too conspiratorial to consider?

Anyway, I always believe that if you keep on doing what you are doing you will keep on getting what you are getting - so it is perhaps time to change. My Charge 5 has behaved impeccably over the last few runs but, on the next occasion that it fails as it has in the past, it will be having a meeting with my lump hammer which could get quite nasty!!

Good luck - I do hope the problem can be resolved.

[Nettie2127]

I am having the same problem. It no longer tracks my distance and the GPS either turns off or has me teleporting on half my run. I'm ready to move on to a new device as well.

[SunsetRunner]

It’s so frustrating isn’t it 

[Flo-flo]

My walk has been recorded under walk as 2hrs 13 minutes, 637 calories, and 13837 steps but 0.01 mile.  On the main display it shows 2843 steps 0.8miles and total for the day 1009 calories (which I believe would have been about 1300 by now if it was recording properly based on previous occasions.

[gbsunload]

Ciao. Anche io ho lo stesso problema, il mio Fitbit segna i km solo se imposto una attività. Ho seguito il suo consiglio ma il problema non è stato risolto. 

[jimmy222]

mine is same, just wondering has a solution been found ?

[jimmy222]

Yes , my charge 5 stopped automatically tracking my distance on 19th july. it only tracks if I set it to run, I'm really annoyed at this and am thinking of changing...

[Flo-flo]

I removed my charge 5 and reattached it.  Then rebooted the Fitbit plus turned the toggle off as in previous posts and so far this morning it seems to have worked.  It has brought back the exercise I did yesterday but hopefully has fixed it going forward.

[Lozza199]

Hi @MarreFitbit I tried this workaround but it did not work so I deleted and reinstalled the Fitbit app as well as disconnecting/reconnecting my charge 5. This has resulted in chunks of steps and walks being deleted from my history and the distance is now reporting 1.22km on nearly every day. This is in addition to all of my previous passive distance history being wiped after migrating. 
Please please please address how migration is affecting past data also. 

[metamonkey]

Same problem. Tracked a run a couple of days ago, and just noticed that my Fitbit stopped tracking distance after that run. Will try the stride length, but I also noticed that the walking length was not set (NULL value). So I suspect there is a bug in the stride length adjustment algorithm, where it wipes the walking stride length value, which results in 0 kms tracked regardless of step count.

Google/Fitbit needs to fix this.

[Fb47]

Same for me, I have a sense.

I did a 5k run today with gps and over 20k steps in total and it's only recorded the miles for the run. Last week I walked 18k steps and it says I walked 0.1 miles. 

Really thinking I should switch to a garmin. Sad as otherwise I have loved the fitbit products since my first charge 2

[jennaRina02]

This “workaround “ does not work. When will this be fixed. It’s been 2 weeks since this post.

[UselessBit]

Hi Fitbit, I see multiple forum posts regarding this issue on the community forum.

What is the response from Fitbit? Do Fitbit/Google even monitor this forum?

My charge 5 is less than a month old and now does not track distance. When will the software update be pushed to fix this? Things have really gone downhill since the Google takeover it seems.

I don't think it's acceptable to buy a new watch, have it working, but then a software update breaks it and the response is for the end user to have to dig around in the settings in an attempt to try and make this poor excuse of a watch work properly.

In the meantime i'll be looking for a new watch.

EDIT: Luckily my Fitbit is eligble for return so I will be returning it next week.

[CSPR66]

Hi, just to update everyone who has posted in this thread re. tracking (or rather, not tracking!). Since toggling off the stride length as recommended by MarreFitbit, my Charge 5 has been tracking fine (and hopefully will continue to do so!).

Best of luck to you all - hope you manage to get yours fixed!

[rgunton]

I have suddenly had the same problem- according to my fitbit (Charge 5) I managed 14344 steps which according to the app equates to 0.03miles! It has happened in the past and I adjusted stride pattern from measured to automatic. I am up to date, I have removed the fitbit app from my phone then uploaded it again and reconnected my Charge 5 in the last week. The issues seems to have got worse since I did this because I was having issues. I must admit with the display shutting down earlier this year so I had to get it replaced and now this I am thinking of getting a new device which is not Fitbit

[SunshineSally9]

This problem happened to me - really annoying, but the good news is that toggling off the stride setting has fixed it