Charge 5 only tracks steps when swinging arms

[MACMU]

Charge 5 only tracks steps when swinging arms. Weird thing is even if it's not counting steps, it's counting energy burned. 

I've tried restarting, fiddling with the non dominant arm settings, re-pairing the device, etc. It was working normally until yesterday (had it for about a month now). Help would be appreciated before I head to support or back to the store.

Moderator edit: format. 

[Talahthas]

Welcome to the Fitbit community, @MACMU!

From what you've mentioned, everything seems to be fine with your Charge 5. To count your steps, your device needs a certain pattern of arm movement. And, be assured, your body is burning calories even if you're not moving at all. To find out more about that, please have a look at 'How does Fitbit estimate how many calories I've burned?' following this link:

How do I track my steps with Fitbit with my phone? 

[MACMU]

thank you for answering but no not everything is fine. the calories it's counting is the same as previous ones where it would count 1,000 steps for instance. now it's counting only 200 steps and the calories are too high. i did not need to swing my arms consciously back then as well for the steps to be counted. i will go commute and get groceries and it will register for instance 5k steps. now it only tracked 200 steps. can you give a different advice? 

[MACMU]

hello, please see my previous reply. can you offer a different advice? 

[TaMmEh83 · Accepted solution]

They won’t. My advice is take it back and try and get your money back. Don’t know if you’ve read the other threads or not but this brand is a joke

[Talahthas]

Of course I'll try, @MACMU.

So I'd suggest restarting your Charge 5. Before doing so you should make sure you've synced your device to not lose any data tracked so far. Also you should verify that the charging contacts on your device are clean and the charging pins on it's charging adapter are clean as well and can move flawlessly. In doubt, please have a look here:

How do I clean my Fitbit device?

Next please closely follow these instructions as timing is crucial for this procedure:

1.) Connect your Charge 5 to the charging cable which has to be connected to a reliable power source.
2.) Press the button located on the flat end of the charging cable 3 times within 8 seconds(!), holding each press for about 1 second(!).
3.) Wait around 10 seconds until the Fitbit logo appears on your device's display.

I'd like to point out that it sometimes requires more than one attempt to restart Charge 5. So, before throwing the towel, please give it another try.

If that really won't work for you, please try if changing your device's clock face will get it back to working order as a faulty clock face can cause errors on your device. Here's how to do that:

How do I change the clock face on my Fitbit device? 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[MACMU]

Thank you for the information on the cable button and the clock face. No luck, however. Thanks for trying anyway.

[MACMU]

The other posts are truly quite disheartening. It's a lesson learned for me on where to research reviews before buying an expensive gadget. I'll try chat support before heading back to the store, but I'm not holding my breath, haha... I wish Fitbit and Google can be held accountable for all these faulty products...