outdoor workout doesn't track steps or distance

[dz1234]

I have twice tried to use the "outdoor workout" button on my charge 5 to track my outdoor basketball game. Both times it logged 0 steps and 0 miles. This is despite my fitbit being able to add steps over that period to my daily total. Has anyone else tried to use this and experienced the same thing? I think there is a bug in the software.

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @dz1234, welcome, you may find this post informative. You will find "Sport" in the auto-recognised table includes tennis, basketball & soccer. To see this feature from your "Today" screen on your Fitbit app on your phone, touch your icon in the top left corner>activity & wellness>exercise>sport>adjust the "Sports longer than" setting if needed, ensure to the slider in the top right is on and SAVE.

When you start your game your device will record it and all you need to do is sync once you are finished.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[LZeeW · Accepted solution]

@dz1234   Outdoor workout is for non step based activities like kayaking and downhill skiing.  Because it is designed for non-step based activities, it behaves like the Bike shortcut -- distance doesn't get added to your daily distance total.  Fitbit doesn't describe it well.  Users are often confused by this and you are right -- there is a persistent design error -- Fitbit used the same icon as the Interval Workout shortcut.  Please use Workout instead.

[dz1234]

Thanks for your answer. It explains the 0 steps issue. However, I don't think using workout is the solution. The workout shortcut doesn't use GPS, since it assumes it is indoors. There needs to be an outdoor sport shortcut.

[LZeeW]

@dz1234   Workout clearly isn't the best solution.  It will add the distance to your daily distance (using steps x stride length), but doesn't give distance in the exercise details.  But Workout is one of the few shortcuts that lets you change the name of the activity after the fact.

Fitbit added a Sport shortcut to the Sense 2/Versa 4 and it has GPS.  They were released months ago,  so I don't think Fitbit has any plans to add the expanded shortcut list to existing devices.  I'm sorry that I don't have a better answer for you.

[dz1234]

The icon is now a soccer player for the outdoor workout--kind of a dumb choice if it is for non-step activities. It seems like the app developers don't even know their own product.