Option to turn off step count (or add "Driving Mode") to avoid erroneous steps/floors

[MacWade]

I just got home yesterday from a driving 6 hours in my car and I checked my Fitbit. I was really suprised to see it had given me almost 8,000 steps, 3.24 miles, 134 floors, & way more calories thank I burned while I was sitting in my car.  I looked on the forum to see how to easily delete the steps, miles, floors, and calories so my data would be accurate.  The only way people are fixing it is by manually logging the activity "Automobile or light truck (not a semi) driving" and entering in the duration.  I think that is a cumbersome way to fix the issue everytime I drive because I have to make sure I write down what time I get into and out of my car so I know the start time and duration.  And how does it automatically know the calories burned when everyone burns calories when they are sedentary at different rates.

I think they should add a "Drive Mode" feature that when turned on it won't add steps, distance, floors, & will only add calories burned equal to you sitting in a chair.

You could access the "Drive Mode" either on your Fitbit One or on your phone app to turn it on/off.  If you have a Fitbit One you could press the button till the "Drive Mode" icon appears then hold the button down for 2 seconds to turn it on or off.

On the phone apps you would just go to your device under "Account" and there you could turn it on or off.

You could also have the option to give you an alert when you unlock the phone that reminds you that it is in "Drive Mode" so you don't forget to turn it off when you get to your destination.  It would also be cool if you could use Siri to turn it on by saying "Turn on Fitbit Drive Mode" or "Turn off Fitbit Drive Mode".

[hockey_magnet]

Since the Force and Flex , being wrist mounted are highly susceptible to false reading for driving car, motorcycles, etc. I'd like to be able to disable all tracking with a button push of some sort, then re enable it later. This would allow more precise results for the day. I know there is a work around by entering a sedentary activity in the app but this is clearly not user friendly. For example, today I probably walked 2000 steps at most, then spent 4 hours driving a car and ended up with over 5000 steps. 

[Starkman78]

There is a third party app in the Google Play store that allows you to log driving time with the tap of a start/stop button. It's called "Drivebit." It is the only such tool that I have found so far, but I plan to keep checking. I would also like to be able to annotate whenever the device is on its charger.

[hockey_magnet]

An app isn't very convenient to use compared to just get the device to stop
tracking. Can't believe it would be that difficult to include a start stop
option. It could probably be done with firmware

--
Sent from my iPhone

[Fordson]

Great idea, just a simple button to indicate driving mode..  I can log 8000 steps and 24 flights in 2 hrs of truck driving...

[Starkman78]

"Great idea, just a simple button to indicate driving mode..  I can log 8000 steps and 24 flights in 2 hrs of truck driving..."

Dang! I wish it were that easy to get that much activity!

[pjhenry1216]

It'd be nice to have a way to temporarily disable the FitBit, for activities that tend to falsely accrue steps/floors such as driving. Maybe some sort of button combination that would put it to sleep for x amount of time, with x being a value that can be modified when its connected to a computer. Lets say you have an hour commute, set x to an hour so that you can easily disable it for an hour. A way to wake it up before that time completes would also be required. That way, you could easily disable it for the most desired amount of time, and other times you'll just have to disable/re-enable manually.

[blyne]

I fly weekly for work and have really enjoyed wearing my force to track my movements.  I've noticed that while flying in turbulent air, my steps increase far greater than my actual walking distances.  I'm sure the device would act the same on a bumpy boat, car, etc.  While I could go back and remove a time period it would be great if I could just press the button on the phone app to "stop tracking" and then "start tracking" once I've landed.  It would be far easier to take the action at the time than to remember to go back and do it later.

[Pseudo-Fed]

Create a "Driving" or "Inactive" mode for the Force, where it could be put in this mode and steps, floors, distance, etc. would not be counted.  Useful while driving.  I've accumulated 40 floors while riding my motorcycle for 30 minutes.

[Michael]

I think they expect you to log an activity like "Riding in a car or truck". You can start/stop an activity now, but it would be great if you could convert that into a different type of activity. (Currently you can make note of the start/stop time, delete the activity, and then enter a new activity to override the steps/floors/etc.)

[Pseudo-Fed]

So if I understand correctly, I have to remember when I got in the car/motorcycle/boat, when I got out, and then to take positive action to log an activity to SUBTRACT erroneous activity captured by an "advanced" accelerometer.  I don't think so.  My feature request is pain in the (would be replaced with **ahem**) enough, but it's likely easier for me to remember to push the button to select and deselect a mode than to have to log in later and remember details of a subtraction activity.  C'mon Fitbit, help us with a feature to workaround the understandable limitations of accelerometer technology.

[almost50]

Even if a captured activity could be reclassified instead of having to create another activity based on data from an existing one... that's quite an odd approach to the documenting such a common and daily activity as driving or riding. that would make the issue better, but the orginal post was right on: needs to be a "driving" or "inactive" mode and this seems like a really big miss for Fitbit.

[TafT]

The Issue

I motorcycle to work.  When I do so I don't take my FitBit Flex off.  Even if I did I expect it would track while it was in my bag?  I have a co-worker who cycles to work and finds that his Flex records a huge number of steps while he is cycling, true he could lable those and count them as some kind of exercise but it still skues his data vs people that drive a car or take public transport.  

The Suggested Solution

My suggestion is that a Do Not Track mode be added, similar to the Sleep Mode.  This would automtically lable all steps as not counted/Not Applicable until the Do Not Track mode is exited.  

Current Work Around

Presently I have to get to work, login to FitBit.com, enter when I got on the motorcycle and how long my commute was.  This can then record the activity as "Motor scooter, motorcycle" with N/A steps.  I then repeat this process when I head home.  This fixes the website counts but the light indicators on the Flex seem to only go up, so I get 3k extra steps a day on my wrist meaning I have to guess when the last 2 lights should really have illuminated or check my phone.  

With the Suggested New Feature

If I was able to set a Not Applicable mode by tapping the Flex, instead of the above I could: 

1. Tap 4 times to enter N/A Mode, see the lights make a simple patter to indicate the Don't Track mode.  
2. Ride to work. 
3. (Optional) Tap 2 times and get a not in the counting mode indicator, as you do presently with Sleep mode.  Perhapse a diffent set of lights to make the current state clear.  
4. Tap 4 times to exit N/A Mode, see the lights make a back to normal pattern.  Maybe just show me my current step count.  

Now when my device next syncs it will not have incorrectly counted my jorney as steps.  I don't need to record when I leave for and arrive at the office.  I will get the correct number of lights for my daily steps.  

Note

I was quite inconsistent with my naming of the mode above.  This was somewhat deliberate to make it easy for people to find this feature suggestion.  I did look for a similar one but didn find it.  I called it:

Do Not Track Mode, Not Applicable Mode, Do Not Count Mode, N/A Mode.  Other names could be Don't Count Mode, Don't Track Mode, Jorney Mode, Susspended Mode.  

I expect that all the activity tracks could benifit from this.  I only say Flex because that is the one I own and use.  

[Rerun]

I agree, I have a force and also ride. I notice that days I go out on my bike my steps are significantly skued. Granted it looks great that I logged so many steps but in reality I know it didn't. I would really appreciated a Do Not Track mode or something of the sort. I'm not really sure how to implement it on the Force but would really like this feature!

[trimonkey]

Make it easier to tell fitbit one ur driving or turn off when driving. Every hill or mountain I drive up it counts as certain amount of floors climbed. It's 6 floors to one place I go, 11 floors to another and 25 to another but all I'm doing is driving and don't always have my charger with me to turn it off.

[Galtanis]

Driving up and down hills is like exercising...?  Awesome!  I'll be in speedo shape in time for beach temps!  Actually, it's a good thought.  I ride a Harley and my commute is about 40 minutes.  I can log up to 40 active minutes and about 3500 steps if I forget to remove my Flex before rolling.

[MatthewFitbit]

While there is no way to turn off your tracker while driving, you can log that time to negate any erroneous steps that get counted.

Check this help article for more info.

[andysando]

I was out on a boat ride a few days ago, and it was a bit wavy so we got a pretty bumby ride. When I cheked my dashboard I saw that it had registered several thousand steps while I was in the boat.

I guess that I could log an activity during that time, and maybe set the calories to zero, but I think the steps still remains?

I would suggest that you could tap the flex, or just push a button in the app, and it is set in pause mode until you tap or push the button again. This way it would be easier to wear the flex 24/7 but no unwanted steps would be registered.

Thanks.

[jkchewy]

I am on and off a forklift all day. Forklifts ride rough and i get step counted the whole time. I drove for two hour a few days ago and got 2500 steps added. The FITBIT ONE has a button. It seams simple enough that there could be a screen to scroll to labled "DRIVE". When on that screen you could hold the button for a few seconds to enable drive mode and affectivley pause the device. Then hold it for a few seconds to allow the ONE to count steps again. FIRMWARE UPDATE?????? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know the is an app called DriveBit and it will help with this issue. However it would be nice if the device had it built in. I have enough apps already.

[jctsr]

I drive a school bus during the school year and during the summer I drive a bus for a summer camp and am constantly driving and getting on and off the bus.  Is there a way to develop an app that will disable or pause the fitbit while I am driving(whether I am commuting or working)?  I don't always remember or have time to write down the times that I am driving.

[day7e]

I liked the idea too

[day7e]

Ability to turn off and turn on tracking instead of having to negate driving activity.

[NiceMarmot54]

I agree. On my 30-mile ride to work my motorcycle falsely gives me credit for almost 3,000 steps

[leah8057]

I think you should make a way for you to "pause" the tracking on your fitbit for a certain period of time. For example, I live in the city, and on my drive to work, the highway takes me through underground tunnels and back above ground a few times. Because of the changes in elevation, combined with the bumps in the road from driving, by the time I get to work, my fitbit tells me I've climbed 10 flights of stairs, when all I've been doing is driving! It's not a big deal to me, but if there were a way to pause your fitbit, so it wouldn't accidentally record those fake flights of stairs, it would be so much better.

[Blisters]

I have opposite problem - fitbit doesn't log steps.  I walk in mall that has some non working escalaters and have walked up and down several of them on several occasions - hasn't recorded even once! 

[Kamereone]

A "pause" feature might be diffcult to implement, but perhaps a way to negate recorded data?  Then those times a bumpy car ride, train, bus, etc registers things that don't belong, you can knock them out?  Like an inverse sleep or activity record, of sorts.