Flex2 Swim Tracking Problem

[Strat]

Since there are so many posts related to swimming, it seems that there is a problem with Flex2's ability to track swimming, as I also have experienced.  For me, it's been 4 days since I started using it, but every swim is being recorded as elliptical.  I have called support and they said they will escalate it to their next tier level for further research.  I think Fitbit should own this problem more seriously.  It's crazy that users have to reset it multiple times, change the auto-recognition time, etc.  If the software needs to be updated, they should work on that. I bought it solely to track my daily swimming exercise and I am very disappointed.

[NellyG]

The easiest solution is to turn off elliptical. When I first had my flex 2 I used to get elliptical recognised regularly and I never go on one. So I turned it off and all was great. To do that in you app go to your account (ID card icon in the top right) and scroll down tonthe Goals heading and select Exercise. There you can ignor any activities you dont use. Letus know if that helps.

[Strat]

Thank you NellyG for your solution.  I tested that today and it did recognize swimming, so thank you.  But, unfortunately, the elapsed time was way off as the start time was way off by 20+ minutes  (the end time was OK), resulting in about 20+ minutes of shortage.  I guess it took 20 minutes to recognize that I was swimming. I'm not sure if I have to swim like an Olympian, which I can't, for a quicker recognition. I will see what happens tomorrow, but thank you for your reply!

[NellyG]

No you shouldnt have to swim like an olympian (I certainly dont).  What stroke do you start with? Maybe try a different one for a couple of laps to see if that helps it recognise the start. You could also try restarting your flex 2 a few times and see if that helps next swim.

Restart your tracker

[Pinkfur]

Hi

Same problem here although it isn't logging any activities/exercise at all! Have gone back and.forth to fitbit support for the last week, but to no avail. Theyve admitted there is a problem tracking swimming though.

I've put the app on a different phone, reset it a number of times, logged out etc etc but nothing is being tracked. It knows I've done active minutes and displays it, along with the km, calories etc but just doesn't increase the number of days or log the activity. I've had to manually add  them  instead. I have a few activities switched off auto-recognize else it comes.up with weird data! 

I bought mine.for swimming too but currently, it's  useless! 

[Strat]

OK.  Today, I started with breaststroke and that seems to work better.  It had the right start and end times as well as the right lap count.  So, thank you for your tip and see if I can get consistent results from now on.  I bought it for swimming but it's kind of strange that it still records swimming in terms of number of steps also.

[Strat]

Hi Pinkfur,

As my post above shows, it worked for me starting with breaststroke today (I actually only swam breaststroke today).  But it did record my time and lap count correctly, and I will keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow.  I am still a bit frustrated that it didn't work out of the box.  I also question the accuracy of the sleep monitor, but it's an interesting feature.

[NellyG]

@Strat Im glad it worked today and I hope it contunues!

[Pinkfur]

Mine still isn't tracking any activity and I know the activity has to be quite vigorous and constant, but it failed to track swimming earlier yet again. Think may have to give up on it 😣

[Strat]

HI NellyG, 

Unfortunately, it did not work on Saturday or Sunday.  It seems to record my swimming with number of steps, which I am not sure if that's correct, but I see no activities. I do see miles, active minutes and calories burned, but nothing shows under Track exercise.  I turned off all activities except for swimming, walking and running.  It's useless and at best, it's inconsistent and I'm ready to give up.

[AlvaroFitbit]

Hi everyone! Sorry to hear that your Flex 2 isn't recording your swim sessions. You can find instructions on how this feature works here. Additionally you can find great tips other users have shared here especially the one that notes that you need to touch the wall every time so it properly detects your laps and turning on the swim detection (it is recommended that you turn it off after swimming to avoid draining the battery). 

Let me know how it goes!

[Kangarupe]

Strange issues.... 

Swimming is my regular activity, but I have done elliptical fairly recently too. I must admit the device has always been able to differentiate, and accurately guess the right activity 😕 

Perhaps it is a sign that your technique is very poor! ...Probably not, but maybe... 

[Strat]

Maybe my swimming form is not very good, but it did work a couple of times a few weeks ago.  I think it is broken or it just does not work for me.  I have given up pretty much.  I now use it simply as a sleep monitor and that is not accurate either.  It is very frustrating.

[Everuby]

I think it's more a sign that Fitbit have marketed and sold something that is not fit for purpose. Some people have trackers that work but the majority have glitches and Fitbit themselves have admitted there is a problem with the swim data. I am on to them daily but they will not give me a straight answer as to what they are doing apart from 'working round the clock'. They've been doing that for 2 years.

[Strat]

I agree so much with you!

I called the support team a couple times, and I have not received a satisfactory answer from them.  I don’t want to bad mouth them, but it doesn’t work for me consistently when I swim.  I would not recommend this product to anyone intending to use for tracking swimming.

[Everuby]

Hi Strat. Thanks for your post. It really isnt good enought to be selkung something not fit for purpose and people rely on it for all sorts of reasons. Am thinking trading standards may be the answer. Extreme but we shouldnt be fobbed off with the rubbish they and their groupies spout. I dont know why but there seems to be a few that have self appointed themselves to be Fitbit spokes people all because they have a Fitbit that actually works when the majority have issues. Either that or Fit bit are paying them!!.

[koolson]

I have used my Flex2 to track swimming for about a year and a half now. In general, the tracking has improved so it even counts some kicking laps at times. I swim regular workouts with a coach, and up until this week the yardage has been very accurate, counting everything except kicking sets (I swim mostly in 25-yard pools, sometimes a 50-meter pool).

I just switched to a new phone so I thought that was the issue, but now I read all these other people have the same problem, it seems like a bug in Fitbit. Yesterday I had accurate tracking of 2650 yards and 56 minutes. Today it didn't record distance, but did count minutes accurately. After re-starting my phone and re-starting the app, the time disappeared too. 

FYI everyone, this forum labels me a "jogger" even though I wrote "Masters Swimmer" so there are multiple issues here.

[Everuby]

Hi koolson. Thanks for your post. I am on to fitbit. I think the problem is they hope people will go away after a couple of bog standard replies they give. Unfort for them I'm not one of those people and find it outrageous that they are still marketing and selling a device which the majority of us are having issues with. Even charge 3 is having issues with swimming and thats been out a month at most. I will keep at them and post updates. Trading standards i think would be interested in this. Aside from swim accuracy i am generally hapoy with the rest of its functions.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Strat]

Hi Everuby and Koolson,

I don’t know how the mechanism inside Flex2 works, but obviously it’s motion sensor related and my swimming motions are not good enough for Flex2 to recognize them.  It worked for me twice, once the duration was wrong, and the other time it was accurate, but that was it since I bought it.  Mostly, it doesn’t register swimming or it registers it as walking when I swim.  It must be difficult to create a mechanism that can identify swimming just by the motions of your arm/wrist, but that’s for FitBit to address, which I don’t think they are able to.  Maybe the next generation (Flex3) will be better but I would hesitate to buy it based on their track (pool) record.

[Everuby]

Hello! I almost bought the Charge 3 that is ok to swim with but decided against it after reading the reviews and thought there is no way I will be paying that much for something that is inaccurate. Thete are other devices that monitor swim data accurately so not sure why fitbit cant resolve it. I will be contacting them again today for an update.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.