Auto exercise function now overrides watch screen

[CJ202417]

I’ve just updated my Inspire 3 on 26 August and the auto-recognise function seems to have completely changed. Previously, I had auto-recognised walks - whilst I was walking, the watch screen was completely normal - it showed the time in big numbers, the cumulative step count etc. On the app, it would show each walk total so I knew how long my walks were. Since the update, I now get an auto-recognise function that totally overrides my watch screen as the walk is happening. The most annoying issue is that I can’t see my cumulative step count! It only shows the step count for that given walk. How on earth am I supposed to know how many I’ve done in total as I’m going along? It won’t let me flick off the auto recognise function from the watch screen either. The only way I can get rid of it is to say ‘finish’ on the watch screen - in which case, it records my walk on the app with the wrong length (because I’ve cut it short). How can one of the very main functions of a Fitbit not be available anymore?! 

[JuanFitbit · Accepted solution]

@CJ202417 , a warm welcome to the Community! Thank you for your message and efforts. 

Please change these settings on the Inspire 3 itself

Open the exercise app.
Tap (each one) cycling, elliptical, rowing, running, indoor cycling, or walking.
Swipe up and deactivate Auto-Start.

The next time the device detects this type of training, the training app will not open automatically

[2024mh127]

Do we have an option to turn this off for all exercises at once? It's kind of unbelievable that core functionality is hidden while we're exercising (and one of the main reasons people purchased these fitness trackers) and the advice is to manually change the setting on each of up to 40 exercises on the miniature Inspire 3 screen. The pop-ups and vibration for hitting a goal were annoying enough already, but this is over the top and in the way. This should have been set to off when the new content was added so people could choose to turn it on, not the other way around.

[JuanFitbit]

@2024mh127 , Nice to see you around. Thank you for your message and feedback . You don't need to change the settings for all of the activities listed. 

The only activities at this time that offer the Auto Start Feature are cycling, elliptical, rowing, running, indoor cycling, and walking.
Only for those 6, needs Auto Start to be on/off (depending on your preferences)

[NeverReadyEddie]

Fair enough but after changing to not auto start, the Fitbit wont automatically record my walking or cycling. I know this seems correct given I have just turned off auto start, but before the update it would record these exercises pretty accurately without asking for any intervention, buzzing or preventing me from seeing my watch face when I am on just a dog walk which is what the auto start does now. Can we have the old way back where it would automatically record these exercises without bothering the user?

Edit: Solved the not automatically recording walks any more. See my lengthy post below.

[CJ202417]

I’ve tried this this morning and it seems to have worked! No annoying pop-up on the watch but both my walks are recorded on the app. Many thanks! 

[Anita_V]

Hi,

I found this really annoying too so came to look for a solution. Hoping you can help as you have got it to work please 

What is the exercise app? Is this on the device somewhere and you find it through swiping?

Thanks

[NeverReadyEddie]

In the watch if you go to the exercise type after swiping to them from the home screen, you can scroll down inside each particular exercise's options and uncheck the auto-start and auto-stop buttons which are quite far down.

[JuanFitbit]

@CJ202417 Nice to see  you back. I'm glad that the info was helpful. 

@Anita_V , A warm welcome to the Community! Thank you for  your message. 
The exercise app, as described by our friend NeverReadyEddie, can be found on your Inspire 3. 
On the main screen( Clock face) swipe until you see the activities to be chosen listed.

Tap on a specific activity to edit the settings. 
When an activity is selected swipe up to see the settings. 

@NeverReadyEddie , Nice to see you here again. 
Thank you for your feedback. 
If you want for your bike tours  or walks automatically, but do not want them to start the exercise app, when recognized,  then you'll need to update the starting time, to start the recording in the Fitbit App .
This feature is SmartTrack. This will record the automatically recognized activities on the background. Keep in mind, that only 7 specific activities can use SmartTrack
Instructions can be found here: Can I change how my activities are tracked?

[Anita_V]

Hi never ready Eddie thank you found it! Now to check it when I got for a walk later. 

[dalejrhodes]

Got it. Don’t like the extra wk

[corylbea]

The activities are listed alphabetically, so I need to scroll all the way to Walk to change this... How cumbersome. 

I turned off Auto-Start and now the only exercise shortcuts that show up are Walk and Rowing machine even though Rowing machine isn't set as a shortcut in my app. Restarting the device didn't fix my shortcuts and neither did forcing sync in the app.

[Samson24]

I think you are missing the point. It appears along with myself people are finding the new screen displays that come up whe exercising are more than annoying. 

If you turn the auto recognition off it won't record your exercise. So you're stat's are all wrong. 

Yo

[NeverReadyEddie]

Right after following the advice from @JuanFitbit and my own testing I think I have got it back to the way it was for auto tracking exercise before this retched update. I'm sorry I can't do anything about the new exercise shortcuts being three recently used instead of the six set in the app. I don't even know why that setting is still in the app then as its just confusing a lot of people.

So to get back to having walks etc auto tracked but not get bothered by your watch when you start what it thinks is an exercise:

1. You need to turn off the new auto-start feature IN THE WATCH so see above how to do that. It needs to be done manually inside each exercise type (only affects a handful listed right at the start of the thread). This turns off the annoying watch pop-up. However my walks were not being tracked silently any more so this is step 2.

2. In my frustration to get rid of the pestering new watch auto-tracking, I had turned of "Auto Recognized Exercise" IN THE APP. I went back and turned this back on reducing the trigger to 10 minutes and now after a short delay after the activity, my walks are showing up again in my exercise history in the app with no annoying interference on the watch face during my walk. So to turn this back on go read @JuanFitbit response on the 28th to me and the link he shared for enabling "SmartTrack" (there is nothing in the app that says SmartTrack so well done, another UI win from Fitbit). In my app it is unhelpfully called "Auto Recognized Exercise" - see why we are confused Fitbit?

My message for Fitbit is; why enable a new feature that is very similar to an old one (only way more annoying) but have the two very similar sounding but very separate features controlled in two separate places, and no new guidance to users after the update? This forum and Reddit are filled with very confused Inspire 3 users.

[jliz]

Please put it back the way it was. For those who want all this extra tracking, give them a way to do that. It's not useful to be on a walk and not be able to see what the time is on on's watch.

[Anita_V]

This also worked for me and I did the same on the app and then had remember to turn it back on the app! I only updated the fitbit as I thought fitnit finally listened to another post where people want more clockface options to shows steps and the time not zone mins!

[nlr105]

What should the starting time be set to?  Mine is currently set for 10 minutes. I want auto tracking to be on, but not show on the watch display?  I don’t see anything called Smart Track. 

[Anita_V]

Hi,

I Followed never readers instructions and that worked. In the fitbit app I set my walk to 10mins so it logs on the app but no display in the watch. 

[nlr105]

Mine is set for 20 minutes, but it still displays on the watch.  I don’t understand how to make it so that doesn’t happen 

[Anita_V]

Hi, did you follow never ready Eddie's post above? You have to do it on the watch face not the app.