Fitbit Inspire 3 Update 210.26

[aliciag831]

There was an article saying the Inspire 3 would be getting a firmware update.  The number listed was 210.26.  Has anyone received this update yet?  I haven't and just wanted to check.  Thanks! 

[BugoftheNorth]

1) I need to set the hourly step goal to something less than 250 steps an hour. The app won’t let me. This has nothing to do with stride length. And nothing to do with activities, like walking. This is just for the reminder of getting up and walking each hour. 250 steps for each hour at my age of 76, post surgical & loss of function on my right side, is too much.

2) As a separate issue, I have lost the ability with this update to MAP the walk outside. There is no GPS data, and no map. For some reason, there is a loss of functionality to map the outdoor walk with respect to heart rate zone. Summary data do not give me the granularity I need to document where I am with respect to conditioning and endurance. I am walking outside on slightly uneven terrain with a walker. GPS will take into account stride length when it comes to pacing & its mapping. My Inspire 3 used to map my walks outside. No longer.

[FitterThanEver]

Found a way to get rid of the annoying popups "Are you training"?

Here is what I did:

I was for a late walk today and I started the workout, after being asked "if I am walking". After finishing my walk I stopped the training and then I got a popup asking me, if I want my Fitbit to continue tracking workouts automatically. I said "NO". And now I don`t receive annoying popups anymore. But in the app I still see that workouts are detected. Just without distance and pace, which is not important for me.

So in the end I have my Fitbit experience back and I am happy 🙂 

[Dsramfam]

Yes, but if my post-update experience is any indication, I wouldn’t install it. I’ve been using the Inspire 3 for over a year to record walking and exercise activities. Until the update, my stats, specifically heart rate and activity levels (Light/Moderate/Vigorous/Peak) have been consistently and, I believe, accurately recorded (I’ve checked them against other trackers with similar results). However, in the week following the update, my heart rate stats for the same activities and time periods has plummeted on the I3 tracker. The new tracker interface also takes a bit of getting used to and I still don’t see the reason for the dozen or so new activities (e.g., the new multiple aerobic and weight training categories are a bit baffling as to which one to chose when I’m doing a combination of weight/resistance/step training exercises, where I alternate between them in my one-hour sessions). I’d like to chuck the update and revert to the previous version.

[BugoftheNorth]

If I knew better, maybe the update just sealed the deal of no gps tracking and generating a map of walks. The last map I had was on July 23, 2024, and the next day, July 24th did not generate a map. So, I think maybe an app update clobbered this functionality. Thinking that the update on the Inspire 3 yesterday would solve the problem? Nope. It removed entirely the GPS icon on the exercise/walk screen. The icon was red if no GPS, hollow if looking and solid white if found and established the location. No icon on yesterday’s update means that Fitbit/Google may no longer be supporting the device’s ability.

Later today, I will use the app itself to see if the app will track my short walk and map it. Summary stats do me no good at my stage of recovery from brain tumor surgery and post-surgical loss of function on my right side. I am walking (thank you Lord) but not like I used to. I need to know how I am doing (during my walks, where I am having issues, and if I am improving), not how I did at the end. I am 76 yrs old.

Tried to track weights at the fitness center (free with Silver Sneakers) using MapMyFitness app (before I got the fitbit), and for all I did, the app never credited cardio or calories spent. So, what was the point, I ask?

[Samson24]

Well said 👏 

Everything I wanted to say! But I am hopeless at texting and would take me to long. 

[BugoftheNorth]

Thank you for the reply. 

Last evening I went walking by starting the exercise on the app. Could not read what the fitbit inspire 3 was doing (why is the print so darned small?) but when I got back, I had a map.Since I need to take my iphone anyway if the fitbit device didn’t have its own GPS, problem solved to my satisfaction. 

Now, if the map would only differentiate between zones and pace, but perhaps that is impossible with my wobbly staggering progress. LOL. If I had my choice, the zones would be preferable. 

 I also find onscreen keyboards difficult to use. So i use an external bluetooth keyboard instead. Anker A something bluetooth, compatible with iOS,, Android, Windows, available at Walmart and online. White keyboard for the iPad, black for the iPhone, since each keyboard pairs with only one device each.

[AngusBeef]

Version 210.26

You can now easily check the time while in exercise mode. 

Your device can now auto-recognize 6 workout types: running, walking, biking, elliptical, rowing, and spinning.

All exercise modes are now available in the Exercise app, and your most recently used modes appear at the top. For more information, go to How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?

We changed the names of the heart-rate zones for clarity. To learn more about heart-rate zone names, refer to How do I track heart rate with my Fitbit device?

Thanks to advanced Google ML, heart rate tracking accuracy during exercise is getting better. So you can have more precise info on important metrics like calories burned, Active Zone Minutes, and more.

[AngusBeef]

You can turn off auto recognized exercises in app settings

[BugoftheNorth]

I have never turned on auto-recognize and just checked, they are off.

I don’t get the map when I started the exercise ON the Inspire 3, (keeping the iPhone close by, but do when I start the exercise ON the APP on the iPhone & carry it with me on my walks.

[lmacmil]

I have not taken my phone with me since the 210.26 update but with prior firmware versions, I always started the exercise on the Fitbit and as long as it connected to the phone GPS (white outline arrow turns solid), I always got a map.

[lmacmil]

"Now, if the map would only differentiate between zones and pace, but perhaps that is impossible with my wobbly staggering progress. LOL. If I had my choice, the zones would be preferable."

Back when the dashboard/map was available on the website, it would do that.  Sadly, those days are gone.  It will tell you your heartbeat throughout your walk though so I guess that's better than nothing.

[Samson24]

Beg to differ. If you are using the auto recognition  it is much harder to check the time, it is in tiny writing and you have to stop to be able to see it.You also can't check your hart rate. So if you turn of the auto recognition it doesn't recognise that you have been walking. Therefore your weekly stat's are out as it doesn't think you have been exercising. So it's not worth looking at the weekly summary. Plus, this is my second inspire 3 and if I use the swimming function I am lucky if it records more than 1 lap. If I use the water lock it may if I am lucky record half a swim. On rare occasions will record a full swim.Sent from my Galaxy

[BugoftheNorth]

Yes, with the GPS connection outline turning white,, filled in, you got a map. But I haven’t been able to get a map since July 24. And with the latest firmware update in the Inspire 3, that outline icon is not there. Just use your phone fitbit app, start exercise in the app,  and get a map. And the map will have heartbeat ranges in it, but not pace if the exercise is less than one lap, which I don’t do. I am walking around rural buildings, so there is no lap. Best distance since my brain surgery & rehab recovery today is 0.62 miles with a 4 wheel walker. Yay! 

[Bill_209]

Thank you for the  information, @AngusBeef .

I just received the 'red dot' so it appears that the new 210.26 FW is available for download, but what about the several reports regarding losing sync several times a day after downloading 210.26? Was that sync issue resolved with an updated app SW version? 

If so, what combination of device FW and App SW is stable now? 

[AngusBeef]

Mine syncs fine

[lmacmil]

"what about the several reports regarding losing sync several times a day after downloading 210.26?"

In my case and at least one other, losing the BT connection after the update was caused by having BT enabled on a tablet.  Mine was an Android tablet and even though I wasn't using the Fitbit app (it was installed) on the tablet, once I turned off BT, the problem of losing the BT connection between Fitbit and phone went away.

[g33kgrl]

"You can now easily check the time while in exercise mode."

Can you us tell HOW to do this? I just got back from a walk for the first time since the update and all I could see was pace info on 2 or 3 screens (swiping up and down), no clock face! I want to see the usual, large font clock face, not pace stats in some tiny font I can't read without my glasses.

[AngusBeef]

There's a tiny clock on top

[g33kgrl]

Great--so a "tiny" clock is supposed to be "easy" to check?! LOL I really wish companies would think more about their users and the fact that not everyone wants changes like this. Since Google has taken over FitBit and screwed everything up, I am strongly considering getting a Samsung smartwatch as my next device. 

[Bee55]

Yes, I updated & it's rubbish! I'd advise you not to do it.