Fitbit at sea

[Kim-J]

I’ve been at sea for over a month. I’ve previously posted about sleep recording issues due to the ship’s motion during the night but this problem has been magnified by the more sensitive algorithm in use for the last 4 months that mistakes restlessness for being awake. Every morning I have to manually adjust my sleep times and my device/app do not calculate/record health metrics (no sPO2, no breathing rate, etc.) except for resting heart rate—sometimes. In other words, my fitbit decides I’m dead or a zombie. But it records daytime steps and hours with 250 steps. Basically when at sea my fitbit device isn’t much more than an expensive pedometer.

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @Kim-J, welcome. I suspect you have not been able to sync your Fitbit app due to a sketchy or absent internet connection. Before some of your data appears on your Fitbit app it needs to sync with the Fitbit servers. My understanding is this provides necessary processing before the results are returned to you. 

Gemini overview tells us -

Your Fitbit needs an internet connection to sync because the data is transferred from your tracker to the Fitbit app on your phone, and then the app uploads that data to Fitbit's cloud servers. The data you see on your phone's dashboard is stored on these servers, not locally on the device. Without an internet connection, the data cannot be uploaded to the cloud to be permanently stored and viewed. 

• Data transfer to the cloud: The sync process is a two-part transfer: first, your Fitbit uses Bluetooth to send data to the app on your phone. Second, your phone needs an internet connection to upload that data from the app to the Fitbit servers.
• Server-based data: Your phone's dashboard displays information from Fitbit's cloud servers, so a successful sync to those servers is necessary to update your dashboard.
• Offline tracking: Your Fitbit can still collect and store data for a period (up to 7 days for detailed data) even without a connection, but you must have an internet connection for the data to be transferred from the device to the servers and the app.
• Setup and updates: Account setup, firmware updates, and other app-related functions also require an internet connection

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[Kim-J]

No your post doesn’t help at all. And it’s actually quite insulting of you to assume that I know nothing about Bluetooth and the internet. And your response is most definitely not the best answer. I wasn’t even seeking an answer; rather I was posting a warning for users who may be cruising and may not understand how the ship’s motion will affect their fitbit devices.

Ships at sea can and do connect to the internet. Have you never heard of Starlink? How do you think I was able to post without an internet connection? My device syncs regularly and I have a constant internet connection. 

The problem lies with the fact that a ship at sea is in motion. Ships are subject to both rotational and translational motions (yawing, rolling, pitching, heaving, swaying and surging). Fitbit devices are equipped with advanced motion sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, which capture user movements. These sensors detect changes in velocity, orientation, and gravitational forces, enabling the device to discern various activities such as walking, running, cycling, etc. By continuously monitoring these movements, Fitbit accurately (more or less) quantifies the user's active minutes, steps taken, and overall energy expenditure on land; however, when the user’s location (i.e., the ship) is also in motion the device can’t accurately distinguish between the different sources of the motion.