Accelerometer adjustment

[Fred0]

Hi Fitbit community, 

After my previous query about steps rejerusting while I sleep being solved very helpfully i would like to ask another question related to it.

Is there any way to change how sensitive the accelerometer is as I am registering by the end of the day thousands more steps than my friends and family having been together all day walking similar distances,

thanks, Fred0

[SunsetRunner]

No, but you can adjust your stride length in your profile. However that would only have an affect on the distance, not the number of steps.

[SunsetRunner]

@Fred0 maybe you are waving your hands lot more than others 😉 Mind that Fitbit doesn't count actual steps but number of times you have waved your arm in step-like motion.

[Tony.r]

So @SunsetRunner  how do you explain the fact when I cross my arms straight across my chest in front of me  and take a walk I get steps without moving either of my arms? Just curious on this?

[SunsetRunner]

Vertical acceleration. What I meant was that moving arms causes steps being detected. Just try, bounce your are up and down same as during walk but do not move. You don't need to move arms to count steps but moving arms will affect steps counter. Ionic has no idea whethwr you are walking or not. It just know current vector of the acceleration.

[Tony.r]

To be honest I personally don't swing my arms about when I'm walking, but under running yes, so have never noticed what you are saying with extra step count, but would think if you were really flinging your arms around in an excessive non natural way it could over inflate the step count. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Tony.r for me sometimes typing on the keyboard does that. Brushing my teeth as well. This case is quite interesting as it is easy to explain it since I am right-handed and wear Ionic on my right wrist. Before I worn it on my left wrist and still steps were added as brushing teeth make whole body shaking ( especially vigorious like some people tend to do ). Scratching my head, too 😁 The thing is, if walking isn't significant throughout the day, the  all these extra steps will be noticable. But for someone who does 20k and more, extra 500 steps coming from random movements shouldn't really matter. For those, who participate challenges unfortunately, this is the way how cheaters get thousands of steps.

Btw, I met people who actually 'talk' with their hands and I am not talking about rappers 😂