Auto-detect swim exercise

[SunsetRunner]

So, after sucessfully recording 3 different swim sessions in 3 different days using the manual exercise mode, i decided today to try the auto-detect feature.

It did pick up my HR all the time (sensor wasn't turned off like when manually selecting Swim exercise), i can see activity, calories, etc spike up, but the exercise itself is not visible in the activity app. Any idea why?

[SunsetRunner]

My guess is it didn't auto detect the swim activity, especially noting you say that HR was recorded; HR is not a metric recorded by Fitbit in swimming activities 

[SunsetRunner]

Apparently it is recorded, if you let it auto-detect exercise and not start manually the swim.

Also in manual swim exercise mode there is an "average" HR value in there, so...where does it come from?

It auto-detects walks and everything else, but not swimming? Searching around i found more similar cases, where pool swim was not recorded as exercise, but all other metrics are present and recorded.

[SunsetRunner]

i just found this:

"For each automatically detected exercise you'll find stats such as duration and estimated calorie burn. Distance and pace aren't included."

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1933#exercisehistory

That clears it i guess...

Sad thing is that this is all a software job. Sensors record everything, the data only needs to be mined, sorted out and displayed in proper common sense graphs.

[SunsetRunner]

Well, I’m not sure how much value I’d place in them then, as according to the manual the available stats during swimming are: 

Swim
● Lengths (top stat)
● Distance (middle stat)
● Elapsed time (bottom stat)

with the summary showing:

Swim
● Elapsed time
● Distance
● Lengths
● Pace (average)
● Calories burned.

Now granted if it’s providing calories you’d think it’d need hr to at least calc how hard you’re working out but maybe (as I’ve no idea) it’s just guesstimating. One thing for sure - water and optical heart rate monitors don’t play nice, so I think you’re going to need a very large pinch of salt.

Edit - my post crossed with yours

[SunsetRunner]

yes, the stats are for the manually triggered swim exercise mode.

while in-exercise, it shows the 3 fields.

once you end and save, it shows "good job!" or "well done" or something, along with the stats mentioned above.

calories are a total fluke estimate, since there is no HR value and strokes.

WAIT i'm talking to a Ionic lead right now on support chat.....interesting!