How to calibrate Fitbit Ionic?

[Hesooo]

Hey Pals,

is there a way to re calibrate the Ionic?

I was in my car when it said to lay it on a flat surface, but i was not able to in the car...

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for stopping by my friend @Hesooo!  Since you got the calibration message, as soon as you have the chance, plug the Ionic into the charger and leave it there for a few minutes. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance! 

[John-21]

Hi, does it need to be face down or on the side?

Thanks

[SunriseGirl]

@MarreFitbit What is it calibrating?  I got that message as well.  Also wondering how to lay it flat when plugged in?  I wasn’t able to do it right away so is there a way to be sure it was calibrated properly after the fact?

[Donnamt16]

i got the message several times yesterday. plugged it in when i got home and havent had the message since so i assume it did what it needed to do 😄

[GySgt_Seidell]

Apparently, the Ionic needs to calibrate itself from time to time and at the same time, get some juice to the battery as they both happen at the same time.  Regarding face down or on the side, it don't think that matters.  However, I would avoid putting the Ionic face down on a hard surface (prevent scratches), so I always place mine on a soft dish towel and on its side (again, preventing scratches for as long as possible).  Hope this helped!

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for your comments guys @Hesooo @Donnamt16 @SunriseGirl @John-21, I know we're afraid to do something wrong on our new tracker (happened to me lol). But I agree with @GySgt_Seidell, I'd avoid putting the Ionic face down, whenever the message appears do what it says or plug Ionic into the charger and leave it there for a few minutes on a flat surface and face on its side. 

To clarify any misunderstanding about this message, it will appear frequently as it needs to be calibrated every once in a while to be more accurate. I love this new feature, by the way. 

Let me know if you have any other questions about your Ionic, it's always a pleasure to work along with you my friends.

[SunsetRunner]

Was wondering what the calibration is for.. 

~ Have Fun

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for stopping by @SunsetRunner! As I said before, the calibration is for your tracker to be more accurate, that's why once in a while you'll receive this message on your tracker. 

Let me know if you have more questions.

[SunsetRunner]

When the message appears, is it possible to keep using the tracker in case not able to calibrate immediately? 

[wookietim]

I guess what the question is - we get that it it for the tracker to be more accurate but more accurate in what way? Heart rate, Altimeter, steps, counting pick elephants, what?

[SunsetRunner]

Heyyy @MarreFitbit - sorry to trouble you;

First and foremost, 100% loving my Ionic - I'm finding it such a good upgrade to my Charge 2 HR (bless it's soul) and I feel really immersed in my fitness and general well being  - which is a great thing!

Looked up on the community about the 'Calibration' thing. I've noticed this evening/today that sometimes my step counts are a little off. Sometimes I'll walk around the flat and it won't add anything for a bit - and then catches up (which I believe is normal, as my Charge 2 did this on occasions).. And after this evening's run, I've stopped on purpose, let it catch up, walked for a few paces, and the number would jump by 2 - 4 steps. 

Keeping on topic of the thread, would a recalibration help with this do you think? Also, does this seem pretty normal to you? I'm not overly alarmed by today's findings - but just wanted to see if it is something I should contact C/Services about. 

Cheeerrrss! 😄 

[SunsetRunner]

Hey @MarreFitbit - sorry to trouble you;

First and foremost, 100% loving my Ionic - I'm finding it such a good upgrade to my Charge 2 HR (bless it's soul) and I feel really immersed in my fitness and general well being  - which is a great thing!

Looked up on the community about the 'Calibration' thing. I've noticed this evening/today that sometimes my step counts are a little off. Sometimes I'll walk around the flat and it won't add anything for a bit - and then catches up (which I believe is normal, as my Charge 2 did this on occasions).. And after this evening's run, I've stopped on purpose, let it catch up, walked for a few paces, and the number would jump by 2 - 4 steps. 

Keeping on topic of the thread, would a recalibration help with this do you think? Also, does this seem pretty normal to you? I'm not overly alarmed by today's findings - but just wanted to see if it is something I should contact C/Services about. 

Cheeerrrss! 😄 

[Norseman09]

To pile on, I'm liking my Ionic too as an upgrade from my Charge 2 HR 

What I found with my Charge is that steps would sometimes get recorded when I drove the car or clapped my hands. Ionic doesn't :). Some questions:

• is there a way to force calibration if I suspect it may not be accurate?
• does walking/running w my phone improve calibration assuming GPS is being used?

[SunsetRunner]

There's no option to trigger calibration manually.

[Paul201065]

Hi i think my step reading is low but seems pretty close if i do the 100 steps test. But have noticed on some posts it has said about calibrating the watch mine has never come up with this option.So just wondering how do you get this calbration option up and would this help with making the step count read correctly.Thanks.

[SunsetRunner]

The calibration people talk about is to do a run with gps enabled. That way the Ionic gets a measure of your stride (number of steps for given distance). That way it can better estimate your distance travelled for number of steps when not using gps (most of the time).

Nothing to do with calibrating number of steps read.

Edit - my bad - sometimes the Ionic will pop up a message asking you to put on a flat surface so it can calibrate it’s sensors. There is no way to force this manually

[Paul201065]

Ok so is there anyway of improving how it recognises when you take steps.tomorrow im going to try a test going to go for a walk with my surge and ionic one on each arm to see if the step count is anywhere near the same. I will not be using gps as i just want to see a step count. I know roughly the walk i do is a little over 2000 steps on the surge so hopefully this should be enough to see if there is an issue with the ionic.even today my garmin235 had 11400 steps  on it 6hrs ago where my ionic only has 9400 on it now so there seems to be a big discrepancy between the two.yet my surge and garmin have always been fairly close on readings.

[SunsetRunner]

I’m assuming you’ve got the “dominant/non-dominant arm” correctly set.

[Paul201065]

I have it on my dominant arm at the moment. Would it make a big difference if i changed the setting to non dominant.