Ionic not connecting WiFi and not showing accurate information about bike and walk

[DesertT]

I got my Ionic two days ago, and it's been a rough start. First, it took me hours to connect to Wifi, the device didn't seem to be able to stay connected to my Google Pixel 2 phone, and I never completed the setup because the setup screen appeared only once and then never again. 

Today, I've been wearing the Fitbit for the first time, it's been exactly 4 hours, and already I can tell that this thing is anything but accurate. In fact, it's all over the place. My activity so far has been as follows: 

Getting ready for work at home, morning routine, including getting our baby son ready for the day. I'm guessing a few hundred steps around the house. Then I biked to work, a distance of about 5 miles, and walked up exactly 2 flights of stairs. 

My Ionic shows the following: 6,500 steps (no way!), 10 flights of stairs (LOL) and no bike ride. 

Can someone enlighten me what's going on? I wonder if the device mistakes the shaking on my wrist due to riding over rough city streets for vigorous running. If that's the case, it's useless for my purpose and I might as well go back to using Google Fit on my phone. 

Any tips and suggestions very much appreciated. 

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @DesertT welcome to the Fitbit family. It's great to have you here. 🙂

Nice to see that you just got your Ionic. I'll be glad to give you a hand with your questions about how to use your Ionic. Once we finish with some details about how to connect via Wifi and how to track your daily activities you will ready to go.

First, if you're having syncing issues with your Ionic, make sure to follow the steps suggested here: Why won't my Fitbit device sync?  About the WiFi connection, you’re prompted to connect your watch to a Wi-Fi network during setup. If you skipped this step or want to add other networks to your watch, complete these steps:

1. From the Fitbit app dashboard, tap or click the Account icon  > your watch tile.
2. Tap or click Wi-Fi Settings.
3. Tap or click Add Network and follow the on-screen instructions to connect your watch.

After you add a Wi-Fi network, your watch automatically downloads new music or apps when it’s plugged into the charger and in range of the network. If you have trouble connecting your watch to Wi-Fi, review the troubleshooting steps in Why won't my Fitbit watch connect to Wi-Fi?

Now, for your bike and walk activities you can start the workout on our Ionic and track your GPS stats along heart-rate data, calories burned, and elapsed time. You can try these steps:

1. On your device, open the Exercise app.
2. Swipe to find the exercise type.
3. Tap the exercise to select it. If the exercise uses GPS, you’ll see an icon in the top left as your device tries to connect. 
4. Tap the play icon to start the exercise or tap the flag icon to choose a time, distance, or calorie goal, depending on the activity. 
5. Tap the middle of the screen to scroll through your real-time stats. On Ionic, your progress toward your maximum heart rate is shown on an indicator next to your beats per minute. 
6. To pause or end your workout, tap the pause icon. To resume, tap the play button. Note that if you set an exercise goal, your watch vibrates and flashes when you reach the goal.
7. To end the workout, tap the flag icon and confirm.
8. Review your workout summary and exit the app.

You will find more details on how Fitbit tracks floors here. Also take a look of this article that gives you important information about accuracy. If you're interested in reading the manual, you will find it here: Ionic Product Manual.

Please note, that it's important to specify whether you wear the device on your dominant or non-dominant wrist during:

• The dominant wrist setting decreases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any over counting of steps when your body is not moving. Your dominant hand is the one you use for writing and eating.
• The non-dominant wrist setting increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps.

To start, the Wrist setting is set to non-dominant. Change your wrist setting in the Fitbit app. 

If you have more questions about it please let me know.