Ionic not reflecting active minutes when swimming

[Gurlgotti]

 The last three days my fit bit ionic is not showing active minutes on my watch nor is my swimming showing up in my app. 

[MarreFitbit]

Hey there @Gurlgotti, it's nice to see you around!  Are you still having issues with your swimming feature?

1. From the Fitbit app dashboard, tap or click the Account icon.
2. Under Goals, tap or click Exercise.
3. Tap Swimming and then tap or click Auto-recognize.
4. If you want to change the minimum duration that's automatically recorded, tap or click Swim Longer Than and choose a time.

Now, on the watch:

1. Open the Exercise app > Swim. 
2. Tap the gear icon in the top left.
3. Find the Pool Length setting and enter your pool length.

Now, with the active minutes, it could be your swim wasn't 'active' enough to earn active minutes which are calculated on the intensity of the exercise, not just the exercise done. 

Fitbit devices calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit devices estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity. You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs, minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity. 

If the same activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total.

If the issue is still persisting, try restarting your Ionic by following these steps. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[Tanahuen]

Hi, I also swam with the Ionic today and it didn't give me any active minutes. I went to my log and checked and the Flex 2 gave me active minutes for swimming, same duration and same or slower speed. Surprisingly, the Ionic did give me a HR log for the time I swam, which I thought it wouldn't do. Bot the Ionic and the (currently not in use) Flex 2 are set to autodetect swimming.

(And, I am not a jogger, I walk, swim, and bike. No idea how the "jogger" showed up on my profile, I couldn't figure out how to change it).

[RafaelCruz]

Hi,

Can I activate auto-recognize for swimming but still keep it manually on the watch? 

thanks.

[WavyDavey]

@MarreFitbit, can you confirm something for me about swim? Is it the case when it's automatically detected, the swim activity will have HR data? And a swim tracked manually won't have any HR data?

[Tanahuen]

Yes. The info you get in the two ways is different - if you use the exercise app it breaks down the session in stretches you chose - like every something or other meters, or pool leantgs, or minutes, then tells you you pace and stroke for each chunk. If you swim on autodetect, it detecs the session, and it seemed to me it does track some heart data. No breaking down. Calories it tells you either way, in autodetect mode you will know the average speed of the whole session. Either way it tells you how many lengths you swam.

[Tanahuen]

I'm not Marre but it seems to me that you are right.

[NellyG]

I agree with @Tanahuen. Mine give me a Heart Rate graph when Smart Track does the swim, but it I manually start swim tracking I dont get it. The HR grapg is not accurate during swimming anyway.  Mine is way higher than it should be for the effort I am putting in. Which is, I assume, why it turns off when you start swimming manually.