Ionic randomly stops tracking steps

[Dr3wX5]

Hello,

I had an issue that occurred twice now while traveling abroad. In each instance I noticed either no steps were tracked or missing thousands of steps. 

The first time this happened about 5 days ago, I walked about 2 miles uphill and definitely got my heart rate up. I looked at my Fitbit after the two miles and it showed like 500 steps and no periods of elevated heart rate or calories burned.

Frustrated, I checked on here what to do and I performed a procedure recommended by someone. It involved logging out of the app, force quit app, turning off Bluetooth, restarting Fitbit tracker, turn off phone, turn on phone, turn on Bluetooth, and sign into app. 

After that, Fitbit was working fine for a few days up until this morning. Walking in the airport for about an hour, I check my Fitbit at the gate and it showed only 900 steps, while my wife had close to 4,000. 

Not sure what to do because the problem isn’t easily repeatable. Most of the time it works fine and counts my steps accurately, so I don’t think it’s an issue with setting the stride length. I calibrate the Fitbit every time it prompts me to and I clean it with water and mild soap if I get really sweaty that day. 

Getting frustrated with FitBit as I’ve consistently have had issues right around the two year mark… May end up making the switch to the Apple Watch unless I can find a permanent solution. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[CindyMFitbit]

@Dr3wX5 Welcome to the Community Forums.

I appreciate the detailed information that you have shared on your post and for the troubleshooting tried prior posting. I understand that this can be very frustrating. 

For tips about improving accuracy, I recommend you checking the article, How accurate are Fitbit devices? Factors such as device placement, dominant or non-dominant hand, affect the number of steps recorded. If you're pushing a stroller or shopping cart, try putting your wrist-based device in your pocket or use GPS if possible.

If you already restart your Ionic following the instructions here, and it still seems like your device is undercounting steps, try a step test:

1. Put your device on your wrist or put your clip-on device on your hip or torso.

2. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet hits the ground.

3. Pause, then check your device to see your step count.

4. If your device counted more or less than 100 steps, restart the device and try the step test again. 

Hope this helps.