Step count accuracy. Overestimated?

[Mada82]

Hey. 

I have ny ionic since Sunday and have started to notice some issues. 

My step count seems to be too high. It registered about 159 steps while I was in the shower and another 200 walking around the bedroom. 

Im kinda disappointed it could be so inaccurate considering the price. 

[NellyG]

Mine is very conservative in the step counts. I'd suggest you try a restart and see if that helps. Let us know how you go.

Restart your tracker

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Mada82, it is true that all wrist worn trackers can give you extra "steps" from moving your hands, especially if you are particularly expressive with your hands.  You can minimise the number of false steps by wearing it on your non-dominant hand, but changing the setting in the app to say you are wearing it on your dominant hand -- even though you are not.

Setting it to "dominant" will alert the program that counts steps to expect more movement (you move your dominant hand more than your non dominant).  That will make the Fitbit LESS sensitive to hand movements and should mean you get fewer false steps.

When I first had a wrist worn tracker I worried a lot about these false steps -- I worried that I was "cheating" in challenges and getting too many "steps" that weren't steps.  I worried so much that I bought a Fitbit One (now sadly discontinued) -- which you wear clipped to your body, and which was rated by the Journal of American Medicine as one if the most accurate pedometers available.  The results really surprised me: although I sometimes did get some extra steps from my wrist tracker, at the end of a week they were remarkably close.  I also found that the more active I was, the more accurate my wrost tracker seemed to be -- and that is another reason to get moving!

[GregJaxFL]

None of the devices are accurate. The number are only to be used as a guide and will not count your exact number of steps. 

[Nonnieto6]

I just received mine today had 56 steps before I ever walked with it🤔