Charge 2 Not Counting Steps

[Braeden-D]

Seems for weeks now my Fitbit Charge 2 has gotten progressively worse and now has stopped counting steps almost all together

My Charge 2 is only 9 months old as I joined Fitbit on May 11th 2018

i walked around the house for 10mins uninterrupted and it did not count a single step

this has been happening for weeks where walks are not be accounted for at all

luckily it still counts in Treadmill mode but I cannot have my steps throughout the day be unaccounted for until I can get on the treadmill to get my full 10,000 each day.

i have been forced to look to replace the device as I am currently in a walking challenge that I can no longer achieve my target with this device

I have attempted to ‘restart’ the Charge 2 by connecting the charger & holding the button for 4 seconds... however the problem has not corrected itself

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Braeden-D Welcome to the Fitbit Community! I hope you're doing well! Sorry to hear that your Charge 2 isn't counting your steps. Your tracker will detect the movement on your arm and translate that movement into steps. There are situations in which your arm may move but you won't be actually walking and vice versa. This may happen when you are playing the drums, burping a baby or clapping and the opposite can happen when you push a cart. It can also happen when driving. For added sensitivity you can try wearing your tracker on your dominant hand but select that hand as non dominant on the tracker’s settings to make it more sensitive to movement.

Let me know how it goes!

[barbara149]

I have also had trouble with my Fitbit not counting steps.  I've rebooted it twice and started monitoring the steps closely.  It seems to be working, but I'm pretty suspicious, since it's not tracking active minutes at all.  

[AlvaroFitbit]

@barbara149 It's great to see that you've visited the Fitbit Community! Sorry to hear that your tracker isn't counting active minutes. These minutes are independent from the steps totals your tracker detects. It is more related to the speed you increase your steps during a certain period of time as this would suggest the intensity of the activity was high and this would grant them. You can read more about active minutes here. Also happy to hear that your tracker is detecting your steps after the restart.

Keep me posted!

[barbara149]

My Fitbit did start tracking active minutes again.  It caught up with a couple of days worth of activity and appears to be working okay now.  I've noticed that active minutes sometimes have a significant delay in updating.  I've started paying attention to my heart rate so I know when I should be earning active minutes.

[Delta-flyer]

I have also had trouble with the fitbit not counting steps correctly. It’s only been happening in the last few weeks, prior to that it used to be OK. I walk uphill on the treadmill typicallly at 8% incline, and my manual step count per mile is about 2100. This morning, it counted the first mile at 2000, and the last about 1500 - progressively slower and slower. At one time it counted 8000 for the 4 miles, today it was 7300, a couple of weeks ago it was 5500. For about a year prior it was accurate. 

When i mow the yard, it thinks I’m on a bike and still counts steps pretty correctly (well, that was last fall). 

I have learned that to get an accurate HR count, I have to wear the fitbit fairly high on my arm, and that’s how it’s been for about a year, The miscount of steps has only been in the last few months. 

When I run, it counts pretty accurately. I run once a week about 6 miles, and it counts about 10,000 steps, and the heart rate is very stable, around 150-160.

Any suggestions? Has something changed in the software lately?

[Delta-flyer]

Well, I may have a solution for the treadmill. I set the fitbit manually to “treadmill” mode and it seems to be quite accurate - well, now the 4 miles is counted as 7700-7800 steps, which is just a few % short of the 8100 it should count, and it counted 3.88 miles, which is also pretty close. (I’ve set the stride length to automatic.) I’m good with that. But it used to be accurate when I used the treadmill in “walk” mode, it’s way off using that method now. So I think there had to have been some software change recently. 

Just finished a 6 mile run, and it counts that quite accurately, about 9900 steps, so I’m happy with that too.

Maybe I’ll upgrade to a Charge 3, my display and wrist strap are all scratched and it’s time for a new one. I’ve had it since Nov. 2017, >2 years.