Charge 3 GPS tracking not showing map

[Gr255]

With Charge 2 after a run without my phone I could see the map with pace and time. Charge 3 does not do that. And all my GPS system on phone and device are on

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Community Forums @Gr255! The connected GPS feature on Fitbit Charge 2, Fitbit Charge 3, and Fitbit Versa works with the GPS sensors in your nearby phone. To get GPS data, including pace and route for your workout, you must select a GPS exercise from the Exercise app on your device and bring a GPS-enabled phone with you. We recommend turning off Wi-Fi on your phone when using connected GPS to improve the experience.
 
When you choose a GPS exercise, your device vibrates when your phone finds a GPS signal. If your phone doesn't find a signal immediately, keep in mind that environmental factors including tall buildings, dense forest, steep hills, and even thick cloud cover can interfere with your phone’s ability to connect to GPS satellites. 
 
For best results, wait for your phone to find the signal before you start your workout. However, if you don't want to wait you can start your workout and GPS tracking begins when your phone finds a signal. 

Note that your device uses your step count to calculate distance until it finds a GPS signal. In this scenario, your total distance calculated for the workout may be slightly less accurate than if GPS data were available for the entire duration. For more information, see How accurate is GPS?

Requirements:

• Bluetooth is enabled on your phone and your tracker is connected (paired) to the phone. To confirm, go into your phone's Bluetooth settings and make sure you see Charge 3 on the list of devices.
• (Android only) The Fitbit app is allowed to run in the background on your phone. For more information, see Why is the Fitbit app sending a notification to my Android phone?
• You selected an exercise type from the Exercise app that uses connected GPS. To check on Charge 3, swipe up on any exercise and check that Use Phone GPS is listed and set to On.
• Your phone is within about 30 feet of your device.
• Your phone can identify your location and can track your location when you're not using Wi-Fi. For more information on which phone settings you may need to adjust, see How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?
• (Android only) If your mobile device is running Android 6.0 or later, see Why do I receive access requests from the Fitbit app on my Android mobile device?

Troubleshooting:

After verifying all the requirements, try using GPS again by following the instructions in How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?

If you're still having difficulty, try these troubleshooting steps:

1. Open the Fitbit app to reestablish a connection with your tracker.
2. Reboot your phone.

Give this a go and let me know the outcome! 

[KarenJoyR]

I'm having the same problem.  I have only had my Fitbit for about a week, and when I first got it, I was poking around on it and found a GPS map and the ability to log and exercise as a hike. Now, I can't seem to find either. I do a bit of trail running, but I would prefer to log the activity as a hike, rather than a run.

[Reedee]

Can anyone confirm if a logged activity should show a MAP when logged by a Charge 3, in the same way as the Charge 2 does?

If i track a walk using my charge 2, when i am finished i can see a map of my walk when i look at the dashboard.

But if i do exactly the same using my Charge 3, I get no map.

So how can i get it to show the map for Charge 3 logged activities?

Please help.

[RiseAndShine]

Hi @Reedee, welcome to the forum. Yes, Charge 3 shows the map after the workout IF GPS functionality was enabled. If you swipe to the left on your clock face, then tap on Exercise app on your tracker and swipe to the left again to find walk exercise (I assume you have as one of the 6 shortcuts?). While on Walk, swipe up - you'll see Use Phone GPS option (should be on). Please, let us know if you have it set up like that. Have a great day!

One more thing... do you manually track Walk or allow Fitbit do it automatically? If you don't start tracking walk manually - GPS will not be used.

[Reedee]

Hi. Yes my charge 3 was using GPS and showed my fitbit connected and active on my android phone. It logged the activity but without a map. This was 5 minutes after doing the exact same thing with my charge 2 which works and does show a map.So why does one work and the other not. Both log activity but only the 2 shows a map. I have tested this many times now.
RegardsMark Reed.Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[RiseAndShine]

Just want to confirm that you're not carrying both trackers (connected to the phone via BT) when walking, correct? Charge 3 doesn't like to be connected to the BT along with other devices - just want to confirm that this is not the case. 

I don't have Charge 2 and don't know whether there's a difference as it comes to specific setting requirement... May I ask you to check if you have Location enabled with High Accuracy and Power Saving Mode on the phone turned off? 

[Reedee]

Hi again.

Yes you are correct I and I am not carrying both with me at the same time.

I just checked my Samsung phone and it did have power saving on, so do you suggest turning power saving off?

I also have the location services in HIGH accuracy, so are you suggesting I turn it down to either phone only ( use gps to estimate location) or to battery saving (use wifi and mobile network to estimate location) or should I leave it as High accuracy mode?

Thanks.

[RiseAndShine]

@Reedee, thank you for providing additional details!

Yes, please turn off power saving and keep location setting on high accuracy. If you have wi-fi enabled - turn it off. Please, let us know if you're still unable to see a map after a workout!

[RiseAndShine]

@Reedee, ran across one post today and figured I'd share... If all else fails, you may try to remove Charge 2 from Fitbit app and unpair it from the phone, then see if Charge 3 starts working as expected. Have a great day!

[Reedee]

Thanks. I have not had a chance to try what you suggested yesterday yet. So will try all the suggestions and post a reply with the results.

Regards.

[DiscoDude]

Hi sorry to but in on this chat but I am new to all of this and don't know where to start. I got my fitbit charge 3 last week as im planning to compete in a 30 hour walk, I have a Samsung Galaxy 9+ they are paired together but I cant get to track my walk with a map which I would love so it also shows you where iv been, RiseAndShine I see you mention tap on the exercise app on my tracker then swipe left to find walk which I cant find anywhere my 6 shorts cuts under exercise are Run, Bike, Swim, Treadmill, Weights, Interval Timer but no walk how can I get that. any help much appreciated as im loosing the will to live.  overwise a very expensive pedometer.

Cheers Paul (Disco Dude)

[Reedee]

Hi,

Thanks to the suggestions of "RiseAndShine" my problem was solved and I now do get maps tracking my walk like I used to with my charge 2.
So the solution I was given that worked and solve the problem was to...
Make sure that on my galaxy s9 I had wifi turned off, obviously data turned on, but also have turned off / disabled the "power saving" mode I had the phone in.

So with my phone set like that and still with it set with location settings as high accuracy, I get maps ok.

Thanks again to RiseAndShine for the help.


Regards.

[DiscoDude]

Hi I will try that as well do you have walk in your short cuts under exercise if so how do you get that. Cheers.

[RiseAndShine]

Great to know that it's all working for you now, @Reedee! 

Welcome @DiscoDude! You can add Walk to your shortcuts from the Fitbit app. 

In Fitbit app tap on the Charge 3 icon in the top right corner, scroll down to Exercise Shortcuts - tap on it. There will be 6 shortcuts that are set by default - you need to remove one or few that you don't need in order to add Walk. Swipe to the left to remove shortcut(s), then a plus edit button will appear in the top right corner - tap on it. Select Walk (and any other shortcuts you might use) and click 'Add to Charge 3'. You can rearrange shortcuts to appear on your tracker in certain order.  

To track an exercise, swipe to the left on your clock face, tap exercise, swipe to the left again to go through the list of shortcuts. Tap on an exercise you want to track. You can also manage additional settings from Charge 3: when on a specific shortcut, swipe up to see adjustable options.

Please, let us know if you have any questions!!!

[DiscoDude]

Thank you so much I now have walk in exercises and will copy your advice that you gave ReeDee about mapping then all will be good. Must thank you again.

[RiseAndShine]

@DiscoDude, you bet! Please, don't hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions! 

[javapop]

@RiseAndShine How do you switch the Charge 3 to automatically track walking?

Also, is there a way that your walks show up on a map? I can’t find this on menus, and wondering if it is an option or feature.

Thanks!!

[RiseAndShine]

Hi @javapop, autorecognition for walking is enabled by default unless you turned it on. However, for auto-recognition activity should continue for min set time (15+ min by default). You can change it down to 10+ min. To do so, in Fitbit app tap on the account settings (rectangular ion in the top right corner), then scroll down to Exercise, tap on it and adjust time as needed for different activities. 

In order to track walking with GPS, you have to add walk to your tracker as one of the exercise shortcuts (if you already have it as one of the shortcuts, then you can skip this step). To do so, in Fitbit app tap on the Charge 3 icon in the top right corner, then scroll down to Exercise Shortcuts, tap on it - you'll see a list of 6 shortcuts that can be used for manual tracking right from your tracker. Remove one or few of them (swipe to the left). Once there're less than 6 shortcuts, the plus edit sign will appear in the top right corner - tap on it to select Walk and any other type of activity. You can rearrange shortcuts to appear them in certain order on your Charge 3. Sync the tracker - now you should have Walk (and other added activity) on your tracker.

To track walk with GPS, swipe once to the left, tap on Exercise, swipe to the left again to go through available shortcuts till you see Walk. First swipe up - you'll see an option to track with GPS, make sure it's set to on. Then tap on Walk to start tracking. Tap on start - the tracker will be connecting to your phone GPS. Once connected, tap on start again to start the exercise tracking. Once you're done with the walk - push button on the left side of the tracker: one push - exercise will be paused; second push - you'll see 'finish' option. Tap on it to stop tracking. Then sync your tracker with the phone to see the map of your walking route and all available stats.

You may find a lot more information in the help article on exercise tracking

Please, let us know if you have any questions!

[Bolicsteroids]

I've just got my charge 3 to replace the 2, and despite all your advice, I've still got no map  Any other suggestions, please?