Charge 3 recording sleep while not wearing it

[AlexThom]

This happened twice, both Saturday and Sunday, the FitBit added an hour and half worth of sleep time too my total hours.  Both time periods, 1:30pm to 3pm,  I was not wearing the FitBit. I know because I am performing a play and these were matinees.  It can't be explained by saying the Charge 3 malfunctions thinking you are asleep if you're not wearing it because I have night shows and I take it off for that 6 nights a week between 7:30 and 9:00pm and it never records that.  Anyone, please?

Moderator edit: format

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

It's nice to see you around here @AlexThom! Was the heart rate on when you took it off your wrist? If so, sometimes the Charge 3 can't detect you have taken it off, and it sees what it thinks is your pulse. And as you may know, sleep stages are calculated by using your heart rate.

Autodetection is based on your movement. When you haven’t moved for about an hour, your device assumes that you’re asleep.

You can prevent this by turning off heart rate tracking when the tracker is not in use, log into your dashboard and go to Settings > Devices to turn your Heart Rate Tracking to "Off."

To get more detailed information, please see: How do I track my sleep with my Fitbit device? and What should I know about sleep stages?

Give this a shot and let me know if the issue persists. 

[AlexThom]

Thank you very much.

[MarreFitbit]

You're very welcome @AlexThom! In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you will find great tips and encouragement from other members and if there's anything else I can do for you, please keep me posted!

[JanetLJ]

I could not see how to ask a question so I am using the reply feature. I too have the same issue. When I take off the device to shower, or don’t wear it at night it thinks I am sleeping. You should not have to turn off the heartbeat tracker every time you take it off. If it does not register a heartbeat, you are eaither not wearing it or you are dead. Perhaps that could be remedied in an update. Also, how can I delete erroneous sleep tracking from the history since it makes my weekly sleep average incorrect. Thank you

[Joeyphine]

Could not agree more, I just bought this one to replace my Blaze -_-. The Blaze had automatic detection, therefore when you took it off it knew you weren't wearing it so the lights switched off until it got moved again.

If you click into the sleep where it shows you the breakdown of stages, you can click on the pencil icon in top right (of phone app) and gives you the option to delete or edit the sleep times! 

[Joeyphine]

I've also just had a fiddle with mine - I have this problem it's very annoying. I've noticed that when you take it off if the strap rests near the lights it will keep them on. If you leave the Fitbit so it is flat down on a hard surface which is still the lights will go off, meaning it knows you aren't wearing it. If you unclip one of the straps and leave it on its side you will see them go off.

Way too much faith going into the Fitbit or all to turn on and off the tracking each time 🙄 ! 

[Oakraised]

Hi,

A little confused on this tracking the sleep when not wearing. It’s still detecting a heart beat when I take it off. What is it detecting? It makes me question the accuracy while wearing. I’ve had it off for 30 min and on the app it shows a 150 heart rate. Isn’t this affecting the entire overall health picture on the app??

[ookpik29]

I am experiencing the same issue and find it is really recent behaviour, since the sleep score feature began 

[Steelwheels]

It's the first time, but it happened to me as well.  I took it off between 12:45pm and 2:30pm.  I think the Fitbit should recognize "no heart rate" and not record it as sleep.

Moderator edit: format

[OldCamry]

I do love my Charge 3, but when I take it off to shower and occasionally forget to put it back on for the day, it records my "sleep"--while it is sitting on a shelf in the shower overnight! This is my first Fitbit, so it can't be syncing with an older model. What I find especially troubling is that it shows sleep patterns for the night I didn't wear it! This is causing me to have serious doubts about whether any of the sleep functions actually work. One would think that if the watch is not being worn during sleep that it would not record ANY sleep data for the night--where in the world did it get my REM sleep levels, length of sleep, etc., the night it spent alone in the shower??? Is this just some sort of randomly generated artifact designed to placate those of us who don't know better?

[OldCamry]

I am very embarrassed to admit here that I made a mistake. Turns out the Fitbit was right and I was wrong. I was simply misreading the weekly sleep graph on the app. I am sorry!

[ChrissieF]

The charge 3 is not only recording sleep when not wearing but it’s giving data on the various sleep stages 🤷‍:female_sign:, all leaving me to lose confidence in the watch for  everything tbh, even if heart tracker isnt switched Off how on earth can it give all these readings 

[ChrissieF]

Actually that’s an interesting point, mine never recorded when I took it off before, it’s only recently started doing it and also giving all the different sleep stages which is impossible for it to be correct if it’s not being worn, either that it REALLY is big brother watching us 🤣

[OldCamry]

Chrissie, you are likely looking at the wrong "sleep day" on the app. That's what I did. If you leave the Fitbit off while you sleep, it messes up the daily graph. This is corrected the next day if you wear the Charge 3 to bed. In the morning, you will see no sleep data for the day you didn't wear it to bed.

[ChrissieF]

Thanks I’ll check this out, although I have a run of around 14days with info and I know I didn’t wear it on at least 10 of these

Sent from my iPhone

[LuziAnne]

Yep, happened to me multiple times, but last night was the worst. It recorded an hour of deep sleep while I was reading and relaxing in the tub while my watch was on the counter. Since my watch band is a type that prohibits laying it flat, that's not an option either. And I'm not going to go to all the trouble of turning off the heart rate monitor every time I take it off. Fitbit really blew it on this one. 

[TinaChas]

This is not a solution at all. This makes me seriously question the accuracy of a Fitbit while wearing it. Also it shows Fitbit doesn't do anything to improve this issue because I have a Charge 4 and it still has the same problem. How can we trust a device that doesn't even know you're not wearing it?

[stribs44]

When I  take my versa 3 off to shower I  attach it to the charger this seems to let it know that I  am not wearing it. I do however have times when I  have had the watch on all day and night but it fails to detect that I have been asleep for 8 hours

[Szilu]

Mine records charging as sleep, in particular as deep sleep and congratulates for the long deep sleep well deserved. Is this 2022 AI? Don't think so.