Charge 3 reduces number of steps taken

[linedanceralm]

Today I walked for over an hour continuously and approximately 1.7 miles.  When I started I had logged 400 steps.  When I returned I looked at my Charge 3 and it said 4,235 steps.  I thought if I had walked for over an hour continuously and for more than 1 mile I should have more steps.  So I opened my Fitbit app on my phone and went to the exercise icon.  There I opened the walk exercise and logged the time I started..  When I pressed add, it decreased my steps to 3,335.  To say the least I was baffled as to why it would reduce the number of steps I took.  So I did it again and it reduced the steps another 1,000 steps.  I reset the Charge 3, but my steps are gone.  While walking I moved my arms just like I always do.  I didn't stop during the walk.  Can anyone tell me what happened? and will I  be able to get those steps back?  

[NellyG · Accepted solution]

Hi @linedanceralm  It soumds like you ,anually entered an activity in your app. That will add the steps the app decides you would taken in a walk of that length and delete the steps the traclers says you took (by manually entering an activity you are telling the tracker it didnt record correctly, so it disregards whatit has already recorded. To get back to where you started with the steps the tracker recorded delete any activities you manually added and it should revert to whatit counted.

[PatchesNEE]

Sorry, but I'm confused.  I'm new to this technology and I'm puzzled by the fact that my FitBit shows a step count of ~12,000+ and suddenly, it reverses to ~6,400.  I've worn it daily and see this happen several days in a row.  I've only had the FitBit for about one month and this is VERY confusing.

Thanks for your clarification.

[NellyG]

Hi again, I dont blame you being confused! It can be very confusing. I am not 100% sure what you have done (accidently or purposefully), so I am going on guesswork.

When the tracker counts steps it counts your arm swings. Sometimes trackers undercount or overcount, but generally tjey are in the correct range of number of steps. It is NOT a good idea to manually adjust the activity in the app as this then tells the app that the tracker made a mistake, so it wipes out all that it recorded and replaces it with what it thinks an average person in the population would do - number of steps, calories burnt and activie minutes will all change. 

So I think you will just have to view those steps as gone and done edit an activity another day. If you DO need to edit steps (for example you forgot to wear your tracker) make sure you add a walking activity at a time when the tracker didnt record anything else or you will confuse it

If you are getting changes in the number of steps when you DID NOT manually add or adjust an activity, then there is probably something wrong and you will need restart you tracker several times and see if it happens again. If it does keep happening you will need to contact Support.

Fitbit Support  

Restart your tracker  

[SunsetRunner]

I removed the exercise and my steps came back, so thanks a lot!

However, now I am showing that I never exercise!

So either we could our steps or our exercise but can't count both! This was never a problem with my Charge 2 and previous models of Fitbit I've had since they first launched. So frustrating.

Looks like Fitbit doesn't want to support our efforts any more!!!