Charge 3 step count inaccurate

[EabhaLinhJoan]

Hi, 

I’m having issues with my Fitbit Charge 3. When I go to sleep, I toss and turn significantly to the point where sometimes I wake up horizontally in bed. When I wake up, my Fitbit happily tells me that I have already taken over 500 steps for the day. I also have a tic disorder. If you don’t know, this means that sometimes I have little jolts in my body that I can’t control, like clicking my tongue or kicking the chair in front of me in the car, or some things with my hands, which is the big issue. Usually when I’m thinking really hard about something, or I get excited or nervous, my hands will go into fists and shake really hard.

Another one of my supposed tics is accidentally holding my breath, and when this happens my hands tremble violently. My issue with this is that I have been generally more sedentary due to the quarantine, but my Fitbit is saying that I am having 10000+ steps a day, which doesn’t make sense, because my daily schedule is: do homework (sitting for ~7 hours), take a walk (15 min), watch TV (8+ hours). How is it possible that I am having 10000+ steps a day? My mother said that at the end of the day I can take a percentage of the steps off, like, “Well, say about 20% of those steps are from sleep or tics. Then take off 20%.” The issue with this is that I have no idea what percentage to take off, and I do not enjoy having to guestimate and do math functions before bed. I bought a Fitbit so that I could track my steps while I’m preparing for marathons with my mother and brother, not so I could include more math into my day.

Please help? Thanks.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[AlejandraFitbit]

It's great to welcome you, @EabhaLinhJoan.

Thanks for the information provided. As you know, your Charge 3 will count steps depending on your hand movement. For tips about improving accuracy, I recommend checking the help article: How accurate are Fitbit devices?.

Several things can affect the number of steps your Fitbit device records, including where you place the device, if you wear it on your dominant or non-dominant hand, and your stride length. If you're pushing a stroller or shopping cart, try putting your device in your pocket or use GPS to record your activity, if possible.

If it still seems like your device is undercounting or overcounting steps, try a step test. While you perform your step test, make sure you:

-Walk at a normal pace
-Don’t hold anything in your hands
-Put your arms down at your sides, swinging naturally
-Count 1 step for each foot
-To avoid getting an additional step when you bring your feet together, after you reach 100 steps:

1. Freeze in a split-stance. 
2. Move your hand up gently to check the step count on your device.  

Here’s the step test:

1. Restart your Fitbit device. For instructions, check the help article: How do I restart my Fitbit device?.
2. Put your device on your wrist.
3. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet touches the ground.
4. Pause, then check your device to see your step count, and write down the number of steps you took and the number of steps your device counted. 
5. Perform the test 2 more times, walking 100 steps 3 different times. Each time, write down the number of steps you took and the number your device counted. 
6. Add the number of steps over or under that your device counted for all 3 tests. If your device counted 30 more or 30 fewer than the 300 steps you took, please let us know.

Let me know the outcome.