Charge 3 stopped recognizing my walks and runs

[Treesh]

Today my Charge 3 stopped recognizing my activities (a walk and a run).

I've had the Charge 3 for several months now and it's been working fine. This is a replacement Charge 3 since my original one had the blank screen issue. It's been working fine until today. But today I went for a walk. That got recorded just fine on my activity/exercise. But the walk back from the destination did not get automatically recorded. I went for a run later in the afternoon and that didn't get recorded either. My steps got updated. My number of active minutes got updated. But I have no stats on the run like I usually do (nor the walk earlier).

I can clearly see on the active minutes screen the two activities that didn't get tracked - at around 2pm and then at around 4:30pm. That was the walk and the run. But I don't see the stats on those in the weekly exercise screen.

Here are the things I've tried.  I've restarted the Charge 3. And then did a sync again. I quit the app on the iPhone. I started the app again. Still - I don't see the exercise recorded.

I don't know what changed. A walk at 12:30 gets recorded. The walk back from that destination at 2 does not get recorded. The run at 4:30 does not get recorded. And I didn't change anything either on the Fitbit or in the app.

[NellyG]

Hi @Treesh If the tracker failed to record your activities, a restart probably wont bring them back. Restart a couple of times more and see how it goes next time you exercise. Restart your tracker

Please come back here if it is still playing up.

[Treesh]

Something is definitely wrong with my tracker. It still is NOT recognizing walks.

1. Auto recognize is on.
2. I set the number of minutes lower - to 10 instead of 15 as suggested by a tech support person on Saturday.

I walked to work this morning - usual route. 27 active minutes were recorded. Steps were added. But the exercise was NOT recorded. 

Sure, maybe I could try manually logging but that is NOT an acceptable solution.

Frustrated. 

[Christine00]

Also know that manually logging the exercises will then completely mess with the number of calories you've burned. If you leave the exercise unlogged, it maintains the correct number of calories. Log the exercise and you'll lose hundreds of calories burned. 

[SandyHenderson]

Same problem for me. Very frustrating. Did you find a solution?

[Treesh]

Sorry for the delay in answering. I think I found a solution to this.

• I make sure All Day Sync is on.
• On my iPhone, I have Location Services on ALWAYS on for the Fitbit app (not just "when using"
• I make sure that I NEVER quit the app on my phone. 

With these adjustments, I haven't had a problem. I think that perhaps the key is never quitting the app on the phone and having All Day Sync on.

Hope this works for you!

[nbiz60]

Mine stopped working back in March, too. I tried calling tech support, but got nowhere. They see it in their internal history(?)...I think is what they were saying. But, it only sporadically shows my run and when it does it shows a long time later...like 5 hours later. And, then the run is shown in intervals and it shows my run for the entire duration starting from the time of the run until the time it shows up on the app. So, it will sometimes say I ran 3.91 miles when I really ran 4.72 miles and it will say that the duration was 8hrs 50min when it was really 45min. Fitbit swears that there's nothing wrong and they refuse to replace my hardware under it's warranty. Something changed...not for the good...and I'm shopping for other activity trackers. Just as an aside...I had already set auto-recognize to 10 minutes and rebooted and have always updated the firmware when the updates came out. It's not me Fitbit.....it's you.

[nbiz60]

The app should not have to be always open on your phone and always tracking for it to show up on the app. if it's making it into Fitbit database, as the service rep stated to me, then it should automatically populate the app when the app opens and syncs. If you have to have the app open and burning battery then that's a flaw with Fitbit.

[SandyHenderson]

I agree with you. This is a software or hardware issue - clearly. The response from Fitbit has been unhelpful and arguably disingenuous, repeatedly trying to locate responsibility with me for changing settings or not changing settings and ignoring all my other requests or suggestions. I go to the gym and run on a treadmill and my heart rate shows as in the the ‘peak’ red zone for over 30 minutes (with arms pumping as they do when you run) yet it is not recognised as any form of exercise. Then I take a gentle 10-minute stroll to the shops and it is recognised, even without the GPS turned on (with its ludicrous over-estimates of how many calories are burnt when walking). Then, sporadically, a ‘run’ is recognised and appears on my app a couple of days later but what it consists of is not my actual run but the final few minutes of exercise followed by 10 hours of inactivity/sleep, and some spurious ‘pace data’ suggesting that I have been running at walking pace. Maddening - and very damaging to Fitbit’s reputation. I don’t think this has anything to do with GPS settings being on or off. Fitbit, sort it out or I will look for another device.

[Mandeelui]

I'm experiencing the same problem, @Fitbit @ it as been over 7 months since the original post and still no fix.

This on top of other issues I don't think I'll buy another product 😞

[HFrancks]

It’s seriously annoying. Mine does this on a random basis. Logged a 25 min walk and a swim this morning. Nothing for the 25 min walk back home or the 40 min walk this afternoon. Steps and active mins recognised etc but nothing to show for the walk. I feel the charge 3 isn’t as accurate or good as the previous model. It appears to have lots of bugs. I only bought it for the waterproof feature there was nothing wrong with my Charge 2. 

[pan_a_kota]

Mine too. I restarted and and it still doesn’t. If I add the walking manually, it affects my steps!!! I don’t know what to do to fix it

[Simran19]

Same thing has been happening to my charge 3 device. It is a replacement device sent by FitBit because mine stopped working. 

When walking or exercising, it recognises the active minutes and the steps, but not the exercise. When I manually add the exercise, it removes the steps and active minutes from the app.

Please help!! I’ve tried to remove the device, reinstall, etc. Nothing has worked so far.