Charge 3 stopped recording my exercises

[Sandydm]

Hi again, so this week my charge 3 isn't recording all  my exercise. I did an aerobic without on Monday that it recorded, I did a short workout on Wed and another hit session on Thurs but only Mondays exercise recorded, any ideas? 

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[JohnnyRow]

1. Use the Exercise App.  That way you can be sure every workout gets recorded for the full time.

2.  If you insist on relying on auto-recognition, note there s a minimum workout time for each type, 15 minutes by default.  If your "short workout" was less than that, it will not count as a workout.  Also realize that with auto-recognition, not every workout can be recognized.  There are limited types of workouts that can be recognized exclusively by your wrist movements, and even for those types, recognition is not totally reliable.

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @Sandydm. Welcome to the community forums! @JohnnyRow Nice to see you around and thanks for your great input! 

@Sandydm Adding to the post above, most Fitbit devices automatically recognize and record high-movement activities through the SmartTrack feature. To start, your device recognizes activities at least 15 minutes long. If your Charge 3 isn't registering your exercises with auto-recognition feature, I'd recommend lowering the auto-exercise recognition setting to 10 minutes. You can do so on the Fitbit app:

1. On the Fitbit app dashboard, tap the Exercise tile.
2. Tap on the gear icon at the upper right corner.
3. Tap an exercise, and adjust the duration or turn off Auto-rec. Make sure to tap on "Save" 

If that doesn't work, I suggest you to restart your Charge 3 following the tips here. Also, I'd recommend tracking your activities using the connected GPS option too, you can track specific exercises such as a run, bike with the Exercise app. To see real-time stats, capture GPS data and review a post-workout summary on your wrist. For more information, including how to customize the exercise types on your device, see How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?

For your missing activity, you can also manually log it on the Fitbit app.

Hope this helps!

[Sandydm]

Hi there,

I've never had trouble before. I would use the app, but that I think you
mean tap the exercise screen on the fitbit, but there isn't one for
hitt/aerobics and all my workouts include cardio and last at least 20 mins
long.

[JohnnyRow]

The Exercise App, reached by scrolling right from the clock face through apps to 'Exercise', shows 5 or 6 options.  But you can choose which ones show there from at least 20 options, including 'Workout' recommended if your specific workout if not among those options.  In any case there are many more options there than what those that can be auto-recognized.

To see all the options and how to get them on your tracker,

see How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device? 

Suit yourself whether or not to use this, but I am a big believer in using the Exercise App for anything other than a walk.

You get to choose what to call the workout, and you tell it your starting and stopping time, so you  know you will get credit for the workout, and for the complete time.

[Sandydm]

Hi, sorry for being a pain and appreciate your time, I have checked on the
app and aerobic exercise is meant to be automatically recorded. I have also
checked on my tracker to see if aerobic exercise is an option to click on
the on but its not, should I be able to select that option from my tracker
on a charge 3? I have looked at the instructions in the link you sent for a
charge 3 but there is no way to amend the exercise info, (not sure if what
is listed on the app should show on the tracker device too) except to
increase the time, do I need premium to do this? Thank you

[SunsetRunner]

I've also found the auto-recognition on the Charge 3 to be unreliable compared to my previous fitbits (Alta & Charge 2) even after trying the all of the suggestions (changing the exercise time, restart, long restart etc).  It is too bad that the suggested solution is to not use the auto-recognition.

[JohnnyRow]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:

...

It is too bad that the suggested solution is to not use the auto-recognition.

---

@SunsetRunner 

You should certainly feel free to ignore my suggestion if you like.  I was merely trying to help the original poster with a work-around to an issue she was having.  "The suggested solution" was just my offering a suggestion, nothing official from Fitbit.  I don't see why my suggestion should bother you, but that is beyond my control.

[JohnnyRow]

@Sandydm  I will try to address your confusion, but I am a bit confused also with your responses to me and @WilsonFitbit combined.

In the list of auto-recognized exercises which @WilsonFitbit directed you to, yes, "Aerobic Workout" is listed as one of the 7 auto recognized exercises.  For each of the 7 exercises listed there, if you tap it, it allows you to change the minimum time for it to be considered an exercise session, or you can turn "auto-recognize" off so that particular exercise is never auto-recognized (say, if you never swim but keep getting something auto-recognized as a swim).

You cannot make additions to that list of auto-recognized exercises because it is constrained to what Fitbit thinks it can recognize just from your wrist motions.

Ideally anything in that list of 7 auto-recognized exercise done for at least the minimum time should be recognized and count as an exercise session.  As a Fitbit user, I have found that the auto-recognition is not always as accurate as one might wish at identifying what you are doing.  As you say, Aerobic Exercise is one of the options that is meant to be auto-recognized. But as you found, it does not always actually get recognized as we wish it would.  There is little or nothing a user can do to make that more reliable.  When that happens, one can just keep complaining that it is not recognizing what it should, and get further frustrated.  Or another option is to use the Exercise App instead of relying on auto-recognition, to be sure that every workout does get counted.

As an alternative to relying on auto-recognition, you can use the Exercise App by scrolling to Exercise on the tracker and choosing the exercise type.  The link I gave you tells how to change the 6 options listed on your tracker from about 20 options.  Aerobic Workout is not listed as an exact option there, but there are plenty of other options you can choose from, such as 'Workout'.  It really is not critical what category you choose.

I myself personally am not much bothered by this problem.  I don't really care if I get to check off an exercise box.  What I am more concerned with is the daily totals, which are counted the same whether or not something counted as an exercise session.

[SunsetRunner]

Johnny, sorry if I offended you, not my intention at all. I was referring to the  standard mod script when this problem arises; it is disappointing when the official fitbit response to an issue with an advertised feature of the device is a suggestion not to use the feature. One of the things I really liked about my older model fitbits was how well the auto-recognition worked so it is disappointing when upgraded models don't seem to perform as well.

[Sandydm]

Hi Johnny,

Thank you for you reply. Just wanted to say that I did look and follow
instructions for changing the exercise options on the app so that they
appear on the tracker but unfortunately it didn't make any difference
because it simply doesn't work. And as the auto tracker is part of the
software that is available, I feel it should work. Please don't worry about
replying to my message, I've decided to go back to where I bought my
tracker from.

Regards Sandra