Charge 3 tracking steps while driving

[Den5gill]

I had two 4 hours drives this weekend and my Fitbit registered it was  Outdoor bike and 500 calories. What’s that all about?

Also I had charge 2 first and either than under stepped me ot this charge 3 is more sensitive as I do a lot more steps with this during the day. Can I turn it down?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Scottebabe]

I’ve got this issue too - along with loads more! I’m mad that it’s a ‘wait for an update’ issue, I just simply want to return my expensive plastic watch as essentially that’s all I can rely on! This is not a patch on my old Fitbit. Even my son gets better data on his £35 garmin 

[phatlad]

Don't worry guys, this is expected behavior, according to customer support.

So basically, don't buy this device.

Here's customer support's answer on this issue:

"We'd like to share with you that the issue that you are currently experiencing with your tracker is an expected behavior. Know that your device may add some steps when driving and riding in any public transportation when on bumpy roads or in a car with a stiff transmission."

[Den5gill]

I’m very disappointed in the charge 3. Totally spoilt the Fitbit with this
one. I live in the country so everytime I go in the car it adds steps. I
also think it is more sensitive than the 3 and adds a lot of steps then you
are just doing normal things not particularly walking. Wish I’d not bought
it.

[DTW83]

The same answer for an ongoing problem. I logged 9,000 steps additional by driving and logged over a hundred flight of stairs. This charge 3 adding false steps by driving has been an ongoing unsolved issue. Having to manually edit a log is to difficult and time consuming. Charging the charge while driving, especially if you drive a lot, will ultimately  decrease the lifespan of the unit. This has been an ongoing complaint by many users and when well over 6 months has had numerous complaints. If the “developers” were truly listening to the consumers that buy their product then they would have an easy on/off or drive mode instead of consistently ignoring it. 

     With the amount of complaints and the time elapsed since the products introduction to the consumer, it leaves only 2 options for the developers: 1) they would fix it because the consumer requests it or 2) They don’t care and have no intention on fixing it. 

     I guess we know what option the Fitbit developers decided. 

[Rockist]

That's an option not a solution. Please, it would be ridiculous to take off my watch everytime I drive, it would be pointless to set a "driving" log on the app everytime I drive? Fitbit as a publicly traded company has a big problem if this isnt fixed. Come on people.

[funkycamper]

This is unacceptable.  My husband and I both have Charge 3s which counts thousands of extra steps even when a passenger.  My job is sales.  I drive and walk to appointments.  I am in and out of the car 15-20 times per day.  

[Den5gill]

I agree, they have spoilt a fantastic product

[DTW83]

They are slowly rolling out a new update for the app. The good news is they’ve updated several things. The bad news is they obviously don’t care and have ZERO intention of fixing this issue. 

     As I’ve stated before they either will fix it or they will ignore the problem because they don’t care. As previously stated, we know the choice they have made. 

[Den5gill]

That is disgusting, it would be very annoying if they don’t fix it as it’s
a great piece of kit otherwise. At the minute I advise people not to buy
the 3

[MMFitz]

Hi I'm afraid that taking the watch off when driving doesn't work either.

[MMFitz]

This is not a solution, the only one of these that might work is charging while driving, which is a pretty clunky work around. 

the issue is that this device count a considerable amount of extra steps in a car, you do not have to be driving or wearing the thing for it to count extra steps. 

[truckdon]

This is absurd.   I drive a truck and get several miles and hundreds of stairs daily.   Perhaps we should have a contest.  It can't be that difficult to figure out I'm not walking if my GPS says I'm going 60mph.  Seriously folks, you get paid to fix this stuff. 

[DTW83]

My same problem. Fitbit doesn’t care, so as a consumer my choice is to no longer give them my business. That got a $130.00 out of me but they will not get another cent. Again if they cared they would’ve fixed it, they haven’t fixed it so they obviously do not care. If you drive, do NOT buy a Fitbit charge 3. You’ll regret it as I do. 

[MMFitz]

Hi I've found that even if I take it off, it still counts a lot of extra steps.

[MisssUnderstood]

As part of your answer you said "You can log the driving manually by following the steps in this article."  The instructions in the article are no longer valid because on the exercise tile of the fitbit app there is no '+' to log driving.  Could you please update the instructions or describe how to log driving in the current fitbit app (on the iphone)? Thank you.

[DTW83]

 I can help with the ridiculously absurd way that the Fitbit charge 3 requires you to log drive time via the Fitbit app, on an iPhone since it is what I use and also must do each time I drive. 

     Since the Fitbit developers do not care about this complaint and refuse to resolve it we have to log our drive time this way: 1) click on the exercise/activity button below where your step total is. This icon has a figure in motion on it. When you press it it will take you to another screen. 2) on the next screen in the top right you will see a stopwatch icon. Press this 3) the next screen will shoe activities. At the top you will see track and log. Make sure log is highlighted. If you don’t see driving as an activity then 4) type in driving or press it if it’s already there. 5) set the date time and duration of your drive and  then 6) press add. 

     This is the asinine way that Fitbit wants us to log driving. That or take the Fitbit off (which does not stop tracking your steps if you’re in any type of bouncing vehicle. Or you can plug it in to power and it can’t even track your heart rate (so what’s the point of having it in the first place?) which if you do that will just wear out the battery faster. Previous models had the option of drive mode but this one doesn’t. Again proof that Fitbit doesn’t listen to customer complaints. 

[Den5gill]

Thanks for this information. I use the car a lot and don’t want to have to
do this every time I get in the car though.

[DTW83]

I’ve found the same results. Adds steps and stairs without tracking heart rate. Fitbit suggests that we take it off as one way to bypass adding unwanted steps and stairs, doesn’t even work. It’s just silly. When they can simply add a drive mode button. That way the Fitbit still gets your heart rate but doesn’t monitor activity. Simple request that the app programmers can do (they’ve done it on other models) but simply wont. The app programmers seem so inept that they have to roll out the app updates in waves. My wife’s Fitbit wouldn’t update to the newest version until 3 weeks after mine had updated. They don’t seem to have much confidence in what they are even releasing. I don’t have much in their ability to fix the problem either. 

[MisssUnderstood]

Thank you for these instructions. It is really unsatisfactory that we have
to do this, recording our beginning and ending times of driving, as opposed
to just switching the fitbit to driving mode. Your instructions were good,
but since I initially could not find what you were describing, let me
clarify for others that what you were describing was in the fitbit app, not
on the fitbit itself. Thanks for your help!

[DTW83]

Thanks for the correction and I have edited the reply to explain the app is how the Fitbit gets edited. The question was how to do it from an iPhone so I had assumed that using the app was understood however after reading what I had posted I can understand the confusion. Hopefully it’s easier to understand.