Charge 4 info reducing after syncing

[SunsetRunner]

I upgraded my Fitbit to a Charge 4 about 10 days ago & very disappointed so far! Syncing it after exercise (when it does finally sync) seems to then reduce calories and steps! This morning I finished a 7 mile walk and calories were at 1347 when I got home. When I synced the Fitbit it dropped to 920!

This week I have seen a huge reduction in my calories overall, yet I have ran more this past week. I wear a heart monitor which my gym provides, so l know the calories burnt, but still it is disappointing when the Fitbit is so inaccurate compared to other weeks. Battery life has been awful, and charging it almost daily now when using GPS.

I purchased the Charge 4 as it had GPS and thought this would be accurate, sometimes this is way out on mileage when I have done the same routes many times before. Overall I am not impressed with this Fitbit and thinking of returning it and getting my money back. I’ve never had an issue with Fitbit before, yet I purchase their latest model which has worked out to be a very poor choice! Anyone else having lost calories / steps when syncing?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[AlejandraFitbit]

Welcome to the Community, @SunsetRunner.

I understand how are you feeling and appreciate the information provided. Keep in mind that your tracker's battery will last up to 5 hours with continuous GPS use. You can check that here.

Now about your information reducing after syncing, how are you registering your activities? Are you manually logging them? Is this only happening with calories and steps?.

I hope to hear from you soon. 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

Understood on the charge, although I went out when it was fully charged and barely 1.5 hours into a walk when the battery went flat, so well within the 5 hours you quote. I still seem to have to top up the charge daily. 

In term of your question on registering activity, I have done both ways, I have allowed the Fitbit to auto recognise a run / walk for instance and I have set myself to record a run/walk via the Fitbit. Both have synced with issues. 

Examples (attached) I took screen shots of - first my run below:  

Friday 5th June - Synced at 17.24 @ 1841 calories / 14,886 steps / 7.6 miles 

Friday 5th June - Synced at 17.56 @ 1913 calories / 15,329 steps / 7.84 miles      

Friday 5th June - Synced at 18.54 @ 1831 calories / 15,377 steps / 7.89 miles 

In that 1 hour I had easily done another mile plus from where I was to getting home... and the calories dropped! I did not screen shot the sync in between the last and previous one where steps also reduced.  

Examples (attached) I took screen shots of - secondly my walk below: 

Sunday 7th June - Synced at 10.04 @ 1164 calories / 13,660 steps   

Sunday 7th June - Synced at 11.54 @ 991 calories / 17,470 steps

It seems to perform worse when allowing it to auto record an activity... but that is not good enough when it is there for that and clearly there is an issue here.

[Kitten1800]

I have also been fighting this issue for a few days now......and it seems to be a KNOWN ISSUE for a few years. It also seems the answer (which obviously doesn’t work) is restart/delete/reinstall over and over. This is not acceptable and frustrating.

[zachrcr21]

I was on with customer service yesterday also and they told me there is a problem with the app right now. I was also told my device is fine and is keeping an accurate count and once the app issues are resolved it will populate the true numbers. We will see!

[curt81]

 I've been having calorie reduction when syncing, since last November.  Support has been no help the three times I've contacted them and only say they're aware of it.  I've come to the conclusion this issue will never be fixed.  

I've owned Fitbit products since the One came out and hardly ever had any issues until last November.  I've tried a new phone/new tracker and still same old problem and now I'm having syncing issues with steps (lost 8,000 today).  I'm pretty much getting to the point of saying goodbye to Fitbit.  Hopefully if the Google sale goes through, they use their own programmers.

[Kitten1800]

Reaching out to Customer Support will give you nothing but lip service. I brought up the fact that it looked like the issue has been going on for years for the rep to ask me where I saw that. I provided links to their own community board....he just blew over it and said it was a known issue and being worked on. I’ve had my Charge 4 less than a month and now I’m to the point of shelling out more money to get a brand that actually works. So disappointed and frustrated. 

[SunsetRunner]

Completey agree - this is beyond frustrating and simply being asked to restart/delete/reinstall over and over is simply not working. I am at the point of moving away from Fitbit due to the inaccuracy! 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone. I'm glad to see you here in the forums.

Thanks for letting me know that your information is decreasing after syncing. I'm sorry that you're having this experience and let me continue helping you. Our team has been informed about this issue affecting the Fitbit app on iOS and Android devices and they're currently working to bring a solution as soon as possible. While there isn't a time frame for the fix, let me recommend to keep the Fitbit app up-to-date to ensure you receive the quickest resolution.

I'll be around if you have another question.

[mscatz_9]

I just received my Charge 4 today.  I set it up with no issue.  It asked to update and I said okay.  Still not the most current version as I'm still on 1.78.33 and I've read 1.96.29 is the latest.  I guess the most current will come in time.

My issue is this; when I first set up the Charge 4 it showed 9060 steps which is what I had currently on my old Charge 3.  The next time the Charge 4 synced it went from 9060+ to 131 steps.

Is this a one time screw up or will this continue to happen?

Edited to add:  I did not make any manual activity entries.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @mscatz_9. I'm glad to see you around the forums.

I'm glad that you got the Charge 4 and thanks for letting me know about your steps. Also for confirming that you've not manually logged activities. While it's odd that your steps count went to 131, may I know if you synced your Charge 3 before setting up your Charge 4? Also, did you have other Fitbit devices or the MobileTrack function linked to your Fitbit account. While the Fitbit app allows you to have multiple devices that don't share the same OS connected under the same account, you'll need to sync them disparately so your steps aren't override after syncing. Please make sure to take each of them to another room when syncing as well to keep the Fitbit app updated.

I'll look forward to your response.

[mscatz_9]

Hi Lizzy,

It's been a month so I don't remember if I manually synced the Charge 3 prior to setting up the Charge 4.  But since both devices showed 9060 steps I'm going to assume the Charge 3 was synced up-to-date prior to setting up the Charge 4.  As I stated, initially when the Charge 4 was set up it showed the correct steps and then a minute or two later dropped from 9060 to 131.  I had the device set for all day sync.

Yes, I had and still do have have another device, my Blaze, linked to my account.  I don't use Mobile Track.

Normally both devices will sync with no issues in the same room.  If I have an issue with one of the devices not syncing I have found that turning the Bluetooth on my Windows 10 PC off and back on will remedy the situation.

I have not seen any further dramatic loss of steps so I'm hoping it was a one off.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @mscatz_9. I hope you're doing well.

Thanks for replying back with the requested information. It's odd that you had this situation and it might be that your Blaze was also trying to sync while your Charge 4 was finishing the set up process. But, I'm glad that your steps have been syncing correctly since then and if you need anything else, don't hesitate to let me know.

See you around! 😊

[Riderroshni]

Wow, looks like nothing has been done to fix this issue since 2020. It is 2022 now, and I'm still facing the same issue where my calories count reduces. I had been a loyal customer with charge 2, versa etc since 2016, and had high hopes for charge 4. Good bye forever fitbit. If you can't resolve a known issue for 2 years and keep selling faulty products, there's no reason to trust your brand anymore! 

[Riderroshni]

Hi 

Were you able to find a fix for this issue? 

[mscatz_9]

In my case it was a one time issue during setup.  I've not had this happen since.  I suspect it was as @LizzyFitbit suggested that my Blaze was syncing while my Charge 4 was finishing the setup process.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @mscatz_9. Thanks for your help. Welcome to the forums, @Riderroshni.

@Riderroshni Thanks for letting me know about your Charge 4. I understand your point of view and I'm sorry you've had this experience. Our team strives to improve the Fitbit experience, and every feedback shared in the forums helps us to make that happen. Your comments are truly appreciated and rest assured they won't go unnoticed.

About your inquiry, because your post didn't mention, could you check if you have MobileTrack set up in your account? Let me explain that this feature will track basic stats using your phone's sensors if you don't have a Fitbit device available. However, If there was a fan or anything buzzing nearby, that might have caused you to receive incorrect steps, which at the same time will impact the rest of your data such as your calories.

Assuming this is correct, I'd recommend removing it from your Fitbit account with the steps described here. Once that is done, use your Charge 4 as you normally do and monitor its behavior in the next days.