Charge 4 is tracking steps I've not taken

[Stella2021]

My Fitbit is registering thousands of steps each day at exactly 4:00am every morning. Each day these ghost steps are increasing in number. The 1st time they showed up it was12575 steps and now they are up to 39643 steps adding on at 4:00 am on most days this wee. I do not have my Fitbit linked to anything. This is extremely frustrating as there is no way to remove them and it is messing up my calories burned as well as my actual steps per day. I don't know what to do to fix this. I have tried the online chat and they were not able to fix it. what is the point of the Fitbit to track my steps and goals if it cant do it right?!!! Right now I feel like I wasted $140.00 and to me that is a lot of money.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LizzyFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stella2021 Welcome on board.

Thanks for the details provided and for taking the time to contact our Support team. I understand your concern and I'm sorry you're having this experience with your Charge 4. While this shouldn't be happening, may I know if by any chance you have MobileTrack setup in the Fitbit app? MobileTrack is a feature that records basic stats such as steps using your phone's sensors if you don't have a Fitbit device available. If there was a fan or anything buzzing nearby, or if your phone was vibrating during that time, that might have caused you to receive incorrect steps tracked.

Assuming this applies to you, please give a try to the following steps:

1. Open the Fitbit app and tap your profile picture.
2. Tap MobileTrack:
   For iOS devices, scroll down and tap the option to remove the device.
   For Android devices, tap the trash icon at the upper right corner.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove it from your account.
4. Once that is done, you can continue using your Charge 4 as you've been doing so far and monitor its behavior in the next days.

Currently it's not possible to delete the steps that have already been synced however, you can log a non-step-based activity such as driving to override those steps.

[wvgurl364]

I started noticing this yesterday, when I woke and had already taken over 10,000 and yesterday ended with 14,980. Which means my actual steps were 4,980. This morning I awoke to having already taken over another 11,000 steps, with 10, 480 of those happening between 3:15-3:30 am. So either I have developed sleepwalking syndrome or something is wrong with my Fitbit Charge 4. My cell phone sits on my nightstand during the night.  My Charge was purchased 11/21/2020

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @wvgurl364 Welcome to the Community Forums.

Thanks for letting me know about your Charge 4. I understand how important it's for you to track accurate data and just to confirm, is the Fitbit app updated? Because your post didn't mention, could you check if you have MobileTrack setup in your Fitbit app? As I mentioned before, MobileTrack is a feature that records basic stats such as steps using your phone's sensors. If this is correct, please follow the steps described above to remove this feature from your account so you won't get extra steps that you've not taken.

[wvgurl364]

Thanks I have located and unpaired the mobile track. I was freaking out
thinking I had been sleep walking!!

Thanks for your help with this issue.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @wvgurl364 I hope you're doing well.

You're very welcome! Thanks for your efforts and I'm glad the suggested steps worked for you. I hope you continue crushing your steps and if you haven't done so, check out our Health & Wellness board. In there you can share your success stories, find some fitness tips and encouragement from other members.

[hvkrevel]

Dear LizziFitbit,

I recently purchased a Fitbit Charge 4 and I have never installed the MobileTrack set-up and still, approx. after 2 weeks the Fitbit starts registering steps in the middle of the night when I am a sleep. This is on average 5000 additional steps.

So the suggestion in your answer to get rid of the MobileTrack doesn't apply to me.

I now have rebooted the Fitbit, and will see what this brings. 

If this doesn't do the trick I will need your help to solve this. I want to register accurately my performance and don't want bonus steps I didn't do.

Look forward to your response.

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards

[hvkrevel]

Dear LizzyFitbit,

I think I found the issue, namely the synchronisation between the Strava App and the Fitbit app.

This synchronisation creates in the Fitbit app additional steps, thinking I ran a run twice.

I stopped the sync and it seems to be ok now.

Regards.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @hvkrevel. Welcome on board.

Thanks for trying the steps suggested in my post and providing me with detailed information. I'm glad you sorted this out and I'm sure your post will help other members experiencing similar issues. I hope you can keep enjoying the Fitbit experience.

By the way, let me invite you to visit our Health & Wellness board where you can find inspiring stories, meet more people and start your own topics.

Have a good day! 

[ANJ828]

Hi, I am having the same issue.  Approx 4 times in the last 2 months or so... I have woken up and discovered my Fitbit was sleep walking. I had 12,000 -15,000 - 23,000 and this morning over 81,000 steps.  I do not wear my fitbit to bed.  It sits on my desk 

Changing at night. 

I followed the direction here and unpaired it from my phone.  Is this a true fix?  Should I  never pair the phone back to my watch? Or can I reconnect them?  Will I still get a weekly report if they are not paired?  

Is this a fixable glitch?

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @ANJ828.

Thanks for the detailed information, as well as trying the suggestions shared in this thread. As mentioned before, MobileTrack is often used when a Fitbit device isn't available. However, if you have it paired along with a Fitbit device, you may get extra steps by mistake as the Fitbit app will try to give you credit for your efforts. If you aren't going to use your Fitbit device but you want to track your steps, you can pair MobileTrack again. Just remember to remove it once you have your tracker on your wrist.

In regards to the Weekly Reports, rest assured you'll keep receiving them as long as you sync your Charge 4 with the Fitbit app. Please keep an eye on the Fitbit app and don't hesitate to let me know if the issue persists so I can continue helping you.

[ANJ828]

Thank you.  I haven't had a problem with it till recently. Like right now my phone only recorded 3K steps and my watch recorded 7K steps today,  so the time I spent without my phone was recorded on my wristwatch.  My question is will this affect my weekly fitness report?

Should I manually sync it every night?

etc... Thank you

Anj

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @ANJ828.

You're welcome, and thanks to you for getting back with more details. I'm sorry you've had this experience and please keep monitoring your Charge 4's behavior after removing the MobileTrack feature. If the issue still persists, let me know so I can continue helping you.

We recommend to sync often to keep your information updated, and so every step is included in the Weekly Reports. Please note this report will include any data that appears on the Fitbit app. As mentioned before, you can log a non-step-based activity such as driving to override those steps so they won't appear on your account as well as the Weekly reports.