Charge 4 registering extra steps

[aliVee]

Hiya. Newish to Fitbit had first in Feb now changed to Charge 4. I'm finding its counting arm movement as steps. I got in the shower at 211 stood still and washed my hair and noticed it was now 390. Kept an eye on it and its constantly doing this. Looked on settings - its set to non dominant wrist. Can't find anything else that may help. Any tips gratefully received. Thanks 

[LZeeW]

Hello @aliVee and welcome to the Help forums.  The sad truth is that many arm movements are sensed as steps by wrist worn trackers.  It is a limitation of the technology.  Try this -- I know you are wearing your Charge 4 on your non-dominant wrist.  Change the phone app setting to dominant.  This will change the tracker sensitivity.  It will reduce, but won't eliminate these extra steps.

[martin.manders · Accepted solution]

Every tracker or smartwatch with step counting works this way...

[aliVee]

Thank you. It didnt seem to do as many on my Inspire

[mhowie22]

@martin.manders Not all of them...

[AlejandraFitbit]

Welcome to the Community, @aliVee.

@LZeeW, @martin.manders and @mhowie22, thanks for the help.

I appreciate all the efforts in trying to fix this accuracy issue. Our friends here are right, your tracker will count the arm movements as steps, but if you are seeing that the amount of steps is extremely high, I recommend checking the help article: How accurate are Fitbit devices? for tips about improving accuracy.

Several things can affect the number of steps your Fitbit device records, including where you place the device, if you wear it on your dominant or non-dominant hand, and your stride length. If you're pushing a stroller or shopping cart, try putting your device in your pocket or use GPS to record your activity, if possible.

If it still seems like your device is undercounting or overcounting steps, try a step test. While you perform your step test, make sure you:

-Walk at a normal pace

-Don’t hold anything in your hands

-Put your arms down at your sides, swinging naturally

-Count 1 step for each foot

-To avoid getting an additional step when you bring your feet together, after you reach 100 steps:

1. Freeze in a split-stance. 
2. Move your hand up gently to check the step count on your device.  

Here’s the step test:

1. Restart your Fitbit device. For instructions, check the help article: How do I restart my Fitbit device?.
2. Put your device on your wrist.
3. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet touches the ground.
4. Pause, then check your device to see your step count, and write down the number of steps you took and the number of steps your device counted. 
5. Perform the test 2 more times, walking 100 steps 3 different times. Each time, write down the number of steps you took and the number your device counted. 
6. Add the number of steps over or under that your device counted for all 3 tests. If your device counted 30 more or 30 fewer than the 300 steps you took, please let us know.

Let me know the outcome. 

[SunsetRunner]

I have both a charge hr2 on my non dominant wrist and a charge hr4 on my dominant hand.  The older version doesn’t count these spurious “steps” and for example, yestrday I reached 8,630 on my hr2 and 11,374 on the hr4. Sucks really. I’m planning to return the hr4

[SunsetRunner]

I have both a charge hr2 on my non dominant wrist and a charge hr4 on my dominant hand. The hr4 is 12 days old.  I’ve been noticing there’s quite a difference between the two and when I checked yesterday, the hr2 (older version) doesn’t count hand movements as “steps”. For example I was scrubbing a pan back and forth and extra steps were added, so much so that yestrday I reached 8,630 on my hr2 and 11,374 on the hr4.  That’s a BIG difference! Returning the hr4 for sure 

[SunsetRunner]

I taught classes online today. I went up and down the stairs about 4 times, which is about 1000 steps normally. At the end of my 5th class, I had almost 6000 steps. I use my hands when I talk. I had a Huawei Band 2 before I purchased this fitbit and it had nowhere near this level of inaccuracy. It is one thing for the Charge 4 to miscount some steps. But it should be able to distinguish arm movements from steps it seems. I would think this would be something that could be addressed with firmware but I also suspect that since the Charge 5 is out, there will be no more upgrades to the Charge 4.