Logged Activity not showing up in Dashboard

[rubbertoe]

I forgot to take my fitbit to a worksite where i would be walking significant amount of steps, but fortunately my phone logs my steps.

I entered them into logged walking activities, but the dashboard isnt updating the total steps in past 7 days.  

I walked alot over a period of 12 or more hours so i logged it as such. For example 20,000 steps with time line being 17 hours.    Is this a part of the reason? 

I would still think the steps would get logged and updated on the dash board.  HELP!!!

[rubbertoe]

So my manually logged activities show up in activities, but wont show up in my dashboard.

Its not like im trying to cheat, but i want the dashboard updated.  I forgot my fitbit on my most active 5 days of the year... upsetting...  

Had my iphone the whole time and it was tracking my steps.  Will anyone help?  

Spoiler

[JimAdmz]

I have the Fitbit Flex and have the same issue - it just started within the last week or so. Usually, when i put it on the charger, i record activity using my Samsung phone activity app. I then transferit to my dashboard via the  activity tracker. I did it this week the same way i've done for two years - but now it does not work. The activity shows up in the table under the log, but it does not add the activity steps to my daily total. 

Fitbit - any help/solution???

[JimAdmz]

Hi, until recently I was able to manually log steps for my Fitbit Flex and they would show up in my daily totals - not concerned about the challenge. I do this usually when the Flex dies and it's on the charge. Now when I log them, they do not show up in my daily totals. They are in the chart to show I made the entry, but that's it. 

Is this intentional, or whats up with it? 

Thanks - 

[MaginB]

Welcome to the Community @JimAdmz @rubbertoe! 

When you log your steps with your mobile device or manually logging your activities they will show on your dashboard as an activity but they won't be added to your daily totals since only the steps recorded by the device are added. 

I hope this information helps! 

[amybpg]

I dislike this change!! My weekly total is off by 10000 steps because I forgot to throw the device in my pocket! And now it will be off for an entire week 😢

[HeydyF]

Hi @amybpg, welcome to the Community! I understand how you feel about this. But as my friend @MaginB mentioned, only the live steps recorded by your tracker, will be added on your weekly stats. 

Keep me posted if you have more questions! 

[Legally_klee]

Boo.  I dislike this change.  I do a lot of activities like biking that do not compute to "steps" well and so I have been manually tabulating them for YEARS.  This change makes me seriously think I will abandon my support of FitBit.  I cannot do a lot of impact activities, I have a desk job, and so focus on swimming or other activity that needs to be logged to still "compete" with friends.  This makes the FitBit platform COMPLETELY usesless to me.

[HeydyF]

Hey my friend @Legally_klee!  Trust me, it is not Fitbit's intentions to create disagreement in users with the way the tracker works. However, you are free to raise your voice and suggest this on our Feature Suggestions board, since our developers are always checking it to implement new ideas or features to the trackers or the Fitbit app itself. 

Hope that works! Have a great day. 

[CrypticWolfe]

I really really hate this too.  I also do activities that are not steps and I used to be able to add them to my weekly total goals.  Wonder if another step tracking company allows this still?  It's worth moving in my opinion.

[CrypticWolfe]

OK so I found the master thread from January and fitbit has no intention of changing this.  Apparently they believe people cheat and that the cheater's peers are unable to handle that (by deleting them) so fitbit has made the unilateral decision to turn all our fitbits into pedometers.

Does anyone know of a product that will allow you to add manual steps?  I've used FitBit for about 3 years but honestly will be happy to move if anyone can suggest a product that doesn't assume cheating by people who have activities such as biking, swimming, weight lifting, etc...  

I got a fitbit as a result of a recommendation and don't much want it anymore if I can get something better.  My fitbit functions as a pedometer now - could of gotten one of those for far less $$$.

[HeydyF]

Hi @CrypticWolfe, welcome to the Community!  It is not that Fitbit has the thought of the people cheating or something like that, the thing is that Fitbit designed these products to motivate people to move more by doing more step-based activities, and more important, steps which is the main goal of these trackers and the main concept of them. 

However I appreciate your feedback and comments!  

[CrypticWolfe]

From the "solved" thread on FitBit:

"As has been mentioned previously, we historically saw many users abusing the Leaderboard system by skewing their totals with manual logs. As a result, we received many contacts from those frustrated customers who were discouraged by seeing this. We agree that the value of the Leaderboards is decreased without some standardization, and have decided to maintain the decision to only include tracker data on Leaderboards, in an effort to keep those rankings meaningful and fair."

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Manually-Logged-Steps-Not-Counting-Towards-Lead...

I wanted more than a pedometer, that is why I spent $65 on a fitbit.  Basically in that thread fitbit says that people complained of cheating and thus you all removed the logging functionality.

[BlackSheriff84]

who really cares what cheaters are doing... They are only cheating themselves.

I recently moved to Fitbit from another tracker a few months ago. I have transferred 2 years worth of data over which all shows up nicely within the dashboard but unfortunately my lifetime step count only shows the steps since having a Fitbit. I just don't see why we have to suffer lack of functionality just because of a few "cheaters"

surely if challenges is the main reason for blocking manual data input from updating lifetime steps etc why can't you just allow it when your not in a challenge.

[SunriseKate]

I only just learned this today and it explains a lot. One step closer to using another system.

[Judystar]

Help, help, really help. My Fitbit on my arm show activity. It does not show on my dashboard on the iPad. Help please thank you

[allyreeves]

This thread has been going on for a while. Seems like there is a long history of people finding logged hours excluded from the leaderboard to be a pain point, and I'm surprised fitbit is resisting this change! In the past people might have abused the leaderboard system, but there's no reason Fitbit should play cop for a few bad eggs-- the rest of us who'd really like to be able to add steps when we've missed wearing our band would really like this changed!!

I've often forgotten my band and wanted to go back and log hours: it's part of motivating a few family members with health problems to keep moving. They really care about seeing my steps, and are inspired when the numbers are high!
I've also been on some great hikes where I wanted to take numbers tracked in steps on my iPhone, or milage I knew from a trail registry, and add those back into to fitbit (making fitbit my core resource for step tracking) but the exclusion from the leaderboard factor has thwarted that effort. It's actually devalued fitbit for me in the past few months, and has pushed a few of the main points of value I find in this tracker AWAY from your product. If your product trains me to instead log my hours on another platform to keep track of the REAL total, or if I just shift to telling people how much I walked then I won't need fitbit for much longer. 

I like your product and I hope your team will seriously consider making a change to include manually logged steps in the leaderboard. Thanks for your time in taking this concern forward to the rest of your team!

[Moneyman2017]

I have the same issue.

I logged various activities manually, the steps, distance and calories all sync, but not the duration. So having walked for over 2 hours, it shows zero!

Any suggestions?

[Vix730]

This must be a recent change b/c it has always updated my dashboard steps in the past.  Today was the first time it didn't work.  I vote you change it back b/c there are many reason why one would want to manually log their steps.

[Vix730]

Agree 100% - I will switch to another brand the next time my fitbit breaks (which, if history is any guide should be appx. 1 year from now). Bad decision Fitbit.