My fitbit charge 2 won’t count my stairs

[Marcopolo_003]

i’ve has my fitbit since christmas and it was working fine for the first week and then, as i went back to school, i realised it wasn’t counting my stairs. i know i do more than 10 stairs a day because i have to walk around school but it doesn’t count them. ive tried resetting my device using a computer but it hasn’t changed anything. can anyone help?

[AlvaroFitbit · Accepted solution]

@Marcopolo_003 Welcome to the Fitbit Community! I hope you're doing well! Remember that your tracker will count 1 floor for every 10 ft you climb and should be done in at good pace (not too slowly or it won't be counted). Still I do think you are doing more than this at your school. Try cleaning the back part of your tracker with cotton and rubbing alcohol then use some compressed air at a distance to remove any dust or water from the altimeter's hole (see the picture). Still you can retry the restart by doing the following:

Plug the charging cable to your computer or UL certified wall adapter.
Align the contacts of the tracker with the charging cable and plug it in making sure it snaps securely.
Your tracker should start charging.
Press the button for 10 to 12 seconds.
You should see your tracker's firmware version and you can now unplug your tracker.

Let me know how it goes!

[Marcopolo_003]

thankyou so much @AlvaroFitbit. My fitbit is now counting my stairs more accurately. I cleaned out the altimeter’s hole and it is counting more stairs than before. I haven’t tried it at school yet but I’ll have to see when i go back. Thanks again.

[Rich_Laue]

Glad to hear that @Marcopolo_003 one thing I never see mentioned is that the tracker needs to see that the user is walking before it will look for stairs. Sliding the arm up the railing may prohibit steps from being counted, and then stairs will not be. 

[Marcopolo_003]

ok thanks @Rich_Laue I’ll try and remember this for when i walk up stairs 

[Rich_Laue]

I simply lift my arm slightly off the handrail with the oppisit foot 

[Marcopolo_003]

ok thank for your help! i really appreciate it @Rich_Laue

[Marcopolo_003]

i recently said that my fitbit wasn’t count my stairs. i was told all the details about how it has to be 10 feet and not to pause when walking etc.

i was also told to clean the altimeter hole and after i did that it worked for the rest of the day perfectly fine. However, the next day,  my fitbit returned to how it used to be and it is saying i have 0 stairs counted. i have tried to reset it but is hasn’t changed anything. any help?

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Marcopolo_003 sorry to hear that your tracker is still giving you issues. At this point I suggest you let our Support team know about the issues you are having so they can review the details on their system. You will get an email from them so hopefully you will be back on track in no time. Make sure to keep in mind all of @Rich_Laue recommendations.

Keep me posted!

[Slothnot]

This did not work for me. 

I got my Fitbit Charge 2 on Feb 16, 2018 and it accurately counted the flights of stairs in my home. Three days ago it was intermittent and today it won’t count them at all. 

Please help trouble shoot. 

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Slothnot Welcome! It's good that the community is growing!  Have you tried the suggestions in my previous post including restarting your tracker and using compressed air? Let me know what have you done.

I look forward to your reply!

[Baldwin66]

I have cleaned, reset, removed, re-added, and everything esle posted on these forums and it simply will not track stairs properly. It probably record one of every three flights. 

[Rich_Laue]

Hello @Baldwin66, may I ask how high your stairs are? They need to be at least 10 feet before they will be counted as a stair.

[Baldwin66]

Thank you for your quick response.

They are over 10 feet. I have had this Charge 2 for a few years now and it is just starting to act up.

I did the alcohol cleaning tip and took a can of air and blew out the altimeter hole. I will reply back if this did not solve the issue.

Thanks again,

Jan Baldwin

[GhostExMachina]

Yep. These Fitbits are really unreliable. Just went up and down stairs 8 times from the basement to the second floor and gave me credit for two floors. My next fitness tracker will be an Apple as I have an Iphone.

[Rich_Laue]

What was your steps counted while walking up the stairs. No steps counted no stairs will be. 

If the arm with the Fitbit slides up the hand rail, it's unlikely that steps will be counted. 

Also check the hole for the barometer. 

Then try a restart. Or a. Power off.