Stair Counting Problem

[Alyjo007]

I know people post about stair counting problems, but I haven't found a post that's helpful.  My Charge 2 stopped counting stairs about two weeks ago, no matter what staircases I used.  I walk the same stairs and paths everyday, and they used to count.  I averaged about 20 a day, but about two weeks ago, all of those stairs stopped being registered.  I haven't changed the way I walk on them, no long stops while walking up them, no weird actions with my arms, nothing is different.  I tried resetting the device and it counted a few stairs that day, but definitely not all of them and none of the stairs from the next day counted.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

[SteveH]

The way the Charge 2 detects floors climbed is by measuring changes in air pressure and there is a small hole in the back of the fitbit that allows for this. Any chance this may have become blocked? 

[Alyjo007]

Thank you, Steve.  I attempted to clean it out this morning but no change.  I just reset it, so I'll see if that makes a difference after cleaning it. 

[Alyjo007]

For anyone else having the same problem, I found what my issue was.  Since it's gotten colder, I've been wearing longsleeves and jackets.  I pulled up my sleeves to see if that was the problem, and it worked, my stair count started registering again.  

[GdeV]

I have The same issue, after about one week my Fitbit stopped counting stairs. I restarted several times, checked the hole at the back and uncovered my wrist. What to do?

[SunsetRunner]

@Alyjo007 glad to see you found the source of your missing stairs! Thank you for letting us know what you did to get it back.

@GdeV glad to have you with us, welcome! If you have already restarted the Charge 2 several times and checked the above I think your case could be more complicated.  Have you had your device count any floors at all? 

The captor of your device could have issues, I would advise you to reach out to support to check out on your device. 

[GdeV]

Hi Sébastien,

Thanks for reaching out. My device did count stairs for the first 6 days. Now it counts max 1 or 2 stairs, occasionally. I will contact the support desk.

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you for replying back @GdeV. I certainly hope that support will see what is happening with your floor counting. Seeing you still do get steps, but not all of them it could still be something that can be solved trough troubleshooting and not a hardware issue. 

Let me know what support tells you! 

[MRix]

OMG! I live in North Dakota, we've been having below zero temps for highs. Of course we wear long sleeves! Lol. How could they not take this into consideration? Holy cow, I was getting so angry that it hadn't been counting floors. My fitbit ONE never had any issues, no matter where it was located, even in my pocket. I upgraded to the Charge 2 after Thanksgiving, and the inaccurate floor count has been the most frustrating, since I work on the 3rd floor of a medical building and take the stairs 4 or 5 times a day, and the new fitbit recorded a big fat 0 for 11 days the last 3 weeks. I'm off today, but Monday I'll have to roll up my sleeves and see if this solved the issue. It's just frustrating though, because most of the year I wear long sleeves. 😞

Edit: so far I've been up and down my stairs at home 10 times... with my sleeves up, and only one was counted. Boo

[Alyjo007]

Hah, yikes.  It's not that bad here, but I've been wearing light jackets when I go running/walking with my dog.  I'm definitely confused as to why SLEEVES weren't taken into consideration.  As to your edit, I had that problem, too, but my Charge 2 started counting the steps after I reset it and continued to have my arms exposed.  It was like it didn't understand the change from sleeves to no sleeves.  

Edit:  After seeing that other people were having issues, I decided to test my Charge 2 again.  I'd given up on it counting steps in the winter.  I walked the up stairs in my apartment five times today and it only counted one flight this time.  When I first got the Charge 2 in October, it registered all the flights of stairs at my apartment.  It's so unfortunate that stair counting is a problem for it, since that seems to be one of the reasons people buy it. 

[Angela25]

I tried restarting and I'm still not counting stairs. I went up and down a flight of stairs in a short sleeve shirt and nothing. I have literally worn it for 1 day and it has yet to count a stair, despite using stairs when walking to work and at home. Can someone help?

[MRix]

I've also restarted, and gone upstairs numerous times today without sleeves... it only counted the one flight this morning. I'm not sure. Seems like many people are having the same issue. Sometimes new technology isn't always better. My old fitbit ONE was so much more accurate at everything, just didn't have the heart rate monitor, which was the whole reason I got the charge 2. I'm kinda disappointed, as so many others. 

[SJBK]

Thanks for this info.  My Charge 2 wouldn't count steps first thing in the morning at all.  The rest of the day there was a 50/50 chance of missing.  After learning about the hole in the back, I checked it, and it was clear.  Then I made my band one notch looser - now the air can reach the little hole.   Problem solved.   I've now noticed that my wrist is slightly swollen in the morning - hence the problem I had first thing in the morning.  

[Alyjo007]

No problem.  Awesome, I'm glad you figured that out.  Maybe other people are having the same issue with swollen wrists?  

[Rich_Laue]

Unless the sleeve and the rest of the coat is air tight, all openings are sealed and no air between jacket and body, the barometer should work.

[purpledawgz]

I'll have to do the same thing and contact Support.  Would be curious what you found out. 

My stair counting worked splendidly for the first month or so, but ever since the new year I get nothing most days.  Have tried several restarts, and on rare occasions I'll get a few flights to count, but definitely doesn't work correctly

[MRix]

I've given up on the stairs being counted. I've tried everything and still only get a flight counted every once in a while. Most days still show 0. It's too much of a pain to try contacting/explaining to support so I'll just live with it. 

[SJBK]

I have found another solution. I live in a two story house. When I just go upstairs for an errand, - does not usually count the steps. If I stand at the bottom and jog about ten steps, then go up rapidly, while swinging my fitbit arm, it usually counts. this works about 19 out of 20 times. Also, when walking outdoors, I have a long hill to go up. I get 3 flights of stairs for that walk. Just something else to try.

[Alyjo007 · Accepted solution]

Update: my charge 2 was apparently broken in some way and just never counted stairs again. I now have a charge 3 and it counts way more stairs than I actually traverse during the day. I think it counts hills while I’m driving. 

[Rich_Laue]

It is possible @Alyjo007  but easily to confirm. Also stairs will not be counted if the tracker isn't counting steps.

Please note that stairs have next been used in any calculation of calories or other data. The stair metric is only displayed on the tracker.