Stop / pause recording steps while driving

[DaveX]

Team,

I ride a motorcycle to work every day. When I get to work I seem to have clocked up at least 1500 steps !!

I have tried putting my tracker in a soft bag and then into my pocket which reduced the count but it's not great.

Q: Can I pause the tracker so that I can get a more accurate reading at the end of the day ?

Thanks

Dave

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity.

[MarlenS]

@DaveX it's great to see that you've visited the Fitbit Community!

This is a great question my friend, actually, there's no option to make the Fitbit stop counting your steps, however I'd like to suggest manually logging a driving activity using the times you were on the bike. 

I also recommend downloading to your mobile device the DriveBit App (Android or iOS), this app takes the hassle out of keeping your step-count accurate. Once you get in the motorcycle, simply tap "Start" to begin a trip, and "Stop" to automatically log the drive to your Fitbit account. The app takes care of keeping track of the length of your drive and syncs it as a new activity to your Fitbit account in the background. The activity overrides any erroneously counted steps and keeps your step-count accurate.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have questions. 

[DaveX]

Brilliant thank you 😃

[MarlenS]

Aloha my friend @DaveX, it's nice to see you again. Great to know that the information provided above helped you, I invite you to continue digging in our Community, you can find here the option to suggest your ideas to change and improve our products and services, you can also find awesome discussions where you can make new friends, find other Fitbitters sharing their experiences and motivation and much more.

Hope to see you around the forums! 

[Missy1980]

Ok so we are in 2020 and the drivebit is no longer available for Android. Suggestion to another app??

[Tt11]

I am ready to throw this Fitbit in the trash. I recently moved to a remote location where I drive up and down a rocky/dirt 2 mile long driveway. Imagine my frustration that there is no way to disable tracking during this time. I routinely rack up 1000s of steps daily that I did not actually take, affecting my step count as well as calorie count- the two main reasons that I bought the fitbit in the first place. Why is it so difficult to disable tracking?

- I have tried adding the "driving" activity but I cannot always take time to do it immediately or note down the exact times. Additionally, doing this does not remove the extra calories burned or steps leading to further frustration! Also this is a very cumbersome and ridiculous "solution" that doesn't actually work and not acceptable! 

- I have tried removing the Fitbit altogether- this doesn't work as removing the Fitbit from my wrist tends to add even more steps while driving.

- I have heard that charging while driving can help. I tried this and it did not work.

- It is not right to ask people to use a 3rd party app like Drivebit to solve a Fitbit problem. Also you MUST leave the drivebit app open on your screen or it will shut off the functionality. I routinely need to have GPS up on my phone, or if I am not the driver, I need to use my phone for other things.

This is a major inconvenience that I cannot disable tracking at times when I know I will be getting a ton of fake steps! It doesn't seem like it would be very hard to have a "disable tracking" button. Or "disable tracking" for X amount of minutes" and then auto resume. I am also in disbelief to see that people have been asking for this feature since before at least 2014!

Can someone PLEASE recommend to me a fitness tracker that allows you to disable tracking?? Thank you in advance. 😭

[SunsetRunner]

I’m new to the FitBit world & I agree… how do trackers and smart watches not have a “pause steps” function?!? Surely it can’t be hard to figure out - seeing as it seems to be asked frequently. 

I’m a truck driver and it’s killing me finishing work to find out I’ve done around 12,000 steps or so. When in all honesty… I’ve probably only clocked about 3,000 to 4,000.

Come on FitBit - sort it out! I love my new tracker but this is painful! Nobody should have to “log” or download a separate app. It’s too much hassle. 

[LucidChaos]

Agreed! I drive for work as a maintenance person in a national park. I stop, get out, work hard and drive some more. I can't be logging 20-30 driving intervals between stops, but would really like to know my stats during work. 

[BlessedDad]

I agree! I drive a big rig making several deliveries and pickups a day so it can be frustrating seeing that I forgot to turn on or off DriveBit!!! I stop wearing it! 

[DanRiis]

I have an issue with this as well, as do many others I know of.

I always have my phone (with GPS on) with me when I drive. I don't understand how Fitbit can think I'm walking when I'm moving 65 mph on the freeway. It's surprising to me that in 2022 such integration has not been made so we still have to do this manually. Even without GPS, how hard would it be to just create yet another algorithm that is optimized for the movement of your hand in a car / on a steering wheel, plus the acceleration / deceleration pattern is waaaay different from walking - an arm dangles, a car moves much more steadily.

Ok rant over. Would love to hear from FitBit. Please vote below if you resonate.

[SunsetRunner]

In driving on a 20 mile gravel road to a remote hike the other day, my Versa2 auto started a bike ride, both going up to the trailhead, and then coming back into town. I will try the charging while driving idea. There is no “driving” option in my list of activities. At least I haven’t located it…and it doesn’t sound as if it works for many people anyway. Kind of frustrating. At least I didn’t pay for his Fitbit as it was a hand-off from my daughter.

[sephethus]

This is a stupid solution and doesn't work. Has your support team even tested this solution?

[Ryanodo13]

Jumping on an old thread but I just got the charge 5 yesterday and wore it to work today 12.5k steps. I was out the truck twice. 
any solutions yet..? I had an Apple Watch and that was the same.

[Tt11]

I genuinely don't think they want to fix this issue. They don't want us to
be able to pause step counting because then they can't track our every move
and sell our data!

[Ryanodo13]

Thanks for the reply, yeah it can’t be a hard fix these days. A simple “don’t track steps” option would do the trick. I manually logged the driving then it didn’t count steps on the treadmill there just now. Might return it and buy a clicker 🤣

[Newalty]

Im swiching to Samsung, it has step pause!

[Newalty]

I'm switching to Samsung,  it has pause steps

[Tt11]

Does it really? If so I will be switching too!!! Hallelujah! Another brand
has answered the request to create a product with a feature fitbit users
have been requesting for 10+ years as evidenced by this post. I hope
everyone who has ever made this request to fitbit and has been ignored
switches as well. GOODBYE FITBIT!!!!

[Newalty]

I'm switching to Samsung it has pause step