longest stationary period incorrect

[rissbish78]

I love the new hourly steps feature, but I have found that the longest stationary period is often incorrect. Today it is telling me that my longest stationary period is from 10.19 - 11.36. I know this is incorrect as I have a rest and stretch program on my work computer which locks me out for 10 minutes every 30 minutes. I go for a little walk every time this occurs. In addition to this my steps graph shows that I have taken steps for each of the 15 minute blocks within that time frame. What is classified as stationary if I have steps within that time frame, but am still 'stationary'?

[cheriesie]

This also happens to me. Stange one part shows steps while another says stationary. I wonder if it has something to do with the number of steps? Quite fustrating it doesn't work - the measure of whether I've done 250 steps an hour also doesn't work - it tells me I've never done 250 yet mysteps tracker says otherwise!

[icgraphic]

Same here, it shows I was inactive for 12:36 PM to 1:41 PM but my step tracker shows that I was active during that period and climbed three flights. This is a very nice feature if it consistently worked.  

[GregThePeg]

I have also noticed inaccurate results with the longest inactivity time showing while I was asleep. It is supposed to only log the longest inactivity time for the times set for hourly activity but I constantly get times outside of my 8:00 am to 06:00 pm times. I would like to know what is used for the calculation. Anybody know?

[KatKealy]

I was going to post about this, too. When they added it, I tried to reduce my average over the last 30 days, then I realized it's completely wrong anyway. It's very frustrating how horrible it is... During my longest "stationary" period yesterday, I made dinner, went up and down 4 flights of stairs, etc. I know that it's completely useless. That's 4 or 5 days in a row when it's been wrong about my longest stationary period. I even got up to jog around a couple times to be sure not to increase my time stationary. The 250 steps can take EONS to update, too. I've found that I just have to pay attention to the number of steps I have as the hour starts and know if I increase that by 300 the Fitbit SHOULD think I got 250... Eventually...

[ESCK]

I had the same issue... is there a required number of steps to register as not stationary?

[GregThePeg]

That's a good question and one I have been thinking of asking. I know that
if you do 250 steps for the hourly activity goal it stops the longest
stationary period from using that time but I have no idea what is the
minimum. I contacted support about the fact that the longest stationary is
using time outside the start and end time for the hourly activity goal and
they have fobbed me off saying that they passed it to others more
technical. On both my wife's and my iPhone the longest stationary time is
even using time while I am in bed. I am now ignoring this feature as it
gives me no motivation to move. The hourly activity goal is much more
motivating so I have increased the goal hours and ignore longest stationary
period completely. May be they will fix the problem but I'm not holding my
breath.

[vnaidu]

The same thing happens to me. It keeps tracking the longest stationary period even the time frame that I have set.

[GregThePeg]

This was the last response from Fitbit:
"Hello Greg,

We thank you your response to us again.

We will be forwarding this case to a higher tier as we keep the
investigation on this glitch.

We really appreciate your feedback. This will help us further improve our
products.

We will keep you posted if an update is released with regards to this
issue."

I haven't received anything since and that was about a month ago.

[KatKealy]

And today, even the hourly is totally messed up. If I look at my steps (as we have to count them up), I have 257 from 1-1:15, not many from 1:15-1:30, 67 from 1:30-1:45, I walked since 1:45, but it shows no steps... Even so, it is NOT registering the 5th hour at 250 steps each when I got over 250 steps from 1-1:15, but somehow 257 steps from 1-1:15 still means UNDER 250 steps (who knows how many under - it's a mystery, since that part isn't shown) from 1-2. HUH?!?!?

This WOULD be a great feature... If it worked properly. Instead, it just frustrates me. My longest stationary period last night, I went up stairs, walked to the rest room at an arena (I was at a hockey game), came back, etc. I definitely did stairs and a bunch of steps (all of which registered on my phone, but they don't count and it's still my longest stationary period). Until this feature is fixed, it seems pretty useless. 😞

[Cookieg1953]

Today, May 18th, my Fitbit Android app is showing my longest stationary period to be an hour and 1 minute from 12am to 1:01am! Something's wrong.

[hattieuk]

My Fitbit Alta is showing that I was stationary between 14:57 and 17:20 .... which completely contradicts itself because it also records steps that I took between 16:30 and 16:45.

[KatKealy]

Hopefully, they'll look into fixing this at some point. The longest stationary period has been totally useless since it was introduced and no one who works for Fitbit seems to care.

[KatKealy]

I never get good responses either. They tell me to post here, but seem to do nothing to fix the issues.

[hattieuk]

That's interesting, thank you. I've only had mine since Saturday but am gradually discovering its shortcomings. I've emailed Fitbit too.

[curtmcgirt]

I feel like they rushed the "hourly activity" feature into the app. It wasn't ready. They didn't think it through. Is it even a "goal?" I've never hit 100%, (12/13 hours is my closest) so I don't even know if it turns green when I hit 100%, like the miles, steps, and other "settable" goals do. Shouldn't I be able to configure a goal? Like, 250 steps in at least 80% of my waking hours means "good job, me"? Should I get to have different active hours on Saturday than I do on Monday? Should I get to be active during two periods in a day, separated by an inactive period? No? None of that? Just some pink dots next to a pink stick figure? Cool.

This tracker has also made me wonder what clock fitbit is using. If I stand up right when my phone (the one my fitbit flex syncs to) says 11.57am, I can get way more than 250 steps in before the phone says it's noon. but 90% of those steps show up in the 12-12.15pm block, instead of the 11.45am-12 block, no matter how many times I manually sync during that three minutes.

But yeah, if I only care about 7am to 7pm, what possible value is there in telling me my longest stationary period was from 8.18pm to 10pm?

[KatKealy]

250 step goal goes for the hours you set. The longest stationary period (almost ALWAYS wrong on mine - it'll include time when I know I was going up and down stairs or walking around in other ways) is SUPPOSED to be your longest stationary period in the time from when you get up to when you go to sleep. You can't change that one, but I think it would be good if it actually worked instead of picking a random time when you were moving around as a stationary period.

[MarreFitbit]

Hello everyone @KatKealy @rissbish78 @curtmcgirt @hattieuk @Cookieg1953, hope you're all doing great today ! I'm very sorry to hear about the inconveniences you've been having with your stationary data.

Open the tile to see a graph showing whether each hour tracked was active or stationary for the last week. Swipe to see a second graph showing your longest stationary period. Note that time asleep is not included in this graph, and you must be inactive for at least 10 consecutive minutes before that time is considered stationary.

For detailed information about stationary time, check this official post. 

Also, if you're running the Fitbit app please check that it is up-to-date.

• Here for iOS app
• Here for Android app

Happy stepping guys! 

[KatKealy]

But that DOES NOT WORK. The graph is JUST as incorrect as the time it lists
in the first part where it shows the average for the last 30 days. It will
say a time period when I KNOW I was running around and when my Fitibit (and
associated app) RECORDED many steps, some flights of stairs, etc. How is
that STATIONARY time?? I think the definition needs to be looked up if
we're talking about time when I'm walking around and going up and down
stairs as "stationary." That's the OPPOSITE.

Best,
Kat

Moderator edit: Removed personal information

[Maureen]

Exactly! You can tell us all day how it is supposed to work. But the point is, IT DOESN'T. And neither does the little activity guy. I have done well over the 250 steps. The hour dot turns to red, and the graph with the 15 minute increments showing my steps relects a number greater that 250. Then it will sync, the red dot disappears, the bars in the graph disappear. the longest period increases. Meanwhile my step count stays the same. So my number of steps is much larger than the sum of the steps shown in the bar graph.