Daily step total doubled

[Cymiga]

I had 14,184 steps a few minutes syncing. Sat down on the couch for an hour watching the football game and when I looked down at my wrist my Fitbit said I had 28,368 steps. My step total literally doubled. I’ve turned of my Bluetooth for now so it won’t sync and screw up my weekly competition. I’m hoping it fixed itself but I doubt it. Anyone have any idea why this is happening or what to do? Thanks! 

[YojanaFitbit]

Nice to see you here @Cymiga, welcome! Thanks for reporting the accuracy issues with your Fitbit Inspire HR.

Thanks for the steps that you've followed to avoid adding those extra steps on your weekly competition. Please follow the steps suggested in this article to delete those steps.

Fitbit devices have a finely-tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for intensity and motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking and running. When working at a desk, cooking, or performing other activities with arm movements, a device on your wrist may add some steps. When you’re doing activities that involve arm movement such as working or cooking you often walk a few steps in-between stationary periods as well, so the device tries to give you credit for those steps. For most customers, the number of extra steps added by arm-based movement isn’t significant when compared to your overall stats. For more information, see How does my Fitbit device count steps?

You might get a few extra steps from arm swings since your Fitbit will sense the movements of your hand. So, as a friendly tip I suggest to wear your Inspire HR in your non dominant arm. It's important to specify whether you wear the device on your dominant or non-dominant wrist during setup, but you can do so on your Fitbit app:

• The dominant wrist setting decreases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any over counting of steps when your body is not moving. Your dominant hand is the one you use for writing and eating.
• The non-dominant wrist setting increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps.

To start, the Wrist setting is set to non-dominant. Change your wrist setting in the Fitbit app > Account > Inspire HR > Wrist Placement. You can find this information other important facts about Fitbit accuracy here: How accurate are Fitbit devices?

Give it a try and please keep me posted.

[sneilan]

I am having the same issue as reported here, and by a couple of other members in this forum.  It's not however an issue of it sensing my steps incorrectly.  At random times the Fitbit will double my steps - i.e. like in the example below where it was an exact double.  This is not it picking up extra steps.  And, after some time passes, it resets itself to half (or half plus whatever steps since it doubled).  It always sets its self back, and my weekly stats are accurate.  It's not the end of the world, since the end result is accurate, but it's frustrating to get the '10,000' steps notice (vibration) when that's not true.  It will then vibrate again once it's fixed and I actually get to the 10,000.  Is this a bug in the unit?  Is this a known issue and will a fix be coming out?  Thank-you.

[VioletMcD]

I purchased my Charge 3 for about six months ago. Earlier this week it started having trouble syncing, with a message that a bluetooth device is already reading it. Also, my activity count would all of a sudden double, and a few minutes later it halves again, back to normal. There are no other/new bluetooth devices in my home.

This is my second Fitbit. The previous one also played up and then died about six months after I purchased it. 

[john-19]

I am having the same problem.  It suddenly doubles.  Then when I sync it., it returns to the correct amount.  I see this mentioned many times but your answer doesn't address the problem.

[lauzc87]

I too am having this issue.

Fitbit says 5000 steps for example. Open Fitbit app and sync, steps sync as 10,000 steps and also change on my actual fitbit on my wrist. Sync again and both on my fitbit and on the app, return to 5000 steps.

I'm never actually sure at the end of the day if my 18,000 steps for example, are 18,000 or in actual fact, 9,000. It's so annoying and frustrating as I'm trying to lose weight and it could possibly be causing me to think I'm burning more calories than what I actually am.

[Mlh1]

The "fixes" don't seem to work on my fitbit inspire hr. Mine also either randomly doubles or adds 10,000 steps (about 2-3times a week) I've tried resetting it on the charge cord and just when I think it's fixed it will do it again!    Any other ideas or is it something we all have to put up with?  Thanks

[relativehunter]

This is clearly a bug. I've had two Fitbits that both had this problem. They double and then later on return to normal. I had 4 different "pebbles" in my first year of ownership due to the number of issues I've had with this device. The first answer above does not really address this problem. It is not a matter of detecting arm movements; it is a bug that the FB will suddenly double the steps. Happened twice yesterday on mine ... doubled, returned to normal, then doubled again.

[Exoticflower]

I having same problem. I would like to know the answer also. 

[Exoticflower]

I came to this page for help. Read page. Now  I just now had a chat with a fitbit employee and she said to  :Please restart your Charge 3 by pressing and holding the button on your tracker for 8 seconds, and then release the button. When you see a smile icon and the tracker vibrates, the tracker restarted.  Which I have done. Hope it works . She could not give me a answer about why  the fitbit has this problem in the 1st place. 

[Hippycritter]

Same here, today my steps magically quadrupled, and it says I walked 22 miles!  I restarted it in the settings tab and still way off. Fitbit, are you out there?  I've only had it for a year. 

[Ozzie777]

I have just had this happen to me.  Synched my Fitbit Inspire HR with the ipad app and it (exactly) doubled my steps, calories and miles.  The values on the watch then doubled.  The watch recorded 12,000+ steps and then vibrated and showed the 10,000 step notification. 

After finding this thread, I synched again and the correct values seem to have been restored.  I have had my Inspire for over 18 months and this is the first time this has happened.

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @Ozzie777.

Thank you for joining the thread and sharing that you've experienced the same issue. I am glad to hear that you were able to fix this issue and thank you for sharing what you did as it may help other members in the same situation. Additionally, I recommend checking if your Fitbit device is updated to the latest version as updates come with new features and bug fixes: How do I update my Fitbit device?

In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you can share your experiences, make new friends and create new topics.

Keep on visiting the forums!

[Carri929]

This did not work for me.