Distance Different Between App & Tracker

[MorgieDee]

I wasn't sure how to track my hikes, so I connected my Fitbit Inspire HR to my phone's GPS and tracked it that way as well as through the app. So by the end of my workout, I had two hikes in my app. One I started through the app and the other I started through the tracker (after connecting to the phone's GPS). The problem I have is that the two hikes listed have two different distances listed. The one is .3 miles less than the other. The distance should be the same since both the Inspire HR and the phone were using the phone's GPS. I tried this on my next hike and found the same thing (although this time the distance difference was .2 miles). Please help! 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @MorgieDee, thanks for reaching out the Fitbit Forums.

Thanks for sharing the details of your Hike activities and for taking the time to compare both options, Connected GPS and MobileRun. In this case, I'd recommend to test both options separately and review specific requirements and troubleshooting for your device model here: Why isn't GPS working on my Fitbit device?

It's odd that you have tracked that difference regarding steps but next time you go hiking, please take in count that the way your phone tracks steps is not the same that your Fitbit does it. Where did you wear your phone while performing this activity? 

If you wear a wrist-based Fitbit device and move your body while keeping your arms still (or vice versa), you may see a slightly different step count than if you wear your mobile device on your pocket or clothing. 

Wear Inspire a finger's width above your wrist bone. 

It's important to specify whether you wear the device on your dominant or non-dominant wrist:

• 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 can change your wrist setting in the Fitbit app. 

Also confirm your height information is correct: How do I manage my Fitbit profile? Since we use height to estimate your walking and running stride lengths, you may want to measure and manually adjust these values if your legs are longer or shorter than average. For more information, see How do I measure and adjust stride length for my Fitbit device?

Please give a try and if you notice same discrepancies, please let me know.

[MorgieDee]

The problem I'm having doesn't involve steps. It involves the GPS. Both the tracker and my phone used my phone's GPS, but the hikes (taken simultaneously) have two different distances. It would make more sense if my fitbit hadn't been using my phone's GPS, but it connected. Therefore, the steps have nothing to do with this issue.