Inspire HR is not recognizing exercises automatically

[JM695]

My Fitbit isn’t recognising any exercise. It does record active minutes and steps but no exercise at all since I’ve updated the app. I have checked my settings and reinstalled the app but still having no luck. 

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @JM695 welcome to the Community Forums. 

Thanks for troubleshooting prior to contacting us. You did a great job performing those steps. Your Fitbit Inspire HR automatically recognize and record high-movement activities such as walk, run, or runs at least 15 minutes long through the SmartTrack feature. 

You can choose which activities your Fitbit tracks automatically from the list of options, or change the amount of time required for the activity to be recorded. Please confirm that you've check the following:

1. On the Fitbit app dashboard, tap the Exercise tile to open your exercise history.
2. Tap on account
3. Tap an exercise, and adjust the duration or turn off Auto-rec
4. Restart your Fitbit Inspire HR if this feature isn't working automatically

I'd advice to use track your activities using the connected GPS option, you can track specific exercises such as a run, bike, swim, or yoga with the Exercise app. For more information, including how to customize the exercise types on your device, see How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?

For your missing activities, you can manually log them on the Fitbit app.

I'll be waiting for your reply.

[tomadda]

Unfortunately FitBit is the most inconsistent tracker I've ever owned...I can go out for 30 min bike rides and some days it will capture the entire ride, somedays it will only record half the time, and many others it won't capture my ride at all...It's the greatest waste of money I've ever spent...I'm done with Fitbit

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi @JM695 thanks for your feedback. Sorry to hear about your experience with Fitbit Inspire HR. Have you tried the suggested steps above? I'm very interested in helping you out with this. 

I'll be waiting for your response. 

[Libby923]

I am having this same issue— AGAIN! I am not a stranger to this issue with fitbits,  I am on my 5th Fitbit in 5 years. It seems that every time I have had my Fitbit for around a year, it starts to glitch like this. 

yesterday, I walked for 21.5 minutes on the treadmill and it didn’t register. Today, I did a walk/jog for 23 minutes and it also didn’t register. If I manually log these activities, it actually reduces my steps by up to 1,000. I reset my Fitbit and it still didn’t work. 

[SunsetRunner]

I have the same issue too after the last update. Have tried restarting several times, does not help! I have never had problems with this before so i'm sure it has something to do with the last update! Very frustrating!

[RyanC883]

I am having the same issue.  The tracker is mot automatically recognizing runs, etc.   

[SunsetRunner]

I have had my Fitbit for 5 months, during this time it has auto recognised my exercise (I had set my SmartTrack feature to recognise exercise from 10 minutes for all) however it all of a sudden stopped doing so about 2 weeks ago.  I restarted the device but still not working as it should be.  It is very annoying as adding in manually does not show the true extent of the exercise so what's the point of adding it.  It is under warranty so can someone tell me what my options are please as I don't want to keep a device that is not performing as advertised.

[RyanC883]

same issue here.  It worked, but is no longer auto-recognizing.  Is this a system bug, or do we both have defective devices that we should return?  

[jraymond217]

I just want to add that it's the same for me.  I use an exercise bike and it auto-recognized it as outdoor bike exercise for months.  Then a couple of weeks ago, it just stopped.  It knows I'm active, it counts the bike as steps and counts the calories.  I mean, it's not a deal-breaker because the calories are what matter to me, but I don't like that it stopped congratulating me for reaching exercise goals.  Sometimes it DOES work though!  If it had never worked, I would understand, but the fact that it worked for months and then stopped recently, I don't understand.

[JanLaf]

Same issue with mine & have done all the steps & reboots.

It will not record the first 20-25mins of an auto recognised walk every other day.  Some days it will register it all.  Then when you manually record the time walked that it missed if you overlap with one 15min session it doubles your steps e.g. walked from 1-1.45pm - it registers 1.20-1.45pm but when manually input 1-1.20pm you have that overlap of steps from 1.15-1.20 so it doubles those figures up.

It started with mine when I put Walk as an exercise option but then it started auto recognising my walks as elliptical.  Took it off & moved Elliptical to 20mins (now I've turned it off) and Walk to 10mins. Nothing works.

Is it an update issue?  It's driving me demented.

[Meekie18]

My inspire started this very same issue yesterday.  It recorded my active minutes but did not recognize my exercise. It's very frustrating because I look forward to seeing my fat burn and cardio activity. I walked, biked, jumped rope, and did jumping jacks. I was so excited to see what that would have looked like on my exercise. I followed all the suggested steps. How can I know if my device is still under warranty? 

[RyanC883]

This is a great question, and Fitbit is disappointingly providing little guidance as to whether this is a software bug that it will fix with an update, or whether we all have defective products that should be returned.  Hopefully someone from Fitbit will provide an answer ASAP.  

[Elizabea]

This response is super unhelpful, the whole point of a fitness tracker is that is tracks your excercise and fitness. If I log everything myself then it's not as accurate because it's not recording my heart rate during the excersie. I can log excercises on any app and just not use a tracker at all so why bother buying a Fitbit! Telling me that I can log the excercises manually doesn't actually fix the problem that the app is not auto-recognizing the excersize anymore.

[SunsetRunner]

I’ve had my Inspire for only 2 weeks. Week 1 it recorded exercises. Week 2 it won’t. Did you ever figure out how to get yours working again? I’m so frustrated!

[jraymond217]

Well, I can tell you what I did was literally nothing, and it just started working again one day and has consistently worked ever since.  Sometimes it doesn't recognize the FULL duration of exercise for me on the exercise bike, but it always knows walking and jogging now, so I feel #blessed.

[SunsetRunner]

No unfortunately I didn’t. It really is hit and miss as to whether it will auto detect the exercise. Quite disappointing.

Sent from my iPhone

[RyanC883]

Unfortunately that's about the same thing that happened to mine.  It worked for a short while, then stopped working, never to work again.  Fitbit really needs to release a software fix or issue prorated refunds.  

[Emmaliz]

I have the same issue. My inspire is around three months old. It worked absolutely fine for the first three weeks or so. Now it doesn’t register any exercise at all. Similar experience that when I try to self add the exercise it overwrites my steps. Completely pointless when that is the whole reason I purchased the Fitbit in the first place.  I have tried all of the fixes recommended to no avail.  Is this now a known fault with the inspire, perhaps a recall is due.  What is the warranty procedure? 

[jraymond217]

And let's not forget the wonky gyro issue that will automatically start the timer on you unless you disable Always On.  And even then, it will still sometimes find a way to start the timer on me.