Inspire HR not tracking bike distance

[FSuarez]

Hello all,

Unfortunately, I'm not posting on this forum for the best reasons...

Last Saturday I bought a Fitbit Inspire HR, and only 3 days after I find this piece of hardware useless and I'm thinking about returning it...

I bought the Fitbit only for the activity and fitness tracking capabilities since after years of using an Apple Watch which worked flawlessly I decided I had it with smartwatches, also because I'm not using iPhone anymore.

Daily I bike around 15 Kms commuting to work, it's a 2 way 7.5 Km... And after one day using it, so yesterday, I saw that it didn't track my activities properly.

I read about it and I saw I need to go to exercise, chose bike, and wait for it to connect with my phone and once connected, start the exercise. I tried this today, and what I got was the Fitbit vibrating often, losing connection with the phone after like 15 seconds of putting the phone in my pocket (which is what... 30 cms from my hand...?). At red lights I would unlock my phone, stare at the Fitbit app and the Fitbit would connect with the phone again. After doing this 3 times I gave up on it, and after a 30 minute bike ride of 7.5Kms, it only registered 1.2 Kms...

If it helps, I'm using a Huawei Mate P20 Pro running latest Android OS, with all the permissions allowed on the Fitbit app...

Any ideas what can I be doing wrong, or is it my Fitbit's problem...?

Thanks,

Francisco

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[SunsetRunner]

Unfortunately I don't have a solution - but I have the exact same problem! I did the same as you - chose the bike option, and it connected to my phone. 

During my entire bike ride yesterday my inspire HR kept buzzing every minute or so (so annoying); symbols looked like it was trying to connect to my phone, which was with me.

It tracked the time and heart rate, and even tracked the entire route on a map, but did NOT track the distance or speed (said the fastest was 0.6mph). 

Also wondering if this is something I can fix, or if I'll have to ditch the fitbit for bike rides - the constant  buzzing was awful. 

[FSuarez]

Quick update... Today I tried again without starting an activity, since Inspire HR is supposed to recognize an exercise automatically, and guess what... After 25 minutes biking to work, it didn't recognize any activity.

Gonna look for alternatives and return the Fitbit this weekend...

[FSuarez]

Good to see that after so many days no one from Fitbit team even replied to this message with possible solutions...

[Pjhof]

I have the same exact issue. My inspire hr is also new (but too old to return). I read somewhere that turning off WiFi would allow the Fitbit to link to the phone's GPS and that worked, but now after the recent firmware update I am having the issue exactly as the previous posters describe, WiFi turned off notwithstanding. Where you at, Fitbit?

[FSuarez]

Around 10 days after and no word from Fitbit... So many people complaining about the same problems... syncing issues... Anyway just returned my Inspire HR today and got a new one, hoping it was a defective one. If this one gives me problems too, I'll return it again and... Let's see, maybe I'll just keep returning them hoping I'll finish the local stock here and Fitbit will receive a lot of "defective" devices, open their eyes, and work on a solution...? 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi.  Recent Fitbit Inspire HR user here.

Does anyone know if this issue was resolved? 

I've tried tracking my morning cycling using the Exercise mode but I am getting less than my whole circuit track on GPS, and that varies day to day even though my route is the same.  Usually the tracking starts late but does end at the end of the ride (and I click it off on the Fitbit).  With that though, the trip length shows as 0 miles and the elevation changes show as 0 as well.  My phone is less than 3' away from the Fitbit the whole way.

Any answers or a point in the right direction would be appreciated!

Thanks all, 

[Deeptii]

Hey guys, I came to this forum a few days back with the same issue and struggled. However, just this week, when I attempted again to track my bike ride on my Fitbit inspire hr - I guess I figured out what the issue was. When selecting bike from exercise choice, Fitbit tried to connect and failed, i opened the Fitbit app, and there was a prompt asking me to allow using location services. After allowing the permission - it connected and tracked my entire ride with the route and everything. Haven’t had the issue since. 

Earlier, I had set my location services to « allow only while using the app », and since I was not really using the app just tracking via the Fitbit the connection kept dropping off, guess that’s what happened. The setting I have now for my Fitbit is - « location on all the time » 

Hope this helps!

[Beboptang]

Hi, I’ve been experiencing the same problem as everyone above.

I had always set my Location Services to be “ALWAYS” on. Yet, my Inspire HR, which is 5 months old, still doesn’t connect with my phone’s GPS. It used to.

I believe the problem was with the latest app update. The issue is when the my iPhone screen is off & the app runs in the background, the phone & the HR would lose connection. 

And I agree with some comments above, why isn’t someone from FitBit Tech Support shedding insight on this matter here on this forum??

[SunsetRunner]

I just got this as my previous watch wouldn't track my biking. This is having the same problem. Says connected. GPS is connected location always on, phone is connected. And no distance. Tried in woods and on road. No luck in either direction. Please says there's a reason. I don't want to have to spend money on an expensive device. I did a lot of research on these and everything I read said it was all pretty flawless, with exception of steps being added for certain things, which seems to be a problem with all the devices, except the Samsung gear fit 2 pro, which worked great, but I've broken 3 of them, because of a defect and Samsung won't fix the defect or warranty the product.

[AdventureAsh]

Hey guys, 

I have a Fitbit inspire HR and have the same issues you guys had. With the recent Fitbit device update I started having issues tracking my bike rides. Before the update when I'd try to track my rides on the device (as always), I would go to exercise-->bike-->"connecting"-->"connected" with a start arrow. Since the update I do the same thing, but it immediately says "lets go" with the start arrow, never showing it connected to my phone. I would be synced to my phone, have the app always allow my location. I would go on a 2hr ride, it would track my calories, HR, but not my distance. 

I THINK I fixed it. On my Inspire I scrolled up to settings-->phone GPS (off-->on). With this update for some reason the default setting was GPS off, so I switched it on and looks like it's working properly with the connecting-->connected again. 

Happy workouts, everyone!

[LouPlat]

Phone settings that improved the accuracy of Fitbit tracking for me:

High performance battery setting (no power saving)

Turn off Data saver

Enable both GPS and Fitbit app to use data (exception to "use wifi when available")

After making these settings changes my Fitbit is accurately tracking my route.

[arvinjeboo]

Hi there

wanted to get some help.

. I have a Fitib Inspire HR for 10 months. I have the location turned on and go running and cycling every day. When I run most of the time it Hi tracks my distance covered, heart rate and speed. I always syn it before I run and during i run. However when I cycle most of the time it dosent cover my distance or show on a map where i've cycled to. It only shows the minutes done. I've attached screen shorts
The watch does not show how many kilometres i have covered or the distance. I think there is a problem with the GPS
I conatacted the FITBIT online help. 42645807 as your reference. They ote that removing the device from your account may resolve the issue with the GPS of your device.

But it was the not helpful as a BOT. Anyyones advice on how to sort out the GPS on cycling will be really helpful.

[LouPlat]

Hey there, I had a similar issue when tracking runs.  I found that there are a few settings on my phone that prevent the GSP from tracking correctly in this continuous way.   You could check these things and see if it makes a difference for you - it did for me:

1. Data:  Take your phone off any data savings settings - this can pause background apps from working at 100%.

2. Make sure both the Fitbit app and GPS have the ability to use data where Wifi isn't available.  In fact, it was recommended to me that the optimum setting is to set these apps to Data only if you pass any places that have free Wifi.  If your phone takes a moment to search for and/or connect to the free Wifi, it will interrupt the tracking progress.

3. Battery: Set your battery to High/Optimal battery use (no power savings)  Battery savings settings can also pause background apps from working at 100%.

I enabled both apps to use data as an exception to any data rules.  I run in residential areas so I'm not sure if #2 is needed for me, but I do find that the battery setting is key to consistent tracking.  I added a button to my homescreen so I can access this quickly right before my run, then set it back to medium power savings.

Hope that helps you too.

[arvinjeboo]

Thanks mate for responding...will give it a try