Over-counting steps & calories

[WalkStar11]

I wore my new Inspire HR for the first full day yesterday & I only worked inside the house.  It counted over 16K steps.  When I woke up before I got out of bed, it still showed more than 16K steps and 1,900 calories burned. Help please. Thanks!

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Nice to see you around @WalkStar11, welcome to the Forums.

Thanks for reaching out the Fitbit Community and for checking those details with our customer support team. We really appreciate your time and for checking the accuracy of your Inspire HR.

You might get a few extra steps from arm swings since your tracker 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?

I'd like to have more details about the steps that you're mentioning before going out of bed. Is this happening everyday?

Give it a try and please keep me posted.

[Joanna123]

I am a new user, set up the Fitbit last night and did a reset before I went to bed.  I followed the directions on resetting my Fitbit and have placed it on the non-dominant hand, and confirmed this was visible in the app settings.  I just woke up and it shows I've burned 442 calories going .09 mi w 0 as my activity level.  Suggestions? 

[YojanaFitbit]

Nice to see that you're digging into the Forums @Joanna123, let me give you a warm welcome to our Community. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks for following the suggested steps above. Please check that you don't have manually logged activities during night. Sometimes users log wrong information when doing so. Are you getting up at night or doing any activity before falling sleep? 

When you’re doing activities that involve arm movement such as knitting or changing pages while reading a book, this might give you some steps and distance information by mistake. For most customers, the number of extra steps added by arm-based movement isn’t significant when compared to your overall stats. You can read more about Fitbit accuracy here: How accurate are Fitbit devices?

Is this happening too often? 

I'll be around, please keep me posted. 

[dswan61]

Mine does the same...3x what I am actually stepping. My Samsung fitness app clocks anywhere between 1/3-1/2 the amount of steps. I have reset multiple times, switched from dominant to non-dominant wrists and back, manually calculated my stride length. Just started wearing my INSPIRE HR on 10/13/19 along with my husband. His stats seem to track fairly accurately with the exception of recognizing some workouts. HELP!

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @dswan61, Welcome to the Fitbit Community. Thanks for troubleshooting prior to contacting us. 

You've done an excellent job troubleshooting your Fitbit. We've received feedback about other users having similar issues with their steps. We're working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible. We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track. 

You can advised to your husband to check the information in this post. And in case that he needs more help with his workouts, he can post it here in the Community Forums. 

I'll be around in case that you need anything else.

[Beccagf]

I am experiencing the same issue 😞

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Beccagf thanks for jumping in, you're welcome here. Sorry about the issues with your Fitbit Inspire HR.

Did you tried the suggested steps here? Are you comparing your Fitbit with any other pedometer? Please feel free to give more details about the accuracy issues that you're having with your Fitbit. I'll be glad to keep assisting you.

I'll be around. 

[Kluecke]

I woke up this morning with 2600 steps. I hope I'm not sleep walking. I don't think I could get that many steps with the difference in the dominant hand.

[vailkat]

I have found that the Inspire HR is NOT an accurate step counter since it is based on your arm movements.  I have been awarded steps for getting dressed, brushing my hair, reaching into cabinets, and even while knitting (once got 1000 steps while seated knitting).  This means that your daily distance and calories burned are way off and you are not getting an accurate picture of your daily activity. I called Fitbit customer service and was told there is nothing that they can do about this because that's the way the device is designed,  So unless you walk on your hands, stick with a simple pedometer or an app on your phone, and don't waste your money on the Inspire HR.

[Eliz_D]

I just purchased my first FitBit last week, Inspire HR, and am having the same problem. I have it on my non-dominant hand, have double-checked settings, haven't logged any activities incorrectly, etc. 

Yesterday and today, the FitBit logged steps during times I know I was sitting (b/c I was with clients during those times). However, I do move my hands when I talk, I reach for my water glass, etc. All those activities tracked as steps. The help pages indicate that these extra steps are "insignificant for most customers." However, I took the time to count them (using the bar graphs that indicate time & # of steps per 15 minutes). Today, the over-count was 38% of my total steps! That's far from "insignificant!"

I am very disappointed, and will likely be returning my FitBit. I had specifically wanted it to help track my activity level while I'm at work, but it is telling me I am doing much more activity than I actually am. That isn't helpful. I manually logged "Driving" activities during all the times I know I was seated, but I shouldn't have to do that multiple times a day, every day, to get an accurate count!

[Cloe284]

I switched my setting to “dominate hand” and wear it in my non-dominate wrist.  

works much better. 

[cksconcerns]

I'm also experiencing over reporting of steps with my Inspire HR. 

Yesterday I wore my Inspire and my Fitbit One. By the end of day my  Inspire was around 12500, but my One only read ~11000. To me 1500 steps is a large discrepancy. I'm getting significant step counts from things like washing dishes, cooking, reading, playing with the kids while seated on the floor. I wear the inspire on my non dominant hand and have it set up for my dominant hand to reduce sensitivity. Before I did this it was over reporting even more...by about 20-25%.

[Joanna123]

I bought a Fit Bit extender on Amazon for $10 and I wear my Fitbit on my ankle. The thin bands don’t look like house arrest (the larger one’s do!) and it measures steps accurately. Hard to measure steps perfectly from a wrist.

MuVing forward,
Joanna

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Jeanne80]

I have done the same thing.  Wearing my FitBit on my non-dominant arm and labeling it dominant.  It has substantially lowered the number of steps today to something more reasonable.  I also like the idea of wearing it on my ankle. Jeanne

[Eliz_D]

Can it still track heart rate if it's worn on the ankle?

[Joanna123]

Ankle pulses are pretty strong. I’ve had no issues with tracking HR, steps, sleep, etc. Works for me. 

[cksconcerns]

Interesting. I like the idea, but I also like that this doubles as a watch. I guess I'd just like to be able to set an activity "dishwashing" that recorded no steps.

[Jeanne80]

that sounds like a good idea.

[Shannon88]

Other fitbits are designed to count steps too and I've never heard anyone complain of significant over counting compared to the HR.

It's been over a year now. They aren't going to fix it. How disappointing