Over counting steps

[ChiaraC92]

Hello! I bought just yesterday a Fitbit Versa 3 and I can see it is over counting my steps. This morning the only trip from the bed to the bathroom was counting almost 80 steps when there are less than 10. The position on my non dominant hand is correct in the app. Can someone help me fix this please? Thank you very much!

[James291]

Hello,

Step counting with any device is always going to be a little imprecise. I agree that in this case it appears excessive, but this was a very small duration to test the watch. I would check it over a longer period such as a walk outside lasting at least several minutes. It won't be perfect, but it should be close. Hopefully over the day small errors such as this will become insignificant compared to the overall count.

[ChiaraC92]

Thank you so much for your reply! I checked again today, and now (at 4pm) it is already over counting more than 1000 steps!

Is there any way to fix this, as this being a big difference from the actual numbers (and it will be even more before end of day) it will actually give completely wrong information overall?

Thanks,

Chiara

[James291]

This is worth reading about why it might be counting extra steps: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1136.htm 

The watch will sometimes measure non step arm movement as steps. For example when doing cleaning, housework or maintenance. These do add up but I accept this because the activity was useful light exercise anyway. It should however be reasonably accurate for a straight walk or run with no external distractions.

You could try setting the wrist choice to dominant without actually changing wrists. This can reduce the sensitivity.

There are several posts on here about similar problems so it's worth searching for them and reading.

Of course it might be faulty. If you feel that your watch is measuring steps incorrectly, more than just minor mistakes, then you can talk to Fitbit support directly from the main website or even return it to your retailer.

[Beddie-boop]

I  can say I've had a Martian Watch and other brands that count steps and I never seen it overcount the steps as much as this one, especiallyIve noticed withbraiding hair and the twisting of my wrist will.be counted as stepsntaken. So there needs ro be adjustments with the watch being able to adjust to movements of the hands as one walks.

[SunsetRunner]

Yes, and not only does it over count steps but over estimates the calories too.  My trip from bed to bathroom was allocated 14 calories!  A more realist calorie burn for that particular 'activity' would have been one or two calories.