Swimming not counting laps correctly

[Bones369]

I am having trouble with my fitbit versa with swimming. It has been inconsistent in counting laps.  Yesterday it missed 5 laps, this has happened a number of times. Occasionally it gets it right. The laps it plays up on are freestyle. Im disappointed and hope you have a solution for me.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Bones369, let me give you a warm welcome to the Community! To get better and more accurate results, I suggest you to enter the pool length in meters or yards into the Fitbit app or on your watch before starting your swim. 

For more information about tracking exercises, see How do I use exercise apps and modes on my Fitbit device?

In addition to completing only a handful of laps or stopping to rest often, inconsistencies in your swim data may be caused by any of the following:

• Stopping to rest midway across the pool
• Resting for longer than 60 seconds after completing a pool length
• Changing stroke type midway across the pool
• Swimming with a kickboard or not using your hands
• Swimming less than the minimum duration set to be auto-recognize.

You can also try to restart your Versa by following these instructions. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[Ezmark]

Ok thanks. It's likely the cause is my 400 meters kicking when I begin a 1600 meter swim. It seems Versa only records when I actually swim the 4 basic strokes. Guess it doesn't use GPS to track the distance.  Disappointing. 

[HeydyF]

Hey @Ezmark, I hope you are doin' great! You can't use GPS to track your swimming on your Versa. If you'd like to learn more about the activities you can track with your Versa using GPS, take a look at this help article: How do I use exercise apps and modes on my Fitbit device? 

In regards of  the strokes you can use, you can choose to swim using any of the four most common strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly), but we recommend swimming freestyle for the best results.

Let me know if you have further question! 

[colojc]

It would be great if in a future iteration there would be some way for Fitbit to track laps done while using a kickboard. 

[HeydyF]

Hey @colojc, welcome aboard! It would be a great addition for the Fitbit Versa. So let me suggest you something, please go to our Feature Suggestions board and post this idea there, so other users can vote and leave their comments on it, so the more votes it has, the higher the chances to be taken into consideration it'll have. 

Have a nice day! 

[CookiemanBelge]

A simple solution would be to allow us the change the number of laps/distance after completing my swim. I was expecting to find this option the moment I realized the watch did not measure certain strokes (kicking). It would be a nice simple feature to allow the modification of a session after the swim. I would be fine/happier to do the modification in the app vs the watch.

[Bones369]

Tnx, but after 5 mths of annoyance, i got a refund & bought a galaxy & its so precise, im very happy with it. Thanks anyway & good luck with ur improvements.Regards, Maree

[CookiemanBelge]

Wonder how I would get a refund after 5 months. Surely not in Greece where I got mine.

[CookiemanBelge]

My swim this morning measured 34 laps when I really did 32. I noticed it counted a lap when I tapped it once and when I stopped to rest one (<30s rest). The algorithm should have easily figured that laps should be of close to or greater duration than the average. No need for AI there. BTW, getting users to make corrections can do greatness for training the AI behind calculating a swimming session. 

[andrealynch]

I fully agree. The versa should recognize swimming and calorie burn even when our arms aren't moving. I use the kick board a lot, so that means that until the versa changes, my swim data will be completely wrong 😞 Not good enough.

[CVMMswimmer]

I swam with my versa for the 1st time yesterday, and it was short by 1600 yds. I do swim intervals with varying speeds so maybe that was the issue? Frustrating.

[Alexbuxton]

This looks like it's a very common problem. I'm having it myself Fitbit product support don't help at all (you have to call through the Fitbit app and that cuts out, live chat is a boy, and the actual people just give you the same list of things that don't apply). Steer well clear.