Allow GPS tracking on Fitbit device for more exercises/workouts

[SunsetRunner]

Right now the ionic will only connect to GPS for the run or bike functions. 

There are other activities which would be nice to track as well such as kayaking, hiking or rollerblading. 

It would be nice if there was a workout with GPS type you could use and then go back into phone app and define exactly what type it is. Or better yet if you click on the generic workout with GPS icon on the Fitbit you could then scroll through a bigger list of activities. 

I ran into the problem this morning where the only way I could track my kayak trip was to use the bicycle function. But then when  I went into the app it would not let me change the type. 

Thank you.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject and updated label

[Christine101]

Now there is already a popular suggestion for the mobile app to track biking but I say why stop there? Heartrate allows for a fairly accurate calorie burn regardless of steps.

Things that people may want to track with GPS: 

Biking

mountain biking (if there is a difference between walking and hiking then there is a difference here too!)

rollerblading

cross-country skiing

downhill skiing

horseback riding

rowing

canoeing

kayaking

rock climbing

skateboarding

snowshoeing

obviously leaving out water sports such as swimming, scuba, etc. as none of the HR devices are intended to be submerged....also good luck taking your phone in the water.

that's all I can think of at the moment but there is probably more that people can add as comments. 

Moderator edit: Added Labels

[DeborahTP]

rollerblading please...

[Selina97]

Please add horse riding and lifting weights!! 

[Rich_Laue]

@SunsetRunner, i think you should edit your post and title to:

Allow GPS in workout mode

This would allow GPS to be used for any sport that involves movement,  making it would ne easy to rename after a sync.

I do like this idea.

[SunsetRunner]

I agree! I'll see if I can update it!

[Rich_Laue]

Sweet! I knew you could do it.

[Maudomolo]

If we were able to edit exercises, I could re-label a run into something else (e.g. cross country skiing). Ideally, I would like to be able to customize activities and have the ability to have the GPS on or off. Right now the only activity that I can re-label is the workout and there is no GPS tracking. Please fix this!

[BorisSl]

My new Charge 2 have 4 "Connected GPS" exercises: Run, Walk, Bike, and Hike. No match with my (Alpine) Skiing, Ice and Roller Skating. Certainly it is not possible to add all possible activities into tracker. But some "General Track" activity in the tracker just to change it to actual activity on the site will be cool. You have generic "Workout" for non-GPS activities anyway.

[LizFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner thanks for sharing. I've updated the title to reflect that you want GPS tracking for other exercise modes, and a potential other solution as a generic workout mode which you can later rename. Thanks for sharing, keen to see if others are interested in this feature too.

[johnrduffy]

Hiking please!

[arkaycee]

Yes! Just "Workout with GPS" that lets us edit the calories/distance and such would take care of a lot of the special requests! (well, then we have to go research the calories/distance but it'd be better than nothing!)

[Anka123]

I agree! I use charge 2 and choose the bike from the list of activities when I ride on rollers. Unfortunately, I can not even edit the activity in the app to change the bike on the rollers. I can log activity myself but then i have prolem with counted calories

[Rich_Laue]

@Anka123 to problems I see with GPS while on rollers .

Point one, the rollers are usually inside a building - GPS doesn't work very well while in a building .

Point two, while on rollers the user is not moving - GPS will record a distance close to zero feet. 

Your better of recording rollers as a workout, then edit the type after a sync. 

[Anka123]

@Rich_Laue thank you for your reply and interest 🙂 There are special routes for cyclists and roller skaters. I use it myself and drive several kilometers with different routes. Then the GPS is useful in determining the length of the route and speed, just like on a bike.  If someone rides on rollers in a building does not have to use gps such activity be usefull too

[Rich_Laue]

@Anka123 this thread is about having the option to enable GPS while in the workout mode .

You posted that you agree and that you use the bike mode with rollers , implying so that GPS may be activated. 

My response was simply to explain why GPS will not work with rollers .

As for recorded distance while on rollers, currently this is impossible. There is a feature suggestion to allow the user to manualy add distance for this reason. 

BTW: the spinning mode is the damesas the bike mode but GPS is disabled .

While on rollers Spinning would bra better option to use. 

[EileenP]

I need to be able to track calories burned while horseback riding.  Using generic "workout" is not an option , because currently GPS tracking is not available for that.  I need to be able to track my route,speed, elevations, in addition to heartrate for calories.

[SunsetRunner]

 I need this, please... Garmin does it, Strava does it, why can't Fitbit?

[Blootac]

Currently I've got the option of a small number of activities, a few of which allow GPS tracking.

It's obviously infeasible to add every sport /activity (although wahoo have a target extensive list in their app) but what would be great is an 'other' activity type.

Currently if I go horseriding or rowing or sailing etc. I have to pretend I'm cycling in order to have my GPS position and heart rate logged etc.

Give me a way to log all my other activities and ideally in the dashboard allow me to tag them retrospectively using free text so I know what the other activity I was doing was. 

Subsequently you (fitbit) can then do some very basic analytics on the free text entered, find the most common ones, and then perhaps release dedicated profiles for them.

In case it matters, I've got the Ionic. 

Moderator Edit: Added Labels/Title for Clarity

[SantiR]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. It would be very interesting to see how this "other" type of exercises would work. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[Blootac]

The way I'd envisioned it working is... 

On my ionic I'd choose exercise - >'OTHER' as the exercise type) as opposed to e.g. Run, walk, hike, cycle etc.)

I'd then get the normal click to start recording the exercise screen. This would then behave in the same way as any of the other GPS enabled exercise profiles. 

When it finishes it uploads exactly the same as e.g. a cycle exercise session would.

In the Web dashboard I'd see it as just another exercise session of type 'other'. If I selected the session to see it in more detail I'd go to the detail screen but I'd also have the opportunity to tag/specify the exercise type using free text. Perhaps this would auto suggest from my previously entered names.

Once every so often you could look at the count of occurrences of distinct tags and find the most popular ones. You could then perhaps choose to build and develop full proper profiles for some of them, identify traits that were useful and interesting for each.

For example let's say you saw that lots of people entered 'horse riding'. You may choose to develop a specific horse riding exercise profile. The dashboard for which may choose the number of strides, the time spent in trot, canter, and gallop, the energy used, max g force experienced etc.

Let's say that sailing also turned up as popular. Again, a sailing or boating exercise profile could be created but this time cadence or steps doesn't make sense  but total distance, speed profile, and g force experienced would make sense.

You may get snowboarding or skiing. Traits might be number of turns, number of jumps, time spent in the air based on accelerometer readings, number of falls etc.

But even if you didn't do the custom profiles, just having an 'other' exercise makes the fitbit and the dashboard a lot more versatile and useful .

Hope that makes sense.

It's a very basic concept that would be easy to implement and would likely be used by a lot of people. You could start by cloning and renaming the bike profile.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and we appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. We do not currently have plans to release this feature. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us and we will let you know if anything changes.

[MGill]

I would also like to see Nordic Walking, cardio HIT and resistance HIT to name a few

[Trumpe]

It would be nice, if there would be other sport activities, that could be started from Ionic. It is nothing much. 

So far I am using Bike activity to record my Roller Skating, but the problem is that I cannot categorise this excersice in Fitbit app to Roller Skating after syncing watch to app.

[AlliB23]

Fully agree with this. 

Hate having to use alternative apps, eg Endomondo, to track horse riding, skiing etc or to pretend I was bike riding which then also throws my Strava stats out of wack!

Would love a GPS enabled "Workout" which can then be edited post-activity to whichever sport you actually did. If Golf can be GPS enabled then other sports should also be available or at least an editable activity made to allow people who do more obscure sports to still track their exercise.

We tracked white water rafting on my partners Garmin Fenix and he tracks all our skiing while I have to track bike riding. If a GPS enabled work-out can't be added perhaps bike could become editable in the app to alternative activities!

[SantiR]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and we appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. We do not currently have plans to release this feature. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs located at the top right box of the Feature Suggestions Board screen. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us and we will let you know if anything changes.