Convert swimming into steps for challenges and daily goals

[Tohu]

Hello there,

I'd like to ask if there is any development scheduled to add more features to the swimming tracker on the Ionic.

The whole Fitbit app is strongly based on social competition. What makes me and all my friends really enjoying the app is the challenges and the way how it motivates us to do better every day/week.

But while the Fitbit app is based on getting the best of its users from steps counting, unfortunately, the experience is incomplete as some of the activities don't count as "steps".

I love swimming, and when I can understand that GPS and heartbeats tracking may be a challenge in water, the swimming app on the Ionic could still do some conversion in steps, based on the pool length/stride for example.

I don't know if it may be the best way to do it, but it would make some sort of sense to have a converting formula such as [total distance swam / stride lenght]. It would not be the most accurate, as it would not take in account heartbeat/effort, but it would still have a great impact on all the swimmers' challenge, not having much time to 'walk' or 'run' in addition to their swimming sessions.

Is it something possible to add?

Please vote if you are swimming with you Ionic as well. 🙂

Thanks.

[StephyCara]

Please can you integrate a change on the dashboard/app which allows the length you swim in a pool to be added to the miles achieved each day. I have just done my first swim using Fitbit Flex 2 (I use the Blaze for other activities) but think it would be great if you could add this as a feature as not all exercise is step based.

[Rjganney]

It would be great if the flex 2 had an option to automatically credit me with steps following a swim. I frequently miss out on completing my move every hour target because I'm swimming, which is surely against the spirit of that challenge. I know that I can enter steps manually, but then I'll lose my swim record.

[barb3389]

I would like to see the number of swim strokes converted into metres swum.    Actually a few months ago I was able to add my swimming as an activity and add in the number of metres I swam, but this ability to add metres was taken away.  Please add it back. 

[aSluder]

Voted and agree! 

[JimmieLa]

As the Charge 2 isn’t waterproof, how about adding onto the app a way to log number of lengths in breaststroke or crawl, and Fitbit works out a calculation to convert to steps, and then add it onto daily steps. Unfortunately my programming skills just aren’t up to that level otherwise I’d do it myself!

[Jaxwilk]

 I completely agree, I normally wear an Alta but I bought a waterproof Flex 2 for swimming and was very disappointed when I found out that it didn’t convert my swimming into steps for my challenges. It accurately timed my swim and counted the number of laps that I swam,  but as far as my challenges are concerned I didn’t swim at all 😞

[Pueblodoc]

I agree with all of this. Swimming distance, swimming steps all should be counted. It would be fine for Fitbit to just use a generic stroke length. Fitbit already collects the distance of the swim. It would be very easy to divide the distance swam by the generic stroke length and count this as our steps. No change in user interface needed. 

[SantiR]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[NSsupportgroup]

I would love to be able to accept challenges with my steppers. But can't keep up with then because I swim! I'm probably more active than them but I'm at the bottom of the challenges. I would love

If I got credit for my Swimming that they do now walking in the challenges!

[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.

[leifneve]

Why does registering an activity such as swimming result in it being excluded from your step count? In other words, why can't there be an option that says, "Treat swimming as an activity but still include it in my steps." I need my step count for my company challenge, but it's nice to know about my swimming and biking activities.

[lrandall]

I was excited to see the new Charge 4, however it still doesn't look like swimming activity counts as steps. If the device is already waterproof and I am moving, why would it not count towards my step total? I do several challenges within the app and in other apps but one of my favorite ways to exercise is swimming. I have to choose between a fun work out and getting my steps in. I am hoping that some future version of the Charge will include all sorts of activity in the step count. 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @lrandall. Thanks for taking the time to explain why you'd like to get your swim strokes converted to steps. This idea was already requested in the Feature Suggestions board, so I’ve moved your post here. While this isn't currently planned at this moment, we have left voting open so we can keep tracking this request over time. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.