Include Manually Added Steps in Leader Board and Challenges

[THitch]

Please make modifications to show the manually added steps in both the Leader Board and the Step Challenges.  While I understand that the change to exclude the manually added steps (implemented this week on the Leader Board but earlier in the Challenges) is related to individuals who cheat the system, the feedback in the Fitbit community seems to suggest that your core and very active customers WANT this feature for valid reasons and are offended that you've put the need to address cheaters above the desires of your committed users.  

As suggested in the community forum posts, if you feel it necessary to differentiate the steps manually entered, this could be accomplished by showing the total steps as the primary total and including the manual steps as a subset of that total (e.g., Rob H. Total 95,993 (12,000 manual).  That will better expose the "small number" of those who are cheating the system.  Seems it would better to cater to the 95% of the users who are doing it right versus the < 5% who are cheating.

My husband and I have been loyal Fitbit customers since January 2014.  We believe in the product and most importantly, the purpose of the product so much so that we have personally purchased or influenced the purchase of Fitbit trackers for 15+ individuals.  Although some of these individuals have come and gone in our Fitbit world, we still have a very competitive and active group of Fitbit friends.  For different reasons (running, using treadmills, elipticals, forgetting to charge the Fitbit, etc.), we often enter a portion of our steps manually.  The inability to see our total steps, whether manual or otherwise, on the Leader Board defeats what I believe to be the purpose of the Leader Board, which is to encourage activity through friendly competition.  

Thank you for your consideration!

[mgelman]

The step totals under community/friends do not reflect manually entered steps and they should. This is a flaw in the system. 

[Key1620]

You can add steps that you had missed caused by a forgotten watch at home. However, It does not get counted to the leaderboard. I do understand restricting it from Competition but your own friends leaderboard makes no sense. I consistently forget my watch on charge and run out the door.. I like to know my weekly steps in total.  Yes, I can just get a paper and add them to their total but then whats the point of the watch ? 

[pattyby]

When steps are added manually, they are not included in the Friends total.  I believe they should be, because I often exercise with an activity that the fitbit does not accurately measure, so I add the steps.  I know I am well over 70000 steps per week, yet my total is never more that 35-40000.

[tressabbehler]

When adding exercise, have the steps count toward challenges. 

[Rebekah888]

This week I noticed my steps in dashboard are suddenly differing from the challenge steps. After contacting support I was told it is because manually logged steps don't count for challenge steps or badges. This was infuriating, since a large reason I got the Fitbit was for challenges and this rule created a 5,000+ step discrepancy. This rule also undermines the days of excersise tracker, since many of us use the auto-track features. I understand this rule is an attempt to stop fraudulent step tracking, but it is causing issues for previously happy customers.

[AlexandraFitbit]

Hello @Rebekah888! Thanks for sharing this suggestion, I moved it to this similar post so you can add your vote to it. Please keep sharing your ideas with us!

[Nina1983]

I have been a member of the Fitbit community for years and each year I continue to increase my exercise and level of fitness. 

Through work friends we have regular challenges during the week and weekends. 

Recently I bought a Garmin to accurately track my running. Fitbit is great for activity but not accurate enough for running and my training. 

I am am really disappointed that I can no longer take part in challenges as the steps I’ve done on a run do not count. 

There is nothing more upsetting than knowing my 12 miles run yesterday just simply doesn’t count. 

Either set it up so they count, or find a way of including my steps data from Garmin to Fitbit. 

Otherwise this Fitbit, will be my last. And I really do love my Fitbit. 

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi @Nina1983 , thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us. This feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here. Don't forget to add your vote.

[Anders42]

There are times I have forgotten my tracker on the charger and missed logging steps. It would be nice to have it add in a daily average steps for a missed day or put it times missed and calculate average missed steps. This would help keep weekly goal tracking more accurate.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Anders42, thanks for taking the time to share why you would like to see this option on the Fitbit app. Please note that MobileTrack helps you keep track of your stats when you leave your Fitbit device at home.

This feature suggestion already exists, so I’ve moved your post here. This is not currently planned at this moment. You can keep adding your votes to this suggestion so we can keep tracking this request overtime. Learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. I hope to see you around.

[smj34]

Put option to add steps manually back in and count towards challenges. 

I wear the other main brand (most of the time) for the EKG feature but prefer the Community here. I want to be able to consolidate them all here. If cheaters is an issue, just identify when steps have been modified. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @THitch, thanks for taking the time to share why you would like to see this option for Challenges. This feature suggestion already exists, so I’ve moved your post here. While we don’t currently have plans to release this feature, we always appreciate the passion and creativity that comes out of this Community. Since we know this idea is important to many of you, we have left voting open to continue tracking interest and will post another update if anything changes. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

I hope to see you around.

[Snigdha]

Activities like the Elliptical should count for steps and it is unfair that that they do not unless you are swinging your arms.  My legs are doing the steps not my arms.  I have gone into the dashboard and manually added "walk" during the time that I was on the elliptical and enter the number of steps the elliptical reports.  The adjusted total does show up on my daily step total but does not show up on challenged.  I typically get 6000-7000 steps on the elliptical but I will lose challenges with friends because the FitBit is not smart enough to recognize elliptical steps.  I currently have a FitBitOne that I am able to wear on my chest area so it does recognize the up down motion and gives me steps (it is only 100-200 steps off from the elliptical's count).  I am sure my FitBitOne will die soon (most people I know who have one say it has died) at which point I am not sure if I would want to purchase another FitBit unless it can give me step credits for the elliptical.

[EdsonFitbit]

Hi @Snigdha, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us, this feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here as it is not currently planned.

[linkisdead6]

I know people might cheat if this happens, but not allowing this ruins the fun for a lot of people. My mom gave me her blaze because she got one of Samsung’s trackers. Yesterday we both paid for Fitbit premium just to find out that for my mom, you can’t do manual steps for activities. It would be fun to actually be able to do the challenges with my mom.

[LizFitbit]

Hi @linkisdead6 thanks for sharing this suggestion and welcome to Fitbit Premium! I have merged it here with this existing idea - unfortunately it's not planned at the moment but this thread is still open for votes.