More accurate count of active minutes from Strava to Fitbit to improve readiness score

[Voyager2]

Import heart rate from Strava as part of the sync.
(This is different to the Chest Strap HRM idea requested 2014, rejected 2018. Thread 600371 is now locked, which stifles discussion)
The thread is locked,

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi there @Voyager2. Thank you for adding this feature suggestion. In order to categorize correctly your request I'd like to know how you're tracking your heart rate date, since Strava includes GPS-related activities when syncing with Fitbit. Thank you for your response in advance.

See you around.

[Voyager2]

I'm refer to the sync in the other direction, from Strava to Fitbit.

Here's what happens now:

1. I am cycling with a bike computer, which uploads data to strava incl. GPS, HR, Power, cadence, temperature, etc. The HR comes from a chest strap, transmitted to the bike computer, uploaded to Strava. It is much more accurate than a wrist-based optical sensor (example: my recent ride was 2h in fat-burning/cardio zone https://www.strava.com/activities/6526351868/heartrate but my fitbit reported 24 activity zone minutes - it should be closer to 175!).  All this is a well-known problem, as optical sensors on the wrist don't work that great for cycling.
2. Fitbit syncs the Strava activity to Fitbit, but do not update the activity zone minutes or HR data.
3. My readiness score reports 75 the next day, when it should be much lower than that after the hard ride.

The problem I want Fitbit to solve is to make the readiness score more accurate.  It would work if Fitbit would take into account the HR on the Strava activity in the calculation of active zone minutes.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Voyager2, and thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about syncing more accurate count of active minutes from Strava to Fitbit to improve readiness score. We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If this suggestion receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

Watch this space for status updates. In the meantime, try visiting Health & Wellness to talk with other members about all things health and fitness.

[YGL]

I came here to request the same thing.

I wear my Charge 5 about 23 hours per day. I really appreciate the way it analyzes and presents the data is collects.

During exercise I wear a chest strap that is synced to Strava and my Strava account is synced to my Fitbit. Fitbit imports the GPS activity from Strava and displays the time spent exercising and calories burned but does not import the heart rate data from Strava. As a result the time spent exercising shows up as active minutes on the online dashboard but not as zone minutes on the iOS app.

I would love for Fitbit to import the heart rate data from Strava. It would make the integration so much more valuable.

It seems to me that there is resistance on Fitbit's part to import heart rate data because it opens up the door to chest straps that could be perceived as competing with Fitbit. In reality, anyone who is looking to import exercise data from a chest strap to Fitbit is obviously looking to continue using Fitbit as their primary data collection and analysis tool and to use a chest strap for specific circumstances (exercise during which optical sensors struggle with accuracy) to bring data into their Fitbit ecosystem. Importing heart rate date form Strava would make the Fitbit ecosystem substantially more valuable to people who want a great 24/7 wearable as well as a more specialized data collection tool during exercise, strengthening its position relative to competition rather than weakening it.

To be honest, the lack of heart rate data synced from Strava had me briefly looking into other non-Fitbit options. Ultimately I stuck with my Charge 5 and am super happy with it, with the exception of this major peeve. Importing heart rate data from Strava would make Fitbit a near-perfect daily wearable for me and it is in part how happy I am with the Charge 5 overall that makes the lack of heart rate import so frustrating.

Please add heart rate data syncing from Strava!!

[YGL]

Fitbit imports GPS activity, time spent exercising and calories burned from Strava but not heart rate data. As a result exercise synced from Strava shows up as active minutes on the online dashboard but not as zone minutes on the iOS app.

I would love for Fitbit to import the heart rate data from Strava so exercise would count toward zone minutes

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @YGL, thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about adding heart rate from Strava as part of the sync. I've moved it into a similar request. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

Thank you again for your participation in the Feature Suggestions Forums.

[Aatrimble]

I have exactly the same issue and frustration, and would URGE Fitbit to allow this; I honestly believe it would attract more users and help retain existing ones; I am considering leaving the Fitbit Ecosystem over this issue, and have been using Fitbit products for 8 years.

Firstly, I really love the interface, data, and experience of Fitbit premium with my Charge 5. It's a great product, and I love everything about it, *EXCEPT* its most critical features such as readiness score, zone minutes, recovery tracking, etc are nearly worthless to me most of the time. I do the vast majority of my exercise on a bicycle WEARING the Charge 5, but the Strava data (collected from Wahoo GPS + chest-strap + powermeter, etc) is FAR more accurate than the heartrate data from the Charge 5 -- the Charge is usually off by an average of 40-50 BPMs. If I manually start the activity on the Charge 5 I can get moderately better data, but it's really clunky to do this, it doubles counts if I sync with Strava, and it and runs down the battery, and like most cyclists, the headunit data is FAR more accurate and valuable than any wrist device ever will be. By merely including the heartrate data and calculating "zone minutes" from the Strava data, this would actually work. It's not a "best of both worlds" scenario; the Fitbit premium experience is almost worthless without being able to do this. Please don't try to solve this by improving the accuracy or reliability of the Fitbit - it's a great device and is perfect for what it does -- it will just never compare to dedicated cycling equipment. Fitbit won't lose customers to other products by partnering with Strava (or Wahoo or whomever), Fitbit would gain and retain customers. This thread shows we are not the only ones who feel this way. It's got to be just about every cyclist who uses a Fitbit.

[NielsNYC]

100% agree with the above posters. In my case, I use a stryd pod for running to get more accurate data than gps will ever give me. Stryd isn't compatible with my pixel watch or any Fitbit device, so have to use another watch for my runs, and sync my runs to strava. These runs get synced to fitbit, but unfortunately, these runs don't give me AZM. This makes the recovery metric useless. I wish Fitbit would position themselves more as a central health and fitness data platform, linking to as many other services as possible, instead of creating a completely closed-off ecosystem.