Option to turn off step count (or add "Driving Mode") to avoid erroneous steps/floors

[MacWade]

I just got home yesterday from a driving 6 hours in my car and I checked my Fitbit. I was really suprised to see it had given me almost 8,000 steps, 3.24 miles, 134 floors, & way more calories thank I burned while I was sitting in my car.  I looked on the forum to see how to easily delete the steps, miles, floors, and calories so my data would be accurate.  The only way people are fixing it is by manually logging the activity "Automobile or light truck (not a semi) driving" and entering in the duration.  I think that is a cumbersome way to fix the issue everytime I drive because I have to make sure I write down what time I get into and out of my car so I know the start time and duration.  And how does it automatically know the calories burned when everyone burns calories when they are sedentary at different rates.

I think they should add a "Drive Mode" feature that when turned on it won't add steps, distance, floors, & will only add calories burned equal to you sitting in a chair.

You could access the "Drive Mode" either on your Fitbit One or on your phone app to turn it on/off.  If you have a Fitbit One you could press the button till the "Drive Mode" icon appears then hold the button down for 2 seconds to turn it on or off.

On the phone apps you would just go to your device under "Account" and there you could turn it on or off.

You could also have the option to give you an alert when you unlock the phone that reminds you that it is in "Drive Mode" so you don't forget to turn it off when you get to your destination.  It would also be cool if you could use Siri to turn it on by saying "Turn on Fitbit Drive Mode" or "Turn off Fitbit Drive Mode".

[Steppingmn]

Why isn't there a driving mode for my Chargr HR??? I rarely have steps count in the car but on my motorcycle it will log thousands of additional steps and a ton of flights of stairs. Why not make it easy to switch it off or click a button when I jump on the bike?

[Rich_Laue]

There is instructions are in the help section.

http://help.fitbit.com/?l=en_US&q=Drive

[CookiesTheKitty]

Good advice if you have a silky smooth car but mine is a shed on wheels & has to be driven on the UK's pothole network (with occasional bits of Tarmac in between). A specific drive mode WOULD be a good idea though - it may even save charge if the tracker knows to snooze until awoken, without having to fiddle round in the app before and after.

Good luck with the suggestion.

Graham

[timmysd88]

Since I purchased my fitbit surge there has been numerous requests for something simple to allow people to track their drive/motorcycle ride as to negate steps, floors and calories. It is not handy to have to go into fitbit to log this afterwards. Please add some function that means you don't have to turn device off or try to remember the exact times of your commute.

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity and labels.

[Cdj23]

Riding my motorcycle give me more that 100 steps per minute.  Would love to have this feature implimented.

[cmwiss]

@timmysd88 wrote:
Since I purchased my fitbit surge there has been numerous requests for something simple to allow people to track their drive/motorcycle ride as to negate steps, floors and calories. It is not handy to have to go into fitbit to log this afterwards. Please add some function that means you don't have to turn device off or try to remember the exact times of your commute.

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I agree with you timmysd88, I looked at the steps my iPhone 6s had counted and came up with a number that I could delete, BUT I can't figure out how to "log" that activity to make it reflect negative steps or to take away from what the fit bit posted. I did switch the setting to dominant hand as when I work I use both hands almost equally so saying it was non-dominant may have also been falsely reporting steps. I just did it last night so I can't tell you if it helped yet or not. 

[maclynnie]

Just checked out the exericse section of the app and  how many days I have exercised this week. I use the drivebit app to record my drive time and this is showing up as exercise hours.  Is there anyway to separate out this drive time  so that it is not included in the exercise stats? 

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity and labels. 

[Jason.L]

I can't believe this is a problem that appears to have not been fixed for years. I did a lot of research before buying my charge HR but didn't know about this until after I put mine on and walked from the basement where the PC is at to the kitchen which is about 20 steps and the stairs. However it recorded this as 112 steps and 1 flight. Marking this as driving doesn't fully negated them. Lifetime total reflects these erronious steps. and friends list reflects them as well. So if my friends and I are competing tons of erronious steps ruins the usefulness of the info and no valid leader/winner can be determined with so much eronious data not 100% negated. The bandaid of making it driving is insufficient as a result. All records of all erronious steps and floors in all places they are recorded need to be negated (or best done by deletion). I hope this is given serious priority as this to me is a serious flaw that should have had a fully working solutuon before any products were ever released for sale.

[pompomgirl]

SO GLAD I finall

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@MacWade wrote:

I just got home yesterday from a driving 6 hours in my car and I checked my Fitbit. I was really suprised to see it had given me almost 8,000 steps, 3.24 miles, 134 floors, & way more calories thank I burned while I was sitting in my car.  I looked on the forum to see how to easily delete the steps, miles, floors, and calories so my data would be accurate.  The only way people are fixing it is by manually logging the activity "Automobile or light truck (not a semi) driving" and entering in the duration.  I think that is a cumbersome way to fix the issue everytime I drive because I have to make sure I write down what time I get into and out of my car so I know the start time and duration.  And how does it automatically know the calories burned when everyone burns calories when they are sedentary at different rates.

I think they should add a "Drive Mode" feature that when turned on it won't add steps, distance, floors, & will only add calories burned equal to you sitting in a chair.

You could access the "Drive Mode" either on your Fitbit One or on your phone app to turn it on/off.  If you have a Fitbit One you could press the button till the "Drive Mode" icon appears then hold the button down for 2 seconds to turn it on or off.

On the phone apps you would just go to your device under "Account" and there you could turn it on or off.

You could also have the option to give you an alert when you unlock the phone that reminds you that it is in "Drive Mode" so you don't forget to turn it off when you get to your destination.  It would also be cool if you could use Siri to turn it on by saying "Turn on Fitbit Drive Mode" or "Turn off Fitbit Drive Mode".

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y found this forum.  I have had this extra step problem ever since I got my Flex three years ago.  Not only do I drive a lot, but I play the violin and routinely pick up thousands of steps when practicing or in a rehearsal!  Just downloaded and installed Drivebit.  It's so simple and is the answer to the problem!

[pompomgirl]

SO GLAD I finally found this forum! I have had the extra step problem ever since I got my Flex three years ago.  Not only do I drive a lot, but I play the violin and routinely pick up thousands of steps when practicing or in a rehearsal!  Just downloaded and installed Drivebit.  It's so simple and is the answer to the problem.

[BDIMOND0]

I constantly work with my hands, wish there was a fit bit with a pause button or something like that. I am a blackjack dealer at a casino and dealing cards records steps, but I have a good distance to walk to my tables every hour and want them tracked, and also want to wear it as my watch. Happy with the product just not for everyday all day wear for me... unless a pause button or some kind of setting like that gets added...

Moderator edit: Edit subject for clarity and added labels 

[Billjbafan]

So I voted yes for this just cause I see what your saying... Some of the activity frackers record your arm movements and that's how it calculates steps and a pause button would be great for someone who works with their hands a lot.

[robchacon]

would turn off steps/stairs but continue to display time/alerts/hr. i ride a motorcycle to work and unless i shut it off, it track insane amounts of steps/stairs climbed which skews the data. would be great to still see the time/alerts and my hr while i ride making the blaze a watch replacement. 

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity and labels. 

[Johnhopkins]

Today is my 2nd day with my fitbit charge hr. A lot of driving and I'm at 13k steps and over 150 flights of stairs. Woohoo! Truck drivers must be ripped!

[Brewfit]

Two years and still no resolution? I noticed this issue with my Charge HR and found this thread while looking for a solution and it seems that Fitbit just isn't interested in fixing this. Will probably not but another Fitbit again.

[SunsetRunner]

We should be able to delete all data on our dashboards without having to do the "work around of negating them" as I believe others have said this doesn't work. 

I wanted a fresh start on my charge so I deleted my account and started with a new email address. This I can't do again. We shouldn't have to, if we want our information cleared we should be able to do so.  

Please add a feature to do this.

Tracy

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity and labels. 

[SunsetRunner]

a tubing trip in Utah killed my Charge HR.  I did write fitbit support and let them know that I won't buy a fitbit again until this issue is resolved (Drivebit or 'negating' steps manually every time you drive is not a resolution).

[PraveenR]

Drive mode option is a must. Motivation is good but false motivation is as good as nothing. Pls include this option.

[Apone76]

I drive a semi truck daily and make several stops per day, the "work arounds" presented just aren't feasible. This idea above is awesome. FITBIT please do this!

[Ellebetty]

There shouldn't have to be a driving mode, the device should be smart enough not to record steps while driving. I got a fit bit flex after using another brand of device for years and have been stunned at this problem. Today my device is off by thousands of steps and most of it while I was cruising down the highway. This never happened with my other activity trackers. It is just a complete failure.

[pompomgirl]

What other activity trackers that don't do this have you used?

[MrRob05]

This is definitely a much needed feature! This would just make the CHR that much better!

[SunsetRunner]

@Ellebetty - I'm not sure there's a way for it to 'just know' -- in order to not have a driving mode (as is the case now), they'd have to implement some sort of threshold of how much disturbance is registered as a step.

In my old vehicle (a Saturn sedan), it registered at most 30-40 steps during a 30 minute drive.

In my current vehicle (a jeep with an offroad suspension), it can easily register 500 on a 30 minute drive, even over normal pavement.

Point being that the threshold is going to be different depending on your vehicle.  If it were so high as to not register bumps in the jeep, it would absolutely not register actual steps I was taking.  A driving mode would solve the problem across the board so that you could tell the tracker when to stop counting both steps and stairs.  If you're climbing a hill, the air pressure difference is still going to register in the tracker, and if the bumps make it think you are walking, you'll get credit for un-climbed hills as well.

[Ellebetty]

I got a large number, thousands, of spurious steps on good roads with a smooth ride, over an hour or a bit more of driving. If it were tens of steps I wouldn't have noticed.

There's a lot of research showing how well accelerometers can distinguish what you're doing, and from what I've read and my experience with other devices I don't really buy that they can't tell. They can tell the difference between being in a car, bus, and train! They should be able to tell those from walking.

I don't want to use FB's board to advertise another device that has different problems of its own, so I don't want to mention the other brand.

[SunsetRunner]

fyi, in conversing with fitbit about my recently-dead charger (they're replacing it under warranty... hard to complain about that), I asked them if someone could come on this thread and reply about the status of this issue.  Why no one has yet, I'm not sure, but here's what they sent me about it:

Regarding to your suggestion, since you're one of our valued Fitbit customer, we would like you to know that we already raise this to our engineering team that is aware and working on implementing an improvement on the near future.

That's not exactly concrete but at least it's something.