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".

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Raulh27, thanks for explaining why you would like to have this option on Fitbit devices. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has a lot of votes. As the more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

[SunsetRunner]

Operating a lawnmower while wearing the Fitbit results in highly inaccurate activity data because of the vibrations of the mower handle. Usually, Fitbit tracks the lawn mowing as intense bike riding. This creates a significant problem when activity data is synchronized to third-party services like Weight Watchers. Fitbit provides instructions on how to edit activity data after the fact to correct the false bike riding activity. However, this doesn't work with third-party synchronization because it doesn't revise the data already synchronized.

Fitbit should add a manual activity for lawn mowing. When activated, it should drastically reduce the sensitivity of the accelerometer to try to ensure that only real steps are detected and the mower handle vibrations are filtered out.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner! Great suggestion, thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request. Post a comment or click on the thumbs-up to show your support. You might be interested in giving your vote to this other suggestion: Consider adding “chores” or “yard work” as an activity. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

[bbenne24]

Hi all.  I'm adding my vote here to add a pause feature.  I do a lot of crafting and have to actually remove the device. It's super inconvenient because if I want all my steps to count then I have to put it back on every time I break to use the restroom or get a drink or just stretch my legs.  Then I have to take it back off again when I sit. 

So - Please add a pause feature. 

[schofie56]

The tracker is quite sensitive when the user is travelling via car, train, bus etc. Many steps recorded are false positives. It is possible to go into the app each time to add transport between certain times, but it is an awkward way to go about it (and you have to remember to do it). However, a setting within the watch itself, similar to the exercise setting, where you can select that you are currently travelling in a vehicle would be helpful. This setting will then pause all tracking of steps until it is switched off. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @schofie56! Great suggestion, thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request. Post a comment or click on the thumbs-up to show your support.

[Lilbiddy]

@YojanaFitbit, yes it's a great suggestion that we have been making since 2014. How about implementing it?

[MM1772]

Maybe now that they're being bought by Google they'll have the personnel to do this.

[GlendalePaul]

It is YEARS past time for talking on MANY different threads and is OVERDUE for implementation.  I quit posting to these threads due to the inaction of FitBit moderators to pass on the many suggestions to the programming staff to implement.  But the emails I still receive on issues posted years ago adds another level of frustration with the FitBit products. 

[SunsetRunner]

Please add this pause/resume/"drive mode" feature for inspire HR as well please, very handy to be able to pause step tracking while playing guitar, driving etc

[JLGCooLJLG]

You have all of these new features and it was an issue with the Charge 2. I just purchased the Charge 3 hoping that it wouldn’t be so sensitive to log steps when I’m not walking; I drive a truck for a living and it logged over 3,000 steps already today. There’s no way to set up a ‘drive mode’ where you can just press the button on the watch or go into the app and have a toggle button that you could put on ‘Drive mode’ without having to log in to the website on the dashboard and manually enter it yourself? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of being a smart watch? It’s very time consuming to manually enter it and it kind of defeats the purpose of even having it to begin with.

[Jesusf]

unbelievable that this hasn’t been fixed!! I bought a fitbit3 and I think I’m returning it back because of this. Disappointing 

[SunsetRunner]

I'm assuming that FitBit developed auto-recognise activity capability by taking the huge pile of raw sensor data of movements made by users and chucking it at a machine learning algorithm to learn which patterns of movements equate to which activity.

Driving is just another activity, so after 5 years of the hacky workaround of manually adding a Driving activity post-journey, there must be a huge dataset available now of manually logged Drives that could thrown at the machine learning algo.

Maybe with the Google acquisition more resources might be available to actually act on this well voted suggestion.

Autorecognition could be tricky given wide variety of driving styles, road surfaces, vehicles, manual vs auto gearboxes, left-hand vs right drive, so less complex and more universal suitability would be adding the simple Drive mode switch to disable step counting.

Excuse the hacky images:
Simple Drive Mode appOnly two controls, start or stop

[Allyshake]

I am a disabled veteran invalided out of the army after 16 years. My health coach recommended the Fitbit to establish a baseline of activity. I did my first walk today on flat terrain for about 1.3Km albeit at a moderate to slow pace. I climbed 9 Floors according to the summary. I had read about the Floor inaccuracies and 'overwrote' with Driving but noticed a drastic reduction in Steps when I did so. Thus it is not a satisfactory workaround. My question is; do Floors count for extra steps? I assume they add increased calorific burn as going up a Floor is harder than walking on the flat. Notwithstanding, that wouldn't be a major concern provided the distance travelled vs stride length and steps taken is reasonably accurate. So do Floors add more steps or just count the same steps travelled but Log them as Floors if it thinks you have changed altitude? The sales info states that walking down a flight of stairs will not register as a floor. Clearly this is inaccurate and misleading. All I want is to know that my steps are accurate and that even if a Floor gets logged it is NOT adding steps I didn't take. Ultimately being able to deselect Floor tracking in the App is the ONLY real fix that would satisfy most users, and for those regularly climbing Floors then they can accept the level of accuracy for what it is.

[ConvolutedOne]

You know what I won't be recommending until it has a Drive Mode? Fitbit. You know what I'll tell people when they ask how I like my Charge 3 SE? That I am unimpressed by a company that refuses to implement a feature that users have been asking for for almost 6 years, and that they should probably research more thoroughly, and spend their money more wisely than I did.

[Nydders]

Wow. It has been almost six years and still nothing of the sort has been developed for any of the Fitbit models? Lmao. It’s kinda sad how you just turn around the other cheek on this very glaring issue. For YEARS. How is this still up for debate? Stop being lazy and make a drive / sleep mode. Please. 

[spdar]

What would be really neat is if the Fitbit app on the phone could detect that you are connected to the car and auto set the DRIVE MODE and stop recording steps etc. On my iPhone, if I try and text when in the car (When my wife is driving) I have to say "I'm not driving", so clearly the phone knows it's connected to the car. Same is true on my BMW motorbike. 

[misuzu]

In order for a fitbit to be useful for me, I need to manually remember the time I spend driving and log it in the app.

Why not add the option to add the "driving" exercise type to the device itself so I just start it like an exercise and stop when I'm done? That would make my life so much easier.

Alternatively, make it so we can edit previous exercises, so I can log it as swimming or something and then switch it to driving later.

I was sent to this thread by Fitbit support and it's slightly disheartening to see that this has been here 5 years and is still an issue. That said, now that I've highlighted that, the corporate thing to do about it would be to eliminate this community, so please don't do that either :).

[LawrenceH]

Easiest option I've found was linked from somewhere else on this board.
Install app, start app when you're driving and stop when you finish and it
automatically adds a 'driving' activity.

Ios: Drivebit
Android: travelbit (not on play store, you'll have to Google it)

[GlendalePaul]

Having watched this thread for over a year it is frustrating to realize these forums are worthless in implementing suggested improvements.  I will be removing myself from receiving emails from these forums.  Hopefully, one day the moderators will take to heart their role in escalating improvement suggestions.

[Neverest]

It's mind boggling to me that a simple solution has not been implemented for this yet (other than taking the device off.) While I would prefer to see a quick option like from the quick selection menu in the versa 2 or multi button press.. etc. If we could atleast add the driving or non tracking activity to one of the 7 shortcuts in the exercise app it would make logging these times much easier. 

[Yellow218]

Agree. would be good if it still tracked calories and HER whilst pausing steps though, so not a complete pause. 

[Yellow218]

Agree. I would add that when in 'driving mode' it would be good if this also counted as a 'do not disturb' time, in doing so stopping notifications in coming through to the device which can be distracting, and potentially dangerous. 

[Blkmag2]

I don’t know if this has been suggested. When I search for solutions I get ‘charge device’ or ‘log driving’. Why can’t the exercise shortcuts have a selection that puts you in driving then end for resume walking? Or, a separate selection for driving altogether? It wouldn’t need to be automatic just something that can be done from the device.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Blkmag2 ! Great suggestion, thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.