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".

[GBO323]

For the Windows Phone users, I'd much rather this be an option on the Fitbit SUPER Fitness Watch. Doesn't seem to be SUPER when it can't stop tracking steps when you want it to...and we've posted legitimate reasons why it's needed.

[SunsetRunner]

Would it help if you take off the Fitbit while driving?

[ChrisJr]

@SunsetRunner, Nope.  Tried it.  The bumps from the road and forward motion cause it to count steps.  I think when I tried taking the fitbit off, it gave me even more steps.

[SunsetRunner]

Chris, thank you. Good to know.

[Bhgoertzen]

From what it looks like fit bit done care about this issue they just tell us to log drive time that is dumb so I have to go in every day and do that how about I just get rid of it and buy a brand that cares about the customer!! I road 1200 miles on my motorcycle the other day yes 1200 in 21 hours and I forgot to leave my fit bit at home so I threw it in the bag when I got home I had 110356 steps for that day! Why can't I just turn the Fitbit off then it is my butt if I forget to turn it back on if I forget atleast I have the option!

[hankdmoose]

This definitely needs to be a thing! For activities with a lot of arm motion, my Charge HR logs a step for every movement. I'm active, so the "driving" work-around is not an option. If I take it off my wrist, I lose the heart rate, which defeats the purpose of having the HR. 

If we can't manually delete/edit steps and floors, at least allow custom activities where we can choose whether or not to count steps, floors, distance, etc. on an individual basis.

[Postalbill49]

My flex logged the rocking action of a rocker while I was rocking. 20000 extra steps for three days. I should be able to eliminate these if they occur again. I was visiting a relative when the event occurred. Please consider a fix. Thank you

[CAPM]

It would be helpful if the clock faces on the surge had the slider at the bottom (like the exercise and run screens) so that your bpm, steps etc would be visible at the bottom.

[mgonzalezs]

Hi!

It would be extremely useful to have a button for "Drive Mode" in the Fitbit app. I currently own a Fitbit Charge and I've had an incredible experience with it so far. However, every time I get on a car it adds thousands of steps to my device (about 1,000+ per hour). What I normally do is record the time I entered the car and the time I got off and then log it as "Driving" in the Activity section, but after a while this process gets sort of frustrating. 

I was thinking it would be an awesome update if just like there is a button to record when you go to bed and when you wake up, there could be this same "button-like" feature for driving (letting the device know you're in a car). I read an idea like this one that was posted in 2014 and was reviewed by a moderator, but apparently it was never considered for an actual update. I want to bring this idea back to you since it would improve my Fitbit experience significantly. 

[Sarahmiceli]

What a great idea. I noticed the other day I was clocking up steps and I was driving so now I take it off while I drive but I then sometimes forget to put it back on so I miss some steps!!

[FatLightning]

This would be a huge help as I need to turn off my surge when I ride my motorcycle. If I don't it skews my numbers like crazy.

[jrsjr]

Because spending time in a car while driving has such a negative effect on " steps and floors" it would be awesome to have a "pause mode" activated by manually pushing the button in some fashion, otherwise the device has no value for calorie counts and intake/calories burned for dieting purposes.

[ryanext]

Unforunately even taking off the fitibit (charge) when riding a bike doesn't help! I keep it in my bag hoping it will just stop counting but it always does...i don't see any other way except to have an option to switch off the fitibit when needed.

[Fit777]

Connect it to a battery to charge it to stop it from tracking.

[C3mpy]

YES. I came on to look for this before submitting my own but you have summed it up in one. I'm getting fed up with reaching my stair goal for just driving home on a bumpy hilly 'A' road.

[songbird1329]

Look for an app called "Drive bit" for your phone.  You track your driving/sitting in a car on that app and it will sync with the Fitbit app.

[jrsjr]

Thanks for the info! I am aware of the app but it still is a "work around"
rather than a solution. I think a simple "pause button" whether it be a
separate one or built into the existing firmware would be 100% effective and
easy to use during any activity that creates undesirable data.

[songbird1329]

Yeah, we do seem to have to do a lot of work-arounds for Fitbit that mimic regular features on other trackers.

[jrsjr]

I'm hoping they can do something about this. The other day I gained 10
floors and 357 steps on an 8 mile drive on an essentially level highway.
I've even tried putting the One in an airtight pill bottle (hoping it
wouldn't sense pressure changes) but that didn't work either.

[jrsjr]

Amen. As much as I prefer a small light pocket device (I prefer to wear a
real watch that's waterproof) I'm thinking the non Fitbit watch apps will
be the best choice down the road as this kind of control over the device
will be very simple for them to implement.

[MrMH]

Agreed. I can just simply reach 10-15k steps just riding a bike go and back from work. They should do something about this. Or else the device will not get accurate data. (Step, distance, calorie etc)

[MaRaNtZ]

How fitbit engineers not even considered adding a "drive" mode to surge ?

All statistics will be completely screwed up without this feature, expecially for an "all time on" device.

I suggest to add an hardware shortcut, like double press one of the right buttons, to enter and exit the drive mode, a little car icon should be displayed on top, indicating the mode is active.

In drive mode, steps/floors/miles are not logged.

User should be warned with a brief haptic feedback every hour that drive mode is still active, so to remember switching it off when not needed. The same for Charge HR as well....

From the UI point of view it should be pretty straightforward!

If this is a dupe, add "like" to this feature please.

[Balak]

I always drive to office in bike. Without drive mode, every day, every trip, I have to manually entre "Driving" activity with approximate time interval (as I can't always remember when I start the trip and end the trip). Because of which, I always end up with in-accurate values. 

Then I slowly stop using Fitbit charge HR device now. 

Driving mode is must to have option. After all it's all about count. If the count is wrong, then what’s the point 😞

[Longwayround]

My wife has a Surge and has never found that driving has led to false data.

[MaRaNtZ]

The operation mode should not be limited to DRIVE, but also OFFICE mode and RELAX mode.

When you are at office, most probably you dont want steps to be counted when moving arms using your PC.

Also, when you are at home watching tv, it should not count steps, like in drive.

The three minimum mode would be NORMAL, DRIVE, OFFICE, RELAX.