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".

[markp88]

I would love this feature! I work outside on machines and the bouncing around on the machines track as steps and because I can be on them for extended periods of time, it then thinks I am doing a run.  And since the machines move quite fast, it tracks me as running VERY FAST and thus skewing my results for the entire day!  I ultimately end up not wearing it to work at all which then I lose out on a lot of walking as well!

Please include a feature like this! Would be great! 

[VinceFroehler]

I work as an outside sales rep in a very mountainess region of British Columbia and I am driving up and down the mountains all day. I only climbed half a dozen flights of stairs today but my new Charge 2 counted more than twenty floors.

Is there a way to turn off the floor counter other than putting a bit of tape over the altimeter port on the back side of the device or logging in every morning to start a "driving" activity for 8 hours.

Any ideas?

Vince :^)

[darkwinghr]

2 years and still no solution. A company that doesn't listen to their customers will be a dying company soon. I cannot believe I bought their product.

[W4s]

i am enjoying using my Charge 2, but find it a chore to remove my daily commute twice a day, as it logs steps/stairs incorrectly.

if i could log 'Driving' as an activity by selecting it in the exercise shortcuts, then Fitbit can not count the steps/stairs/calories. Simple !

this will remove the requirement to manually add 'driving' activity to my log each day.

thank you !

Moderator Edit: Added Labels/Title for Clarity

[Raivis]

Step counting is so far away from reality... I was for a week and barely left my room - still according to fitbit I was very active and deserved about 800-1000 kcal/day... very sad... there is no way you can turn off the step counting so it does not mess up your food and calories log... only sudo solution is to manualy enter your stride lenght - I decreased mine by 60%... hope this helps, if not, will decrease even further... Realy? I did not expect this from one of the market leaders in fitness tracking devices and step counting being its primary function... please fix this or at least allow it to be disabled...

[MaRaNtZ]

Tey are not willing to add the "drive mode", period.

The main goal of the tracker is to motivate to an healthy lifestyle. It is NOT an accurate measuring tool.

This despite with a little bit of software it can reach a good approximation just fine, they have cecided a different approach... invite you to buy a new one of a different generation (that by the way does not have drive mode either)

[Cmiester]

I have the Fitbit charge 2, love it except for  it counts steps while I'm driving. I spend a lot of time driving everyday and it gives me a lot of extra steps while I'm traveling. I've seen this issue brought up by other users. I was thinking that you could add a driving mode to the app or to the tracker itself. Kinda like the workout pause you just added. Before traveling you could select Driving Mode and the tracker would pause counting steps. When your done traveling, turn off driving mode to resume steps. Maybe this is something you're already considering. I believe it would be a good fix. Thank you!

Moderator edit:Edited title for clarity 

[JMHutchins]

I want this feature as well.

[Keats86]

Didn't work for me? I can only assume that there are different types of dashboard/log, I got the bolt icon and see more but NO pencil icon though... Still Unable to delete false data...

[fluxx]

Sorry, but I don't think Fitbit should add such a feature, that would be just a workaround for the real problem. The activity recognition has to be improved so that such errors don't happen. I don't want to remember to push a button each time I enter a vehicle!

One solution I could accept is to exclude certain activities from auto recognition. For example I don't ride the bicycle, so I can deactivate auto tracking for that activity and lower the risk of false auto tracking.

[Fitstarted03]

Considering a main purpose of the fitbit is to count steps, it completely defeats the purpose of the device when it counts driving. 

Also the fact that I cannot factory reset my device is quite frankly ridiculous.

[sshouston]

It would be super handy to have a drive activity or a stationary activity shortcut on the device. Without it lot of people have issues with overcounting steps due to certain activities. This way we can manually start the activity for which we know we should not add steps. My issue was drumming activity...or for that matter activity like sewing for soem better halfs...I am sitting all the time but due to hand movement I am counting over 4000 steps in 1 hour. I would not want to log it as a drive activity through my dashboard. I hope this is implemented soon in coming firmware upgrades.

thanks,

sshouston

[2Paps]

As an avid motorcycle rider I not only would like to have this feature but I have real difficulty understanding why 3 years after the initial suggestion that nothing has appearantly been done.  

FitBit, please help!

New FitBit user with a Blaze.

[TheMongooseUK]

It is a bit crazy that nothing has happened on this in three years. I can get around having to log activity as "driving" so that it doesn't count calories. I can even just about get around having to use a separate app (DriveBit) to do that logging in an easy way.

But the thing that really gets me about this, is that logging an activity called "Driving" qualifies as one of my days of weekly exercise.

Seriously?

If "The main goal of the tracker is to motivate to an healthy lifestyle", as mentioned above, being able to cheat through my weekly exercise by commuting to work as normal is not a useful motivator. 

[Cleanerspirit]

Are there any updates to this two plus year old issue? I just got my Charge 2 and have had steps register when I am not wearing the device... The device history also shows steps that would have occurred while it was still in the original package. The Drivebit option is not available for iPhone users, and inputting "driving" did not reduce my steps... Extremely frustrating! Please reply, thanks

[Nitish_maestro]

Hey, this issue has not been addressed till date. I got so frustrated that
I sold my Surge. Instead I am using a Xiaomi Band 2 temporarily. And
surprisingly such a basic and simple band doesn't count my steps when I am
driving. I might never ever buy a fitbit again.

[Nitish_maestro]

Hey, I don't think they really care. And that's why I sold my surge and
will never buy a fitbit again.

[Nitish_maestro]

Hey, I don't think they really care about our health. If that was the case
something would have come up in these long years of numerous complaints.
PS: I sold my surge

[Angie16]

Yes and when you are sitting or rocking, it would stop the erroneous step counting.

[SakenPT]

This is the only feature that I - as a new user - miss daily. I drive twice, each about 30\45 minutes to\from work and part of the road is really unstable... It is really annoying me to have to log my driving time each day.. and worse... it gets logged as an exercise... so it seems I already have 2/5 activities this week and only worked out yesterday and won't today.... Or even worse, If I don't work out in a full week it will still give me 5/5 completed activity...

I'm loving fitbit and in general i'm finding the steps very accurate, the workout log works wonderfully, sleep stats as well, but the driving bit?

Way too annoying. Please attent to it urgently 😞

[Sunkris]

Really? Is this feature being incorporated into the tracker taking you so long? Have you even attempted to provide a more feasible solution where the user can manually turn OFF any tracking while driving and turn it back on later? Is this forum of any use if this matter cannot be even partially addressed for such a long time now?

The only workaround you have giving since ages is to enter a "Driving' activity manually! And funny enough, that log is considered as an exercise. What nonsense is all this?

I don't know how Fitbit reviews across various review sites did not include this as one of the biggest drawbacks but I think we should do more to bring this issue out in the open so that buyers can be better informed.

[roozill]

Yes.. better to be able to tap on the device than have to manually log it every time. Upvote!

[SunsetRunner]

It's frustrating enough that whilst driving my Fitbit logs steps and that the only way to correct this is to enter driving as an activity but added to this it then counts towards your activity score! I would like to see this changed as activity should only count when it is actual exercise!

thanks

[mjayh]

Do Fitbit developers even check this section of the forum? And if they do, do they even attempt to fix issues, or add in features?!

This feature is one of the most liked comments on here, yet after nearly 3 years this feature has still not been implemented! It's all a bit ridiculous really. You may as well not even have a 'Feature Suggestions' section, if no one at Fitbit is even going to listen to users suggestions...

Just saying...

[Ton]

As a Charge 2 user, I will add my voice to the choir to request such a feature to be implemented, although pretty sure that no one will listen...