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".

[Ekland]

Agree.  I can’t use it because it does not have a simple pause count option.  Too many horse riding steps and cooking steps are added.  When I herb asked Fitbit directly I got stupid answers from a machine or person who isn’t even bothering to consider the issue.  Insulting. .  I can’t wait for a country from another manufacturer who actually listens and cares to its costumers 

[Dragonflyagk]

I REALLY would like this feature added. Please make sure you include it for the Charge 2.

I imagine it could be included in the same place as other activities, like “Walk”, “run”, or “hike”. And turned on and then off at the beginning and end of  driving. 

I tried manually entering a driving activity using the website dashboard. I was able to create the custom Driving activity and entered the start time and duration as instructed and then clicked the log button. It reduced the number of calories burned but did not remove the steps or floors that were logged during the time driving. So this isn’t a suitable fix for me. Bummer.

[Aina111]

Having my Fitbit charge 2 for only three days and I am already annoyed for not being able to pause the step counter. Back to just using my phone as this is an option there... too bad. Why did I by this Fitbit watch again...? I don’t understand why they haven’t fixed this yet...

[Aina111]

There is already many suggesting this. Be sure to like those suggestions as well in order to really show how many is interested in this.. then maybe Fitbit takes it more seriously and actually makes this possible?

[JabuFB]

I agree with the above post that whichever brand first introduces this feature will be the next activity tracker that I will buy. Came here to upgrade from my FitBit One to a newer version but seeing that pausing the FitBit whilst driving is still not an option I'll stick with my One until something appears on the market. Really hope it's a FitBit, but that's up to the developers.

[filamentary]

As many of us know, there's a Driving activity built in, and with the DriveBit app, you don't have to manually log. The biggest problem I have with the Driving activity is that in days I was sedentary, it tells me I exercised. Why is Driving considered exercise? Re-categorize it!  And also, you really should consider making the device have a built-in mode to stop tracking stats when you're definitely not exercising (car, train, cooking, reading in bed)!  It's silly to have to use DriveBit when FitBit could be taking care of this, since this is SUCH a common issue and renders the device grossly inaccurate, making it kind of pointless if you intend to rely on these stats to tell you what you're doing.  I am still in the 45-day return window, and am considering returning it, since there seem to be a lot of other brands of fitness trackers, and at least one of them is bound to have not overlooked this most basic of features! 

[roozill]

In total agreement with you there.
I've pretty much given up on my fitbit now because of this issue.
Fitbit's complete failure to address it has made the product inaccurate and
therefore useless to me.
A simple 'pause all tracking' mode would have done it.
My regret is having faith in Fitbit fixing this and not returning the
device while i had a chance.
Now I wish I had sent it back.

[AMY1993]

I knit and crochet and have found that while wearing my Fitbit charge 2, it logs nearly 20 steps for every 2 minutes I spend crocheting. That’s nearly 600 steps If I crochet for one hour!

I have tried switching the wrist I wear it on, as well as switching which hand is “dominant” in my settings, neither of which has helped. 

It would be very nice to be able to just “turn off” the step tracker while I’m sitting and crocheting so it stills tracks heart rate burn doesn’t inaccurately track steps. 

Right now I take the Fitbit off while crocheting, but this is not a great solution as crochet is my small business, so I spend hours a day crocheting, thus hours a day not actually using the Fitbit.  

[Tribble2]

I have to remember to take mine off every time I practice piano. How annoying!

[Furua]

Hi,

I skied today ( cross country ) an used the “bike” exercise mode on my Fitbit Ionic, and I got what I wanted, distance, puls, speed, etc.. ( the gps wasn’t as precise as the other watch I used. But from what I can see at the forum it’s an issue you are working on with the Ionic ) But why cant you make it possible to edit the exercise afterwords from “bike” to “cross country skiing? When I do it, it just jumps back to “bike” after a few seconds. 

[caitlyncohaulin]

Would someone from the Fitbit company please engage with this post without offering the "driving as a workaround" response? It would be great to simply be able to delete erroneous data manually (i.e., floors).

[Survey]

Caitlyncohaulin - You will no doubt have seen just how many comments there have been and pleas to Fitbit to update software to permit cancellation of false steps etc.  I have now given up asking fitbit directly despite the staff who respond to queries being very polite and appear helpful saying they will pass on requests to their IT team.  However, nothing changes and there are no updates.  I fear this will never happen. It should be so easy to update for this feature but No, nothing. Hopeless really! The feeling is that Fitbit are happy to sell their devices and do not care about making them more useful to users!

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[paulobordin]

Hi, I have a Fitbit Charge 2 and I would like to suggest a feature to avoid some fake step-counting. In my case, what happens is that while I'm driving my car, it shakes a lot because of the bumps or quality of streets and roads (the streets and roads in Brazil are not that good) and that's adds some steps to my daily counting that I consider unfair.

For instance, this weekend I drove my car for around 100 miles and I got around 1500 steps without having moved from the car's seat. My cellphone can detect that I'm driving so it doesn't count these fake steps, but the Charge 2 doesn't have this feature (mainly because it does not have GPS), so to solve this gap it would be nice to have a feature to lock the step counting, in my case while I'm driving, it would be like an anti-exercise (do not count my "steps" while I don't say so).

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[derboti]

Whether you call it "Driving mode" or something else, it is absolutely necessary that the user can "pause" step-counting when they know that they're about to do something prone to falsely identify steps (driving, biking, ironing). 

[Nehir]

It would be great to be able to manually pause the step counter. It’s counting a lot of false steps. 

[SunsetRunner]

As a brand new Fitbit owner I never thought to ask this question before purchasing. I just thought it was assumed as a table stakes requirement that you'd be able to pause step counting. I don't want steps counted when I ride my bike, when I work out on the elliptical or even when I go running. Steps are something you walk, not otherwise.  My free phone application from Samsung allows me to pause my steps, I find it ludicrous that a fitness driven device and app don't allow for this.

The option of logging alternative activities to delete after the fact is simply not a good long term solution. The software on the phone should easily be able to temporarily ignore incoming data from the accelerator and stop logging steps while continuing to acquire heartrate etc. This is a software fix that should be made available immediately.

Your competitors, in particular Samsung, allow for step pausing. Stay in front of Garmin since they don't seem to allow for it...

Please make an update ASAP.

[Paul_MT10]

100 % agree. I'm a multi drop truck driver so i have to use drivebit to cancel out all my fake steps while im driving but then this adds activity so i get a false activity reading for the day.

[Lincs27]

How can such a basic flaw exist in a device and be ignored for 3+ years!!!

I got my Charge 2 yesterday, took a taxi this lunchtime and BOOM ... 11.000 steps.

IMPOSSIBLE

There are so many ways to easily monitor activity properly.

The bracelet/strap has a girometer built-in that can sense acceleration and motion profiles; furthermore, linked to GPS it is a given that any speed over 10kmh IS NOT WALKING!!!

I am sending the device back on Monday due to this. I am not prepared to support a tech company of any kind that dozes for 3+ years on improving a basic system-logic flaw!

[SunsetRunner]

While I would definitely prefer having a driving mode, or some button to turn off the step counter, I haven't had this problem with my fibit apart from a couple of times when I first got it. This doesn't seem to be a problem anymore for me.

[fluxx]

I don't want another toggle that can be easily forgotten, please work on the automatic detection of driving instead. This shouldn't be to tricky?

[Ton]

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@Lincs27 wrote:
...How can such a basic flaw exist in a device and be ignored for 3+ years!!!...

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Actually 4 years since this thread was opened "merrily" celebrated a few weeks ago!... Just pathetic!

[CDERMODY]

I drive a school bus and my Fitbit Charge adds 1000 steps to a 15 mile bus run. I haven’t worn it in over a year now because it is such a flawed device. I now feel that I should have been made aware of this at the time of purchase . Fitbit must have known of this at the time that I bought it  and could have made the customers aware. I want my money back or an upgrade for the watch that I have . I am going to file a complain with The New York Sate Division Consumer Protection .

[Ton]

@CDERMODY

Sounds like a good idea. But, if you really have the chance, I would just go for the refund as any upgrade will not solve the problem.

[Angie16]

This was an issue when Fitbit first released the Fitbit charge. We have now had the Fitbit Charge HR and then the Fitbit Charge 2. They all have this issue. Seems it would at least been implemented in a later model. Fitbit are you even listening.

[CDERMODY]

I’m going to report this to the NYS Division of Consumer Protection on Monday. The very least that Fitbit can do is warn people when they buy it ,this company is a rip off.