Show altitude/elevation in Fitbit Charge 4

[vostokvladi]

Given that the Charge 4 has everything it needs to show this information (the altimeter sensor), I propose to add this precious information to a new clock face or an App.

The altimeter sensor was one of the reasons why I bought this model, and it's kind of disappointing to find out that this information is not visible.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @vostokvladi, and thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about having the option to see altitude in Fitbit Charge 4. We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If this suggestion receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

Watch this space for status updates. In the meantime, try visiting Health & Wellness to talk with other members about all things health and fitness.

[vostokvladi]

@YojanaFitbit Thank you very much for your answer.

Is it technically faisable with the sensors it has? There's another discussion about it and some users say it's not faisable.

This is the discussion:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-4/Add-altimeter-information-on-Charge-4-Clockface-a-o-App/m-p...

One user wrote: "Fitbit really does not measure the altitude but is looking at changes in altitude over a short period of time."

I wonder which kind of altitude sensor does Charge 4 have?

Based on position / GPS?

Based on temperature and pressure?

[Samuel-B]

I think that you should add a feature where you can see what your current elevation is, I think this would be something that I would like to know, especially when traveling. It could be an app or even just a built-in feature, but either way, I think it should be added.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Samuel-B, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see elevation tracked on Charge 4. 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.

[Standerson1]

I agree. I'd really like see elevation information. I'm training on trail running and mountain biking and that information is important. It flashes on my watch after an exercise, but then I have no way took see the information later. It doesn't record it when I sync to the phone app. Just seeing a change in elevation is fine.

[N.Corvid]

I would definitely love an active altimeter, It would be very cool to be able to check my elevation while on a hike.

[Nikworld]

The altimeter is the main reason I bought this watch. Very disappointed to find out that I cant see my current elevation. Please add this feature. Thanks

[SunsetRunner]

The excellent Charge 4 has a built in Altimeter & GPS. As a mountaineer it would be useful if the information from these sensors could be displayed on the screen in an appropriate format - i.e. altitude in m or ft rather than floors climbed (a generally pointless metric for outdoor folk) and position in local grid reference or lat. & long.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to show altitude/elevation in Fitbit Charge 4. 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.

[BobMax]

I hike slot and elevation data would be very useful.

[LVinLA]

I'm looking to replace my aging Charge 2 (cracked screen from rock climbing), & it seems the Charge 4 now has internal GPS with very limited 5 hour battery life, useless even for day hikes. And, the Inspire has no altimeter. Does Fitbit make a tracker for hiking, with in-app realtime track maps, that also include elevation & heart rate?

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @LVinLA, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see elevations stats for hiking activities on Charge 4. 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. 

[LVinLA]

YojanaFitbit  That's not at all what I was asking for, you've completely misunderstood, and combined my question inappropriately!  I'm asking if the old functionality of the app-mapped activities, where you get the realtime map during your hike, with the elevation & heart rate data included after the activity syncs, will ever be restored. (This broke in July 2019, worked fine for years prior to that)

The Charge4's internal GPS, which reduces battery life to a minuscule 5 hours max, is totally useless for even day-hiking. We need long battery life in the tracker, with realtime maps using the phone's GPS! 

The Inspire is not useful either since it has no altimeter.

Can you please restore my original post?

[LVinLA]

Hi @vostokvladi,

Fitbit trackers use an uncalibrated barometric altimeter - uncalibrated in that it has no reference elevation (doesn't know where sea-level is), & doesn't account for localized weather (you'll see extra floors or missing floors when there's a front moving through). So, this sensor by itself is useful only for counting floors (relative elevation).

The Charge 4 has internal GPS though, which does provide elevation data, along with lat/lon horizontal location. So, it is indeed feasible for these data to be included in the Charge 4 display, as other GPS watches do.

Typically, trackers made for mountaineering & backcountry hiking/skiing/snowshoeing use both barometric & satellite data, cross-calibrated to filter out errors (GPS/GLONASS vertical error is typically ~3 times worse than horizontal). These have much longer battery life as well, 28 days & up, some with photovoltaics built into the display for solar charging. If you're bagging 14ers in the Rockies, Charge 4's 5-hour battery won't even make it to the first summit 😉 

[vostokvladi]

Hi @LVinLA , thank you for your reply.

I think we can forget about the internal barometer, and get what we want anyway.

In fact I wrote my suggestion before the last firmware update of July 2020. Since then it's possible to use the smartphone's GPS, so I think the feature is even more feasible now. It would be enough to calculate the altitude based on GPS information coming from the smartphone's GPS, or to get this value directly from FitBit App. Am I right?

All this would be achieved without using the battery-killing integrated GPS.

Just for info, I never use it 😊 5 hours is simply ridiculous for a watch, it's enough just for walking the dog 😊

[LVinLA]

Hi @vostokvladi,

I had been debating about whether to buy a Charge 4 or switch to Garmin, & tried to find out about using my phone's GPS with the Charge 4 (same as I do with my old Charge 2), but Fitbit's customer service couldn't answer. Thanks for the info that this does indeed still work. I also found a technical review in PCmag saying that there was a "Dynamic GPS" feature to allow for using your phone's GPS to save tracker battery. So, I ordered a Charge 4, still waiting for it 😀  My Charge 2 will be three years old next week 🎂, takes a licking & keeps on ticking.

Using my old Charge 2, I have noticed distance inaccuracies between hikes mapped from the mobile app (starting a Run/Walk/Hike from the Exercise + on Fitbit "Today" page, vs using the tracker's "Exercise Shortcuts". Tracker-mapped activities typically measure only 80-90% of the distance than the same activity mapped using the app, even though both are using the same GPS data from the phone. When I'm doing an off-label activity like kayaking or cross-country skiing, the difference is even more dramatic, with the tracker measuring only 30% of the distance, almost like it's actually using my walking stride to compute distance rather than GPS! Guess I'll find out soon enough what the Charge 4 does.

As for elevation, I use both floors & absolute altitude. I usually use app-initiated mapping to get the realtime track map (especially when I'm on an unfamiliar/unmapped trail, to keep from getting lost) & also to get accurate distance. I can then use my tracker to see floors in realtime & estimate altitude (starting altitude plus 10 feet per floor). I also use the app "Floors Climbed vs Time" plot for trail running (the1day scale shows floors per every 15 minutes), especially when I'm training for a trail race. The GPS elevation vs time plot often has big 30-foot discontinuities due to GPS vertical error, so the barometric altimeter is actually more useful for this application.

[Jessie3W]

I agree with all of the previous comments. For hikers and travelers, "floors climbed" is not nearly as helpful as actual elevation relative to sea level. I would not be surprised that many outdoors enthusiasts chose another brand over Fitbit purely based on the fact that it as the ability to show your elevation, but Fitbit just hasn't invested in that feature. Seems like an easy upgrade!

[vostokvladi]

Hi @LVinLA , the Charge 4 with Smartphone GPS works fine, judging from my own experience. I think it highly depends on the Smartphone model. Since I've changed it, I am having no problems.

It's not very accurate from time to time, and I didn't understand yet what it depends from.

For example, I start manually my bicycle activity and, at the end of the training, FitBit adds 40/50 floors, like I was walking and not cycling! This is a little bit disturbing but it only happens from time to time.

As I wrote before, I never use the integrated GPS because it consumes too much battery.

Another thing I would improve, is that FitBit App tracks mapping (extremely accurate) only of you start manually your training. The automatic activity recognition works fine, if the activity lasts longer than 10 minutes, but it doesn't record the map! Weird, but true.

I think it would be quite easy for FitBit to track altitude, I wonder why they don't do it. If it would be possible to develop custom Watch faces, I'd do develop it by myself 😀. Unfortunately, this feature is reserved for FitBit OS based devices.

[LVinLA]

@vostokvladi @Jessie3W @BobMax @SunsetRunner 

Should be quite doable for Fitbit to show absolute elevation in realtime using your phone's GPS. I made a few other suggestions in my post https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Make-a-Fitbit-for-hiking-realtime-track-maps-elevation-heart-rate/idc-p/4614716#M255199 like why not include terrain/topo data in the realtime map, and allow for using offline maps?

I'm hoping that when the Google acquisition goes through (once Google gets past the antitrust litigation), we might see some very cool improvements - very easily done by integrating GoogleMaps data into the Fitbit mobile app 😃

[vostokvladi]

@LVinLA there's a lot of potential, I think FitBit could do a lot even without Google. Some improvements are just there behind the corner, they can be achieved with a little effort. Just putting together a puzzle, when they already have all needed pieces.

[LVinLA]

@vostokvladi Sure, I agree Fitbit could do it even without Google, but they haven't.  Many of us have been trying since July 2019 to get them to fix the elevation & heart rate that disappeared from app-initiated hikes/runs/walks, and they've pretty much just ignored the feedback. This cost them lots of previously loyal hikers & runners who switched to Garmin or AppleWatch. I'm hoping an infusion of $$ and talent from Google would greatly improve customer service 😃

[SunsetRunner]

I'd be quite happy for altitude to be inferred from the fitbit's relative altitude - as long as there was a way to reset it at a known spot height (using a button, or via the app maybe?)

Most of the early altimeter watches relied on this method, and it was fine. You simply recalibrate your watch's altitude when you reach a known height (hut, summit, contour feature, etc).

I'm not as bothered about real-time GPS (I know how to navigate 😄 ).  The ability to confirm your position in an emergency can be comforting... ...though, as we're talking about using the watch in conjunction with a phone, there's always that as an option, I guess... .

[LVinLA]

Happy New Year!

Finally received my new Charge4 just before Christmas (after ordering on Thanksgiving!), so I’ve had several weeks to put it through its paces. Here’s what I’ve found so far.

1. “Dynamic GPS” (default setting): Couldn’t get this to work – even though I always have my phone with me, the tracker uses the battery-draining internal GPS. On Day-1, the tracker battery was dead before sunset, & this was just after winter solstice at 44° Northern latitude, where the sun sets at ~3pm! Also, if the tracker loses its GPS connection, it just terminates your activity tracking rather than re-acquiring signal & resuming. Reset this to “Phone GPS” immediately.

2. Distance Accuracy: The tracker’s built-in GPS does have the best distance accuracy, if its battery charge level is near full. For my hike on the morning on Day-1, distance measured with the tracker came in at >99% of distance measured using the Fitbit mobile app. I think the only reason there was any difference is that the tracker lost signal before I noticed it, & ended the app tracking to match. Day-1’s afternoon hike, with the tracker’s battery at <50% (still set to the default “Dynamic GPS” with “GPS LowPowerModeOn”) the tracker measured <75% of app-tracked distance. Presumably, the GPS LowPowerMode reduces the position update rate resulting in sub-sampling, which causes a significant amount of your track to be missed, especially if you’re not moving in a smooth line (I was snowshoeing through the woods, up a rocky mountainside - anything but a straight line!) Distance measured by the tracker in Phone GPS mode is still typically only 90-95% of the app-trackeddistance, same as my old Charge 2, also probably due to sub-sampling.

3. Elevation Accuracy: Elevation Rise measured with the tracker in Phone GPS mode is typically ~90% of the Floors measured with the tracker’s altimeter in stable weather (I’ve seen it as bad as 65% when the altimeter is seeing a front moving through.) The GPS errors are evident in the app’s Elevation plot, where slow drifts of ~10-20 meters over a few hours are likely due to ionospheric weather (I see this when I’m running repeated loops up & down a mountain), and sudden ~10m jumps are likely due to satellite handover.

4. Zone “Minutes”: I set my daily goal to 2500 & weekly to 20,000 (max allowed) to get rid of the incessant notifications. I was hoping there would be a way to ignore this fake-time & go back to normal-time Active Minutes – after all, I’m not moving at the speed of light with respect to the Fitbit universe. Einstein is rolling in his grave.

5. Battery Life: Although, Charge 4’s battery life is spec’ed at 7 days vs 5 days for Charge 2, even with the internal GPS disabled, Charge 4’s battery still drains way faster than my 3 year old Charge 2. Even after disabling all FitbitOS apps & turning off every possible notification, I was seeing more like only 2 days, although it has been getting a bit better as I find more settings to fix. Turning off auto-detect for Run with GPS, & auto-detect Pause seems to have significantly extended battery life – still working on this one 😀

[LVinLA]

@vostokvladi If you want your tracker to automatically detect running & map it, you have to set this on your tracker. Under Exercise->Run, it has options to auto-detect Run and Pause. This feature will generate a map of your run, unlike the 10-minute activity auto-detect on the app. Seems to use a lot of battery though, not sure why. Only available for running too.

[mnbit]

I would really like to be able to see my Charge 4 report altitude, either on my wrist or in the app. It would be helpful for hiking and mountain biking.
Part of the reason I bought the Charge 4 is because it said it had and altimeter. I was very disappointed when I realized all it did was count floors, and even then is usually not correct.