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Hi @Peuny, thanks for sharing this suggestion about being able to see your laps and other data on the Charge 4 while swimming with us. This idea was already requested in the Feature Suggestions board, so I’ve moved your post here. This will help us to keep the forums organized and make sure the suggestions don't get confused, or split a popular vote. Click on the thumbs-up to show your support.
Fitbit this feature really really needs to be added. It was one of the best features of the Ionic. I was expecting the same data on my Charge. So disappointed I can no longer see my length count. In all other regards the Charge is excellent, but this is a big disappointment. The charge is currently useless as a swimming tracker!
People just sell the bands like I did. I have also complained and complained here and in the end gave up. Life is just too short to wait for something they should have included from the beginning. I now have Samsung Active 2 which has everything. Even heart rate tracking while swimming.
People have asked for this feature since the release of the band so if they wanted to do it, they would have done it long time ago. They just don't care about their customers.
Agreed but you will find they will not do anything about it. Even now they are owned by Google. I've had mine a year and been shouting on here about it for the same length of time with absolutely nothing done about it.
Like people before you have done, I would recommend you sell yours!
Can't wait for this post to be deleted by an administrator who does bugger all!
I can’t believe this most basic feature is not available while I am actually swimming! It was the reason I bought my Fitbit! Currently wondering whether to just return it now after only 1 swim!
Yes why can't you see any data whilst actually swimming? And if I want to know what the actual time is why can't I do that without stopping the tracking? And at the very least edit the number of lengths done in the app afterwards as it can't track those done with a kickboard. Seems these basic suggestions have been around for years...
I recently upgraded to the Versa 3 and thought I was going crazy not being able to see the lengths swam. I have reread the instructions, been googling the fix and have finally come across this post. It is very disappointing that other Fitbit users have been requesting this fix for such a long time and it is yet to be implemented. It is such a good feature to have, especially when you can loose count easily. It has really dampened my excitement of upgrading. Please add this again Fitbit! Thank you.
Before I bought the Charge 4, I had an SC SportsCount LapCounter (from Bezo's company). It's waterproof, and you click a button to track each lap. I assumed, since the Charge 4 was tracking laps, I would no longer need to use both. But lacking the ability to see the lap you're on while in the pool, I now use both. Also, the Charge 4 has a built in SpO2 tracker. But, they originally wanted you to pay a monthly fee to see what your readings are. For about $10 I bought an SpO2 monitor (one time fee, not a monthly subscription.) Since the Charge 4 has this built in, it's too bad it couldn't just conveniently show me my stats.
I bought my Fitbit Charge 4 yesterday and after using today agree that not seeing my laps on the watch as you swim is not what o expected. I note the cpmments from 2020 now but would like to know if this problem is any closer to being fixed
I also cast my vote here, please include this feature soon! I actually did a lot of research about different tracking devices before buying the Charge 4 and the information that I found online suggested that I would be able to see my lap count on the device while swimming. (Swimming is one of my main activities, that's why it was important to me.) And it seems to be standard on all the devices from various brands that people around me in the pool are wearing. So I'm quite surprised now that I've realised I can't check my lap count while in the pool.
I think in order to make it a really attractive device for the swimming community it's necessary to include this feature. Thanks in advance for your consideration!
Just had to change my Versa 1 as it had died. Didn't even consider that the swim function would be effectively useless on the 'upgraged and better Versa 3'. My Versa 1 gave me good lap details, time and stroke. Really helpful to understand what was happening. Now I have a stopwatch. An expensive stopwatch.
Reading the above threads makes me loose all hope of it being fixed. The time and lack of any interest from Fitbit makes me think it will not be resolved, so I ought to get a different watch. After wasting cash on the Versa 3, it won't be a Fitbit.
If however someone from Fitbit pops on here to say the functionality will released on date X (not far away) then great I'll stay, otherwise will be looking in the sales...
just got the Charge 4. Only purpose: Swimming. Unfortunately it wasn't clear, that the laps are only shown in the app. So in the pool it is about as useful as a 40 years old Casio digital watch. Very disappointed. Any update in sight?
Any update to this from FitBit? I have the Versa 1 and was considering to upgrade until I realised that the newer Fitbits don’t display laps while swimming! Why would they not show that!? So odd!
I guess I’ll keep my money! Would be nice to upgrade so I have GPS in my watch etc but the laps counter is way more important.
The consensus seems to be, don't go with any of the new Fitbits if you swim. I too thought the extras such as GPS were going to be good. It did not occur to me that I would be losing key basic features when changing from Versa 1 to 3.
This seems to be the same for not just the Versa 3 but Sense and others. So perhaps a technical or use requirement change from Fitbit going forward.
What would be good is a Fitbit product manager explaining why we have lost from Versa 1-3 and if it is worth hanging around or will future models also discard swimming.
Hi. My Fitbit Ionic was recalled for a safety issue and so I have stopped using it. This displayed swim laps or swim distance whilst I was doing my swims. This was a very useful feature and something I assumed other Fitbit products would do. I have now bought a Fitbit Charge 4 which tracks exercises like running and cycling with GPS. Great! But when I get in the pool, all I get is the time since I started swimming! This isn't exercise tracking, it's just time-keeping! I have twice tried to use online chats to establish how to set it up to give real time laps or distances in the pool. Both times I failed to make the person in the chat understand that looking at the Fitbit App on my mobile phone whilst swimming was not an option! I also failed to establish from them which other Fitbit models do have swim tracking like the Ionic did, and am still not sure that any of the latest models do.
Does Fitbit have any plans to sort out this major deficiency with the Fitbit Charge 4 soon via a firmware update, or do I need to take it back to the store and buy a different brand?
I have a $30 swim lap counter, but I assumed such basic functionality would be visible in the Charge 4 while swimming. It's already tracking your laps, just display them. Not holding my breath (well, I swim, so I do hold my breath, but ...)
@carlsonb and @Jason_here - thanks for the responses! From looking further at this, I can see that, as you say, it's been a common thread in numerous community blogs in recent years and Fitbit just seem blind to the issue. Now that they have issued the safety notice on the Ionic, which did have real time lap and time tracking for swimming, I'm sure quite a few of the 1.6+ million ex-Ionic owners are going to be quite annoyed about the lack of suitable alternative models with this feature.
I bought my Fitbit yesterday to go swimming with it, only to find out it is completely useless during it. I wished I found this page sooner. Customer service points me to this forum, but apparently it has been going on for 2 years. How is this possible??? How hard can it be??
Awe crap! I bought this thing solely for swimming, having watched some youtube vids I became overwhelmed at trying to figure out which was my best option and I went for the name, figuring fitbit had to have this figured out. Now I see that I was totally mistaken, and that's a total bummer. Mine just arrived in the mail today, packaging dismantled, but now I already want to return it. What a ridiculous feature to overlook. Now that I can see the complaints about this are going back a couple years on this forum, it doesn't leave me feeling optimistic. I had some other beginners at the pool waiting to hear my feedback, and unfortunately my feedback is going to be that I am a fool for not being more diligent in my research.
I wonder if I can still return this on Amazon even though the pacaging is now shoddy?
Like everyone else on here I'm extremely disappointed at the lack of basic data available whilst swimming, I've only recently started swimming, but bought a Versa 3 this week specifically because it was waterproof and on the assumption that these basic features would be available. How I wish I'd found this thread 6 days ago - I would never have bought a versa 3 if I'd known. Really feel like I've been conned. I may take it back to the retailer and see if I can find a sympathetic store representative to process a return. Obviously, a much better solution would be for fitbit to provide a fix, but given how long this thread's been rumbling on, I don't hold out much hope of that!
I just found out that the Versa 3 does not display a lap count until you look at the app. I see that this topic has been going on for two years so apparently there will be no updates coming. I may return for a Garmin if no updates are coming
Can't help but agree with many comments here. To show the lap count on the watch during the swim at least! There are also vital data that would be useful for a swimmer such as strokes count, pace etc etc.
Xiao Mi band is able to capture that at a fraction of the price, and the reason why i changed to Charge4 was that the Mi band wasn't accurate in the lap count. Never would I expect that the Charge4 which is marketed as the advance fitness watch with swim capabilities - is not able to capture swim stats and display basic stats during swim.
Also, i'm not sure if i'm the only one? Charge 4 double count my laps all the time. Example, i swam 20laps x 50m, the final stats captured would always be 40 laps x 50m. I never tried setting the pool length to 100m (which is factually only 50m). And again, it capture it as 40 laps x 100m (i only swim back and forth 20 laps).
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