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Chibihalo, it's nothing to do with the trackers at all - the trackers don't determine activity type, that is handled sever side by Fitbit after syncing the data, from what I can tell.
This is purely a phone app based issue, and Fitbit's unwillingness to add this little function to the app.
I was directed by Fitbit support to come here and submit my change request, but so far they are avoiding the issue, possibly going to drive us towards purchasing a surge or blaze.
From a technical point of view, what do we know so far that it is done:
the mobile app can use the GPS to record a track as an activity; this activity will have some other info, besides the GPS data, such as steps counted by the mobile app;
the said activity can then be "enriched" with data from a tracker, adding more info, like heart rate data;
information common between the tracker and the mobile app (like steps, stairs etc) will be overwritten when syncing the tracker with the mobile app. Usually i think that the tracker info takes precedence;
So what can be the blocking issue to prevent implementing this feature? Maybe the fact that tracker info overwrites info on the mobile app? I would like a dialog with Fitbit tech people on these questions,we're a community here, perhaps we can help! Come on, don't ignore us bikers (with no Surge) ! Help us helping you!
As @guyCorcoran said, perhaps some other pressure is appropriate? Negative app reviews? Facebook page? Other? Social media experts, what might get some attention?
Im very suprised this issue has been opened so long. It's a no-brainer to be able to legarage the GPS abilities of the mobile apps to allow bike rides to be logged.
Please add this quickly. It makes logging my exercises look stupid when I have these stupidly fast supposed runs logged that are actually bike rides.
Please add cycling as an option to the mobile app in addition to running, walking, and hiking. I don't need new features - just a new exercise label. I have a Charge HR that tracks my heart rate during my rides, but the only way to accurately combine that with speed, elevation, and distance GPS data is to call my bike ride a "hike" (or run or walk) in the mobile app - which seems silly.
I've just realised why they will never do this: the Surge is their cycling-enabled, GPS-enabled watch but when GPS is enabled the battery life is 5 hours max!
If they combined the GPS of a smart phone with the HR of a Charge, they would render the Surge pretty much obsolete - why buy the Surge when you can get longer battery life with a Surge and just recharge your phone on your return (which would recharge faster)?
It will never happen, imho.
PS: Regardless of this it just so happens that my Charge has broken, so I may get a refund and upgrade.
UPDATE: (5/5/16) So my Charge HR cracked on the edge of the display and also developed a bubble on the band. I sent it back to be evaluated for a return via OfficeWorks and this was accepted. Decided to upgrade to the Blaze. So the Blaze has exactly what we all want; GPS of runs and rides via link to phone plus the heartrate from the wearable. So, it turns out that they've made what we want - it just requires spending more money. Whether or not they can actually achieve this with the Charge HR I don't know.
However, if your Charge HR breaks under warranty I highly recommend the Blaze. I didn't want to give Fitbit any more money; however, it's a great piece of kit and well worth an upgrade if you have a return. It looks good, readable in daylight, multi-sports, notifications from phone, and more. I actually love it. Still annoyed at Fitbit for not addressing this issue with the Charge HR but I'm happy now.
I am a bit late to the party with this, but isn't the original idea just to simply track the time and distance? Personally I don't particularly want to add detailed info I just want the app to log the GPS (hence distance) and the time. During that period the device should ignore any step data as it is erroneous and caused by vibration but I can't see why that would pose a problem.
As I said before, one possible explanation is that tracker data overwrites the phone data. So while you will record a bike ride with GPS data on your phone, most data will be overwritten with the tracker data when you sync.
It may be a data flow choice from their part, it may be lazyness, it may be low priority, it may be something else.
I would also like to see a "bike" option in the app when tracking excercises. I don't care that the Charge HR didn't auto recognize that I was biking. I don't care for any special bike related features in the Fitbit app. I just want GPS tracking with time and distance cues when I am riding.
I listed my bike ride as a "run" just so that I could have the GPS information and the time/distance feedback during my ride. However, I'd like to be able to distinguish (historically) my running from biking.
I looked through the third party app integrations, but most of those seem to revolve around pushing Fitbit data into those apps to see along the data already in those apps. The Fitbit app is my primary spot to store and consume fitness and activity information. I'd rather not rely on moving to a different app that syncs Fitbit data just so I can see GPS data for my bike ride distinct from my runs.
Define which exercise is your default exercise when you hold the fitbit Charge HD button
For each kind of exercise, you could define some settings like track GPS, have a count down before start tracking, etc
2. At the device, when you hold the button to start
It will show the name of exercise like Walk/Run/Bike/Hike, etc... at this moment, you could just leave there if you are gonna do the default, or press the button again to change the exercise
Define which exercise is your default exercise when you hold the fitbit Charge HD button
For each kind of exercise, you could define some settings like track GPS, have a count down before start tracking, etc
2. At the device, when you hold the button to start
It will show the name of exercise like Walk/Run/Bike/Hike, etc... at this moment, you could just leave there if you are gonna do the default, or press the button again to change the exercise
Only having walk, hike, run on the exercise tracker does not allow GPS tracking for bicycling. If you use the run to GPS track for bicycling the data looks odd.
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