Food log problems - many and various

[GuyFit]

I've started a new thread because all the others I can find are marked as answered but I still have many issues with food logging that are not fixed with any update. I am fully up to date on iOS 17.5.1 and Fitbit app version 4.21 (42143025). I've had these issues for years at this point. 

First of all sometimes my food log adds additional items that I did not select or input. These will be foods I have previously logged at the same time as something I have logged individually (ones that come up as suggestions below the food being added) but did not select or log on this occasion. Sometimes after deleting the erroneous items they reappear later in the day. This is also the case for items I have added myself that I later decide to delete (perhaps I planned a meal and logged it but then didn't eat all the items). Deleted items can and do reappear randomly. 

Sometimes I edit entries in my food log. I sometimes want to increase or decrease the amounts (eg I logged 100g but later realise I ate 150g of a certain food). I can edit the amount and the totals will change but even while I'm still looking at the log, a few seconds later, the item reverts to the original entry amount. I can repeat this process many times before the change will permanently register. Often an edited item will also revert back to its original amount when you are not looking, later in the day or even the next day. I've checked all my logged food at the end of a day and found the next day that the total shown has increased or decreased and when I check the log it will be because some or all of any edits I made have been lost. This also affects items that I may move from one time of day to another. I may have accidentally added the food to the wrong meal. I've learned that editing it, by simply amending the entry will usually result in it reverting back at some point, again this can happen several times, so I now delete the food and add it again correctly. 

The total calories consumed on my main screen does not always match the total in the actual food log. At times the total in the log is incorrect and that will be because it's counting a hidden item that I didn't add and which will appear later, something I have deleted or is disregarding any edits I have made. This sometimes turns out to be a duplicate entry that will appear later, which also happens. Items actually logged are sometimes duplicated by the app at random.

I can only log new foods that I've never logged before by fully closing the app and then reopening. Then I must go directly to the add food via the + button on the main screen (not via the food tab itself) and find the food. This is the case with barcode scanning also. If I have had the app open, looked at the food log in detail, done anything else then when I try to add a new food it will not work - typing in the search box will yield no results and scanning a barcode will not work either. 

On occasion food logging in the app appears to be adversely affected by my phone being in low power mode but all of the above also can occur when fully or decently charged above 20% battery.

All of the above have been mentioned here before and I'm here to tell you that no fix listed as 'best answer' on any thread has the slightest affect on them for me. Only the workarounds enable me to use the log effectively and it's extremely frustrating and annoying.

[GuyFit]

PS I also see my totals at the top of the food log changing. I can add foods, see the totals are correct but moments later the total drops down again. Usually it eventually catches up but on some occasions I can leave that tab looking correct but then later when I look back (even hours later) I will see all the items I have logged but the totals at the top of the page are too low and missing counting some items. Occasionally this will slowly update item by item, it seems, while I am viewing it. Usually all the items are eventually accounted for but on occasion, when looking back on previous days logs, I will see that the total is lower than it should be. When this happens I select the day's log, which usually shows all the food items listed correctly, just incorrect totals at the top. Then I select any of the foods and while in the edit page I will change the amount higher or lower and also toggle the meal time from one to another, then I reset them back to the correct amounts. This seems to jog the log into fully updating but not always. The total can correct itself and then moments later drop down again. I will repeat the nudging process on other foods until the total finally settles on the full and correct amount. Needless to sat this is also extremely annoying.

[GuyFit · Accepted solution]

No need for a response to this. I have finally come to my senses and bought a Garmin. Google cares about only one thing - our data. Perhaps they are even trying to wind down the Fitbit brand all together as they're doing a good job of killing it off. Once MY data is downloaded and I have fully migrated it will be goodbye Googlebit forever. 

The one single feature that kept me going with this brand was the integration of the food log in the app. This has always been extremely glitchy and never fixed (for years and years). Even with using the workarounds on a daily basis to struggle on with it the data has not ever been exploited to its full potential within the app or the now deceased web dashboard. This is another indicator that Googlebit is out of touch with users and their needs. Look at that fitness space and see what might be most useful to people who are trying to manage their weight/body composition. You've always gone half way there but not joined all the dots when it comes to managing a surplus or deficit in an easy to see fashion. Yes you can see that in the food log, but only one day at a time. How difficult would it be to show a weekly deficit/surplus as a running total? A lot easier than it is to extract the data and calculate it manually or via another app. 

While the removal of the web dashboard is the final straw it's more that this is yet another indicator that Googlebit doesn't listen or respond to its customers. Googlebit is loosing its grip on this space rapidly. A strong selling point of Fibit originally was it's independence - not Apple, not Miscrosoft, not Google. When Google acquired Fitbit I had some hope that it would be better resourced and some of the long running issues might be addressed and finally fixed. Sadly this is not the case and Google has their own agenda for the brand which does not seem to align with the customers needs or wants.