Charge HR Heart Rate Data not syncing to strava

[AndrewCorcoran]

Hi,

Just got a Charge HR a few days ago and I'm having issues syncing data with strava. I've recorded three activities using the fitbit android app and only one has synced my heart rate to strava. The other two synced the gps data correctly, but not the heart rate data. I was able to delete the bad activities from strava, export the fitbit .tcx file and upload it to strava and get heart rate data that way, but obviously this is time conusming and an extremely bad user experience.It seems like other people are also having this issue.

Is there any way to fix this as the primary reason i bought a Charge HR was to obtain heart rate data in strava and I was under the impression that strava and fitbit were in partnership to get this working?

Thanks

[SilviaFitbit]

@AndrewCorcoran Welcome to the Community! Thanks for the details that you've mentioned. Strava will sync activities recorded in Strava to Fitbit and Fitbit will sync GPS activities (recorded by a Fitbit tracker or MobileRun and heart rate data when available. 

So, if you track your activities using the app that's why you didn't get heart rate data in Strava. 

In case you're still having this issue, I would like you to unlink and relink both apps to see if it works the next time you track an activity. If it's still not working contact them directly. 

Hope this helps. 

[AndrewFitbit]

Thanks @SilviaFitbit! 🙂

Here's a bit more context as to what's happening in your particular situation. Since the integration with Strava was meant to be used with Surge (because it has built in GPS), recording activities using MobileRun + Charge HR can be inconsistent in terms of getting HR data to sync over to Strava. We hope to improve this functionality sometime in the future.

The HR data is added to the MobileRun activity once it is completed. Your tracker would need to sync the HR data before the activity is transferred over to Strava for it to show up in Strava, which unfortunately doesn't always happen. This is why you will see HR data in the Fitbit app but not in Strava.

Hope that helps clarify. 

[mtybf]

@AndrewFitbit - thanks for confirming - I am experiencing this very issue constantly. Which is that when I complete my activity in FitBit, the GPS data immediately goes to Strava which is great, but I'd say less than 50% of the time the heart rate data is not uploaded to Strava.

Why is this? Is there a trick to ensuring this data is consistently uploaded? And what is the exact timeline for fixing this issue? This feels like an issue purely inside the FitBit app, because the Heart Rate data does go up on occasion, it feels to me like the App sends the GPS data to Strava without waiting to sync with the Charge HR for the actual Heart Rate data.

[AndrewFitbit]

@mtybf It's not an issue with the Fitbit app or even with the feature itself, it's expected behavior. Your tracker needs to sync with the Fitbit app in order to transfer HR data to the MobileRun activity.

As far as a trick to get it to work, I unfortunately can't offer any advice. Some people can get it to work, others can't. When I originally tested to confirm this behavior, I wasn't able to successfully get HR data to Strava using Charge HR + MobileRun. I can only successfully get HR data to Strava when I use my Surge. 

I wouldn't necessarily call this an issue since the integration was intended to be used with Surge. However, the integration itself would need to be improved to solve for this scenario. There's no timeline in place, I only know that it will be worked on eventually.

[mtybf]

@AndrewFitbit Thanks for your response, dissapointing though it is to hear there's no firm commitment to fixing something that clearly *can* work (it does for me but not consistently). It's really the whole reason I bought the device 😞 

I am pretty sure that it's an issue of timing. Can you explain to me how HR data is pulled from the watch into the app when tracking an activity? Is it doing this constantly during the activity, or all at once at the end of the app? If I were to turn off syncing (which I believe refers to the link between the fitbit app and the fitbit servers) would that mean I could wait for the app to gather the HR data after I "Finish" the activity and then it would push to Strava when I manually sync?

Trying desperately to find a solution 🙂

[AndrewFitbit]

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@mtybf wrote:

I am pretty sure that it's an issue of timing. Can you explain to me how HR data is pulled from the watch into the app when tracking an activity?

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@mtybf So I did a little more testing for you. 

HR data will be applied to the activity as long as HR data was synced (either synced before or after you finished the MobileRun activity).

The only way your tracker would sync during the activity is if you have "All-Day Sync" enabled (syncs automatically every 15-20 mins). I was able to get HR data to Strava when I synced my tracker before I "finished" the MobileRun. The problem with that, is you would either have to sync through another device (PC, mobile, etc) OR you would have to wait for All-Day Sync to kick in on your mobile device before you can hit "finish". Once you finish the MobileRun it's going straight to Strava, with or without HR data.

TLDR; Your tracker needs to sync before you finish the MobileRun to get HR data to Strava. 

Turning off syncing won't work unfortunately, I tried it.

That's the only two ways I was able to make it work. Sorry that it's not an easier solution, but I hope that helps. 

[MartinB]

So that means it's just a software issue; wait to send to Strava after syncing the tracker.....

[mtybf]

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TLDR; Your tracker needs to sync before you finish the MobileRun to get HR data to Strava. 

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@AndrewFitbit - Awesome - thanks so much for sharing your knowledge here, I had a feeling timing was something to do with it. I did a couple of rides & runs this weekend and waiting 20 minutes or so each time before hitting Finish, and HR data went into Strava without issue.

Definitely a software bug which I feel could be easily fixed, even adding a "Sync Now?" modal when you click Finish would be enough, but I'm sure there are tonnes of cleverer options.

Thanks again Andrew for giving me a solution on this, much appreciated. Your hard work here really made a difference! It's a shame the company aren't backing you up with a commitment to fix this issue for all of us who must experience this bug every day. For now though, I'll live with it. However if I'd paid full price for this Fitbit I would be returning it though, because this is an inelegant solution when Strava & Fitbit are supposed to be properly integrated. If you're able to share this feedback with those making the decisions, I feel that would be useful.

[MartinB]

Just like adding a "cycle" or "bike" option in the Track Exercise, so Strava knows you are cycling

[mtybf]

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@MartinB wrote:
Just like adding a "cycle" or "bike" option in the Track Exercise, so Strava knows you are cycling

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@MartinB 100% YES. Is there an acknowledged reason why they don't allow tracking of cycling? I assumed it was some silly liability thing.

I have to go into Strava every time and change the activity to a ride, and of course all the FitBit calorie data and analysis is entirely wrong as it believes I can run at 40mph downhill.

[idiom]

So I've run into this issue and it's frustrating...Setting active sync won't solve the issue as can't guarantee when the device will sync at the end of your run. As it was said previously, the activity is uploaded to the fitbit site without any of the tracker data since the tracker hasn't synced and the strava integration is picking up the activity for import.

Ideally on the fitbit side an activity wouldn't be considered 'complete' until the tracker has synced. This would ensure integrations don't prematurely sync incomplete activity data, as the whole point is to augment the GPS data with tracker information (step count, hr data etc.) depending on your model. So it's really a bug with storing the activity state. 

Work Around: 

• Ensure your tracker has synced the HR and other data.
• Navigate to the activity on the fitbit website
• In the menu (top right '...') Select 'Export as .tcx file'
• Navigate to the strava website 
• Upload Activity --> File 
• Select the exported .tcx file

Note: If you have the integration enabled you will probably need to delete the activity in strava before it allows you to upload the tcx file as it will detect a duplicate activity. 

It sucks, but it works. 

[AnkitBiyani]

Has this matter been addressed?

I did a run after connecting Strava and Fitbit and recorded the run on the Fitbit app. Interestingly fitbit managed to miss the entire HR data. It is not showing up on either app. Am using a Charge HR

[mtybf]

@AnkitBiyani I gave up on Fitbit due to this issue and I now use another device to record GPS/Heart Rate. I don't want to name the device in case this gets deleted but this was a deal breaker for me and made the fitbit useless.

Honestly it's not just Fitbit who seem to want to hold this data hostage, I would recommend aiming for a service/device that lets you move data round easily.