Manually created activities seen as 'unverified' by healthcare partner

[su11]

So I bought the fitbit Alta HR for the purpose of tracking HR activities, as there's a program whereby I should get rewards through my healthcare provider (Discovery Health, South Africa). After some trial and error, I figured out I had to manually add my indoor cycling activities. This is my main activity due to an ankle injury. It seems to work quite well and pick up my heart rate accurately for the specified time. The issue though, is that Discovery doesn't recognise the workout because it's seen as 'unverified' or 'edited'. Seems silly since its using my recorded HR data and I'm not editing anything other than to specify a start time and duration. Could we not just get a quick 'start' button on the app to start an exercise? Very sad about the situation as I've been back and forth with Discovery all month 😞 

[WavyDavey]

Hi @su11,

Sorry to hear that. I could see how that would happen-- manually edited activities often don't "count" because the number of steps, etc. can be changed. There were situations in friend's competitions where people used this to inflate their numbers. Isn't that how it is sometimes--a few dishonest people make things difficult for everyone else. Such is life...

I don't know whether the "unverified" status is something that Fitbit flags, or if the healthcare provider gets to define that. Personally I would keep trying with Discovery, to see if they can somehow make an exception in your case. Or maybe they could go by Active Minutes instead of activities?

[EvdStockt]

Hi

I bought my FITBIT ALTA HR early in August 17.   I like it a lot.  It works fine for all my road cycling activities.  But it doesn't recognize my cardio exercises on my stationary spinner. at home.

I also contacted Discovery Vitality in South Africa several times to get "cardio points" recognition but Discovery keeps on rejecting my claim, because Discovery believes that the FITBIT data can be manipulated by the users!  Is this true?  Can FITBIT users add and edit cardio data on the FITBIT website?  I can' t see any function on FITBIT's website that allows me to manipulate my data.

I asked Discovery Vitality several times now why they believe that I can add and edit cardio data, but they refuse to answer that question, and keep on replying that Discovery Vitality only recognizes workouts as defined by FITBIT.  And that my issue is not with Discovery Vitality but with FITBIT, because FITBIT needs to recognize the workout in their opinion.

I joined Discovery Insurance and Discovery Credit Card to get to GOLD status.

Now it looks like DISCOVERY VITALITY is trying to stop me from reaching Gold Status for the first time.

I am seriously thinking about changing my Insurance back to my previous insurer and cancelling my Discovery Credit card.

[NellyG]

That sounds crazy to me. I DO understand them wanting verifiable exercise, but as you have found out Smart Track only recognises certain activities and outside those you have to enter manually. I guess Discovery is saying you have to use exercise that smart track recognises, or perhaps have a different tracker. The Charge 2, for example has a stop and start feature where you can use custom activities (like spinning) but I dont know if Discovery would see that as manipulated figures or accept it. I really dont know what you can do to fix it.

[EvdStockt]

Hi.  FITBIT could solve this easily.  FITBIT could add a function on their website that defines a 30+ mins cardio exercises.

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there everyone! 🙂 Great to see you all in the Forums! 🙂

I'm sorry about this inconvenience. At the moment, the only information that counts for the daily totals and the information that transfers over to other apps, is the one directly recorded from the tracker. This means that if you record an activity manually, this will not count towards your daily totals and will not reflect in Challenges or in the weekly report. This is in part because of the way that the Alta HR works. It auto recognizes your activity after a certain amount of time (10 minutes the least) and on the Fitbit app, you can only track walks, runs or hikes from there directly.

When it comes to other trackers as the Blaze or the Charge 2 for example, you can start an activity record from your tracker itself and this will count for other apps and for challenges and weekly reports... Just for you to keep this in mind.

Any other question, I'm here to help!

[EvdStockt]

Hello

Thank you for your reply and your offer to help with more questions.

It looks like I bought the wrong FITBIT device.  I should have bought a BLAZE or Charge 2.

(I bought the device early in August and can not trade it in anymore.)

It looks like the problem is "movement" recognition (because there is no movement on a stationary spinner bicycle).

Can you perhaps assist with the following question:  how does my ALTA HR recognize "movement"?  From GPS info?  Or from "arm movement"? 

If the answer is "from arm movement", then the ALTA HR should pick up my cardio exercise on my stationary bicycle spinner if I swing my left arm (with the ALTA HR on it) forward and backward.  How long do I have to do this if I spin for 60 minutes?

Thanks for your help.

[NellyG]

No that is not how it works. The Alta HR contains accelerometers that measure the movement from one place to another - foward and backwards motion - which you dont have on a ststionary bike or a treadmill. That is why the tracker cant 'see' the activity.

If you pump your arm backwards and fowards as you spin the tracker may think you are running or walking and register that, but you would have to keep it up for the whole time.

[sarah654]

I'm confused.  I've had a charge HR for 2 years and it has auto recognised activities when I,ve forgotten to push the button.  I've also been able to add activities and been able to see calories, heart rate and level.  So I had no worries about replacing the falling apart Charge with a thinner Alta HR.  on it's first day it failed to recognise one bike ride of 2 and a body pump class.  Then when I tried to put the pump class in manually all it only showed the calories.

Why are the algorithms different???

As with other users I need it to record to get my vitality points so it's not fit for purpose

[EvdStockt]

Yes, I agree with you.

My ALTA HR records all heart rate info correctly (after I learned to tighten the strap around my wrist).

FITBIT reports all my "movement" activities e.g. walking, running and outdoor cycling to Discovery Vitality and I get the Vitality Reward points immediately.  But...

Fitbit also records all my cardio "with little or no arm movement" exercises (e.g. spinning) correctly, but for an obscure reason doesn't report these exercises to Discovery Vitality. 

All the cardio information of these exercises is available  on the FITBIT website.  There is  a "LOG an ACTIVITY" function on the FITBIT website that one can use to define your exercise using the cardio data collected by the ALTA HR.  The problem is that DISCOVERY VITALITY doesn't recognize this exercise, because DISCOVERY VITALITY believes users can falsify cardio data!  I am very disappointed with DISCOVERY about this, because all cardio information was collected by the ALTA HR device i.e.there is no way that a user can falsify data

I pointed out to DISCOVERY VITALITY in emails and to FITBIT in emails and in this forum.

VITALITY's answer was: sorry, we only recognize exercises reported to us by FITBIT.

FITBIT's answer was: sorry, we only send cardio "movement" activities to DISCOVERY.

I have worked 44 years in the IT industry and know that FITBIT could easily fix this, because FITBIT has all the cardio data in its data base, and can easily add a function to recognize a cardio "with little or no arm movement" exercise. 

I agree that a user can falsify "movement" data by swinging the FITBIT device, but a user can not falsify heartbeat information.

So I think you are correct: the ALTA HR is not fit for purpose (if you are doing lots of cardio exercises without arm movements).

[NellyG]

I dont see why Fitbit is being blamed here! This is a Discovery issue and as far as I can see it is up to them to fix it (with Fitbit or with the users). Why should you think it is Fitbit's problem? It is a small group (as far as Fitbit is concerned) so you can hardly expect them to change their ways just to suit Discovery clients. I DO sympathise with Discovery customers affected, but I certainly dont see it as Fitbit's problem.

[EvdStockt]

Thank you for your sympathy NellyG.

I believe that it is in FITBIT's interest to fix this.

Discovery has 2.7 million members in our country.

FYI: Discovery Vitality offers APPLE devices via their websites, and banned data from FITBIT devices last year.  FITBIT resolved DISCOVERY's issues earlier this year, but clearly didn't resolve all issues.

Thw word is spreading quickly in the cycling community that not all FITBIT cardio workout data is uploaded to Discovery by FITBIT, and FITBIT will lose business.  So it is in FITBIT's interest to resolve this.

[LeeFit]

And now I have the same problem 😞 I wish I had seen this thread before I got the Alta HR.  I too am a cyclist and believe it or not, out of 7 outdoor cycling activities I've done, I've only been rewarded twice!  I also train on a Wattbike 5 days a week and get no points for this even though Fitbit recognizes it and it shows on my Fitbit Dashboard that I rode Bike at x bpm ... so I am very confused as to why only 30 % of the information of my outdoor cycling is shared with a 3rd party (Discovery Vitality) and the other 70 % not.  Then as for the indoor sessions, it automatically updates on my Dashboard and I can't manipulate anything but Discovery says they get a message from Fitbit saying it is "unrecognized" although on the Dashboard it clearly says BIKE (and I didn't put that there)!  Frustrating to say the least ... My husband has the same problem with his Fitbit Charge 2 - he has NEVER received any heart rate points as like me, he cycles at least 6 days a week on both Wattbike and MTB and Road Bikes.  Why does Outdoor Bike get sent to Discovery (sometimes) but not the Bike data?  I just exercise, I don't do anything but check my Dashboard ... I hope someone can give us a proper solution.

[EvdStockt]

Hi

I just read your post.

I use my ALTA HR only for my road cycling activities and it works perfectly.  I receive 300 point from Discovery for each ride (which lasts more than 60 mins and my heartrate is in my  80% to 100% zone, as defined by Discovery).  I'm 64 years young and my 80% to 100% is therefore from 125BPM to 156BPM.

Just make sure that you move the ALTA HR up on your arm and tighten  it.   The FITBIT book says at least 4cm from the bone that sticks out above your hand.  I didn't do that when I started riding with my ALTA HR and had false HR readings i.e. my heartrate was not in my 70% to 100% zone and one doesn't get any Discovery points then.

I have made peace that I will not get any Discovery points for my workouts on my spinner, because I get 900 points every week from my road cycling.  This means that I make my Discovery Rewards target every week.  Also, Discovery limits Fitness points to 30,000 per year.  This means that I reach my maximum of 30,000 after 30 weeks (because I also visit the gym every week for which  get also 100 points per visit).

Bottom line: one can achieve both Discovery Fitness and Discovery Rewards targets.

Hope this helps.

[LeeFit]

Thanks!  Definitely going to use the tip of moving it up my arm, I actually haven't noticed where it sits but I cycled 32km today and got 300 points as my average HR was 82 % of my maximum, only the second time I've received points for HR.  Wattbike or Strava must be sending data to Fitbit as on my Dashboard it clearly says "Bike" as the Activity and has the km, speed and avg heart rate and I'm not manually entering this so not sure why Discovery doesn't accept it?  I was on WB yesterday for just over an hour at an avg heartrate of 76 % of my max and activity also says "Bike" same as today but no points.  Oh the joys of!  I guess we'll make points with gym visits and races then!  Thanks and have a great cycling weekend!