Strava integration - activities not showing in Fitbit

[Nokura]

Hi everyone - I linked my accounts on Wednesday and my first two rides recorded in Strava synced without any issues (Wedneday evening, Thursday morning Australian Eastern Standard Time).  I've logged two more rides since then (Thursday evening and Friday monring, AEST) and neither of them have synced to my Fitbit account - I can't see them on the web dashboard or on my iPhone app.  Both of them are showing fine in Strava.

I thought the accounts may have been disconnected so I checked and they show as being connected in both web dashboards.

Has there been any issue with the sync service?  If not do you know of a way to get it working again short of disconnecting and reconnecting the accounts?

[SeptemberWasp]

I was reliably getting two-way sync to the point that I was considering leaving or unflagging this thread. It seems now though it is no longer working.

The only thing different is that I was riding daily on strava and running on fitbit two/three times a week and the sync was fine. I wrecked my knee last week friday and have done nothing all week. This morning I go for a ride and its not syncing. Did I timeout? get bumped? Maybe the disconnect and reconnect gets you back in and bumps the oldest syncer off. 

This would explain why nothing happened to me as I was syncing a Strava ride twice a day every day.

Just a guess. Will try and disconnect and reconnect later if it doesn't sync in late.

[Candid_Cyclist]

I was thinking that it stopped working but then it just started again.  It picked up every ride from 6/11 to the morning of 6/19.  I logged 2 rides on Friday PM & Saturday PM that didn't showup.  I logged 2 more on Sunday PM and Monday AM.  That hadn't shown up in over an hour.

I was just about to post here that was broken again and BOOM, all 4 rides showed up at once.  Go figure.  Appearently it was broken over the weekend and somebody went in the office on Monday monring (PST) and hit the reset button on the server. 🙂

[dmason508]

yeah definitely hit or miss. My runs have been syncing from Strava to Fitbit for weeks, but today's didn't sync. I tried re-authorizing, but still no luck.

[zvjer]

Is it possible to run with strava and get the HR data from the Charge HR after the sync happens? Or it that cannot work is it possible to track a run with Fitbit MobileRun + Charge HR and get the whole rune + HR data in Strava? After reading all the comments on these topics I've got a feeling that none of this is possible with Charge HR, only with Surge which logs the whole running activity by itself.

[Eldor]

Add me to the list of folks having sudden trouble with Fitbit/Strava integration.  From the 3rd week of May to mid-June I didn't use the Fitbit or Strava, but until that time the syncing was working really very well.  I started using my Surge again mid-June and indeed have several cycling and walking exercises recorded with Fitbit.  But they do NOT migrate over to Strava!!

I've done the stuff suggested in this thread, but still nothing is syncing.  Just to be clear, I'm talking about syncing FitBit Surge data TO Strava.

Sure hope a fix for this is found soon.

[hillclimber13]

I bought the Fitbit Charge HR for one reason: To track my heart rate in Strava. It isn't working. I've connected my FB and Strava accounts several times. Not seeing anything FB-related in Strava and not seeing Strava info in FB dashboard. Are there any trouble shooting steps to resolve this issue? Otherwise this $150 gadget is going back to Amazon. Thanks.

[ScottSmithPhoto]

My work around is to track all exercise through the Fitbit app which seems to sync fine to strava including heart rate data. I then have change the exercise type in the strava app to ride. And the manually input the stats as a bike exercise in Fitbit with the calorie data from strava. Due to the time match it then pulls the map and heart rate info

Once it's all matched I delete the walk exercise from the Fitbit app. It seems to work fine with only the occasional blip with the maps not reflecting the full length of my ride.

BUT it's a pain all because I can't initially select Bike in the Fitbit app.

Hope this helps.

Really wish Fitbit would get this sorted.

[terryhardy1976]

I have had my Fitbit Chagre HR for nearly 2 weeks now, and also would like to add that I have never seen an activity sync Strava to Fitbit... I used to run with MapMyFitness and changed to Strava as that was not supported by Fitbit. I have tried the dis/re connect and will see if that changes anything. I am one unhappy customer as I resently upgarded to the Charge HR from jaJawbone, for the display and HR monitor. What is returns period for a Fitbit device, it totally makes the band useless if you cannot sync form app to app. I understand that there is a need to limit the apps but as stated in this thread.. Strava is one of if not the most common. Come on Fitbit... you'll lose custom.

[Eldor]

Hillclilmber13, when you say you want to track your heart rate in Strava using the Fitbit Charge HR, are you setting the Charge HR in EXERCISE mode?  If you're not doing that, I don't think there's any info for Fitbit to sync to Strava.

And to update my earlier post about suddenly not being able to sync my Surge to Strava, it's now working again.  And I didn't do anything to make it work.  I HAD disabled/removed the syncing as per suggestions in this thread but even after doing that I wasn't getting the syncing.  At least not that day.  I think it started up by itself the next day and indeed all the exercises I'd tracked with the Surge and which HAD been missing in Strava, suddenly appeared.

I'm happy again.  (We'll see how long THAT lasts!)

[hillclimber13]

---

@Eldor wrote:

Hillclilmber13, when you say you want to track your heart rate in Strava using the Fitbit Charge HR, are you setting the Charge HR in EXERCISE mode?  If you're not doing that, I don't think there's any info for Fitbit to sync to Strava.

And to update my earlier post about suddenly not being able to sync my Surge to Strava, it's now working again.  And I didn't do anything to make it work.  I HAD disabled/removed the syncing as per suggestions in this thread but even after doing that I wasn't getting the syncing.  At least not that day.  I think it started up by itself the next day and indeed all the exercises I'd tracked with the Surge and which HAD been missing in Strava, suddenly appeared.

I'm happy again.  (We'll see how long THAT lasts!)

---

Hi - thanks for your reply.

I received a reply from support and asking me the same thing and, yes, I admit - I had forgot to "start the workout."

That said, I went for a ride on Fri and Sun and started and ended the workout both times.  It shows up as a "bike" activity in my FitBit dashboard.  Shows my heart rate, heart rate zones, and calorie burn.  But still no heartrate activity in Strava.  I've revoked access and reconnected as Fitbit support recommended and nothing.

Let me ask so I can ensure my assumption is correct:  If the Fitbit and Strava were syncing correctly I'd be able to see my heart-rate in Strava for different segments of the ride, yes?

I couldn't care less about how many steps I walk or floors I climb (gosh knows where Fitbit gets this number - it seems unreasonably high) or anything else the Fitbit does.  Just want to track my heart rate on my bike rides.

Good thing I kept the packaging for this thing.  It's going back to Amazon soon unless by some magical event Strava syncs the data. 

[Eldor]

Yes, if Fitbit and Strava are syncing correctly, you WOULD be able to see your heart rate for different segments of the ride.

But...

I have BOTH a Charge HR and a Surge.  I use only the Surge for cycling because I really like the GPS aspect of it.  It's nice to see my route on a map (on both the Fitbit and Surge sites) as well as my stats for the ride. I use the Charge HR to monitor my sleep patterns and to track daily activity WHEN I'M NOT CYCLING.  So I really do not know what data the Charge HR would send to Strava.  And heck, I wasn't even aware there was a cycling mode on the Charge HR.  No idea what it could monitor other than heart rate and time of the activity.  In any case, I question the usefulness of having your heart rate recorded WITHOUT a corresponding GPS track of your route.  Without the GPS data, you'd have to figure something like, "10 minutes into my ride my heart rate was 150bpm" but unless you knew exactly where you were that 10 minutes into the ride, knowing your heart rate to me at least, is a lot less useful.

I cycled in to work today (and used the Surge) but when I get home tonight I'll take a look at the Charge to see if cycling mode had been added in a recent firmware upgrade and maybe I'll do a little test to see what data it sends to Strava.

But I'm REAL happy with the data the Surge is sending to Strava.

Cheers!

[hillclimber13]

---

Eldor wrote: In any case, I question the usefulness of having your heart rate recorded WITHOUT a corresponding GPS track of your route.  Without the GPS data, you'd have to figure something like, "10 minutes into my ride my heart rate was 150bpm" but unless you knew exactly where you were that 10 minutes into the ride, knowing your heart rate to me at least, is a lot less useful.

---

Agreed.  But assuming Strava, my Android Phone, and the Fitbit Charge are al synced to the same time server one would think that the Fitbit could alighn historical heart rate data minute-by-minute with Strava.  Again, I am just assuming this is how it works. 

The surge looks badazz and was almost going to pull the trigger but at that price point and the fact I've been going gadget crazy and buying a bunch of stuff lately I decided on the Charge.  Especially after I had read it worked with Strava.

I'l give it one more try this weekend.  Thanks.

[Candid_Cyclist]

I have yet to see my Fitbit Charge HR feed any activities to strava.  I agree that with the timestamps it could be done but it isn't.  Even if it was, the heartrate during high intensity exercise is woefully inaccurate as reported by just about everybody that has compared it to chest strap data.  I was really hoping it would replace a chest strap but no.  I did a 1000' 17% climb @88 degrees F this weekend and it had my max HR at 142, um, no.  I've tried wearing it higher on my arm but it slides down to the skinny part of the wrist.  I dont' see how it wouldn't.

I've had my Fitbit for about 2 months now and it has been demoted to semi useful toy.  But then again, I'm not a pro athlete so even a chest strap is really only a toy for me.  It's good to keep a casual semi-accurate record of some runs, heartrate, activity level, relative sleep pattern. 

If you are really looking for it to replace a chest strap for accurate heartrate on Strava, return it, you'll just be frustrated.

[Eldor]

I think you're asking/expecting too much.  Why would you think this is a Fitbit issue?  If anything, you're trying to get Fitbit data and Android Phone data into Strava and expecting that somehow it's all got to sync together.  I think that's unrealistic, and especially so to think that it's Fitbit's responsibility to solve this.  Fitbit just passes the info on to Strava.  It's up to Strava to figure out what to do with it.  At least that's how I look at it.  Sure we'd all like everything to work exactly as we want, but unfortunately in the real world it's not always the way it happens.

@hillclimber13 wrote:

---

But assuming Strava, my Android Phone, and the Fitbit Charge are al synced to the same time server one would think that the Fitbit could alighn historical heart rate data minute-by-minute with Strava.  Again, I am just assuming this is how it works.

---

[hillclimber13]

---

@Candid_Cyclist wrote:

I have yet to see my Fitbit Charge HR feed any activities to strava.  I agree that with the timestamps it could be done but it isn't.  Even if it was, the heartrate during high intensity exercise is woefully inaccurate as reported by just about everybody that has compared it to chest strap data.  I was really hoping it would replace a chest strap but no.  I did a 1000' 17% climb @88 degrees F this weekend and it had my max HR at 142, um, no.  I've tried wearing it higher on my arm but it slides down to the skinny part of the wrist.  I dont' see how it wouldn't.

I've had my Fitbit for about 2 months now and it has been demoted to semi useful toy.  But then again, I'm not a pro athlete so even a chest strap is really only a toy for me.  It's good to keep a casual semi-accurate record of some runs, heartrate, activity level, relative sleep pattern. 

If you are really looking for it to replace a chest strap for accurate heartrate on Strava, return it, you'll just be frustrated.

---

Thanks for the info.  It's going back today.  Cheers!

[retrac]

I returned my charge hr as well as Strava would not play nice.  Strava is more important that fitbit.

when will fitbit understand they are not the gorilla in the room and they need to play nice?

[Eldor]

Retrac, I too like Strava, but I don't really think you're being fair to Fitbit here.  (And I have no particular loyalty to Fitbit... I'm just a user.)

The Surge, with GPS, sends data perfectly to Strava and I'm very pleased with the results.  I also have a Charge HR, but the only thing I've used that for is walking where I'm not particularly interested in GPS and sleep tracking.  I have NOT tried to send any data from the Charge HR to Strava, particularly because without a corresponding GPS track I don't see what the point would be.

But my understanding regarding the Charge HR and Strava is that the ONLY way you could get anything into Strava is to start an EXERCISE (timer) and then HR should be available to Strava.  What happens then is not up to Fitbit but rather Strava must handle that data.  If you (as others have also wanted) wish to have Strava somehow COMBINE heart rate info from the Charge HR with GPS data from another source, that's not at all a Fitbit issue.  Strava must figure out how to do it.

Your comment about Fitbit needing to play nice is misdirected in my opinion.  All Fitbit could possibly do is send heart rate info (when you've started the exercise timer) to Strava and it does that.  Anything else is up to Strava.

Sounds like you would be much happier with a Surge.

[hillclimber13]

---

@retrac wrote:

I returned my charge hr as well as Strava would not play nice.  Strava is more important that fitbit.

---

"Strava is more important that fitbit." 

Absolutely!

[Candid_Cyclist]

Per Strava community support from the comments section.

https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/25993455-Sync-your-Strava-and-Fitbit-accounts

@Steven - Non-GPS activities won't sync to Strava. This applies to all devices, not just Fitbits. 

May 28, 2015, 10:39 AM

[retrac]

Strava already tracks the associated GPS data, and the Charge HR tracks the
heart rate... Why should i fork over another $100 to Fitbit for additional
GPS data, when aligning a data set with a function call would perform the
same feet?

I'm not against paying more when it matters, and that's why I went a Garmin.


And this is not just a Strava versus Fitbit issue, Fitbit is trying to
control the market by reducing their interoperability across the board.
Unfetter data access increases usage and popularity. Placing information
behind a wall garden does exactly the opposite.

Have you tried to use the fitbit with an iphone? Unless you only use their
proprietary app, you will not know the steps counted or HR... Apple has a
unified data feed dedicated to this called Healthkit. Once again, Fitbit
feels that the data needs to be controlled and will not feed or read data
from this into their environment.

Fitbit had the headstart in this space, but their lack of innovation and
acceptance that this is a growing environment will cause this success to
stall.