Versa 4- Auto recognised exercise & GPS

[Briman200]

As far as I can see the default auto recognition feature setting does NOT enable gps. However a treadmill run today, which my Versa 4 correctly recognised, also triggered the gps. The display had a red arrow as it couldn’t lock onto the signal because I was in the gym. I have noticed my battery has not been lasting long between charges and I suspect it’s the gps that is causing this.

Can I turn off the gps for auto recognised exercise? Is this what is causing other people’s problems with battery life?

Moderator edit:  updated subject for clarity

[LZeeW · Accepted solution]

Hello @Briman200 and welcome to the Community.  You are correct that the auto recognition (SmartTrack) isn't supposed to turn on the GPS.  There is a different auto recognition feature in the Versa 4/Sense 2 that will turn on the Exercise app with GPS (if enabled).  This is on three exercise shortcuts: walk, run and bike.  You need to turn this Off in your Run exercise shortcut:

• Short press the button, then open the Exercise app
• Choose Run
• Swipe up on the tiny "^" at the bottom of the screen
• Swipe up until you see Run Detect and turn it off
• Make any other changes in these settings if you plan to use this shortcut in the future

[Briman200]

Thanks for your reply and I have now updated the run detect setting. 
I will test the fix tomorrow at the gym 

[Briman200]

Well that works and the exercise was still tracked but without triggering gps.

However I’m going to take the hit on battery life and reinstate the auto recognition. The monitoring of pace (even on a treadmill) is useful but particularly the cardio zones are an invaluable resource which I can monitor during training.

It would be ideal if gps could be isolated from the auto recognition - perhaps that’s something for a future software update from Fitbit.