Intraday steps data doesn't add up to the total steps

[IQVIADev]

Hello, 

We have a system that collects both intraday and summary data for our users. It has come to our attention that there's been a few instances where the dowloaded intraday step data does not add up to the users reported total steps for the day. Unfortunately the data in question was downloaded back in May of this year. Is it still possible to retrieve intraday data that far in the past? Given a user fitbit ID would it be possible to confirm both the intraday and summary data for the period in question?

Thanks, 

Tomasz

[JohnFitbit]

Hi @IQVIADev,

Thanks for inquiring about this. We recently updated our documentation to explain this (https://dev.fitbit.com/build/reference/web-api/activity/#get-activity-intraday-time-series😞

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Any discrepancies between time series detail-level totals vs daily summary totals is likely due to how the device calculates on-wrist and off-wrist data. On-wrist data is defined as data collected while the device is worn. On-wrist data is also referred to as Intraday data. Off-wrist data is defined as data collected while the device is not worn. For example, step data can be collected if the device was in a bag while driving down a bumpy road. By design, daily summary totals include on-wrist totals and off-wrist totals; while Intraday totals include on-wrist totals only.

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I hope this clarifies things. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

[IQVIADev]

Hi John, 

I'm not sure that's what's going on here. We do have heartbeat intraday data for those periods but no step intraday data. If the device was not being worn I'd assume we wouldn't see either. I took a look at the website and it mentions that, with regards to steps, "If a user hasn't synced a tracker for more than seven (7) days, the tracker stores only summary values for the days older than one week. In this case, the intraday data for steps is zero and the intraday calories are calculated from BMR or EER." Interestingly, I don't see such a comment in the heart rate section. It is possible that the zeros in the detail steps are a function of the device not being regularly synced but that the intraday heart rate data is not removed like the step data is?

[IQVIADev]

Any thoughts on this?

[GordonFitbit]

Hi @IQVIADev 

To answer your question, it's possible.   However, I would need to look at the data to know for certain what is going on.  Would you please PM me the user id and the date where the step data is missing?

[IQVIADev]

Hello Gordon, 

Sorry for the late reply. The user ID is 8GCTRZ, the date in question is 5/19/2020 throught 5/26/2020 where we got heartbeat data but no intraday step data. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tomasz