Steps not syncing towards challenges

[hunnybunny]

I joined a challenge "daily Showdown" I went out for a walk and tracked it by pressing "Track your exercise on my phone .I also wore my fitbit Zip.I did over 6,000 steps and they were added to my daily total which took me over the 10,000 I was aiming for. However the total steps on my zip did not match the total steps on the challenge there was nearly 1,000 difference which meant I didnt come as high up the leader board than I should have.. Why was this surely the steps should match.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Colinm39 · Accepted solution]

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@hunnybunny wrote:

I joined a challenge "daily Showdown" I went out for a walk and tracked it by pressing "Track your exercise on my phone .I also wore my fitbit Zip.I did over 6,000 steps and they were added to my daily total which took me over the 10,000 I was aiming for. However the total steps on my zip did not match the total steps on the challenge there was nearly 1,000 difference which meant I didnt come as high up the leader board than I should have.. Why was this surely the steps should match.

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@hunnybunnyWhat type of phone are you using ? because using MobileRun (track my exercise) overwrites the Tracker data and is not included in Challenges or Lifetime Achievements. Your Dashboard totals will be OK.

[hunnybunny]

Thankyou for your reply Colin...........I have a Samsung s4 and I used the track your exercise on the fitbit dashboard I also wore my fit bit zip. I did two walks which it says on my dashboard totaled 7,331 steps. My daily total was 10,732.  only 9,900 steps registered on the the daily showdown challenge so 832 went astray somewhere. Sorry  but am trying to get my head around it for future reference. I think the exercise tracker is a very useful tool but was disappointed that it did not work too well with challenges but i supose I cant have it all !!! I am not a control freak HONEST but I like to know whats happening.

[sunshine111800]

The same thing has happened to me. My first challenge I was shorted 1900 steps and now the challenge I am in right now it is shorting me 2500. It is driving me crazy. My Charge HR and my dashboard match but the challenge says something less. The weird thing is the Challenge congratulated me on hitting my step goal when I hit it on the dashboard but not the challenge.

[jillyo1976]

The same thing happened to me the last several days and this past Monday there was a message within the challenge congratulating me for hitting my step goal of 10000 steps and yet I was still only showing around 3000 steps for my total in the challenge. At the end of the day I was short by 8000 steps. This is so frustrating!

[MikeF]

If by 'the same thing' you mean that MobileRun logged exercises didn't affect Challenges then that is to be expected.

The tracker on your belt/pocket/whetever counts your steps at all times. This is what goes into a Challenge.

MobileRun on your phone tracks distance by using GPS and then estimates the number of steps you may have used to travel that distance. Because it is only an estimate, these steps are not eligible for inclusion in Challenges.

Challenges are for steps 'counted by tracker' only.

(Similarly, if you manually log an exercise via the app or web dashboard, you get an estimate of steps taken which is also not elligible for inclusion in Challenges)

[sunshine111800]

Nope didn't log any in. And it is my tracker and dashboard that match but not the challenges. My tracker will sync to my dashboard the correct amount of steps but that leaves off some when it syncs to the challenge. Example tracker 1000 dashboard 1000 challenge 500

[Deepak398]

So What was the Solution ? How is this case Solved.

I just talked with a Customer Rep at Fitbit and they mentioned that if the Challenge was in a different Time Zone and you are not the initiator of that challenge but just a participant then they are seeing this issue is getting reported. They are saying that this is a known bug and someone in development is taking a look at it and there is no ETA. I lost 7000 steps in last 3 days because of this bug.

I am part of 3 Challenges this week

One I am a participant and Other two I am the initiator

The one I am participating in shows me 57,920 Steps

The Other two I initiated shows me 65,887 Steps

The person who initiated the challenge ( where steps are not syncing ) is in Texas and I am in Florida.

So as it stands we have to wait for this bug to be fixed and hopefully we will be able to renew our confidence in these challenges.

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @Deepak398 , hope you're doing great today! Below are all the possible reasons for this issue:

1. Steps have fully synced to our database and you are not viewing the mobile app dashboard in Live Data Mode. (Live data mode would show the word "connected" under your tracker tile).
2. You are manually logging steps. (Only steps recorded by your tracker or MobileTrack are counted toward challenges).
3. You're using Mobile Run (GPS Run tracking feature in the app) and you did not wear your tracker. (The steps recorded through the GPS run feature are not counted toward challenges.)
4. All challenge participants are in the same timezone (like the Representative told you).
5. If the battery level on your tracker is low, charging the battery will ensure additional steps earned will be added to challenges.

Please see our Challenges FAQ for more information.

Cheers up darling! 

[scoobydkim]

I have read all these comments and still don't have an answer for my issue. I wear my zip all the time and sync thru my IPad. My dashboard shows one number but my challenges are lower for total steps. No manual steps entered, I'm up to date on app downloads, and the challenge I'm in is with my sister in the same state and even same county. With all that said I cannot figure out why the steps are different ~ can you possibly shed some light?

[sunshine111800]

Do you use the gps tracker on the Fitbit App? I figured out that if I don't used it when I am in a challenge everything stay in sync. However if I use it, it gives me more steps than my HR and then my HR will sync to the gps steps and my dashboard will then sync to the HR. But the challenge stays synced to the steps that were on my HR before it sync to the Gps. Hope that isn't too confusing.

Sent from my iPhone

[scoobydkim]

Not confusing but not the issue - I don't use the gps tracker . . . I'm still at a loss for the problem. But thanks for trying . . . .

Sent from my iPad

[kayakalison]

I have the same problem. I have a Fitbit Zip, not using GPS or anything else that approximates steps. My dashboard yesterday showed 12,338 steps but the Workweek Hustle Challenge only recorded 12,079, 259 steps off.  Today my dashboard is showing a total of 12,388 yesterday + 2,377 steps today for a total of 14,715.  My Workweek Hustle Challege is showing 14,532 steps, this time only 183 steps off.  So somewhere it is making up the steps sort of...but not all the way?  I have logged out then logged back into the app, I have verified that the steps are accurately reflected on the website so they are communicating, all parties are in the same timezone.  Not sure what is going on.

[scoobydkim]

I still have no idea what is happening or how to fix it. I have come to the conclusion that it's just something I am going to have to deal with . . . . I do feel better knowing that I am not the only person that this is happening to. . . . Sent from my iPad

[Rebbon]

Does anyone know if this has been fixed? The Challenge total so far this week is almost 5000 off from my dashboard total. I don't know why steps aren't syncing to Challenges.

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @Rebbon, I'm glad to have you here! By any chance, have you tried or verified the suggestions I've posted above?

Also, I was wondering, did you do any change on your Fitbit app before syncing to the Challenges? Like updating the app or so?

Catch you later! 

[nanali79]

I'm also having the same problem - I am challenging myself to the daily challenge (I am the initiator) and only part of my steps that are showing on my fitbit Charge HR and my dashboard are coming up in the challenge. It says that I am only at 28% of my daily steps (2800 steps), when I am actually around 69% (6900 steps). That's a whole lot of steps... This is frustrating because it's been happening repeatedly - I've tried starting it at different times of the day but it's not working!  I'm now questioning all of my challenges. Has a solution been found yet?

[MarreFitbit]

Hey my friend @nanali79, how are you? Hmmm...have you checked if there aren't activities logged? 

[nanali79]

I did not manually log any activities today, nor any of the days that I
have a problem with

Moderator edit: personal information

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for getting back my friend @nanali79! In this case I'd recommend getting in touch with Customer Support directly so they can do a deeper investigation into your account and see where the issue is coming from.

Good luck my friend!