trouble logging exercise

[hawkeye1]

Until recently, I've been able to log prior activities without problem, either on the computer or Android app on Galaxy S5.  Mostly, I do treadmill, stairclimbing, calisthenics and walking.  Now, using the Android app, if I need to log a prior session on the treadmill, I have no data field for distance.  It used to allow distance and would automatically calculate speed and calories, but now the only data fields available are date, time, duration and calories and I have to manually enter calories data or it won't log.  On the computer, I will start to key in <treadmill> and two listings for "Treadmill" come up.  Selecting the first allows me to enter distance but it won't accept anything less than 1, such as .75 mile.  Then I am prompted to enter calorie data, and it won't log the activity unless I enter a calorie value. Selecting the second "Treadmill" also has data fields for distance and calories, and it won't accept <1, but calories data is optional.  What happened?  It was so easy a couple weeks ago...

[AlvaroFitbit]

@hawkeye1 Welcome to our Community! This is odd. I tried this on my Android phone and I was able to enter distance for a treadmill activity. Try updating your app as a new version has been released to see if this helps fix the issue. On the website I suggest you just use the second option. 

Let me know how it goes!

[hawkeye1]

Thanks for your reply.  I've been playing with this, and have been communicating with Support, and I have a bit of new info although still not solved.  I had updated to the latest Android app prior to posting the original question.

Using the Dashboard with my Windows 7 computer or the Android app, prior to a few weeks ago, I had no problems entering Distance info when logging a prior session of treadmill activity.  One day a few weeks ago, I opened the Dashboard and attempted to log another treadmill session, and I discovered that the autocomplete function now would suggest two different listings for Treadmill when I started typing it into the Log Activity search box.  Selecting the first listing still had the option to enter a Distance value, but it no longer would accept any value <1 mile and it would not log the activity if I didn't also enter a Calories value.  Selecting the second listing would require a Distance value, and it again had to be at least 1 mile, and Calories was optional.  I checked the Android app, and with it I no longer had a box for Distance values, only Duration and Calories.  I don't know how this changed from what I had done prior, because I always had one autocomplete suggestion for Treadmill and it allowed things like .75 mile, same with the Android app.  Interestingly, the app would also calculate and display speed based on the Distance and Duration values I keyed in, but no longer.  I played with it for several days to try to make things work, then started this thread.

Recently back at the Dashboard, I tried to create a Custom Activity named Treadmill1 that would duplicate what I could do prior to a few weeks ago when it was changed around, and I couldn't create one that didn't require a Calories value.  So, now autocomplete suggests three different listings, and the Android app now has two autocomplete suggestions, one that requires Calories but no option for Distance, and a second named Treadmill1 that will allow Distance but requires Calories.

I suspect Fitbit a few weeks ago changed the code to require Distance values be at least 1, and that action triggered this mess that I have.  How can I clear out all the autocomplete suggestions and get back to logging distances of less than 1 mile?

[hawkeye1]

After going around several times with Support, I was basically told that my issue of distance values is the result of an upgrade, and to hope for an answer in the forum.  I still don't understand why Fitbit decided to disallow values <1.  After all, it's just a variable in a formula that's part of a subroutine.  Support never even addressed the problem I'm having with the Android app.  Their final answer:

We apologize for the delayed response and want to thank you for your patience regarding your issue.  Regarding your previous questions, we have to clarify that we cannot downgrade, so it is not possible to go back to the way you used to log your activities before.  You mentioned that you already posted your question in the forum. We suggest you to wait until we find a solution for your issue and we hope to find any time soon.

We apologize for this inconvenient and hope you understand.

Sincerely,

Jairo L. and the Fitbit Team

So, I guess in the end, this Zip isn't much more functional, for my purposes, than the two dollar pedometer given to me by the nurse at cardiac rehab.  I did discover that in the Dashboard, I can log my treadmill activity in kilometers and it will post in miles, or a fraction of a mile, so long as I exercised at least 1 km = .62 mile = 1,532 steps.  1.2 km will give me .75 mile, which is my most common distance.  So there is a workaround for distances >=.62 mile if logged in using the Dashboard, but I still have the same problem of not being able to log any distance whatsoever using the Android app. Suport hasn't even acknowledged that I asked about that issue. 

[RobertoME]

Hello @hawkeye1. thank you for keep us posted about this issue. As my friend @AlvaroFitbit tried before I replicate the same activity you mentioned here. Indeed the way to log activities has change a bit, but it hasn't been removed any functionality. In my case I was able to log a Treadmill activity using my mobile app and it should allow to enter less than 1 mile for your exercise. What I did, was to enter .75 miles instead of 0.75 miles. The calories should populate automatically according to the time you re logging.

It would be great if you can share with me some screenshots to compare and investigate further what is going on with your app. In the meantime I'm not sure if you tried to restart the app, but in case you haven't please do the following:

Make sure you are running the version 2.28, you can find this in the help menu of the app.

If this is not the case, please log out from your app and restart your phone. Once it has loaded, please sign back in to the app and give it another shot.

I'll be here giving follow up to your post, don't forget to keep me updated.

[BenLeo]

Does anyone know how I can capture activity perfomred in the past week? I usually sync daily on my work computer but was on vacation. When I did sync today it appeared as if I didn't do anything.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@BenLeo This is odd. Your tracker is able to store 7 days of detailed minute by minute data and 23 additional days with each day's data. Make sure that you synced your tracker to the same account. You could contact our Support Team so they can review your tracker's information.

Let me know how it goes!

[hawkeye1]

Thanks for continuing to help.  Ok, so this is interesting.  I have kept playing around with it, and have discovered that I still can log distances for prior Treadmill activity, including distances that are less than 1, using the Android App, but only in a specific circumstance.  I can get to a screen that is the same as the pic you posted, but only if I scroll down through the listings in the dropdown box for Exercise Type.  I scroll down past Run, Bike, Hike, Walk, Aerobics, Gardening, and select Treadmill, and then it will open with all the correct data fields, just as in your pic.  However, if I start to key in Tre... as if to search for Treadmill, I am presented with autocomplete suggestions, none of which will take me to the correct screen and options, that I can get to simply by scrolling down without keying anything in.  Interesting.  Apparently, the app is drawing autocomplete suggestions from the Dashboard in my pc?  Because that is where I first encountered the autocomplete options that took me to limbo land, including one specific custom activity, Treadmill1, that I created in the Dashboard, in an attempt to work around the issue of logging less than 1 mile of distance.  Interesting.  I will continue to work on this and report.

[hawkeye1]

Hmm, never did get any straight answers.  I no longer have the time or inclination to keep pursuing this, and, frankly, I don't need this kind of device to keep reasonable track of my exercise.  Log it in my brain, and just use this thing as a glorified pedometer until the battery dies, then back to the two dollar cheapy given to me by the cardiac rehab nurse.  Life should be simpler for me than this thing wants it to be....

[RobertoME]

Hi there @hawkeye1, I'm sorry and I offer you an apology as I did not give you straight answer. I been testing my app to investigate this issue and I completely understand you this is frustrating, but if you are interested I'm here to help you. I tried to replicate your scenario but I don't see what you described on your app. As soon you type in Treadmill int will give you possible matches that describe what you are trying to input and the screen to log the details wont change. It will be the same and depending of the exercise if will include other details for that specific exercise.

Note that any custom activity you have on your Dashboard of the PC it will be share across the mobile app and other mobile device you have, as the information is stored on your account using our servers. Like nowadays works a storage cloud but only that you will have access to your exercise on any device.

So if the scenario I presented before is not happening, make sure you have the most updated version of the app. The latest version is 2.32. (You can find this by open the menu on the app  and select help.) If you have the recent version try to log out from your app and restart your phone. Once your phone have loaded, sign back in and try again.

Once again I'm sorry for not updating your post, I guess I got carried away with your last post where you mentioned you will report back any finding. Also I'm had to remove the accepted solution of your post as this will confuse other user who might be looking a solution if they are experiencing the same issue.

See you around and hope we can continue working on this.