Fitbit App Locks Phone

[WeatherRich]

@JuanFitbit 

As of Monday 7/29/24 (I add the year just in case the resolution stretches into 2025), when I start a run using the app, it locks my phone screen after approximately 9 minutes and stops giving voice cues for distance. This has never happened before, the expected behavior is the phone screen stays on until I stop the exercise and lock the screen myself. On Monday, the phone stopped giving voice cues after the first mile. It did continue to record the run but since the screen was locked it was a bit bothersome to have to take the phone out of my case, unlock it, and stop the exercise on the app. Today (Tuesday) the screen locked and the voice cues stopped at the same time, but when I checked at the end of my run, it had only recorded the first 9 minutes of my run then stopped on its own. Again, none of this is expected behavior. 

Since I know you will ask, I have an IPhone 12 running IOS version 17.5.1 and Fitbit App Version 4.21(42143025)

Edit: Several hours after posting this I noticed that today's run was recorded as two runs starting at exactly the same time, and showing completely different data for each one. This is a resurgence of a bug that supposedly was fixed several weeks ago. 

[WeatherRich]

Today's Update @JuanFitbit 

Below is a screenshot from today's run. It was actually 4 miles long and around 35 minutes. It shows two runs at exactly the same time and they do not add up to my actual run (I run the same course and same mileage every day so I know what it should be) I was paying attention starting right before the 9-minute mark and the Fitbit app closed on its own. This caused the screen to lock. So I was mistaken when I said Fitbit was locking my phone, it is because Fitbit is closing by itself at virtually the same time each run (approximately 9 minutes) and since Fitbit is not open, the phone locks. And while I would love to be in two places at the same time, I was not doing two separate runs simultaneously. I reported this bug several weeks ago and it did go away until this latest update. 

[JuanFitbit]

@WeatherRich , Nice to see you around. Thank you for your messages and screenshots. 

It seems that you might have MobileTrack on.

MobileTrack uses the phone's sensors to count steps. This is for when you have left your Fitbit at home (e.g. while charging). Please make sure MobileTrack is not activated.
It may happen that the steps recorded with the cell phone overwrite those Fitbit or track 2 activities parallel . 

In the Fitbit app, tap the devices icon (top left corner).
There you will see the devices linked to your account.
If you see the Mobile Device Active option, tap it and remove it from the account.

[GuSu]

Having Mobile Track on is just one part of the problem expsed by @WeatherRich  , the twin recording.

But the both of us are experiencing another issue: after starting a run, in a few seconds the screen goes off and the fitbit app stops GPS tracking: no more voice message on distance and pace, wrong GPS position (in the final report you see linerar "jumps" when signal is not processed).

On my usual 5k it recorded 4k with very low pace (while I did 5k with usual pace).

How can I fix it? Seems just an issue of keeping the screen on.

[WeatherRich]

@JuanFitbit 

Thank you for your response. As I mentioned the last time this happened and you suggested Mobile Track as being the issue, I do not have anything called MobileTrack in my app. Below right is the screen I get when I click the upper left devices icon, below left is the screen I get by clicking on my watch. None of those categories have anything called MobileTrack in them, at least as far as I can see. Two other reasons this continues to be a red herring is that even if I did have MobileTrack in my app, I did not change any setting from the time it was working to either of the times it stopped working. The second reason is I never run without my Fitbit on or my phone with me, so even if I had MobileTrack it would not activate under those circumstances according to your response. And finally, even if I did have MobileTrack activated, went on a run without my Fitbit, and allowed my phone to calculate my steps, are you saying it is expected behavior that it would record two vastly different run distances and times starting at the same moment  and display them both in the app? That sounds like a MobileTrack bug to me, which makes me glad I don't have it. 

 

[WeatherRich]

@GuSu @JuanFitbit 

See my response to @JuanFitbit in this thread which proves that MobileTrack cannot be the issue. And @GuSu thank you for bringing up the screen going off issue is happening to you. I'm quite sure based on previous experience it is happening to many more people. And you are absolutely correct that the screen going off and miscalculating the run distance and time is a separate issue but since I was dinged by another moderator for "cross-posting" when I tried to create a new thread about what is certainly a different issue (or maybe not, it seems the Fitbit engineers have been very creative lately about breaking what was a stable product for 10 years) so I will let @JuanFitbit create a new thread if he feels it is warranted. 

[JuanFitbit]

@WeatherRich Thank you for your message and picture. 

MobileTrack is the Phone option shown on the picture you uploaded. 

Tap on it and remove it from the account. 

[WeatherRich]

@JuanFitbit 

Thank you for that clarification about the location of the MobileTrack feature, I was confused because there is nothing with that name anywhere. I will check on my next run to see if it double records (it did double record today before I turned off the feature. This still doesn't answer my other questions about the double recording of runs: 1. I have never touched the MobileTrack setting before, so why would it suddenly start on its own? 2. I never run without both my Fitbit and my phone. According to your explanation MobileTrack records the run from my phone when I do not have my Fitbit. 3. Even if I did use the MobileTrack feature, it still should not record two runs starting exactly the same time with completely different data. That still seems like another bug. 

I would also like an answer about the other bug I brought up along with @GuSu earlier in this thread. The app is not supposed to shut down on its own while it is recording an exercise. This causes the app to stop recording the run. Today it shut down after 5 minutes and stopped recording the run then. As I mentioned above, it double recorded with one run at 40 minutes (which I assume came from the MobileTrack function) and the 5 minute run from the app itself before it shut down. I expect on my next run, now that I have turned off MobileTrack, I will only get one run but it will turn off after 5-10 minutes. All of this behavior is new and pretty much makes the watch useless (again) as a way of recording my runs, the primary reason I have owned Fitbits for 10 years. As I mentioned above, I was criticized by another moderator for trying to "cross-post" this issue in a new thread, so if you can do it I would appreciated it. 

[mcautela]

I’m having the same issue with phone going into lock mode when I’m running with it on my arm in an armband, just started. I think this has to do with the latest update and also the move to Google to be honest.

I can log it later but a) don’t know the exact distance and b) this means I don’t get my splits. Very annoying.

@JuanFitbit do you know if there’s any fixes for this in the works? Also, I hate now that you can’t go in and edit a tracked exercise for the type of exercise. For example, I wear mine playing basketball and it just records it as sport. I should be able to go in and just edit it to basketball but the only editing I can do is the start and stop time, so then I have to manually enter it, very annoying.