How to disable Auto-Exercise recognition on Fitbit

[Vimast]

I want to shut off auto recognition of exersize funtion. I want to track my walking but it is deciding that I’m usuing an outdoor bike. Wrong. I am using an iOS device and cant find a way to shut this function off.

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[MarcoGFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello @Vimast, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I understand the reason you would like to turn off the exercise recognition in your tracker. To do this, please go to your device Settings in the online Dashboard. Select your tracker and scroll down, you will be able to see "Auto-Exercise Recognition", click on it and select the exercises you would like to turn off, in each drop-down select "Ignored". This will turn off autorecognition option for this specific exercise. You can try this with all exercises too. 

Please note that if your tracker recognize an activity but it's not the correct one, you can always edit your exercise in the Fitbit app by tapping on the Exercise Tile > The Exercise you want to edit > Ellipsis icon (...) on the top right corner > Edit Exercise Details. 

I hope this can be helpful, give it a try and keep me posted in case you need anything else. 

[jimojimo]

Marco,

I have this same question and instead of clogging up the forum with a duplicate post I'd like to see if you can expand on the answer, because it wasn't really answered.

I did what you suggested for @Vimast, but it stills says "On" for auto-exercise recognition.  I think it's cumbersome to have to hit "ignore" for each and every listed exercise, and my real concern is what if there's and upgrade to the app and, say, 3 new exercises are listed?  

Can't we just wholesale turn it to "Off"?

Thanks,

--Jim

[Mikkle04]

I currently have all of my exercises set to ignore, but it still automatically recognizes when I start a run or bike. There are only certain exercises I'd like to track, like a 5k run, but not when I'm doing 200m sprints. I can't figure out how to get this function to stop. 

[NadeemXB]

Yep same here. I’ve set all of mine to ignore and it’s still auto tracking them! Really annoying. Everytime I walk to and from the car at work it’s tracking them as runs! After changing the setting I even tried rebooting and upgrading the firmware on my tracker. No luck. So basically a broken option then!

[Ppadden]

Same issue I’m having.  I’ve set all of them to ignore, disconnect and repaired my Fitbit with my phone and it’s still auto detecting my runs and creating a second record for them since I’m manually starting the run to get the start music and get heart rate.  It’s the number one reason I’m considering going to an Apple Watch.

[vwbusguy]

It's gotten pretty bad lately on my Charge 3.  I realized it's been causing me to lose a bunch of steps because it creates an auto-exercise every hour and then gives maybe 7 steps for the whole hour.  I went from several thousands of steps a day to a few hundred or so and I kept losing steps throughout the day.  It was especially obvious when my phone trackers show thousands of steps for the same period.  I've found that going in and deleting the auto exercises brings back the step count, but setting auto-exercise to ignore doesn't keep them from showing up and often they will come back in a few minutes after they've been deleted.  It's incredibly annoying.  It really defeats the purpose of having a pedometer if it can't even count steps correctly anymore.

[sja45uk]

Not clear what this setting does, as it is not the solution to the problem as stated

[SunsetRunner]

Hello and welcome @sja45uk 

I understand you want to disable Auto Exercise. I believe I can help you. Here’s how:

open your Fitbit App

tap your profile picture on upper left corner 

scroll down and tap exercise 

Tap each exercise you want to disable here

now just tap the “Today” button at the bottom of your screen to return to the main page 

😃 I hope this answers your question 

[NadeemXB]

... and spend the next few weeks wondering why that change has absolutely no effect whatsoever!

[sja45uk]

I had already done that, but my Fitbit watch SmartTrack feature still
automatically uses the GPS on my iPhone to create a run track. It does this
even when I am just doing a jog to warmup before doing Exercise>Run>Forward
at the parkrun start.

[SunsetRunner]

Hello again @sja45uk

Can you try disabling your location services and see if that resolves your issue? Here’s how: 

go to iOS Device > Fitbit > location services > set to never

go to iOS Device > Privacy > location services > Fitbit> set to Off

😉 Keep me posted

@NadeemXB I’m sorry my last post didn’t help. I’m indeed trying to help.

[sja45uk]

I want to track my parkrun using Exercise > Run > Forward, which I don't
think will work if I turn off Fitbit location services! It is just the jog
to the start and from the finish, that I am not really interested in auto
publishing to Strava. I tried pausing and finishing the Exercise Run, but
it just waits a few seconds and then restarts. I suppose I could just pause
the track and then finish it when I get to the start. However, there is no
means to cancel a track once it gets started so I just end up with short
meaningless tracks sent to Strava. I have a memory of the watch asking me
in the past about turning on this facility and foolishly answering Yes,
because it seemed useful. Now, of course, it won't ask me again and I can't
track down in the help where to turn it back off!

[SunsetRunner]

Hello again @sja45uk 

I was not aware you were using Strava. This is an add on app. I’m personally not familiar with that app so I’m wondering if your question would be better suited for the Fitbit App Gallery here: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-App-Gallery/bd-p/appgallery 

Im thinking that it’s possible that because Strava syncs and records there might be a conflict that can be resolved through settings. Someone in the Fitbit App Gallery should be able to address this. 
Also check out this post here (you might find it interesting):https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Third-Party-Integrations/Third-Party-Apps-Informational-Post/m-p/144...

[sja45uk]

Strava is an add-on, but all that happens is that the Fitbit watch creates
a track and exports it as a TCX file to Strava. Strava analyses the file
that it automatically imports and then publishes the results of its
analysis. As far as I understand, there is no other interaction between
Strava and Fitbit, so I don't see how it could be implicated in the problem.

[SunsetRunner]

@sja45uk I’m seeing that Only GPS recorded activities from Fitbit will sync to Strava. Either way maybe you should call Fitbit Customer Service with your question because I have described how to disable your auto exercises but your still experiencing issues. Maybe they can provide your with a satisfactory solution. 
Im sorry I was unable to help

[Karenmurray]

How do I shut off my fit bit inspire HR from me running the timer comes up I had the button to pause but I can't seem to shut it off did it by accident not even running

[LZeeW]

@sja45uk   The situation you are describing sounds like feature in the Run part of the Exercise app known as Run Detect.  This feature turns on the phone GPS.  SmartTrack does not activate the phone GPS.

I wear a Versa 2.  Here is how I activate/deactivate Run Detect -- Exercise > Run > Gear icon > scroll down to Run Detect and set it to Disable.  There should be a similar path on your tracker.

The Run Detect feature was part of a previous firmware upgrade.  The default setting is On.  I found it by accident.  I was out, decided to start jogging and, boom, it turned on.

[ABBCD]

This doesn’t work for me at all. I disabled ALL exercise detection, rebooted both my phone (iOS 13) and my watch (Charge 3). It’s still interrupting me and asking if I want to track things. No, I don’t! How do I make this go away? Along with the constant “TURN ON ALWAYS ON LOCATION TRACKING” pop up, I’m losing my desire to continue using this thing. Can somebody please help?

[vwbusguy]

In my case it ended up being that whenever the Fit and Healthy app synced
from Samsung Health to Fitbit, Fitbit was overwriting fitbit data with the
imported data (Samsung Health stores Fitbit data in a separate field.).
I've since mostly switched over to Samsung Galaxy Fit but still
occasionally go back to the Charge 3. I just don't sync Samsung Health
into Fitbit anymore. I sync to Samsung Health instead and just use that.