MobileTrack Setup on iPhone 7 (RESOLVED)

[DerrickS]

Fitbit Update 9/26/2016

Version 2.27 of the Fitbit iOS App was just released and you are now able to setup MobileTrack on both iPhone 7 and 7+. Click here to update if you haven't already. Thanks again for hanging tight with us while we resolved this problem.

Fitbit Update 9/19/2016

It was recently brought to our attention that iPhone 7 users are currently unable to setup MobileTrack on their phone. This is a known issue that our team is currently working towards resolving. Thanks for everybody's patience while this gets worked out.

[ComUser53]

It finally started counting steps for me again, lost all the challenges I was in. None of my other trackers on my phone stopped counting, just Fitbit. They still don't count elevation gain or loss either, although supported more than 2 years by the phone.

[Rick71]

Working for me again with latest update.  Thank you.

[bbarrera]

Working now, thanks.

[DerrickS · Accepted solution]

Hi everybody,

Version 2.27 of the Fitbit iOS App was just released and you are now able to setup MobileTrack on both iPhone 7 and 7+. Click here to update if you haven't already. 

After you've updated to Fitbit iOS App version 2.27.1 you can set up MobileTrack by following the instructions listed here.

Thanks again for everybody's patience!

[Wackyhouse]

My mobile track is now working but my leaderboard shows me at the bottom with no activity?

[LanieBlaze]

Hi Derrick,

Yes, it can be set up, but as soon as I sync my Charge HR, all the MobileTrack steps from days I didn't wear my Charge HR disappear.

Are there any plans to make this actually work?

Thanks!

Lanie

[Webbmom259]

mine still doesn't work

[erikveland]

Yup. Exactly same issue here. Why isn't mobiletrack working for leaderboards?

[jwashing83]

I have tried to take off my iPhone 7 and re-add it but for some reason it's just not working...how can i get some help with this.

[DavidinVictoria]

Does the MobileTrack application support iPhone SE ?  The iPhone SE is essentially the iPhone 6 phone with an iPhone 5 form factor.   Thanks.

[erikveland]

Still. Not. Working.

[JBiz17]

This is still not working - I downloaded the app on my iPhone 7 (iOS 10.2.1) and it does not track steps accurately from iHealth with the Mobile Tracker set up. Frustrating, and saying this is resolved is misleading. I hope this is still under investigation.

[bbarrera]

Working here. Both Fitbit and Argus pull step data from my iPhone 7, and they are usually identical and pulling from the iPhone 7 motion coprocessor. The Health app has a similar but not identical step count, as it merges steps from both Apple Watch and iPhone 7.

[JBiz17]

Hi bbarrera,

After some poking around, it appears that the Fitbit app is only recording
steps when I have my phone on my person, but it is not recording any of my
steps from my Apple Watch. My iPhone, however, is recording the total
number of steps from the Apple Watch and from the iPhone by merging this
data. How were you able to get the Fitbit app to read this final merged
data? Any insight on what I'm missing, or perhaps what my phone is missing,
would be great.

Thanks!

[bbarrera]

@JBiz17 

Fitbit and other apps like Argus are just pulling steps from the iPhone's motion coprocessor. Those apps were never upgraded to pull steps from the Watch step count (its available on phone in HealthKit database).

Totally agree with you, from the Health app you can look at the data and see that Watch steps and iPhone steps are tracked independently. The Health app merges the two, to handle situations where your phone records steps but watch does not. Or the opposite case, for example when I leave my phone on the charger in garage and then go out and work in the yard. Its really nice feature.

[bbarrera]

p.s. about 6 months ago I bought an app called Workflow (now free), and used it to compare step counts. Any app has access to the iPhone step count and the Watch step count.

[JBiz17]

Thanks! Good to know I'm not losing my mind...! Frustrating, but oh well.

[bbarrera]

@JBiz17 Here is a better example, I did a century bike ride on Feb 18 and forgot to put on my Watch at 6am when leaving the house. After returning home around 7pm I put my phone on charger and put on Watch. From 7pm until midnight I rarely had my phone, and Watch logged 9408 steps during that time.

My Garmin bike computer recorded the ride including power meter data, which is very accurate for estimating calorie burn (more accurate than calories from HR). Garmin Connect syncs with a handful of apps, including Endomondo which shares the workout duration/miles/calories with Fitbit.

Here are a few screenshots.

18,141 iPhone steps; 9408 Watch stepsFitbit imported 18,106 steps from iPhoneHealth saw 6 hour Strava cycling activity and removed steps

Summary:

- iPhone7 recorded steps until about 7pm, then on a charger

- Watch recorded steps after 7pm, which included a long walk to stretch legs, a lot of small steps putting away stuff, and housework

- most of the 18,141 phone steps were actually false steps from cycling for over 6 hours

- Health app will integrate step counts from iPhone and Watch

- Health app will see Strava cycling workout's start and stop times, and (correctly) remove steps from count

- Fitbit app will only import iPhone steps and does not attempt to merge Watch and Phone steps (and only removes cycling steps if you have Blaze/Surge/whatever and record a biking activity)

[JBiz17]

Great example!

I also did a little more digging, and I see that apparently Fitbit and
Apple are purposefully not communicating with their respective apps
(Specifically, the Apple Health App and the Fitbit App), but Fitbit WILL
communicate with Apple's Motion & Fitness Tracker, which is only reporting
data directly from the iPhone and not the Apple Watch.

In addition, on your iPhone, if you access the Health App, go to Health
Data, select the Activity icon, scroll down about halfway and select the
Steps icon, then select the Data Sources & Access menu, you can see all
apps that have access allowed to read and write data. I note that Fitbit is
NOT on that list, though my other step counter apps are (such as Jawbone's
UP app). I'm noting here as well that my Jawbone UP app reads the step
count data from the Apple Health app precisely.

Thanks again for the examples. I also use Strava for cycling, which has
been excellent.

[bbarrera]

Correct, iOS allows apps to read step count from phone's motion coprocessor. That feature was available before HealthKit, and apps like Fitbit are still using that feature and haven't been updated to get steps from HealthKit.