Starting activity on phone app does not account for heart rate

[PatrickBingbang]

I am using a Fitbit Charge 4 with an iPhone.

Due to numerous issues that have been widely reported about the GPS when used on the tracker (I lost several GPS tracks, similarly to many other people), I decided to start the exercise (a walk) on the phone app instead of the tracker. To my great surprise, I ended up at the end with the GPS track of the walk but with no available information for heart rate.

So basically, the programmers did not manage to merge the heart rate (which is monitored in a continuous way over the same time period from the tracker) with the activity recorded on the phone app ? Both information are separately at hand on the dashboard, but they cannot be combined for a given exercise ? What the hell is this ? 

I naively expected that this problem could be solved afterwards by manually logging an exercise for the same time period and that this logged exercise would be merged to the pre-existing recorded one (so that hear rate could be added to the GPS track), but this too is impossible, despite the fact that merging activities has been a requested feature for a loooooong time (for years, basically).

I could have miss something. If not, this is really disappointing (not even mentioning the major issues with the GPS).

Bests,

Patrick

Moderator edit: subject for clarity 

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @PatrickBingbang.

I understand how you are feeling about this situation. Thanks for the details shared, I appreciate your time and feedback as it helps us to keep improving. I would like to advise that the Mobile run feature is not expected to generate a workout intensity map or provide heart rate data in the exercise summary. For more information about tracking workouts on your device, see How do I start and stop a workout on my Fitbit device?

For information about editing an exercise, see How do I edit or delete an exercise or activity in the Fitbit app?

Let me know how it goes. 

[PatrickBingbang]

Basically, there is no answer here, just the usual standard answer that I have read so many times on the forums, with no content. All people using the GPS on the tracker know it is unreliable, and now all people know that there is no workaround even using the app. What a joke.

[Rich_Laue]

The answer is that Fitbit has chosen not to look at the trackers when using mobile run maybe (just my guess) because mobile run is designed to be used when the user has left their tracker home. 

You may also have noticed that when using mobile rum, Fitbit calculates steps based on distance / stride setting. 

It may not be the answer you are expecting, but it is the only answer that we as your fellow Fitbit users are able to provide. 

Please don't bite the messenger. We are not Fitbit programmers. 

As for connected GPS I like many are having little to no issues. Please remember that it is only a very little percentage of users that are community members, and of this small percentage, most come here because they are having problems. So yes it may seem like everyone it still is a small % of users. 

For me a phone restart usually fixes GPS. 

However I do prefer fit it's built in GPS since it doesn't drain the phones battery. 

[PatrickBingbang]

I understand quite well that the messenger is not the programmer, but this is becoming a problem when the messenger is repeating the same message over and over without any useful information for the users. An honest answer would be "yes, we know that this is an issue and we -- as support team guys/girls -- do not have any solution so far", instead of pointing to generic links about how using this and that, that are not answering the question in any possible way and that are just upsetting people.

I remind that :

(1) GPS is unreliable, so there is no way to get the GPS track from the tracker along with the heart rate; it fails miserably, and this has been reported an uncountable number of times by users in the forums, with no solution so far after several months;

(2) It is very useful to use the mobile app AND the tracker at the same time, e.g. using the app to see where you are/to record GPS track (so sparing tracker battery), while the tracker is monitoring heart rate. When doing so, it is plainly dumb that heart rate is not synchronized between the app and the tracker, either on real time if possible or at the very least afterwards when you synchronize on the web.

Both heart rate record and GPS record do exist in that case, they are both present on the app/web interface, but they are totally disconnected from each other. Serious users ARE interested by the connection between the two, as you can see your cardio along the track. This is a very useful use of the app+tracker combination. Nobody needs the Fitbit mobile app to track a GPS route, as there are already dozens of app doing this.

BTW, I have read dozens of pages about GPS issues, and about many other issues that have been reported for a so long time that quite a bunch or users are really pissed off by the lack of reactivity from the development team. The forums are filled with comments about it.

[Rich_Laue]

Right now I do not believe the programmers feel that this is an issue. 

Mobile track is working the way it was designed to work. 

The programmers have decided to isolate mobile track from the physical tracker. 

What you are seeing is what Fitbit feels should be. 

If you feel this should not be, then let 

We have a feature suggestion board go giving feedback to the programmers. I did a search and found that this request to merge the data has not been requested. The first step to a change is to put in a request. 

Yes this forum is setup for Fitbit users to help out each other with their problems, many users who have only had easily fixed problems may not know about the community. Since these boards are setup for users with problems, I'm sure that you have seen many pages of users with problems. 

[PatrickBingbang]

The first step is to make the GPS working as it should work, and there would be no need to post here.

(and programmers are not users, obviously, as the forums show it in a clear way).

Forget about it, I am loosing my time.

[Rich_Laue]

This is a discussion among Fitbit users, you have asked what Fitbit thinks. 

I'm simply responding with fit it's thought pattern. 

Since Fitbit does not feel that it is a problem, how would you like me to respond? 

BTW in general my connected GPS has been very accurate. 

Both distance, after adjusting Stride and map are accurate with walks. 

 

[PatrickBingbang]

This is becoming a non-sense discussion, and I am wondering which game we are playing here.

The GPS is repeatedly considered as unreliable AND inaccurate.

For those who read this, just type "GPS issue" on the search box for the community (or even on Google) and you end up with two pages of posts than are running over the last two years, were people are complaining over it and where no solution is provided (except the usual ones from moderators, suggesting that you use the GPS in poor conditions and that you should reset/reinstall/restart (make your choice). A lot of users gave up and some moved to another brand, apparently with more success.

As I said, forget about it. I am tired of this.