Steps decreasing after syncing with app.

[JBFITNESS7]

I noticed when I work out , my Fitbit charge 2 cheats me out of steps . The machine said I did 3,000 steps but my Fitbit showed 2500 . 

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[JohnnyRow]

What kind of machine?  If it is something where you sometimes hold onto the machine with your fitbit hand, that often prevents steps from being detected.

If that is the case and you can't let the fitbit arm swing free, if you put it in a pocket or fastened to clothing, you probably will get steps, but at the expense of heart rate data.

[JBFITNESS7]

Interesting thank u, imma try tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone

[JBFITNESS7]

I tried what you told , for some reason it’s still cheating me out of steps ... smh 300-500 steps 

[MococaTX]

I've had this problem consistently for over a year with my Fitbit. I have to carry my cell phone with me and use another app that tracks using GPS to know how far I have walked.  I've tried resetting, changing stride length, etc to get it closer.  Nothing seems to work.

[JohnnyRow]

Have you tried actually counted the steps?  Find someplace outside where you can walk continuously for preferably a few hundred steps. Give your tracker a minute to make sure it is caught up.  Note step count.  Start walking, swinging arms normally, counting steps, each footfall as one step.  At some point, stop, give your tracker a minute to catch up, and compare the step increase on tracker to what you counted.

[SarahRy]

I went for a run today and Fitbit said 5,400 steps and then I checked a minute later and it was 4,600- based on my previous runs it definitely lost my step count at some point. 

[JBFITNESS7]

Thanks but that’s not the issue it’s when I’m on the machine in the gym it’s not picking up every step ..

[JohnnyRow]

---

@JBFITNESS7 wrote:
Thanks but that’s not the issue it’s when I’m on the machine in the gym it’s not picking up every step ..

---

Suit yourself.  I figured if it is a matter of the tracker counting your steps on the machine (which by the way we have no idea what the machine is to judge how what you are doing would be seen by the tracker), any more information/testing about counting steps would be another piece of information that might be helpful.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @JBFITNESS7 and @MococaTX thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's nice to see you too @SarahRy, I hope you're doing well. Thanks for all your help @JohnnyRow, it's always great to see you around. 

First of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in the response. Tell me, are all the steps missing you're mentioning recorded by a machine or the Fitbit device itself? Note that if you see more steps tracked by a machine than the Fitbit device, that might be because of the way Fitbit tracks steps. 

Fitbit devices have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking. The algorithm determines whether a motion's size is large enough by setting a threshold. If the motion and its subsequent acceleration measurement meet the threshold, the motion will be counted as a step. If the threshold is not met, the motion won’t be counted as a step.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, if there's anything else we can do fro you, please feel free to reply. 

[MococaTX]

Your finely tuned algorithm says I take 1892 steps in one mile. Arm swinging freely and not even pausing to scratch my nose. 

The average person takes 2000 steps per mile. I estimated I take 4 steps per 10 feet. 4 steps per 10 feet would equal out to about 2112 steps per mile.  I still say it shorts my steps.

[EEJ]

I had similar problem today with Alta HR.  Walked and met goal of 10,000 steps for the day with fireworks etc.  A few minutes later I noticed it only registered 9.1 k.  What happened?

[GigiZ]

My problem exactly! 

I was walking near midnight, but had about 15 minutes.  I needed about 1200 steps to make the 10,000, and since I don't try too hard most days (usually shoot for at least over 8000, and am thrilled over 9000), I decided to make the effort.  No problem, with a minute or more to go my 10,000 celebration went off on my fitbit Charge 3, and since I also had my cell phone in my hand, opened to the fitbit app, I saw that it had the same kind of celebration, and the entire circle showing my steps for the day was a solid aqua green, showing I'd done it.

So when midnight came it switched over to 0 steps and then started counting them fresh.  But I wanted to check the pre-midnight goal again, because this has happened before!  Sure enough, the previous day, IOW, before midnight, it showed me back at 92__ (something), and I was pretty livid!  I had walked these steps -- no cheating or anything!  In fact, I'd picked up the pace, so was working pretty hard on it!  I want credit for my work!

Well, before sending I decided to look at my phone app again, and sure enough, it's back to the solid circle and shows 10,098 steps for before midnight!  YAY!  So what happened that made it go backwards, and then forwards again?

I'm sending this anyway, even though my issue was resolved, because maybe someone will get something from it.

[ccol4him2022]

I have the same problem with Charge 5.

[Twa79]

My Fitbit said I reached 10,000 steps.  I then looked at it a few minutes later and the step count was 7526.  I had to go walk 2500 more steps to keep my daily 10,000 step streak going.  Really annoying.