Tracking runs as walks

[Mdday]

I have been using Fitbit to track my runs for years now. Just last week I noticed when I use the app and change the activity type from walk to run, after I complete my runs it reverts it back to a walk. First time I thought it was my error but it has been doing this for over a week now. I like using the GPS map to track my runs so I can see the map when I am finished. Anyone else have this issue or a solution to fix it?

[jessgiorgi]

Any run initiated from the application saves as a walk once complete. But a run started on the watch records correctly but buzzes every time the pace changes, which is very distracting.
It seems like the app used to know which paces qualified as a jog or run but now even a 7 minute mile is a walking pace…

[Cerdagne66]

Hello. Had this issue been resolved? I still have the problem of registering a run but the download goes to walk. 

[aurora_rosie]

I ran a half marathon last weekend. I used this feature, and was very careful to select "Run" and the entire race was logged as a "Walk." This is really annoying. Why is this taking so long to fix? The app has been doing this ever since the update in JANUARY.

[Lynnlovesbala]

I am wondering the same thing. It’s been an issue since January and one of the responses indicates they are working on it and that was in February! It is now almost June and still changing runs to walks. 

[Lynnlovesbala]

It’s now almost June and the issue still hasn’t been resolved! What is the latest update on a resolution?

[Paristo]

Hi, 

i have been having this issue that I choose run and I get the result as walk. Can you help me fixing this?

[JuanFitbit]

Hi everybody ! Thank you all for your messages. As already mentioned our team is investigating this issue. They need your collaboration with it. 

For those who haven't shared it yet, we would ask you to provide the phone model, and the operating system's version . This will help our team with their investigation. 

We appreciate your collaboration. 

[Johnk328]

I don’t think anyone is left to collaborate, Juan. It’s been 5 months since
a programmer wrote code that causes the software to change input from your
customers on their app. That shouldn’t be hard to track down if the
programmer documented their changes to the software. Coming back once a
month to ask for phone types of your customers doesn’t seem to be working.
I don’t know anyone who plans to stay with Fitbit ( or Google for that
matter) now that they know how customers are treated.

[umbrellaman]

@@Juan - Every few weeks you come back on to ask this question. 

Here’s question for you and your “team”: Do your own Fitbits and apps correctly record runs as runs? Are you saying that our experiences are unusual and limited to those of who have been reporting this problem since January?  

Because your asking for our watch and app versions suggests that ours is an unusual experience.

I’d appreciate a reply.

[WeatherRich]

@JuanFitbit 

Why not just tell us the truth? You don't have to be a software engineer or product manager (as I was until recently) to know what is going on. There is no team working on this. If that were true this issue would have been fixed in two weeks. All the Fitbit teams are working on AI and Android projects as reported in recent articles. The fact is that more basic functionality has broken since this issue was brought up in January (miscalculating average pace for instance). Google wants iPhone users to drop Fitbit, or change to Android. They don't want to support iPhone users anymore because they would rather spend the money and effort on their own phone and their own operating system. Of course, they will get their wish. So you can just stop with the "we need your collaboration to solve this issue" baloney. Why not invite someone from this alleged "team" to come on to this forum and give us a summary of what has been done with all our collaborative efforts over the last 6 months? 

[isUK]

Hi

iPhone 13 Pro / iOS 17.4.1

Thanks

[DG2024]

iPhone 12, iOS 17.5.1.

Problem has been ongoing since middle of 2023 and has been identified here for some time.  Very unimpressed that FitBit has apparently done so little to sort the problem out or to update users as to their progress.

[Ltay]

Inspire 2 set to track a jog. I jog an 11 minute mile. My tracker changes it to tracking a walk.

[Shmefferd]

I know you and your team have been working on correcting this, but whatever you’re doing it’s making things worse. Now my Fitbit isn’t tracking my mileage correctly. It’s logging both a run and a walk. It also isn’t linking to Strava anymore or recording my GPS map. It also won’t let me log for activities like yoga. At this point, I would prefer it only recording my runs as walks. This is bananas.

[WeatherRich]

@JuanFitbit 

And the hits keep coming! I was just heading here to add this issue when @Shmefferd's post appeared. The same thing has been happening to me since Tuesday. I use Add Exercise>Start Tracking>(futilely) change Exercise Type to Run, then press the Start button at the start of my run, the same way I have for 9 years. Starting with Tuesday's run it showed me as simultaneously walking and running at the same time! Amazing! (Screenshot at the bottom of this post)

The below screenshot shows the results of today's 4-mile run. Neither entry shows the GPS map, and both entries are wrong. The "Run" entry shows 6650 steps, which is 3.5 miles. The "Walk" entry shows 2.49 miles. Neither of those is 4 miles, even added up. And while the "Walk" time is close at 35 minutes, that would make for a pace of 14.05 minutes/mile. Clicking on that entry shows a pace of 9.19 minutes/mile. Neither are correct, it was 8:50 min/mile. The "Run" doesn't show a pace at all. 

I guess this disproves my theory that there is no "team" working on anything since new things break on a fairly regular schedule. The team is, to quote @Shmefferd, indeed making things worse. Just to sum up the last six months: 1. Showing runs as walks 2. Converting miles to meters on today's Distance tab (to be fair, it seems to fix itself the next day), 3. Giving us the ability to do two completely different activities at the same time and have them both be wrong. (Edit: Forgot one!) and 4. Calculating incorrect average split times

I challenge you again @JuanFitbit to bring an actual product manager or engineer from the "team" working on this (not a forum moderator but an actual employee of Google on the Fitbit Product Team) and give everyone an explanation of what is going on and most importantly, when is all of it going to be fixed. You do not need any more data like our phone models, you can assume that the commenters on this forum who have done that already represent a small fraction of the people experiencing these issues. Not only that, but your teams should be able to access all currently supported phones and OS systems for testing purposes. Your app literally does almost none of the things a fitness tracker app is supposed to do, and it is getting worse! 

[aurora_rosie]

My Fitbit is also recording walks and runs simultaneously. What’s going on? 

[bk318]

I did the latest update. 
The issue is still not fixed. Runs are still recorded as walks. 

Try again. 

[Sarfer70]

Has there been an update on this issue? 4 months after this comment (it is now end of June 2024) the issue persists for me. Thanks 

[umbrellaman]

After recent update, I was contacted by Fitbit and asked to do a factory reset on my Versa 4 and completely remove and reinstall app on my iPhone 15.  

Did all of that. No change. Runs are still walks. Verse 4 can’t track distance accurately and the GPS on the Versa 4 shows straight lines.

I reported the results and have been told “the team” is back to “working on it”.

[bk318]

Same as I found.