Daynotes: Possible Bug In Fitbit Workout Tracking

Saturday January 7, 2023; 1:18 PM EST

Possible Bug In Fitbit Workout Tracking#

I track my walks in the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch, and I've begun to experience what I think may be a bug that causes the distance, both miles and steps, from a prior walk be the starting amount for a new walk. The problem then is that if I don't see this happen the distance for the new walk is not properly recorded. Here are the steps to reproduce:#

Open the Fitibit Workouts tile and tap the walk icon to start a walk
The walk workout tracker starts, it shows miles as zero and it initiates a "count down" to start the walk. (You see the standard "play" icon with a circle being drawn around it for about ten seconds) During this time the GPS starts a connection and it needs several minutes to complete. Wait until the tracking starts and then move your arm to your side as you would when walking but do not start walking. Note that the key here is not actually be moving forward!
Lift you arm back up to look at the workout status. The expected result is that Miles would be zero, but instead what I see is the ending miles from the prior walk.
I end the walk, then start a new walk workout, but this time I don't wait until the "count down" completes, I just start walking and at this point, perhaps before the prior distance can be pulled, the new distance is added and thus is correct.

I previously speculated that the covering of the watch face with my coat sleeve was causing the problem, but during more careful observation I could consistently cause the problem by simply moving my arm down to my side. The behavior suggests there is a problem in how the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch is using the accelerometer sensor, if I am moving forward the distance tracking works as expected, but if it thinks the walk started and I move the arm so movement is detected BUT I am not moving forward, like on a walk, it then seems to pull prior miles and steps from the previous walk. #
In the error the starting, "default," miles and steps has been consistently been the distance from the prior walk, it's easy to confirm this within the Fitbit app on my phone. Only the miles and steps is carried over, not the pace or avg heart beats per minute. The behavior suggests that these values are stored in a memory variable on the watch that is not being zeroed out after a a walk is ended, and that in some conditions that value is set for the new walk, as if the prior walk was paused, rather than being ended. I've been paying extra attention to be sure I manually end each walk.#
I have verified that the GPS connection status is not the cause because it happens both when the GPS is connected or not connected. The problem appears to be triggered by how I start walk workout tracking, if I am already moving then the accelerometer sensor is used to calculate a distance. In fact, in this forum message, an explanation is provided for how distance is calculated if GPS is not connected. #
Previous it seemed this behavior only for the first walk of the next day. However, in subsequent testing I was able to consistently reproduce the problem. #
The consequence of this behavior is that I must immediately start walking once I start the walk tracking. It appears that if I am moving forward when the tracking starts the app properly reads the current values from the accelerometer rather than pull from the prior entry. I do not think there is a physical problem with the watch as the proper tracking data is valid in comparison to other watches and is consistent for each of my walks. I am convinced there is a bug related to the distance values, miles and steps, that expects a current non-zero forward movement value from the accelerometer at the time the walk starts, and it seems if it is zero for some reason it is using the prior walk miles and steps value. This behavior that should not be happening and thus is clearly to me a bug. #
In a search for information about bugs with the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch, I have found:#

An article about the Pixel Watch incorrectly calculating calories.
Android Authority has a pretty comprehensive list of issues with the Pixel Watch and the issue I describe above is not included
I have created a topic about this problem on the Fitbit Community Forum.

Saturday January 7, 2023; 1:18 PM EST

Possible Bug In Fitbit Workout Tracking#

I track my walks in the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch, and I've begun to experience what I think may be a bug that causes the distance, both miles and steps, from a prior walk be the starting amount for a new walk. The problem then is that if I don't see this happen the distance for the new walk is not properly recorded. Here are the steps to reproduce:#

Open the Fitibit Workouts tile and tap the walk icon to start a walk
The walk workout tracker starts, it shows miles as zero and it initiates a "count down" to start the walk. (You see the standard "play" icon with a circle being drawn around it for about ten seconds) During this time the GPS starts a connection and it needs several minutes to complete. Wait until the tracking starts and then move your arm to your side as you would when walking but do not start walking. Note that the key here is not actually be moving forward!
Lift you arm back up to look at the workout status. The expected result is that Miles would be zero, but instead what I see is the ending miles from the prior walk.
I end the walk, then start a new walk workout, but this time I don't wait until the "count down" completes, I just start walking and at this point, perhaps before the prior distance can be pulled, the new distance is added and thus is correct.

I previously speculated that the covering of the watch face with my coat sleeve was causing the problem, but during more careful observation I could consistently cause the problem by simply moving my arm down to my side. The behavior suggests there is a problem in how the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch is using the accelerometer sensor, if I am moving forward the distance tracking works as expected, but if it thinks the walk started and I move the arm so movement is detected BUT I am not moving forward, like on a walk, it then seems to pull prior miles and steps from the previous walk. #
In the error the starting, "default," miles and steps has been consistently been the distance from the prior walk, it's easy to confirm this within the Fitbit app on my phone. Only the miles and steps is carried over, not the pace or avg heart beats per minute. The behavior suggests that these values are stored in a memory variable on the watch that is not being zeroed out after a a walk is ended, and that in some conditions that value is set for the new walk, as if the prior walk was paused, rather than being ended. I've been paying extra attention to be sure I manually end each walk.#
I have verified that the GPS connection status is not the cause because it happens both when the GPS is connected or not connected. The problem appears to be triggered by how I start walk workout tracking, if I am already moving then the accelerometer sensor is used to calculate a distance. In fact, in this forum message, an explanation is provided for how distance is calculated if GPS is not connected. #
Previous it seemed this behavior only for the first walk of the next day. However, in subsequent testing I was able to consistently reproduce the problem. #
The consequence of this behavior is that I must immediately start walking once I start the walk tracking. It appears that if I am moving forward when the tracking starts the app properly reads the current values from the accelerometer rather than pull from the prior entry. I do not think there is a physical problem with the watch as the proper tracking data is valid in comparison to other watches and is consistent for each of my walks. I am convinced there is a bug related to the distance values, miles and steps, that expects a current non-zero forward movement value from the accelerometer at the time the walk starts, and it seems if it is zero for some reason it is using the prior walk miles and steps value. This behavior that should not be happening and thus is clearly to me a bug. #
In a search for information about bugs with the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch, I have found:#

An article about the Pixel Watch incorrectly calculating calories.
Android Authority has a pretty comprehensive list of issues with the Pixel Watch and the issue I describe above is not included
I have created a topic about this problem on the Fitbit Community Forum.

Last update: Saturday January 7, 2023; 5:25 PM EST.