Fitness tracker that’s smart enough to know when I’m *not* wearing it... does one exist?

[mool]

I’ve been scouring the interwebs and Reddit, but I just can’t find a solution to my use case. Much of this has to to with the lack of detailed information as to how a lot of these fitness trackers interface with your phone (in my case, iPhone).

I would like a fitness tracker so I can get some basic data, but I only plan on wearing it when I work out and, if it has sleep tracking, sometimes when I sleep. The problem is that, as far as I know, fitness trackers will think I’m totally sedentary when I remove them, rather than just “merge” the data with my phone.

As I go throughout the day, my phone will track steps. What I don’t want is for my fitness tracker to override my phone with zero steps when it syncs back up with my phone. I’d also like to avoid double-counting steps from the phone and fitness tracker.

Would this be possible? If so, which devices are capable of this? It’s not really advertised or mentioned in any reviews. Most people don’t really take off the trackers, so reviews just assume you’re not taking it off.

Thanks in advance!

 

[flowersontherubbishheap]

@mool The key point here is how the data is merged.

I have a Mi Band that tracks my steps and imports the data into Apple Health. I also track my steps via the built in pedometer. In Apple Health you can change the order of your data sources to prioritize them. The Mi Band data (imported via the Mi app) is on top, built in pedometer data is used as a fallback when nothing is being tracked.

This results in me being able to track all my steps as long as I am wearing the tracker or phone. It does not yet calculate the used energy yet. For that purpose I installed „Pacer“ which is allowed to read my steps and write active energy data to Apple Health based on my combined step data.

Finally, I allowed my nutrition tracker (cronometer in my case; imo the best nutrition tracker out there) to read the active energy data. I don’t know if your Fitbit App can do that because it might be confused with tracker vs Apple Health data. But there are other options at least.

 

[starfish63]

@mool Yeah Fitbit basically knows this but you'd have to disable the pedometer in the health app to get the Fitbit data to take precedence

 

[mool]

@starfish63 I’m not following what you’re saying. Are you saying I need to disable the phone’s pedometer in the health app? What happens if I don’t?

 

[starfish63]

@mool Yes. If you don't then during the time you have the Fitbit off your wrist but your iPhone is with you, it'll be accumulating steps with its internal pedometer.

 

[mool]

@starfish63 Well that’s the opposite of what I’m looking for. Thanks though.

 

[starfish63]

@mool Hence my saying if you do not disable the iPhone pedometer then you will still record activity.

 

[analienhere]

@mool I have a Samsung phone & watch. They are seamless in counting steps, sleep etc.

I started just using the Samsung watch instead of my fancy triathlon watch for most workouts. When the watch is recharging the phone kicks in & counts steps etc.

 

[harris098]

@mool I don’t understand what your use case is. Why do you not want to wear the fitness tracker all day?

 

[mool]

@harris098 Because I wear a highly sentimental watch all day and I don’t want to wear two watches. My late father’s watch is not coming off.

 

[harris098]

@mool You could look at other fitness trackers besides watches. The other option for what you are looking for would be going with a OS specific watch either Apple or Android with specific apps.

 

[mool]

@harris098 I’ve looked and can’t find a solution, which is why I’m asking here.

 

[jibs]

@mool Wear it on your other wrist? Fitbit has a setting to choose whether you’re wearing it on your dominant or non-dominant arm.

 

[sarebear1992]

@mool Maybe try something that doesn’t compete with you watch? The Oura Ring looks interesting.

 

[beldog]

@mool You'd think in 2020 they would be smart enough to know you aren't "dead" so it must not be worn for durations. Sounds like they still haven't arrived at this..

I'll continue to pass. Seems like a basic function they should be able to figure out.. can't understand why I'd rely on any accuracy from them otherwise.

 

[mool]

@beldog I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted.

 

[beldog]

@mool I don't worry about it. I'm mainly hoping for better before I commit.. again.