Why is this stupid bug still not fixed?

N/A? How far do you swim in an hour? Between one and three kilometers, perhaps? Ridiculous! According to my Fitbit app, I not only swim faster than any Olympian, but I also swim faster than the speed of sound.

A commentary by Robert Kohlick

Google Fitbit says I swim almost 2,000 km/h

I love swimming. About twice a week I go to the local indoor pool and swim laps for about an hour. Since the end of October 2023, I have been using my Google Pixel Watch 2 (test), who records my little swimming sessions via Fitbitso that I can look at my Pixel 8 Pro (test) afterwards to see exactly how long I was out and about, how many calories I burned and how much I actually swelled.

I usually manage to swim around 80 lengths in this time – with a length of 25 meters, that’s a distance of 2 kilometers and an average speed of 2 km/h. The Fitbit app on my smartphone says something different. According to her, I swam a whopping 2,000 kilometers during this time! I also travel faster than the speed of sound:

What’s particularly strange is that when calculating my pace, the Fitbit app is convinced that I’m “only” running at around 20 km/h. Whichever way you look at it: None of this is true.

The reason for this is quickly found: Apparently, when tracking swimming within the Fitbit app, the Meaning of comma and period swapped. In this country we use a point for thousands and a comma for decimals – in English it is the other way round. Strangely enough, this seems to be the problem only to be given when swimming. When I record my journeys on foot or by bike, a comma is used instead of a period for the distances.

The reason for the incorrectly calculated pace was also quickly found. Instead of “per km” it should be “per 100 meters”Then my speed would be around 2 km/h – which is true.

Fitbit has done nothing for almost a year

No problem, right? Just forward the bug to the Fitbit team and the problem will be history with one of the next updates. Nonsense. A quick Google search shows that the error was discovered and reported by a member of the Fitbit community on October 27, 2023 (source: Fitbit Community).

Approximately one month later Finally, a moderator speaks up and says that the team has been informed and is investigating the situation:

In the coming weeks and months, more and more people will post in the thread and say also be affected by the problem and ask for updates. The moderator tells us all: “Our team is working on a solution to this situation. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.”

Such “updates” with almost always the same wording will be available in January 2024, February 2024 and April 2024 – there is radio silenceWhat’s particularly funny is that the thread has now been marked as “solved”, although the problem still exists – for almost a year now!

There is still no solution in sight. And somehow I have to doubt that this will ever change.

Fitbit, you are making a fool of yourselves

Mistakes happen, no question. And your Fitbit employees probably have other problems to deal with or that have a higher priority.

But what makes me particularly angry is the absolute lack of communication on your part. The fact that your moderator is trying to make us believe that the team has been looking for a solution to this simple problem since November 2023 is simply unbelievable. Just tell us the truth. Is it really that difficult?

Knowing that the problem is known, but you are currently busy with other things, is definitely better for me, than to let you pull the wool over my eyes.

And if I’m wrong and the error is much more complex than expected, it would be great if you let me and the people in the Fitbit forum know exactly that, instead of just ghosting us.

Robert Kohlick