3 New Features Make Exercising with Fitbit Better than Ever

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Planning to break a sweat at the gym, trying that hot new cardio kickboxing class, or hitting your tried-and-true running path later? Be sure to check in with Fitbit before you get started, because as of today your exercise experience is getting an upgrade!

Thanks to the release of three new features, you can now track your workout stats and personalize your exercise experience in more ways than ever before. Read on to learn what’s new for all Fitbit users and what’s been updated for Fitbit Charge HR™ and Fitbit Surge™ users.

New for All Fitbit Users!

primary_exercise_screenNow You Can Set and Track Weekly Exercise Goals

If you need an extra nudge to get moving, it’s your lucky day! Fitbit now lets you to set weekly exercise goals based on the number of days per week you want to be active. Exercise goals help you stay motivated on a daily and weekly basis by showing a picture of your progress to keep you accountable on your health and fitness journey.

Whether you track your workouts directly on your device with exercise modes, manually log a workout or use MobileRun in the Fitbit app, every exercise you do counts toward your goal. Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge users can rely on SmartTrack, a new feature that automatically tracks workouts, like walking, running or outdoor cycling, and gives you credit for your activity toward your exercise goals. (Keep reading to learn more about SmartTrack!)

Best of all: you can set the goal that’s good for you! Right now, your weekly exercise goal is set for five days per week. In the app, you will be able to personalize your weekly goal to fit your fitness objectives.

New for Fitbit Charge HR & Fitbit Surge Users!

goal_setting_screenTracking Exercise is Now Easier with SmartTrack

Tracking workouts on Fitbit Surge and Fitbit Charge HR is easier and smarter than ever thanks to a new feature called SmartTrack. Now your tracker will automatically recognize that you’ve done an exercise, identify the type of activity, and record it in the Fitbit app.

SmartTrack only recognizes workouts or activities where there is continuous movement—things like walking, running, outdoor biking, and elliptical, as well as high-movement sports, such as tennis, basketball, and soccer, among others, and workout classes that keep you moving, like cardio-kickboxing and Zumba.

SmartTrack can also be personalized. All you need to do is go to the exercise settings in your Fitbit app and select which SmartTrack activities you want to be recognized as workouts. You can also adjust the number of minutes you need to perform each activity in order for it to count towards your exercise goal. For example, SmartTrack can be set to record your 30-minute power walk at lunch, and ignore your casual, after-dinner stroll. (The default setting for SmartTrack is 15 minutes, but you can adjust it to capture activities that last 10 minutes, 90 minutes, and everything in between.)

Planning to participate in an activity with lots of starts and stops, such as a strength-training routine or a bootcamp class? Try using Exercise Mode on Fitbit Charge HR and multi-sport modes on Fitbit Surge for the most precise tracking during workouts and to get real-time stats on your wrist.

Exercise-Detail-Charge-HRHeart Rate Tracking During Exercise is Better with PurePulse™

A recent update to PurePulse heart rate technology for Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge enables an even better heart rate experience during and after your workouts. The update improves heart rate tracking performance when using Exercise Mode and multi-sport modes during certain high-intensity workouts. You might notice the enhancements while cycling, working out on cardio equipment, or during high-intensity exercises—like during your next Zumba or bootcamp class, for example.*

Are you ready to crush some goals?!

With these three new features from Fitbit, you now get more from your exercise experience than ever before—more personalization, more accountability, and more success!

 

SmartTrack and PurePulse are available now for Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge users on all operating systems. Exercise goals is available for iOS, Android, and Windows users now.

 

 

*Your personal heart rate tracking results with PurePulse may vary. As with all heart rate monitoring technologies, accuracy is affected by physiology, device location, and different movements. Learn more.

 

18 Comments   Join the Conversation

18 CommentsLeave a comment

  • With latest software update on fitbit blaze I have noticed that workout tracking has been removed. Is there any way to add workout tracking back in fitbit blaze or is there any way to track workout. When I say workout I do not mean predefined workouts like 7 min or 10 min abs etc.

    • Hi There! You should still be able to access the FitStar workouts on Blaze (warm it up, 7 minute workout, 10 minute abs) after updating the firmware. When swiping through the Blaze menu, stop when you see FitStar and the workouts you are looking for should be there. If you don’t see them, try a restart of your Blaze. Should you need further help with this. Please fee free to reach out to our support team via our other support channels so we can take a closer look.

  • My FitBit HR is missing 10 minutes of my treadmill work. I tried turning off the auto-detect and that wasn’t the answer, what am I missing ?

    I spend 45 to 65 minutes on my treadmill yet my exercise only shows 35 to 55 minutes ?

  • You made a good site and it’s interesting one I like it a lot you giving us such a good and useful posts also information it’s amazing this is the best one I am impressed by your site and thoughts they very help us thanks for sharing the best posts You are the best one

  • When I start working out and start sweating the fitbit heart rate moniter goes blank. It loses the data. Any suggestions. This is not good at all. I have tried several things please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Hi Renee. This sounds like expected behavior. Blaze’s display is designed to shut off after a second or two to conserve battery life. There isn’t a way to keep the display on at all-times or for certain amount of time. If you feel this is a feature that we should implement, get the attention of our developers by voting on an existing idea that’s been posted on our Feature Suggestions Board. Thanks for supporting the idea!

  • I’m a Samsung Gear Fit 2 user from Turkey. I didn’t like this watch. In terms of hardware, it is Samsung, classically it has everything but in terms of software, user experience it has nothing, really nothing. What i want to see in an exercise tracker is:

    Exercise recognition is a good trait, but it must work like this: Watch should tell me that i started an exercise, it realised it and started to save it, but it should also allow me to change the exercise type (samsung recognises it wrong mostly)

    It should me show some simple data summary like: average heart rate, average heart rate when cycling, running etc. average heart rate during sleep etc.

    I must be able to change exercise type any time when i enter the website and choose edit for an automatically recorded exercise

  • So my fitbit HR seems to work well with SmartTrack to track the activity (running) that I do — but it doesn’t record the distance as part of the activity. The app on my android phone shows total daily distances which I believe would include the steps from the run, but the distance of the individual run itself shows 0. This is important because I have joined a global challenge that integrates to my fitbit app, but the distance that fitbit is sending to the eHealth site is ZERO — not exactly a help to my team. How can this be fixed?

  • I rode my mountain bike for 2.5 hours. My auto exercise tracker showed only a half an hour. This happens most of the time. What should I do?
    I did manually enter the 2.5 hour workout and the computer showed everything for the 2.5 hours with heart rate, effort level, etc. So the info is there, why isn’t it automatically giving me the whole workout of 2.5 hrs?

  • I went for a swim for 1 hr 15 mins swam 60 length auto recogniton recorded 46 mins 39 length please help not understanding this auto rec set 10 mins

  • I am looking to replace my first generation Fitbit. I like to swim and walk. I would like to have HR and see the time of day!
    Which Fitbit do I need?
    Thanks

  • Hi my fitbit 2 recognises my clubbersize and zumba classes, but I go to gym for an hour before the classes and my fitbit does not recognise that am I doing something wrong x

  • Hi my fitbit recognises my clubbersize and zumba classes but I go to gym for and hour before every class and my fitbit charge 2 does not recognise the gym x what am I doing wrong x

  • Is there a way to get my FitBit to recognize any other kind of exercise? I just spent most of the day hand digging post holes and tightening fence lines. FIt Bit said I got 3200 steps and nothing else. I do not go to the gym, I have a farm to run.

  • I was using my son’s Surge fitbit and it doesn’t record the time when I am in gym. There is no internet connection in my YMCA. Is it the same for Alta HR? It doesn’t recognize that I’m exercising because of no internet

If you have questions about a Fitbit tracker, product availability, or the status of your order, contact our Support Team or search the Fitbit Community for answers.

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