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I fixed my Fitbit Air's step counting with one hidden Google Health tweak
Android Police • • technology
Key Points:
- The Google Fitbit Air, priced at $99 with a screenless design and week-long battery life, has step-counting accuracy issues, undercounting steps by over 10% in tests compared to the Pixel Watch 2.
- The primary cause of inaccuracy is the default stride length estimate based on height and gender, which often does not reflect users' actual stride length.
- Users can improve step-counting accuracy by manually measuring their stride length—walking 20 steps, measuring the distance, and dividing by 10—and updating this value in the Google Health app settings.
- Testing showed that updating the stride length reduced the Fitbit Air's step-count error by nearly 2%, improving accuracy from 930 to 948 steps over a 1,000-step walk.
- The author recommends Google prompt users to set their stride length during initial setup to enhance accuracy and praises the adjustment as a simple way to make Fitbit Air more reliable for daily step tracking.
