Steps count not accurate

I just bought the Withings Steel HR Sport Smartwatch (40mm), downloaded HealthMate to my Google Pixel phone, and also noticed an approx -5000 step count difference from previous smart / fitness watches. Several reviews of Withings on Amazon say the company is not responsive with customer support. Please post any feedback on how to resolve and I'll do the same.! 

I am having issues with steps registering... I jogged for 151 minutes which it detected, however I apparently only took just over 6000 steps. I know this is wrong. I jogged for over 7 kilometres. Please help.

I am in a cardiac rehab program after open heart surgery for valve repair. I'm tracking my time on each piece of equipment, but app does not track steps. Google fit always shows more steps than Healthmate, but healthmate is the app that links to my online medical records for dr to see. Needs more accuracy. Also, on dashboard, i can't figure out what an arrow pointing downward to the right, or upward to the left, is supposed to mean. Fat mass up a little but arrow points downward?? What is the explanation for the arrows?

I get the same problem.  I have just bought a Nokia Steel and it is recording far lower number of steps than I really do.

Just bought a Withings. The step count is nothing like my old Fitbit

Hello, my Steel HR is pretty new but I experimented a bit to check its tracking, so I tested the recorded distance while having bluetooth disabled and compared with the phones result.

In my experience the measured distance is pretty accurate, i.e. if an activity is started when you move more than 2 minutes. Or you can just start an activity manually.

For a walk of ~900m my phone (Google Fit) was claiming a distance of 1,1km meanwhile the Steal HR measured 0,93. Though the number of steps seams a bit strange some times (maybe due to different step sizes) the overall distance matches pretty close.

Some forums and websites claim that Garmin and Fitbit tracker way overestimate steps, which I can imagine since people probably feel better if they achieve 'more steps' and reach their daily activity goals. Or maybe it simply depends on the walking style how 'good' the steps are measured and different devices (implementing different algorithms) may work better for other persons.

Steps which are not recognized that well:

1. If you have some item in your hand and no activity is started the steps are likely not detected. Even if an activity is started and you walk very slow while holding something some steps may not be accounted for. (Probably because your pulse is not increasing by much such that it may fall back to connected GPS for the measurement)
2. Short walks (less than 2min so no activity is started), i.e. walking through your house is only recognized if you swing your arm quite much or walk a bit faster. 

This may be a technical limitation in order to ignore arbitrary arm movements i.e. since your pulse probably doesn't change much if you walk slowly/relaxed, still maybe one could improve the distinction of sleigh walking movements  and (likely faster) standard arm movements to grab or lift things.

Note: if you use the Google FIt app their is an issue that (non activity related) steps only get transferred with a specific configuration setup, for details see https://support.withings.com/hc/de/community/posts/360033368834--SOLVED-BUG-Google-Fit-Integration-is-not-exporting-recorded-steps 

I think people would like it much better if it sensed movement rather than arm swing. Lots of steps in a grocery store but if you are pushing a cart, withings doesnt notice. Everything else is awesome - just wish it counted ALL the steps in a day.

Pushing a wheelchair, shopping with a trolley or carrying shopping bags and nothing counts!

I agree with previous comments that steps are not registered unless your arms are free to swing. If you carry shopping or push something, nothing counts. I find this very frustrating and not representative of the exercise that I am doing.

Withings...REALLY? You have no option for this obviously huge flaw? A fitness tracker that many customers are unhappy with about it's step count accuracy? A pedometer app counted 12,243 steps for me yesterday, since it was in my cargo pants leg pocket, since I'm not THAT flexible, i doubt seriously that it was counting false movements "such as brushing my teeth", as was suggested in another response from your rep. My Motive ring tracker, which uses a combination of heartrate, GPS location, and movement, tracked 13,808, but withings health mate? Only 4,585, about 50% of my "goal". Your customers are begging you you to do something about this inaccuracy! What are you going to do? Because it sounds like many of us may move on to another brand. I hear the Garmin watch is way more accurate, albeit pricier, but thinking folks don't like paying for something that doesn't do what it claims.

Correction, Motiv ring tracked 11,626 steps, google fit reported the 13,808. In any case, each of these trackings recorded approximately 3x the amount tracked in Withings Steel HR. That's beyond inaccurate, it's basically worthless information.

Got my move ECG  and after one week i had the same amount of steps in one week as before in one day with my Fitbit Ionic. Today I tried both watches on the same arm. Guess what?  2444 steps on my move ECG  9123 steps on my fitbit. 

Result my new one week old move ECG back in my draw and the Ionic Fitbit back on..  withings waste of money....

My steel HR is recording about 1/3 the steps I am doing. Very disappointed.

My Pulse HR records only 40 - 50% of steps, depending on distance walked. While it looks strange, I wear my old fitbit on same arm for accurate count. Additionally, I was sold a metric watch but I'm in the US.  Can't they get anything right?

I've noticed a fairly significant drop off in step count with the Steel HR Sport compared to my Withings Pulse, which I used to wear on my belt.  And as others have said, forget steps counting if you're pushing a grocery cart.  My weekly trip for groceries used to get me 2500+ steps. Yesterday the first time using the Steel watch and it was 800 steps.  Also, although I was warned about step counting on an elliptical with stationary arms, I really think it should be able to pick up your movement.  Even with arms stationary, they are not completely still.  Your whole body is moving and I would think a step counter should be able to pick up that rhythm. So it seems that the arm swing is what's triggering a step.  I guess I'll have to wear multiple step counters now? (haha)

I recently received a Withings Steel HR Sport to replace my aging Fitbit One.  While it seems to do a fine job of counting steps when I go for a walk, it struggles to count 60% of the steps counted by my Fitbit One in the course of my everyday activities.

Perhaps my Fitbit One over counts but by nearly 70%?  I find myself more inclined to trust a hip worn tracker over a wrist-based tracker, especially when I can walk from one end of my house to the other without the Withings counting more than a few steps.

Very disappointing for an otherwise excellent watch.

I was really excited to move on from my Fitbit One to a tracker I can wear and use at work or the gym or going out.  I was excited until I started using it.  I know my Fitbit One is on point with it's step count.  Day One: Hr Steel Sport 12,612 steps vs FitBit One 30,367 (out and about all day plus 2 hrs of basketball and another Elliptical workout later).  Day Two: HR Steel Sport 3,887 steps vs Fitbit One 13,292 steps.  Day Three (today at 4:15pm) so far: HR Steel 5,310 vs Fitbit One 9,348.

These step counts are so far off.  If it was off by 10% I could deal with it.  But to be less than half the total steps is simply not acceptable.  I will be returning this device and moving on to another device that is not Withings.  This is terrible!

I’m having exactly the same problem. My Steel HR is giving me 50-60% step accuracy. I’ve tried turning on GPS to give it location accuracy when I run or go on walks. There’s no difference, still grossly inaccurate on both steps and distance.
It’s disappointing. I get so many compliments on the look of the watch, but looks like I need to go back to my ugly iWatch.
I’m really surprised that Withings hasn’t responded to anyone’s comments here. Unacceptable.

Lo stesso problema che ho io. Il contapassi non funziona bene, misura solo una parte dei passi fatti.

I agree.  I've given up.  I've thrown away my Withings Steel watch and bought a Fitbit instead,  The Fitbit works fine.

Yes. I am about to do the same. Discard the useless watch and rate the product poorly everyehere possible.
The level of inaccuracy is laughable. If they were trying to make the step count so much off they wouldn't be able to do it.

I walked for hours. Covered more than 10 km. Had the watch tightly strapped 1.5 cm above my wrist. And the scanwatch counted about 5-6000 steps...
And you shouldn't have to have the watch tightly wrapped around your wrist and 1.5 cm above the wrist and swing the arms a certain way to make it count correctly

Fix the issue before your company goes bankrupt because of it. People will start trusting your other products less because of the wrong step count. I certainly am. I'm not so sure that your sleep analyzer and your thermometer are accurate... or your weight scale

I gave up and threw mine in a drawer.  So disappointed in the lack of response from Withings.  It's a great looking watch, but I'm back to my Apple iWatch now.

Health Mate not recording accurate steps from Samsung Health

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r.d.wilson9 months ago

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I use Samsung Health to record my steps for my android device (Sony Xperia 1 iii phone). I have a Samsung Active 2 watch that tracks my steps. I also have a Body Cardio, BPM Connect, Sleep and Thermometer from Withings. Everything syncs correctly except for some reason my steps are no longer showing up correctly in the Health Mate App. I can show say 5,000 steps on my Samsung Health app it will be accurate with what is on my watch (tracking device), however the Health Mate app will be way off. Up to double the amount of steps. Also when I go to my Dashboard online at the Withings site, I noticed it is not tracking or showing any steps history at all. Please help fix this annoying issue asap Withings. Getting support on the phone is impossible!

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stamasp8 months ago

The steps activity has been broken for at least a couple of weeks, and they have no ETA on a fix yet.  How is this even conceivable, for such a simple feature?

https://support.withings.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4411714688401-Not-able-to-get-the-steps-data-from-homepage-

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stamasp8 months ago

Is Withings support nonexistent?

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erodrigues8 months ago

I just registered to say that I have the same issue here... double the steps in Health Mate, sounds like a easy bug to fix :)

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stamasp8 months ago

Yeah.. this seems like such an easy function, one that Withings advertises even. I've had this issue for 30 days now, the app is literally broken.. What gives?

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stamasp8 months ago

Well another week has gone by, checking the various threads to see if Withings replied. Nope. Seriously disappointed in this company.

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erodrigues8 months ago

Answer from support is this one:

Log out of the health mate appUninstall the appReboot your phoneReinstall the appLog back into the appResync Samsung health

This reminds me the same fix methodology applied by IT Crowd: "have you tried turning it off and on again?" 

...

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stamasp8 months ago

Yea, I have done that multiple times since this whole issue started weeks ago.. Yes it syncs with the cloud/site now but the data is wrong. Compare the numbers and you'll see - sometimes its twice as much, other times it works as expected. Historical data going back to early November is wrong- usually 2x what it should be. I have seen withings steps numbers fluctuate even within a day, one morning it told me 'congrats on meeting your goal' and then later that same day the steps number comes back down under my daily goal. It's great that it syncs now but what good is that if the data is simply wrong? lmao

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cai.steven7 months ago

Experiencing the same issue. Have tried disabling step tracking via phone in Samsung Health but it doesn't help either.

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vvbbzz4 months ago

Same issue on my side.
Look as if healthmate counts steps with phone sensor and then adds all steps from Samsung Health that are recorded by my watch.
Is there a way to completely disable step counting in healthmate and only use imported data (step count) from Samsung?

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erodrigues4 months ago

5 months later after the original post here, 2.5 months after my report and till today ZERO reply... 

Selling all my Withings hardware... if fixing such an issue for a SCALE takes this time, imagine for other more complex products.

Goodbye Withings. 

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orlandoyanguas2 months ago

I'm also getting more steps than the ones imported from Samsung Health. Based on the previous posts, this is hopeless...

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orlandoyanguas2 months ago

So, according to chat support, they're working on this and the temporary fix is to log out and log back into Health Mate and relink your Samsung Health. The initial sync will be accurate, but after that, it starts to add up, which is the real issue.

We'll see.

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erodrigues2 months ago

Forget about it... there is no fix on the End-User side and Withings simply could not care less about this :)

My "fix" was to use my "advanced scale" as a "simple scale" and only sync weight with Samsung Health... I will never buy again any other HW from Withings.

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s.poubelle1 month ago

Same problem here since almost a year....

No fix and no reply from withings is really bad support.

It's sad, i used to like the product and its app.

I started to stop using the app because of the unreliable datas.

I will start looking for another scale, from another company I guess.

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bwendiddly3 days agoEdited

I actually have a fix for this which works - but its a little janky. 

>Download "Health Sync" and "Google Fit"
>Use Health Sync to forward Samsung Health stepcount to Google Fit (they will not be doubled).
>Sync your usual data from Samsung Health on Health Mate, except for steps obviously. 
>Sync Google Fit to Health Mate, pulling only the step count. 

NOTE: Disable step counting on Google Fit as this may affect your total step count.

Pretty stupid fix to this issue, as Health Mate should not be combining the Phone's and the Watch's steps, as Samsung only reports the true steps taken. 

I used this trick when I was syncing my weight with Samsung Health on an incompatible set of scales a couple years ago.
After purchasing my Withings Body+ last night, and discovering the absolutely insane step count, did some googling and found this thread - it then reminded me of the old trick as above. 

Hope this helps someone!

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subhashchak16 hours agoEdited

I think I might have a fix for Steps but can't guarantee though as it's just been a day.

I sync my steps from Samsung Health to Health Mate in order to export it to Google Fit. I faced similar issues of inaccurate count of Steps in HMate - almost double of that recorded in SHealth.

I noticed that in android settings HMate has one Allowed Permission - Physical Activities . I removed this permission and after that the readings seemed to be ok.

Note : I had to use another account for HMate as the past inaccurate data stored up at HMate's server gets downloaded to the app otherwise. I could not figure out how to delete these records.As such I set up a new account to start afresh.

Hope this works for you.