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step challenges question

Former Member
Former Member
I am doing a step challenge and I was wondering why my total steps are not changing no matter how many steps I take. Is there anywhere I can get information on how it works? Thanks, Ginny

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  • Your step total will change as your Garmin watch syncs with the internet. Here are the basic principles: (1) You must walk or run to earn steps. You can manually enter fake miles, but you have to earn your steps. (2) Your watch must have enough energy to record your steps. Recording to your cell phone will be by Bluetooth so you need Bluetooth to be paired between your watch and phone. I recommend charging your watch and phone whenever you sit at your computer. Leave the charge cables in your computer's USB ports. When you sit, plug your watch and phone into their charging cradles. (3) After earning steps on a watch with a charge, you must store those steps on your watch. Do you have storage room? Connect your watch to your computer with the charging cable. Your computer will see a hard drive. Use File Manager to navigate to your watch's storage directory. All the files there will be FIT files. Delete the oldest files, say the ones older than two months. This will give you room for your new steps. (4) Garmin does best when it receives your data on the day earned. Don't go to bed at night without syncing your steps. Make sure the sync shows the correct number of steps. Do not wait for hours to sync or Garmin might lose your steps (see steps 2 and 3 for why). (5) Sometimes Bluetooth loses a connection. If you think you are connected to Garmin Connect but you are not getting steps, then close Garmin Connect, do something else like check the news, and return to Garmin Connect. Bluetooth will be reconnected and your steps will be increasing with your walking. Good luck!

  • Hi, my daily steps are being recorded but are not transferring to the challenge. Also, today’s timeline is not showing. I have synced the device but keep getting  the message to sync the device to see the timeline. I have tried turning Bluetooth off and on as well as closing the app.

    Can anyone help please? My device is only 3 weeks old 

  • Same issue here with a Vivosmart 4. Steps record, but don't show up on challenges. Irritating how "not-ready-for-primetime" Garmin devices have become. 

  • Garmin remains excellent. Make sure of the following things that you control:  (1) Your major steps or miles are from recorded activities (Start, walk/run, Stop, Sync). (2) Your devices (watch, cell phone) are fully charged.  (3) Your watch has available space, and if not, you use File Manager to delete your oldest FIT files. (4) Your cell phone and watch show a BlueTooth connection with each other. One easy way to upload your steps is to perform a fake activity. By this, I mean Start, walk for more than a minute, Stop, Sync. The Sync will not only publish your 1-minute walk, but all other steps queued in your watch.,

  • Same issue here with a Vivosmart 4. Steps record, but don't show up on challenges. Irritating how "not-ready-for-primetime" Garmin devices have become. 

    I do not think there is any relation between the reliability of the device and the fact your steps do not show up in Challenges. If the steps are well synced and recorded in your account (not only on your watch), then its a clear evidence of the device working properly and reliably. There is most likely a problem with your privacy settings. Some data won't be shown to others (including in challenges) unless you specifically allow it. So first of all, I'd make sure you allowed the Device Upload, Storage & Processing, and also have accordingly adjusted your privacy settings for connections/groups/public (depending on the type of challenge you participate).

  • I must disagree with that statement. We have Samsung phones, I have a Vivoactive 4s and my hubby the Galaxy watch. Every time I have to jump through hoops to sync the Garmin and it seems it doesn't count the steps my phone counts while my watch is off-wrist. My hubby uses the standard Samsung apps and he has no problems whatsoever.

  • Yes, I believe that your hubby's watch syncs all right, my Garmin finally does it too. It just means we have it all better configured, or perhaps are just simply lucky, that our phones pair nicely with our watches, while it is not the case with your phone and watch. It does not contradict what I wrote in my previous post. If you can't sync reliably, there is definitely some problem with your settings, configuration, phone, or perhaps the watch.

    It means if you have to fiddle with it each time to get it sync, it will likely remain in the same state as long as you do not localize and fix the problem.

  • Your Garmin watch is not designed to count your steps when it is off your wrist. While it is true that you can earn steps by shaking your watch or by hanging it on a pendulum, what most of us want is a small wristwatch with an accelerometer, GPS, and HR. We don't want to return to the days when an accelerometer was a brick that we strapped on our upper arms. What you need for good syncs is a strong wi-fi signal, a paired Bluetooth signal, adequate memory to store another FIT activity, a fully charged cellphone, and a fully charged wristwatch. As any of these requirements becomes impaired, so does your chance for successful syncs.