Personally, I generally like the auto step goal function but issues arise when I go on a hike and do an unusually high number of steps in one day, then the goal suddenly increases an amount that is way out of my usual range.
If the auto step goal function is designed to encourage fitness by meeting goals it should be designed to calculate realistic goals set to gradually increase average daily exercise based on usual number of steps (i.e. exclude designated activities such as a hike OR exclude a day with an obviously unusual step count - either very high or very low).
I am sure the above would be possible to include in the algorithm.
Alternatively, the user could be given the options to choose
(1) a maximum daily increase and
(2) a maximum daily step goal
These options would enable the goals to remain realistic when some days of unusually high activity have taken place.
e.g. I recently did a hike which took my step count over 20000 which resulted in an increase in my goal of 2000 making the goal impossible and hence discouraging.
PS If anyone reading this is interested, I became curious about the whole auto step goal when my goal suddenly increased by 2000 steps.
This led me to a post which really helped me figure out what was going on with the auto step goal on my Garmin Swim 2.
The Garmin Swim 2 Auto Step Goal seems to be set up differently to the one described in the post.
On my Garmin Swim 2
when I BEAT the step GOAL (for any goal - my lowest goal was 7140 and my highest goal was 11030)
1st day it multiplies the % I beat the goal by 0.10 and adds that to my current goal
e.g. goal 7530, steps 8034, (6.7% x 0.10) x 7530 = 50 steps, new goal 7530 + 50 = 7580
Following consecutive days beating the goal it multiplies the % I beat the goal by 0.20 and adds that to my current goal
when I MISS the step GOAL (for any goal as above)
1st day it multiplies the % I miss the goal by 0.10 and subtracts that from my current goal
Following consecutive days missing the goal it multiplies the % I miss the goal by 0.20 and subtracts that from my current goal
I have not found any difference for step goals below 7500 or above 10000.
Increases or decreases are always in multiples of 10.
There does not seem to be either a minimum or maximum increase or decrease:
Decreases range from -10 steps tp -1080 steps.
Increases range from +10 steps to 2000 steps.
The only occurrence that didn't fit the above pattern was when I did a hike (over 20000 steps in one day), the increase of 2000 steps didn't correspond to any neat percentage of anything but was the % I beat the goal by multiplied by ~0.17.