Why are wearable step counts different than my phone's step counts?
Those who own both a fitness tracking wearable and a smartphone fitness tracking app on sometimes notice the wearable has higher amounts of overall activity data, most particularly step counts. If the wearable and the fitness tracking apps are not able to sync the activity data, this might lead to a situation where the step count number displayed on the wearable will not be identical to the number displayed in the fitness app.
So which is the most accurate one?
Wearables often report higher numbers because they are attached to your wrist for most of the day, while your smartphone might not be in your hand or in your pocket at all times. In addition, wearables can be more sensitive to arm movements, such as clapping your hands or strumming a guitar.
That being said, we at Pacer continuously test the reliability and validity of fitness trackers of all types, and conclude that phone-based step tracking and wearable-based step tracking data tend to be very similar in result by the end of the day.
What can I do if my step counts are different and I can't sync the two?
Manually Add the Difference
Simply calculate the difference between your wearable and Pacer at the end of the day by manually adding the activities and step counts.
You can also read refer to our article about converting other activities to steps.
Pacer for Teams Challenge Participants
Your challenge Admin might disable this feature for your challenge, meaning what you manually enter in your Pacer app will not be considered for the challenge results. It will still display on your home screen, and subsequent data areas, but will not reflect in the Pacer for Teams Challenge Leaderboard.
What if I think my step count is wrong?
1. Hard reset your phone, launch Pacer, and see if that corrected the issue.
2. If you have an iPhone, and you have synced Pacer iOS to Apple Health, resync the two apps again.
3. If you have connected your Fitbit to Pacer Android, check your connection.
4. If the above methods do not work, use the Feedback Portal in Pacer Android or Pacer iOS to contact us. Your phone will send a detailed phone log. Be sure to add any screenshots you might have to help explain the problem.