If your steps / distance / points are increasing in Pacer but your challenge progress (progress bar or leaderboard score) doesn’t change, it’s usually caused by challenge rules, time window/time zone, or sync delays.

Use the checklist below to identify the cause and fix it.

Quick checklist (most common fixes)

1) Confirm the challenge has started (and hasn’t ended)

• Challenges have a start date and end date, and end at 11:59:59 PM on the end date.   
• Some challenges use the creator’s time zone to determine when scores begin and stop counting. 

What to do

• Open the challenge details page and verify the start/end date. 

• If you’re in a different time zone than the creator, your “day” for scoring may not match your local midnight.  

   

2) Check the challenge type and its scoring rules

Different challenge types count progress differently:

• Step Challenge: score = steps, but may have a daily step limit that caps how many steps can count toward the challenge each day. Default is 30,000 steps/day for many challenges (admins can change it).   
• Distance Challenge: may cap daily distance, and can be configured to accept GPS-tracked activities only (meaning normal daily steps won’t count).   
• Pace Challenge: requires a GPS activity with a minimum qualifying distance to count.   
• Daily Step Goal Challenge: you earn max 1 point per day when you reach the daily goal. 

What to do

• Open the challenge → Rules/Details → confirm what counts: 
  • Steps vs Distance vs Pace vs Daily Goal 
  • Any daily caps 
  • Whether GPS-only is enabled   

3) Make sure your activity is actually being recorded in Pacer

If Pacer isn’t counting your steps reliably, your challenge score may not update.

Android common cause: battery optimization or system restrictions stop Pacer from running in the background. 

What to do

• First confirm your steps are updating on the Pacer Home screen. 
• On Android, disable battery optimization / allow background activity for Pacer.  

4) Allow time for syncing/refresh

Challenge leaderboards and progress bars may not refresh instantly (especially for large or global challenges).

Pacer challenge activity is tracked “calendar day, midnight to midnight,” and systems can use time zone logic when assigning activity to a day. 

What to do

• Pull to refresh the challenge page (if available). 
• Fully close and reopen Pacer. 
• Wait a short period and re-check the leaderboard.

Common scenarios and fixes

A) “My steps increased, but my challenge score didn’t.”

Most likely causes:

• You hit the daily step limit (steps beyond the cap won’t increase your score).   
• You are in a Daily Step Goal challenge and already earned today’s point. 

Fix:

• Check the challenge rules and daily cap. 
• Try again tomorrow (for Daily Step Goal challenges).

B) “I walked a lot today, but the challenge still shows 0.”

Most likely causes:

• The challenge hasn’t started yet, or is using the creator’s time zone and your local time hasn’t entered the scoring window.   
• Your phone/app didn’t record steps (background restriction, permissions, device settings). 

Fix:

• Verify start time window and time zone behavior.   
• Fix step tracking first (especially on Android).  

C) “I did a workout, but my Distance/Pace challenge didn’t update.”

Most likely causes:

• The challenge requires GPS-tracked activities only, so daily pedometer steps won’t count.   
• For Pace challenges, you didn’t meet the minimum qualifying distance. 

Fix:

• Record a GPS activity in Pacer that meets the requirement. 
• Re-check your activity type and distance.

If it still doesn’t update

Before contacting support, please prepare:

• Challenge name + challenge type (Step / Distance / Pace / Daily Goal) 
• Approx. time and date of the activity 
• Screenshot of: 
  • Pacer Home steps (today) 
  • Challenge page showing no update 

Then contact us in the app: Settings → Help & Support.