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Why my steps are not updating in the Global Challenge

Pacer Support
  • Updated

If your steps are increasing on Pacer’s Home screen but your Global Challenge progress (progress bar or leaderboard score) isn’t changing, it’s usually due to challenge rules, time window/time zone, or sync/refresh delays—especially in large or global challenges. 

 

This guide helps you identify the cause and fix it.

 

What you’ll notice

  • Your Home step total increases, but Global Challenge score stays the same 
  • Your score updates late (e.g., hours later) 
  • You walked a lot today, but the challenge still shows 0 

 

Quick checklist (do these first)

1) Confirm the challenge is currently active

  • 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, so your “today” may not match the challenge’s scoring day. 

 

What to do

  • Open the challenge details and confirm start/end dates and the rules/details section. 

 

2) Check the Global Challenge scoring rules (very common cause)

Different challenge types score differently, and many have daily caps. 

 

Common examples:

  • Step Challenge: score = steps credited to the challenge, but may have a daily step limit (default commonly 30,000/day; organizers can change it).   
  • Daily Step Goal Challenge: you can earn max 1 point/day once you hit the goal—extra steps won’t change today’s score.   
  • Distance Challenge: can be set to GPS-only, meaning normal daily steps won’t count. 

 

What to do

  • Open the challenge → Rules/Details and confirm: 
    • What counts (Steps vs Distance vs Points) 
    • Whether there’s a daily cap 
    • Whether GPS-only is enabled   

 

3) Make sure your steps are being recorded in Pacer

Challenge progress can’t update if your step source isn’t recording or syncing.

  • First confirm steps are increasing on the Pacer Home screen.   
  • On Android, background restrictions are a top cause of “steps not updating.” 

 

Android: quick fix

  • Turn off battery optimization / allow background activity for Pacer; allow notifications (helps keep the foreground service alive). 

 

4) Allow time + force a refresh (Global challenges often aren’t instant)

Rankings update when Pacer receives and processes your latest activity; updates may not be instant—especially if your data comes from Apple Health / Google Fit / wearables, or your phone limits background refresh. 

 

What to do

  • Open the challenge page and pull to refresh (if available).   
  • Fully close and reopen Pacer, then re-check.   
  • If your steps come from a third-party source, use the source-specific steps below.

 

Global challenge time zones (important if your “day” looks wrong)

Some challenges (especially public challenges) may score based on the creator’s time zone, so your Home screen “today” can differ from the challenge “today.” 

 

If you’re in a Pacer for Teams global challenge (workplace challenge):

  • Challenges are measured by calendar day (midnight-to-midnight), and the system accounts for user time zones.   
  • There can be an additional 12-hour sync buffer after the end date for final syncing. 

 

If it still doesn’t update

Before contacting support, collect:

  • Challenge name + challenge type (Steps / Distance / Pace / Daily Goal) 
  • Approx. date/time you walked 
  • Screenshots of: 
    • Pacer Home steps (today) 
    • Challenge page showing no update   

 

Then contact support in the app (Settings → Help & Support).