Fitness trackers are useful for monitoring your activity and lifestyle but tests have often shown that you can’t rely on every tracker to provide accurate data. In fact, some of the devices wildly over or underestimate the number of steps you’ve taken, the distance you’ve travelled and the calories you’ve burnt – making it nearly impossible to track your progress. Read on to find out how your tracker could be misleading you.

Calories Burned

While most fitness trackers claim to measure the calories you’ve burned, the reality can be full of significant inaccuracies. Fitness trackers have been reported to overstate calories by more than 100%, meaning you’ll think you’ve worked off more than double the calories.

Heart Rate


A built-in heart-rate monitor is a useful feature for tracking an improvement in fitness levels over time, though not all fitness trackers have it. Many athletes use heart-rate information and heart-rate zones to calculate whether they’re pushing themselves enough too. Fitbit’s Alta Hr and Charge 2 both have a built-in heart-rate sensor, as does the Samsung Gear Fit 2. During researches, it has been found that the data can be incorrect by a big margin.

Accuracy Every Time 


Consistency is just as important as accuracy when it comes to tracking your fitness or activity levels. You won’t know whether you’re improving if a tracker is accurate on some days but not on others. The variation between repetitions can be as much as a whopping 67%, making it impossible to track day-to-day progress with this inaccurate tracker.

Next time you think of buying a fitness tracker, double-check the facts and figures and then only entrust your health with a gadget.