Step count retrieved through Google Fit Api does not match Step count displayed in Google Fit Official App

Question

I have developed an application that needs to display daily steps count. To do this, I used the API available in Google Fit SDK.

All seems to be working properly, but the steps count I get does not match to the one displayed in Google Fit Official Application.

For example, I get 2308 steps when the Google Fit App display 2367 steps.

Is there a reason for this? Does anyone have the same issue? Anyone have a clue?

Answer 1

I found the solution.

The Fit app does some additional processing on top of the steps. It estimates steps based on the activity when none are recorded.

If it can help someone : You need to use a custom DataSource of the package com.google.android.gms

DataSource ESTIMATED_STEP_DELTAS = new DataSource.Builder()
            .setDataType(DataType.TYPE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)
            .setType(DataSource.TYPE_DERIVED)
            .setStreamName("estimated_steps")
            .setAppPackageName("com.google.android.gms")
            .build();

And use this in your aggregate method like this :

DataReadRequest readRequest = new DataReadRequest.Builder()
            .aggregate(ESTIMATED_STEP_DELTAS, DataType.AGGREGATE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)
            .bucketByTime(1, TimeUnit.DAYS)
            .setTimeRange(startTime, endTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
            .build();

Answer 2

Google Play Services 7.3 (released 4/28/2015) added a new method to the HistoryApi.readDailyTotal, which matches the step count on Google Fit official app and is easier to use.

    PendingResult<DailyTotalResult> result = Fitness.HistoryApi.readDailyTotal(fitnessApiClient, DataType.AGGREGATE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA);
    DailyTotalResult totalResult = result.await(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    if (totalResult.getStatus().isSuccess()) {
        DataSet totalSet = totalResult.getTotal();
        steps = totalSet.isEmpty() ? -1 : totalSet.getDataPoints().get(0).getValue(Field.FIELD_STEPS).asInt();
    }

Answer 3

As Sameer Z. requested I'm posting full code to get values.

DataSource estimatedSteps = new DataSource.Builder()
    .setDataType(DataType.TYPE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)
    .setType(DataSource.TYPE_DERIVED)
    .setStreamName("estimated_steps")
    .setAppPackageName("com.google.android.gms")
    .build();

DataReadRequest readRequest = new DataReadRequest.Builder()
        .aggregate(estimatedSteps, DataType.AGGREGATE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA)
        .setTimeRange(startTimeSeconds, endTimeSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
        .bucketByTime(1, TimeUnit.DAYS)
        .enableServerQueries()
        .build();

PendingResult<DataReadResult> pendingResult = Fitness.HistoryApi.readData(client, readRequest);
pendingResult.setResultCallback(new ResultCallback<DataReadResult>() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(@NonNull DataReadResult dataReadResult) {
        List<Bucket> allBuckets = dataReadResult.getBuckets();

        for (Bucket bucket : allBuckets) {
            long startAtSeconds = bucket.getStartTime(TimeUnit.SECONDS);

            Value stepsValue = getValue(bucket, DataType.TYPE_STEP_COUNT_DELTA, Field.FIELD_STEPS);
            int steps = stepsValue != null ? stepsValue.asInt() : 0;

            Log.d(TAG, String.format("startAtSeconds %s, steps %s", startAtSeconds, steps));
        }
    }
});

Answer 4

Google Fit sdk is a part of Google Play services.. The official Google Fit app also collects the same data from the Google Play services sdk but Google probably has added a few more code into the Google Fit app to make the data more accurate. It could also be a bug in the Google Fit app.