My steps stopped updating
What you are seeing: Active Living worked, and now your numbers are stuck or lagging well behind reality.
What is happening
Your steps travel through a chain, and any link can stall:
Your phone or watch → your step app → Health Connect → The Ismaili app
The most common break is the second arrow: Android suspended your step app in the background, so it stopped writing new data.
Fix it: battery settings
Set both your step app and Health Connect to run without restriction:
- Open Settings, then Battery.
- Find your step app — Samsung Health, Fitbit, Zepp, whichever you use.
- Set it to Unrestricted or Do not optimise.
- Do the same for Health Connect.
Where to find it differs by manufacturer:
| Phone | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Samsung | Settings, Battery, Background usage limits, remove the app from Sleeping apps |
| Pixel | Settings, Apps, pick the app, Battery, Unrestricted |
| Xiaomi | Settings, Apps, Manage apps, pick the app, Battery saver, No restrictions |
| OnePlus | Settings, Battery, Battery optimisation, pick the app, Do not optimise |
| Oppo and Realme | Settings, Battery, App battery usage, pick the app, Allow background activity |
| Vivo | Settings, Battery, Background power consumption management, allow the app |
Fix it: check the source app is still sharing
Sharing can be switched off by an app update or a sign-out.
- Open Health Connect, tap Data and access, then Activity, then Steps.
- Check your step app is still listed under Can write steps.
- If it is missing, open the step app and turn Health Connect sharing back on. The setup pages have the exact taps: Samsung, Pixel, others.
Fix it: check you are still signed in
Open your step app and confirm you are signed in. A signed-out Fitbit or Garmin app keeps its icon and its old data but stops recording anything new.
Still stuck
- If everything now reads zero rather than stale, try my dashboard shows zero.
- If it only updates when the app is open, that is the same battery cause: it only updates when I open the app.
- Otherwise, tell us what is happening.