How to export and edit a Suunto FIT file

The Suunto app lets you download the .fit file of any synced activity, one at a time. That file is what you edit when something in the activity is wrong: a car ride at the end, a heart rate spike, an activity that ended up in two parts, or the wrong sport. The clean file then goes to Strava, Garmin Connect, or TrainingPeaks. Going back into the Suunto app is the one catch, and it's covered below.

Step 1: export the file

The steps differ slightly between phones. The activity has to be synced to the app first.

iPhone:

1. Open your Calendar, the second icon on the bar at the bottom.
2. Tap the activity.
3. Tap the three dots in the top right corner and choose to export it as a FIT file.
4. Pick where it goes: a folder on your iPhone, your computer, a linked drive, or a contact.

Android:

1. Open your Calendar, the second icon on the bar at the bottom.
2. Tap the activity.
3. Tap the three dots in the top right corner and choose to download the FIT file.
4. If the app asks, allow it to reach your files. The download starts by itself and the file lands in your phone's files.

From Strava: open the activity on the Strava website, three-dot menu, Export Original. For an activity that synced from Suunto, that is usually the file Strava received.

Step 2: fix it

Open the file in FIT File Editor, on your phone or your computer. The route is on the map, with pace, heart rate, cadence, power, and elevation on the timeline underneath.

• A section you don't want. A drive home, a stretch on a train, a long stop where the GPS drifted. Drag across it and press Cut, anywhere in the activity. Distance, time, and averages are recalculated, and the gap becomes a pause. See crop a FIT file.
• The battery died, or you started a second activity by mistake. Open the first file, press the plus button, and add the second. They join into one activity. The merge guide explains how the gap is handled.
• Heart rate spikes. Select the stretch and cap, smooth, or fill it with the fix tool. The heart rate spike guide covers which to pick.
• GPS drift. Smooth a jumpy stretch or drag a stray point back. See the GPS drift guide.
• Data from a second device. Open the Suunto file and add the other device's file. Power, cadence, heart rate, or GPS that the Suunto file has none of is filled in over the time they overlap. What the Suunto file already recorded stays as it was.
• The wrong sport. Set any sport and sub-type in the details panel. See change the sport.
• Wrong time. Shift the start time in the details panel with the time tool.

Press Export to save the edited .fit. The file stays in your browser the whole time.

Step 3: upload it

Delete the old copy on each platform first, then upload the edited file. Platforms reject a file that overlaps an activity they already have. The duplicate activity guide has the order for Strava and Garmin Connect.

Strava, Garmin Connect, TrainingPeaks: delete the copy Suunto synced, then upload the edited file on the platform's website.

The Suunto app: Suunto says you can't import a workout file into the app directly. Its help points to partner services such as RunGap or FitnessSyncer to bring the data in, and to adding activities by hand. If what you need is the fixed version on Strava or Garmin Connect, you can skip this and leave the Suunto copy as it is.

Worth knowing

• Keep the original. Hold on to the file you exported until the edited one is in place everywhere you want it.
• Routes are a separate thing. The Suunto app imports GPX routes to follow on the watch, from the map view. That is for planned routes, not recorded activities.
• One activity at a time. Suunto's help describes the export per activity. If you have many, open them together here and edit each one in turn.