Bluetooth not working on Fitbit Ace 2

[SunsetRunner]

My son received a new Ace 2 for his birthday.

Tried to connect it to his Windows 10 laptop using the store App, but it never worked. Tried with my own Windows 10 desktop: not working either. My iPhone SE with iOS 13 also cannot detect the Fitbit Ace 2 using BlueTooth. Both Windows 10 systems find my iPhone (and vice-versa) using BlueTooth.

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @SunsetRunner. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and sharing the details of the difficulty you're experiencing with connecting your son's Ace 2 tracker which he received for his birthday. Thank you for your troubleshooting efforts. I recommend trying the complete troubleshooting instructions from this help article: Why can't I set up my Fitbit device?

After that please try to set up the tracker again, you can confirm the steps in this help article: How do I set up Fitbit Ace devices?

Let me know how it goes, I'll be around.

[SunsetRunner]

I checked all of these out, but it did not help.

Strangely, I noticed the Ace 2 tracker was detected by my iPhone when I installed the FitBit app (it does not show up in iOS' BlueTooth settings like other devices). Unfortunately, this does not help me as I want/need this Ace 2 to connect to my son's laptop.

I believe it might be due to the Ace 2 requiring BlueTooth Low Energy to be supported. Perhaps my son's laptop does not support that mode...

I also re-checked the Ace 2 box and manual and found nothing about specific BlueTooth requirements. What are the exact requirements?

[LiliyaFitbit]

Thank you for your reply, @SunsetRunner. 

I appreciate your efforts and the additional details. Fitbit Ace or Ace 2 can be connected to an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, or Windows 10 device. The requirements for a Windows 10 device are the following:

• You installed the Fitbit app for Windows as described in How do I set up my Fitbit device?
• The operating system on your computer is up to date. To see if an update is waiting to be installed, go to Start > Settings > Update & security.
• The Bluetooth setting at Start > Settings > Bluetooth is on. If you can't find the setting and you're not sure whether your computer supports Bluetooth, follow the steps in this blog post to verify Bluetooth capability. 

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

[SunsetRunner]

Windows 10 version is 1909 and is fully updated.

Bluetooth is enabled, as I mentionned earlier (I can see my iPhone from Windows' settings when looking for Bluetooth devices).

I also made sure the Fitbit app is allowed to control the (Bluetooth) radio from Windows' privacy settings.

I have ordered a separate USB Bluetooth adaptor which is compatible with Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy. Keeping fingers crossed that that works (will post back once I get my hands on it).

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

The USB Bluetooth adapter did the trick: the Ace 2 tracker is now properly paired with the laptop.

It appears the Ace 2 tracker is not compatible with every Bluetooth adaptor out there. I bought a "B€lkin mini Bluetooth v4.0 USB-adapter" which supports Bluetooth v4.0 as well as Bluetooth Low Energy (aka "Bluetooth LE").

In my opinion, Fitbit should clearly mention the system requirements on both the packaging and its own website. This is currently not the case (have not found any mention anywhere about specific Bluetooth requirements): shame on you! From earlier posts in this thread, it appears that even Fitbit employees are not aware of the exact requirements...

Not a happy customer.

[LiliyaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner, thank you for your reply. I am sorry for the delayed response. 

I apologize for any misunderstanding and appreciate your feedback. Our team is always working on improving our devices and user experiences, and your comments are always welcome. I am glad to hear the Ace 2 tracker is now paired with the laptop. Thank you for sharing your solution, I am sure this information will be helpful to other users.  

Regarding the specific Bluetooth requirements, Ace 2 contains a Bluetooth 4.0 radio transceiver. This information along with other specifications, can be found in Ace 2 manual on page 26. 

In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you will find great tips and encouragement from other members.

Keep on visiting the forums. Happy stepping! 

[SunsetRunner]

Bluetooth versions are supposed to be backward compatible. Hence, the Bluetooth 4.0 LE transceiver in the Ace 2 should be able to communicate with a Bluetooth 2.1 EDR device (such as my son's laptop). Note also that this mention in the Ace 2's manual is simly in the specifications list for the Ace 2, not in any "requirements" section (neither the website, the manual nor the Ace 2 packaging lists any specific requirements).

At the end of the day, I am an unhappy customer because I had no way of knowing that I would have to buy an additional USB Bluetooth adapter just to get the Ace 2 working (adding more than 30% to the cost of the Ace 2 in the process), despite having carefully checked all the available information.

[LiliyaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I apologize for any inconvenience. I totally understand how you are feeling and appreciate your feedback since this helps us to keep improving the Fitbit experience. To share additional feedback or if you want to see features to be improved, feel free to visit our Feature suggestion board. Here our product development teams consult regularly to ensure we're delivering on what our customers need and want. You can read the FAQ to better understand how that board works.

Let me know if you have any questions.