Alta won't turn on or charge, restart isn't working.

[jbarnaby]

I've had my Alta for about three or four months now. I wore it every day up until about 3 weeks ago, I took it off and just left it in a drawer (wanted to take a break from wearing it for a little while). Obviously in that time I bet the battery is completely drained. Yesterday I plugged my fitbit into my laptop with the charger and it wouldn't vibrate or give any indication that it was charging. I left it for 3-4 hours and still when i came back to it, nothing happened. I tap it and the screen doesn't light up, the charger is still unresponsive if I clip it and unclip it, and I've tried a restart several times between yesterday and today. The charger is clean and so are the contacts on the fitbit, and I've even left it plugged in a few more hours today.

My guess is either the fitbit is dead for good or the charger is broken. Not sure if there's anything else I can do other than contact customer support?

[JuanJoFitbit]

@CoffinGurl Welcome to our Fitbit Community! I'm sorry for the late response. However, I'd like to turn the bad experience you've had with your Fitbit Alta into a good experience. By the way, thank you for troubleshooting this issue before contacting our forums.

I'd like you to try one more workaround: Please clean the contacts of your Alta and charging cable with a cotton swab and a little bit of alcohol in order to remove any dust the the contacts may accumulate. After this, please charge your Alta for 2-3 hours and see if it comes back to life.

Keep me posted on the outcome! 

[CoffinGurl]

Actually I contacted Fitbit customer care and we did all the troubleshooting suggestions. I try and do all of those things prior, and contacting customer service was my last resort when nothing worked. So all avenues were exhausted by the time I got to that point. Thankfully I have already received my new Fitbit Alta. But I fear this has not been resolved with the hardware as its a few years going on this thread. I will hope for the best! 

[JuanJoFitbit]

@CoffinGurl Thank you for getting back! I'm sorry about the experience you had with your Fitbit Alta. However, I'm glad to hear that a new Alta was provided. Thank you for sharing the update and your feedback since this helps us to keep improving.

Please don't hesitate to get back if you need further assistance and I'll be happy to assist you.

[Rachaeldarla]

This is exactly what is happening to mine!!

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Rachaeldarla Thank you for joining us in this thread and our Fitbit Community! I'm happy to assist you with your Fitbit Alta since it won't turn on.

I'd like you to try the troubleshooting steps that are listed in this help article. You can go ahead and skip the steps that have already been tried. Let me know if the issue persists after trying these steps.

See you later! 😀

[justforquestion]

The same thing is happening to mine tried restarting it didn't work i went and bought a new cable and it still didn't work. Please reply need help on figuring out. 

[Rachaeldarla]

@justforquestion @Contact support. They will trade you for a new one

[JuanJoFitbit]

@justforquestion Thank you for participating in our Fitbit Community! I'll be glad to assist you with your Versa since it's not turning on even though you've restarted it before contacting our forums.

Please try the workarounds that are listed in this help article. It also contains the restart process but you can skip it since you already tried it before. Once you've done this, charge your Versa for 2-3 hours and see if the issue gets fixed.

Thank you for your help @Rachaeldarla!

Keep me posted on the outcome! 

[RayneMarie]

I am having the same problems right now. I have changed where I am plugging my FitBit in, I have also let it charge overnight and have tried putting it back on the charger more than once. I charged it like a week ago and it was perfectly fine. I am not sure what to do know. I want to say I have had my FitBit for about 7-8 months now and have not had a problem like this before. If you have found anything that has worked please let me know.

[CoffinGurl]

If all else fails, contact Fitbit support 

[scowles]

Hi Cindy. I have a Fitbit Alta and I am experiencing the same issue. I went to college and left it home accidentally for a semester. When plugging it into the charger, at first I received no response from the Fitbit, but eventually, it indicated it was charging. After charging my Fitbit for over 30 hours, every time I take it off the charger the screen is black and unresponsive. I've tried restarting my Fitbit multiple times as well as resyncing it to my phone. I've read the suggestions in the forum and none of them have worked. Please help!

[KelleyW]

Mine is doing the same thing...I've tried all of the above and it still refuses to turn on. Seems it is a common problem!

Yep mine too, exactly the same!

Moderator edit: merged reply

[JanH1]

My Fitbit Alta  HR has stopped working this morning. The screen is blank and not responding.

It was working prior to me plugging into to fully recharge.  It had  26% charge left.

All I am getting now when I tap the screen is the Fitbit symbol followed buy a code .plus the battery symbol has an exclamation mark

I have tried restarting (pressing the button three times) both with charging plug connected to an electric socket and also by plugging the usb into my laptop.  Neither has worked . My laptop is not registering that the Fitbit is connected.

I have recently downloaded the Fitbit app update - any thoughts on whether  this could have caused the problem or has the Fitbit broken?

[Wwgd]

Put on charger push reset button 3 times with a pause in between period tap the screen twice! It is the only thing that worked for me.

Follow all steps as described. Push recept button 3 times with a short pause in between then double tap the screen. No one ever told me to double tap the screen! Is the only thing worked for me.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Kelbel1212]

You are a life saver. I have been struggling with the same issue as everyone here has posted. Your post was what got my Fitbit working again. Although, I do suspect that this a major issue Fitbit is not addressing, I am hoping if I do not let it drop below a certain battery percentage, I can extend its life. Unless of course this is in fact a software issue, in which case this will be a reoccurring issue. 

Also for everyone reading, No warranty means a discount code to purchase another tracker 😂. I have owned four of their trackers, each with their seemingly inherent issues. Makes one wonder if that discount code would be better in my trash. 

Thank you to all of those that posted regarding this topic. Many times I find this community is better versed in solving Fitbit device issues that “customer support”, which mind you did not even troubleshoot it with me. Customer service simply said you will receive an email. Email read, your device is not under warranty but to avoid loosing you here’s a discount code… that expires in 30 days….