Battery Symbol with Exclamation Mark

[VerityW]

My Alta suddenly stopped working and now just has a battery symbol with an exclamation mark in the middle. Can anyone help?

[LucyAP]

Thanks for stopping by @VerityW! This sounds odd. You can try restarting your Alta. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Plug your charging cable into a USB port on your computer or any UL-certified USB wall charger.
2. Clasp the other end of the cable to the port on the back of your Alta. Alta will begin charging.
   
3. Press the button on your charging cable three times within eight seconds, briefly pausing between presses. The button is on the end of the charging cable that is plugged into your computer. 
4. Eight seconds after the first button press, you'll see the Fitbit logo on the screen. This means Alta is restarting.
5. After you see the logo you can unplug your tracker from the charging cable.

Good luck and keep me posted! 😉 

[VerityW]

Unfortunately this doesn't work

[LucyAP]

Thanks for your reply @VerityW! In this case I'd like to advice to get in touch with Support. I'm sure that they can see further in our system what it's going on with your tracker and get you back on track in no time. Just remember to let them know the troubleshooting steps you already took. 

Keep me posted with the outcome! 😉 

[kiltbear]

Same Problem here. After my Alta refused to updated to a new firmware since I received it as my fourth! replacement for my original Charge, (the bands on all three charges threw bubble s around the device and eventually came loose from the device completely, within a few weeks) and support gave me the run around with rather absurd (for me as an IT-Professional) explanatations why my Alta wouldn't update past the original 21.6.9 firmware, it suddenly did update to 21.37.11 and now i', stuck with the exclamation mark on  the battery symbol and the Alta won't charge after only lasting about 18 hours since the last charge.

I'm starting to have very serious doubts about Fitbit product quality, as my mountain of dead fitbit devices continues to grow. I'm franly getting very tired of haveing to get a replacement device every few weeks, even though support seems to send them out quite liberally, which is appreciated. But it's just getting extremely tedious. These things should at least last throught the warranty. My Alta is another replacement for my Charge which is still under warranty until March 2017.

Moderator edit: Format.

[LucyAP]

It's great to have you here @kiltbear! Thank you for sharing your experience with Fitbit products. If your Alta is showing an exclamation mark in the screen this means that is stuck in the firmware update process. This may have an easy solution. 

Firts please, restart your tracker. Then, please set your tracker as a replacement device. To do so, follow these steps:

Apple iOS device:

1. On the Fitbit app for iOS dashboard, tap the Account tab.
2. Tap Set Up a Device.
3. Choose your tracker and follow the onscreen instructions to continue.

Android device:

1. On the Fitbit app for Android dashboard, tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
2. Tap Devices.
3. Tap the + icon in the top right corner.
4. If you're replacing a tracker, tap the tracker you want to replace. If you're setting up a new tracker, tap Add a new Device.
5. Choose your tracker and follow the onscreen instructions to continue.

Windows 10 mobile device or computer

1. On the Fitbit app for Windows 10 dashboard, tap the Account icon in the top right.
2. Tap Set Up a New Fitbit Device.
3. Choose your tracker and follow the onscreen instructions to continue. Note that you cannot set up a Fitbit Surge with a device running the Fitbit app for Windows 10. If you set up the tracker with another device, you can sync with the Windows 10 app.

Mac or Windows 8.1 computer:

1. Click the Fitbit Connect icon located near the date and time on your computer.
2. Click Open Main Menu...
3. Click Set Up A New Fitbit Device.
4. Click Existing User and log in to your account.
5. Choose your tracker and follow the onscreen instructions to continue.

I hope this helps, keep me posted with the outcome! 😉 

[pao_wikhan]

restarting wont help, restarted three times already. my alta was supposed to die out after three days and its on the latest firmware. that battery with exclamation mark, what does it mean?

[pao_wikhan]

i think the new firmware has a battery bug. did the 5 clicks 8 second thing and leave it charging ( it will not restart the alta or do anything), then it starts up nicely.

wish i can get my hands on the firmware to debug it further.

[LucyAP]

Hey hey hey, thanks for stopping by @pao_wikhan! As mentioned before this symbol appears sometimes when your tracker is stuck on the Firmware update. If you already tried the suggestions that I made in my previous post, please feel free to contact Support for further help. I'm sure that they can get you back on track in no time. Just remember to let them know the troubleshooting you tried before contacting them. 

Good luck and keep me posted with the outcome! 😉 

[Youthmary]

I've read about the firmware updates but I did nothing to my Alta. Noticed that it wouldn't respond to a tap so plugged it in to charger thinking it was dead although received no notifications that battery was low. Saw no charging bars just exclamation mark.  After reading blog I did the 3 presses of button on cable and now it is charging 😊 Not sure if I'll have to do the other steps mentioned. Will check back  later...

[kiltbear]

@LucyAP As for your well meant instructions:

Been there, done that, pretty much ad nauseum. Doing it pretty much every other day. Not getting better.

Now chalking it up to the, pardon my french, crap FitbIt Hardware. Even the Alta that I got downgraded to from my Charge is, nicely put, not worth a nickel. Even less so than the Charge. There it was only the the wristbands that detached from the electronics within weeks. Every single time the thing got replaced. I currently have FOUR!!! Charges in various states of disintegration and if I take the bait of yet another exchange, will soon  have two Altas. And since according to EU law, warranty resets to zero each time a faulty unit is replaced, I reckon you guys are going to send a lot more trackers my way, provided I decide to even bother.

Now the Alta downgrade, yes it's a downgrade because I bought the Charge primarily for its ability to count stairs climbed which is the single thing the Alta doesn't do. What the Alta does very well is running emtpy silently without notification until it's been dead a day or so, then i'll receive an email and displaying annoying exclamation marks I can't really get rid of.. 

Sorry to be so blunt, but i'm really geting tired of the apparently super low quality Fitbit hardware and the, since I have the Alta, increasiingly clueless, self contradicting and incompetent support. 

I think I'm spending more calories dealing with the tracker problems than with anything the trackers could track, if they weren't too busy falling apart or acting up to really seriously track anything.

[lilaclicious]

I am having the same problem and am unable to set it up as a new device since it asks me to enter the 4 digits on the fitbit alta display ... the fitbit alta display does not show 4 digits as it is only showing the battery symbol with an exclamation mark ... Having rummaged around this forum for solutions all morning and getting more annoyed by the minute is anyone from fitbit able to actually tell me what this symbol means and how to fix this issue or have I just wasted £100 on a faulty product ?

Lucky for me my alta is less than a month old and I can most likely return it to store for a replacement, however this is not really helpful if the same problem occurs when it is over a month old and the store wont replace it !

Moderator edit: format

[Tikki7]

Had the same problem with my Alta. I tried the 3 push button test and didn't work so I held the little button in (approximately 5 secs) the Fitbit symbol appeared and then it went through the new Fitbit set up as I uninstalled it from the phone. Haven't had a problem with it since. 

[Vette2011]

Thank you! This worked for me. Alta needed to be charged and kept having exclamation mark when hooked to charger....reset as listed above and now it's charging correctly!

[Samba75]

I've also got problems. My Alta hadn't synced for 4 days so tried all the suggestions and eventually restarted my Alta. That worked as it's now synced with phone but I now have the exclamation mark and battery symbol. Best to contact support or are there other steps I could try first? 

[Samba75]

It's now sorted itself out? I just left it and suddenly it's ok. Very odd but I'm glad it's back on track

[Iri0290]

I have same problem. Tried restarting by pressing button like suggested. It didn't help. Fitbit symbol popped up by some error number which was too fast to catch 

[Tikki7]

Hi Iri0290

hold the button in for approx 5secs it will come up with the battery symbol or the wording fitbit and will do a sync with your phone also a new 4 digit passcode will appear after the sync has finished enter that in the setup section that will appear once it has reset it will sync again with your phone & should be all set 

[ahwoollett]

my 1 week old xmas present wont charge and i get the ! on the scree.  tried the restart thing, that didnt work

what do i do??

[joecollyer]

Hi there @VerityW!

All this battery with an exclamation mark means is that the battery is very nearly out of charge and you need to plug in your tracker and leave it for about half an hour to 45 minutes. If the symbol is not gone by then, I would advise getting in touch with customer support by clicking here.

Hope this helps!

Joe Collyer