Fitbit Alta suddenly turning off

[G.Kristin]

Ever since I did the update  I've noticed my Alta all of a sudden shuts off with no warning. Every time the battery is on yellow but not dead. I get nothing on the screen and it stops syncing. I mainly use it for phone or text notifications so not having it working with no warning is a problem. I am able to restart it by plugging it in. But that option is not always available. It never did that before the update. Now I regret doing the update. 

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity

[denamo]

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@FerdinandFitbit wrote:

Hi there everyone! Good to see you all in the Fitbit Community Forums! 🙂

@LLDMorris, I'm happy to hear about your new Versa. I'm pretty sure you will like it very much!

@DLedford1966, my recommendation would be to give your Alta a restart. You can easily do this by clipping your tracker to the charger and plugging the charger to a USB port on your computer or a wall charger. Then, Press the button on your charging cable three times within four seconds and your tracker should vibrate and show the Fitbit logo. This will make your tracker to reboot.

Anything else you guys may need, I'm always around!

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Ferdinand,

Many on this thread have restarted the way you suggest, but that does not solve the problem. If you have not done so, please go back and read through this thread.  The problem with the Alta tracker shutting down when it reaches about 75% charge after the restart process continues. May be coincidental, but seems many had the problem following an update.  

[DLedford1966]

I've already done the restart several times, that has not helped. My Alta
still shuts down randomly at 75% power. Started right after I got the
latest upgrade just as many others here.

[SureshGS]

Hello Ferdinand,  looking at the posts really not sure who is there to support for the issue we raised.  The responses from Fitbit support is almost once in 10 days what i have observed and users are putting their issues almost everyday and might be every hour.  It looks Fitbit support had reached its saturation point and futher to advising doing same thing of restarting the devices they don’t have anything else to test for the users.  Rather than your support should be doing all the testing, we as a users are asked to test and get into frustrations of non-working.  Issue was 1st logged on 31st Aug’18 but till date no solution.  Please go through the posts and then suggest solution so we don’t go through the same steps again and again to find no difference.  If Fitbit software developers need sometime or if they are working on the issue then please specify that so we know we will need to wait rather than asking us to restart the unit which we know is not working.

[Rubyclassified]

  update: having gone through many variations of reset, restart, reinitialize, and reinstall, with crashes and interesting problems like only working for an good and displaying the charging status while wearing it and not while charging, I finally got it to behave as advertised other than some battery indiscrepencies. But then it crashed again after almost exactly thirty fine hours. I don't have the charger here at work and there is no way to manipulate the device without it, so I have to wait till I get home to see what is going on. The short of it is that I'm quite happy with it when it works, but this kind of reliability right out of the box is pretty dissapointing.

[denamo]

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@Rubyclassified wrote:

  update: having gone through many variations of reset, restart, reinitialize, and reinstall, with crashes and interesting problems like only working for an good and displaying the charging status while wearing it and not while charging, I finally got it to behave as advertised other than some battery display inconsistency. But then it crashed again after almost exactly thirty fine hours. I don't have the charger here at work and there is no way to manipulate the device without it, so I have to wait till I get home to see what is going on. The short of it is that I'm quite happy with it when it works, but this kind of reliability right out of the box is pretty dissapointing.

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I agree, very disappointing.  Most of us here on the board have at least had ours for two years working without a hitch.  I do believe the update is the issue.  Hope you can get some resolution through Fitbit since yours is still in warranty.  Thanks for the update.

[ssmith255]

@FerdinandFitbit I have tried all of your suggestions and none of them work with my brand new out of the box Fitbit Alta. Most of the time it won't respond to the 3 clicks with pauses in between, so I can't even do the restart. 

[JTLex]

Having the same problem with my Alta. Haven't been able to use it since the last update. 

Acts like its charging but when I take it off the charger it shuts down. Tried resetting with the button, it worked once but died shortly after and has reverted to the old behavior. Alta is 8 months old. 

[K.Buick]

Argh!!  So annoying, having the same issue and my Alta is brand new.  Hoping for a quick fix but doesn't sound possible after reading all these comments.  Help us Fitbit!

Moderator edit: format

[Etirzen]

Mine has not frozen/stopped in a couple weeks, although it still won't reach full charge no matter how long I leave it on the charger.  This whole thing has felt like a study in planned obsolescence, which is crappy customer service, IMO.

[denamo]

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@Etirzen wrote:

Mine has not frozen/stopped in a couple weeks, although it still won't reach full charge no matter how long I leave it on the charger.  This whole thing has felt like a study in planned obsolescence, which is crappy customer service, IMO.

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Yes, it does feel a bit like planned obsolescence especially since the Charge 3 is being pushed so hard by Fitbit. I've got a Misfit which requires a battery one can replace. Even though I know one has to purchase batteries along the way, that one still works.  Maybe that's the way to go. 

[NEELU]

Try your new fitness tracker n keep us posted... Regarding it's accuracy n performance.. Maybe we all can go with your tried n tested tracker.
Feel really cheated by fitbit.
Wonder if they are able to read all our posts...

Send from my vivo smart phone

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi everyone! Good to see you all around!

Thank you all for sharing all these important details of what you're experiencing!

Rest assured that we're working to see what is going on here. That's the reason why I'd like you to confirm a few things.

1. According to what I've been reading from you, this started happening after an App update that happened back in late August apparently for both, Android and iOS users. Now, there have been some other app updates after that. The question is... Have you updated the Fitbit app to the latest versions after that one released on late August? If so, have you noticed any improvement or it has not made any difference at all?

2. About the issue specifically, is it happening to you all that your tracker will randomly turn off and you need to put it in the tracker to get it back on? How long after taking it out of the charger does it turn off again? If you sync your tracker regularly, have you noticed that the battery drains faster than it should or the battery works fine but it just turns off out of nowhere?

I'd appreciate if you guys could please answer these two questions with as much detail as possible to keep investigating.

Thanks a lot for your patience. I'll be looking forward for your replies!

[Ferrets28]

I'm curious to know when the last update was...  I don't remember ever updating.  I have only had it for 6 months.  

After contacting customer service and jumping through a few hoops (charge it and sync it... nope, that won't work it shuts off 2 seconds after I take it off the charger... ok, send a video showing it shutting off when taken off the charger) they are sending me a new "pebble".  Hoping it lasts longer than 6 months but I will be sure to NOT update anything until checking the forum several times!

I am glad to be getting a replacement, but I do think Fit Bit needs to pay attention to the fact that this isn't an "unusual" issue.  I wonder if they realize that some people buy the Alta because of the small size and not just because it's the least expensive...would they care more about this issue if we all had more expensive versions?

[SunsetRunner]

Mine is doing the same thing. It just shuts off when the battery is still at medium, half charged. My Alta is less than one year old. It has done this 3 times in a row now.

[DLedford1966]

Hello @FerdinandFitbit.  I'd be more than happy to answer your questions.

1.  Have you updated the Fitbit app to the latest versions after that one released on late August? If so, have you noticed any improvement or it has not made any difference at all?

The latest version of my Fitbit app is Version 2.79 updated yesterday.  The latest version of my Alta is 21.40.2.  Not sure when that updated though I think when I logged into the app today is when it updated because it said "Hold on while we clean things up for you."

2. About the issue specifically, is it happening to you all that your tracker will randomly turn off and you need to put it in the tracker to get it back on? How long after taking it out of the charger does it turn off again? If you sync your tracker regularly, have you noticed that the battery drains faster than it should or the battery works fine but it just turns off out of nowhere?

My tracker seems to randomly turn off anytime the battery gets below 75% and I have to put it back on the charger for it to turn back on.  At this point all of my steps from the time it turned off have not been counted.  Mine does not immediately turn off when I take it off the charger...it depends on its battery life (less than 75%).  The battery seems to be draining as it always had though I've turned off all notification settings with my phone because it was draining much faster with that (text messages, calls, alarms, etc).  It definitely turns off out of nowhere....there is no rhyme or reason to it other than the battery being under 75% (when you plug it into the charger the battery still shows 50 - 75% life so there's no reason for it to shut off). 

Thanks for checking into this.

[NEELU]

Quickly get in touch with the company... You are still under warranty

Send from my vivo smart phone

[Karizona]

This started happening to me yesterday.  It turned off twice yesterday and worked after the reset. Today it's turning off every few minutes after I reset it. Very frustrating. 

[Ellen07]

Happened again to me today .  Went blank yesterday, charged all night, screen showed wavy lines yet this morning like it was still charging.  Still showed 1/2-3/4 battery. Died again today.  Have removed and re-added twice. Will definitely be looking at a different brand

[Karizona]

Mine has died at least 7-8 times today. It is a year and 2 months old, but I didn't even wear it for 2 or 3 of those months. Really disappointing. 

[gira2fe]

I had mine almost 2 years and it started shutting off. Purchased a brand new one today and it has all ready shut off twice.