Fitbit Alta turning off out of the charger

[Srishti97]

My fitbit alta has stopped working as soon as its being Unplugged from the charger.Even after tapping it multiple times,it is not reponding as if its dead and as soon as its plugged with charger,Its battery in fitbit app shows that its fully charged and synced but when unplugged,its not working at all.

Help me as soon as possible!

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity, format

[Rich_Laue]

How old is your Alta, have you kept the battery above 30%? 

Please remember that batteries do not last forever. 

[PJ66]

My FitBit Alta was a couple of years old when it quit working ... It was
charged regularly and never let the battery run down severely. Lithium
Polymer batteries (at least quality ones) don't fail suddenly on
catastrophically in large numbers as FitBit users are reporting, there is
something else going on and the company is not coming clean. My iPhone is
now over 5 years old and still ticking along on the same battery, the same
with several other LiPo powered electronic devices that I own.

The response of FitBit to the large number of identical failures is
indifferent at best leading me look for a different device from a company
that stands behind their product. So far all I've seen from FitBit is
"solutions" they know won't work and unwillingness to address the root
cause of these widespread failures. So long FitBit, I'm moving on.

[Mmusika]

Mine is still doing the same thing! Even after I re-set it and have a full battery. Help!!!!

[Bolton5]

I don't have a button on my charger cable.  So I do I reboot it?

[Guessohw]

Unplug it then plug it back in real fast three times in a row

Thank you,
Derek S. Wren

Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[SunsetRunner]

Clearly the Fitbit "update" was a kill switch for a product Fitbit deemed outdated. There is no other explanation for this many Alta's to simply stop working in the exact same way after an update. And to not have a fix 2 years later is completely ridiculous. To force customers to make a purchase like this is highly immoral at the least. Fitbit is clearly a terrible company and I will never buy another product from them. 

[Rich_Laue]

@Bolton5 do you have an original Fitbit cable? Do you k be a button in the tracker? 

[SunsetRunner]

The button fix doesn't work. The problem is happening across the Fitbit product line and Fitbit admits it is a firmware problem when pushed by media. Fitbit either has terribe engineers or this is a marketing scheme. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fitbit-charge-2-firmware-update-battery-1.5258511

[GMcI]

I loved my fitbit but I refused to be held up by this unethical behaviour. 

Now I’m enjoying my Garmin. Bonus—I can read the numbers on its face when I’m outside in the sun.

That was my first thought, too. The Fitbit died immediately after I uploaded their firmware upgrade—the same thing happened to thousands of people at the same time, even those who had a fairly new one. That was over a year ago—it seems like there’s another group of people that this is happening to. 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Rich_Laue]

Lithium batteries in general don't have a long lifespan. 

[NALASM2]

Yes I do have the original cable.  The reset button will fix the problem for a few minutes but doesnt last.

[Shelbyjean]

When I unplug the Fitbit it shows a full battery and turns off seconds after being unplugged. I have restarted it twice in the last hour trying to resolve this issue. It was given to me as a gift so I don't have warranty and very upset that it stopped working out of nowhere.

[oddtoddy]

How long ago did you get it as a gift? I've gotten three of these, two were gifts and one was from a walking study so I didn't have any of the paperwork and they replaced all three of mine. 

[debsters]

Mine does the same.  It was working  perfectly  before 

[Rich_Laue]

How long ago was before @debsters?

Have you been consistant in wearing and keeping the battery charged? 

[debsters]

offf and on its in perfect condition. im  getting my notification on my phone., Just bought new charger and yes  it does have the button to reset. it shows it is  fully charged works when it is charging then when i remove it from the charger nothing

[gmarie830]

Mine worked perfectly, too. That is, until the non-replaceable battery wore out. ALL rechargeable batteries have a lifespan (i.e. an average number of charging cycles) after which they can no longer store and retain a charge. That's why they appear to be fully charged when connect to AC by the charging cord but die when removed from the charger. If your watch is still under warranty, you can file a claim for a replacement of the unit. I pitched mine in the trash and moved on to a product from another company. It's a shame that Fitbit doesn't tell its customers that this is a semi-disposable product. 

[AnonymousRunner]

Solution (partial). I will reply on this topic since it has the most number of posts and views. 

I have the same problem that Alta stops working at the moment it is disconnected from the cable.

I read in some other forum that alta has a safety feature that shuts down if the device gets too cold or too hot. That's closer to a factory reset than pressing the button 3 times. So I gave it a try and it worked!

1. Remove your device form the App.

2. Put your Alta in a plastic bag in put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Really!

3. Connect the fitbit to the cable and it will turn on and warm a little. (Do not sync it)

at this point my fit bit became responsive again. after i disconnected it turns off the screen, and after I tapped it is working and counting steps. You will notice that date and time is completely wrong.

now the thing is...

If I connect/sync it to the PC desktop app (windows), it still works fine. I can disconnect it from cable and sync etc. Looking promising!

However when I synced it to the iPhone App then the problem came back. After being synced to iPhone, Alta shuts down and don't wake up again.

Syncing it back to the desktop app doesn't solve the problem. I had to go back to step 1 and freeze it again.

I repeated the process and then tried to sync with an Android phone. Same problem... and back to step 1.

Looks like the device is really ok, but something in the mobile apps (iphone and android) is sabotaging the device. 

At the moment it syncs with any of the mobile apps, the device shuts down when disconnected. 

Official Fitibit Support doesn't give a **ahem** about us, but they surely should release a new firmware to fix this issue properly.

In summary, freezing it (really), solved the problem for as long as I only keep it synced with windows.

I expect that fitbit will most likely release an update on the windows app just to be sure that the device is really obsolete.

[oddtoddy]

It seems that you did more research and troubleshooting than the actual Fitbit support team who gets paid for it. Much appreciated!

[Rich_Laue]

And how old is you Alta or Alta HR? 

Has this tracker ever spent any time at zero percent battery? 

Do you frequently let the battery drop below 20-30%. Lithium batteries do not like this.