Alta HR had sync issues from the start and now it won't pair at all with my phone

[issalark]

This is my first time posting in here. I'm furious, I'm at work with limited time so I didn't get to check the forums to see if my question has been asked and answered. If it has, I apologize and can someone please point me in the right direction?

I have a brand new Alta HR. Previously I had a flex and had no issues with it until a February update of the app on my phone and it would not sync. I tried literally every suggestion presented to me to the letter and nothing worked. I was devastated. I wore that thing every day loyally since 2015. It killed my motivation to run in the morning when I had no way of tracking my progress. My husband bought me the Alta as a surprise.  I was so excited to use this thing but it has never worked right from the get go. I think it's synced successfully and stayed paired with my phone for an entire day maybe once? Twice in the month I've had it? It tracks my steps sporadically. Every time I go on the app, it says I don't even have a tracker. A lovely Fitbit rep responded to my email asking for help by saying it couldn't possibly be my fitbit acting up. There's something wrong with the bluetooth on my phone (Galaxy S7 edge). Nope, it pairs just find with my car. And my portable speaker. And my headset. But not your product. I've un/reinstalled the app several times, cleared the cache, restarted my phone, force stopped the app, done these things multiple times in different order. Nothing. My husband bought me this specific fitbit so I could get text messages and call alerts thru it. I've only been able to use that feature for a few days at random because the device won't stay synced with my phone.He also chose the Alta for me because I have a medical issue with my heart and the doctor said it's a good idea to monitor it, especially at night while I'm asleep. If I go through my history of sleep logs, out of the 40 days I've had this device, it's kept track of my heart rate and REM sleep at night 3 times. Otherwise it just tracks my sleep the same way my flex used to - showing times when you're awake or restless but nothing else. So basically I have a black digital watch that picks up my steps and heart rate in the moment but won't record them on the app. Now I know why my entire family ditched their fitbits for Garmin trackers. 

In a last ditch effort to get this stupid thing to work the way it's supposed to, I unpaired it on my fitbit account and now I can't get it to pair again. It keeps saying to turn bluetooth off and on, which I've done, multiple times. In addition to the normal steps which consist of un/reinstalling the app, force stopping it, clearing the cache, turning phone on and off, turning off wifi, turning off bluetooth, wasting entirely too much time trying to get this thing to just work. And again, nada. The app doesn't even recognize that a fully charged, functioning (ha, relatively speaking) fitbit is in the room. So now what? What's the solution because I am this.close to writing off fitbit forever. 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @issalark.

Thanks for sharing all that information and all of the steps that you have tried. We definitely understand that this has been very frustrating for you.

I'd like to recommend that you try to follow these steps to help with the syncing and thus help with all of the other situation you mentioned:

1. Go into the S7's Bluetooth settings.
2. There look for your Fitbit device, and any other Fitbits that might show up, as paired.
3. Remove them from the list of paired Bluetooth devices.
4. Restart your phone.
5. Open the app up again and run the set up as if it was a brand new device. 

That should definitely help. Once the Fitbit is syncing again we can take a closer look at the situation with the sleep and notifications since it could discard the syncing issues as the cause.

Keep me posted on how it goes or if you have any further questions.

[SunsetRunner]

I have the Alta HR as well. Have had it for 1 year, 10 months now. As of yesterday when the latest software update came to my Moto Z Android phone, it is now useless. It will not sync.

Lanuza, I spent the last few hours going thru several forums, Play store reviews, and product reviews on retail sites. And for the last few updates, HUNDREDS of people have been screaming about the critical problem with the Fitbit app software and syncing.

So please don't act like it is anyone's phone (it is not her phone), it is Fitbit's app and you have to know this by now. If you really want to help, scream at the devs to roll back the software app until they figure out what they screwed up in it. Continuing to subject people to a non-functional product, is only pissing off tons of people. I for one have been looking at alternatives this morning.

[Mouse45365]

I have a galaxy s7 and the inspire HR. It does not show up in the bluetooth list. Mine will show me notifications, but has trouble syncing with the app. 

[Awaugh]

I am having the same problems by the sounds of it: mine has worked fine for a week, exactly a week to the hour of starting it it has lost the ability to sync. Nothing changed - the only thing I can think of is an update to the app. Mine also keeps coming up with a Bluetooth problem, I have restarted again & again. I've shut everything down & restarted, unpaired everything, rebooted everything, it will not work. I emailed customer support and haven't even had confirmation of the email, let alone a response, my message seems to have disappeared! So annoyed! 

[KathyOMalley]

Agree. Getting ready to return it to the store ... have been trying for days to get it to sync with  Bluetooth. My phone says my Inspire is available, but it never gets paired and tells me "Couldn't pair with Inspire HR. Check your Inspire HR settings and try again. I don't have any Inspire settings because I can't pair the **ahem** thing with Bluetooth!! All the fitbit shows is either a happy face or a scrolling logo and www.fitbit.com/setup. Ridiculous. 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @KathyOMalley, @SunsetRunner, @Mouse45365 and @Awaugh.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on the matter.

@SunsetRunner I did not say that the issue was thw phone, I was merely suggestion steps that might help resolve the issue. I apologize if it came off like I was blaming the phone in any way. From what was being said it seemed like the Fitbit had bonded with the phone and then the connection was corrupted which would be resolved by the steps I recommended. 

@Mouse45365 I'd recommend that you try following the steps listed in this help article. They should definitely help in getting it to sync.

@Awaugh I could see that our support team has been in touch with you. They will be more than happy to help you figure out what is going on and find a solution.

@KathyOMalley I could also see that you reached out to our team and they helped you get your Fitbit syncing and working correctly.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.