Android 9.0 (Pie) not able to sync

[AlessFitbit]

Fitbit Update: 3/6/19

Hello everyone! 

We have some updated troubleshooting suggestions we'd like for all of you on Android Pie (9.0) to try. 

First, turn off Background Restrictions/Limitations: Phone settings > Apps & Notifications > Fitbit app > Background restrictions or Background limits.

Then, disable battery limitations:

1. Go to Settings > Apps > Fitbit app > Advanced > Battery > Battery optimization
2. Change view to All apps
3. Search for Fitbit app
4. Choose Not optimized

Please give the steps above a try to improve syncing with your Fitbit device and Android 9.0 OS. We're still researching and testing out long-term solutions to this ongoing syncing issue. We thank you for all your patience while we continue to work on this effort.

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Fitbit Update: 2/14/19

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all your reports and patience with these Android 9.0 syncing difficulties. We’re aware of this ongoing issue and have been working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible. 

We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track as soon as possible. 

I'll let you know if I receive any additional information on this matter. 

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Fitbit Update: 10/3/18 

Hey Everyone!

Our team is still working on implementing a longterm fix for syncing with Android devices on Pie (9.0). 

For the background syncing issue, I have posted an update in the other floated thread which you can find here. 

We released Fitbit for Android version 2.80 today which contains improvements for that syncing issue. 

I'll make sure to keep you all updated with more information, as soon as I have it available. We're still working on this and I really appreciate everyone's patience. 

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Fitbit Update: 9/26/18

Hey everyone! 

Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation. We are aware of the issue and working with Google on a solution.

I will continue to provide updates here, so keep an eye on this thread. 

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Fitbit Update: 9/10/18 

Hi, everybody! 

Thanks for your patience while our team continues to work on improving syncing for those on Android Pie (9.0). They are actively working on this and for the time being, I recommend you keep the Fitbit app updated on the latest version for best syncing results. Right now that is version 2.78, so if you're not on this version please update! Also, another troubleshoot we recommend is performing a restart on your phone. 

When there are more improvements made in the future I'll announce them here. Stay tuned and subscribed to this thread. 

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Fitbit Update: 8/19/18

We have escalated these syncing issues for those who are now using Android Pie (9.0) to our team for investigation. There aren't any updates at the moment, but rest assured we will keep you informed in this thread when more information is available.

Thanks for your patience! 

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Fitbit Update: 8/11/18 

Hi, everyone! Thanks for stopping by the Community Forums. 

Seems like many of you who updated to Android Pie (9.0) are now having trouble syncing your Fitbit trackers. I'm going to escalate this to our team so they can look into it.

In the meantime, please update the Fitbit app to version 2.76.1 if you haven't yet. Let me know if that changes the syncing behavior. Please follow this thread for updates. I'll keep you all posted here! 

[bartyhoho]

I have the exact same experience as @Schuss. I wound up installing the Windows 10 app on my desktop and let that do the work.

[MikeKC]

I have the same configuration.  I am able to sync by restarting my One or pairing on Bluetooth each time. I apologize to the thread. I starte yesterday that the pie security push fixed my issue. It was probably the phone restart. The issue persists. Sorry that I was that guy. Thanks for raising this issue on the Android threads. 

[SunsetRunner]

(Up-front warning: This is a long post. It attempts to explore the underlying issues and provides a theory as to what may be going wrong between a tracker and the app. It's a geeky post meant for like-minded folks that like to fiddle with such things, in the hope that together we might be able to shed more light on this issue for Fitbit. If this doesn't describe you, and you just want the dang thing to work, that's cool--I'm with you, too! It's just that you probably won't find much of interest here...)

I have a Pixel 2XL running Pie (haven't installed the September security update yet) and a One running 6.6.4 firmware and am attempting to sync via version 2.78 of the app.

I'm experiencing the same issues as others here (failure of the app to identify their tracker with the subsequent failure to sync.) As others have found, I can get my tracker to sync by going through some level of gyration. It appears that forcing a restart of the tracker by using the dongle plugged into a charger reliably brings back sync functionality for some amount of time. As with other folks, eventually syncing fails, and no amount of fiddling with the app seems able to set things right; it's basically that the tracker needs to be restarted. I could not find any combination of the app's settings (namely, "All-Day Sync", "Always Connected", and "Keep-Alive Widget") that seems to make any difference--eventually syncing fails, and once it fails, the tracker needs to be restarted again. (Clearing the app's data and cache, removing and reinstalling the app, and/or removing and replacing the One within the app may also do the trick, but for me the thing that seems to most directly affect my success rate is ensuring that my One is in a newly-started state.)

I should preface what I'm about to say next by noting that I have no inside knowledge of the sync protocol (save for some protests I read about years ago when it was found that the sync protocol was lacking in certain security-related areas.) I've spent several decades working with software-based systems of varying levels of complexity and attempting to get them to do my bidding. I've also worked with and for organizations that produce both hardware and software, and I find the interaction between customers, software, and the organizations that make that software fascinating.

Here's my take.

Based on what I'm seeing, it appears that there's a stateful aspect to this problem, in that the tracker will sync when newly restarted (and/or the app is in a state that approaches newly-installed.) To me, that suggests that the sync protocol has a "discover/connect with new tracker" state, a "discover/connect with known tracker" state, and a "perform a sync" state. What's working appears to be the "discover/connect with new tracker" state; what's not is the "discover/connect with known tracker" state. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the "perform a sync" state; if there was, it wouldn't sync under any circumstances, which is clearly not the case.

Looking at the situation through this lens makes sense: with a newly-restarted tracker and/or a newly-installed (or reinitialized) app, the "discover/connect with new tracker" state must be employed. This state still works, so sync works.

But sync ceases to work once the state of the connection between tracker and app is no longer "new". I suspect that, as part of the protocol between app and tracker, some kind of identifying information is exchanged; when this happens, the app considers the tracker to be "known", and the tracker considers itself to be "known" to the app. And here is where the problems start. From where I sit I can't tell exactly what's going on, but my guess is that the tracker and the app do not agree on the "known" state of the tracker.

It might be, for example, that the app, believing the tracker to be "known" listens for the tracker to identify itself in the manner a known tracker would, but the tracker continues to identify itself as a "new" tracker--in essence they end up talking past each other.

The alternative is certainly possible as well: The tracker considers itself "known" and tries to identify itself as such, but the app no longer has any record of the fact that a given tracker is "known", and ends up listening for a possible "new" tracker instead. The end result is the same--talking past each other, and no sync.

As I typed that last paragraph, I think it's probably the more likely situation--the app is losing track of the tracker, meaning the "known" sync connection can't be re-established. After all, the change that broke everything is Android Pie, which includes changes to Bluetooth and energy/battery management. My guess is that the way Pie deals with Bluetooth (and, for the One, Bluetooth-like) connections has changed, probably to reduce energy consumption. The app, not properly handling this change, is probably assuming some aspect of its connection with a known tracker is being maintained by Android, but in Pie that's not happening in the same way anymore. The tracker, thinking of itself as "known", is waiting for the app to connect with it (likely by explicitly calling it by some kind of unique ID), but the app lacks the ability to associate the tracker that appears on-screen in the app with whatever means is required to initiate a connection with a "known" tracker. So syncing fails.

I hope Fitbit can get things working for us again.

[MikeKC]

Awesome analysis. I think you've nailed the problem for Fitbit. The changes that Android made to Bluetooth make sense as well, since the one doesn't establish a permanent connection like ear buds or wireless speakers.

[jerseystar]

I'm going to further confuse the issue. I have a Fitbit Zip -- which means nothing fancy, no charging, etc. It came with a dongle to plug into computer for wireless syncing. I have a Pixel 1 running Pie with the September update. I have the latest update of the Fitbit app on the phone. I also have the Fitbit Windows 10 app on my laptop (which has proved to be the most reliable method to sync).

Sometimes I can sync my Zip with the Dashboard using the dongle & my computer -- though it doesn't always find the tracker. When I tell the app on my phone to sync, it can't fine the Zip. But, apparently randomly and even if I don't have Bluetooth turned on, the Zip will sync with the app on my phone. It did it just a few minutes ago. I have no idea why or how it does it. It is possible that the Zip is syncing with my computer when I get in range of the dongle, but again, I haven't asked it to sync.

As I said at the start, when all else fails, I turn on my laptop and tap the Fitbit app and it will sync. The other good thing about the Windows 10 app (unlike the Android phone app) is that I can update my exercise log (when I remember where to find the update button). It had annoyed me that I could only do that through the dashboard on my computer.

[DelilahF]

Thanks Schuss, that worked for me even it's only a temporary fix.  At least I was able to upload my data to the cloud before it disappeared after 30 days (down since Aug. 9th). I guess I will just have to do this daily until they find a fix! Happy right now though lol

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks MikeKC; my understanding is that the One communicates using the same frequencies as Bluetooth, but via a non-Bluetooth protocol (I recall reading something from Fitbit at the time saying that Bluetooth's overhead was too great for the One.)

So certainly it wouldn't be surprising to see the One having more problems than Fitbit's other trackers (having been designed from the start with Bluetooth in mind), but since folks are seeing issues related to most (all?) trackers in Fitbit's lineup, the problem seems more fundamental than that--something in the way the app handles its associated trackers is intrinsically at odds with the way Android Pie works.

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for the additional info, Jerseystar. I've been syncing my One via the Fitbit Connect app on my Mac. In the course of playing with the Android app, I've noticed that, when the One is not syncing via the Android app, if I sync via my Mac and *then* launch the Android app, it will dutifully report the time the tracker synced (via the Mac app) in a way that is indistinguishable from a sync performed by the Android app itself. Might that be the kind of thing you're seeing?

On a related note, I'm wondering if those of us that sync via a non-Android method are also seeing some issue where the tracker, after syncing via the non-Android method, then cannot be synced via the Android app, even if it would've done so had the non-Android method not been used first. Hmmm, I don't know if I wrote that clearly, but I have to go do some stuff, and will leave it at that for now. Might experiment along these lines later today if time permits...

[SheWatt]

It is not just the one. I have an ionic thatvis now totaly useless thank you fit bit and android.

[Evan88]

>From what I've seen, this affects all trackers trying to use Pie.

[gmkitti]

Flex still won't sync. Will it ever?

[SunsetRunner]

This is really sad.  I used to brag to my friends about how good Fitbit support is.....  I can;t believe they don't have a fix for this sync issue yet.  Not even an update since 8/19.  Does anyone care?

[gmkitti]

It is more than sad. It's bad business.

Get Outlook for Android

[Smoczek82]

I have Alita hr and can't sync my watch since yesterday. My watch doesn't show correctly my workout as well. Try to find out help by fitbit support team but they try to tell me that my activity was not long enought. 40 minutes. I had never before so big problems like this week with this watch witch is really expensive . 

[lcthompson1979]

Not impressed with Fitbit's failure to sort this. Only way I can sync is via my tablet using an older version of Android. Pixel 1st gen was syncing perfectly prior to the Android P update. Absolute farce.

[elwright360]

 I have started looking for an alternative to Fitbit. I will miss the challenges, but the lack of support does make a point.

[Babo59]

I was messing with my phone and changed a setting and it started to sync again. I have also had another update since then. I was really afraid to install it for fear it would stop syncing again. So far it is working. I wish I could remember what setting I changed. I am sorry I could not be of further assistance. 

[SNS1999]

As a response to Yelia B's informative post:

Yes. To put your post simply, when I take the battery out of my Zip and put it back in, it syncs. After a while, it stops synching. Rather tedious. I'm able to sync on Windows 10 at home. 

It's worth noting that a similar thing happened last year (about the same time) and it lasted a month. I think it was the Android update that finally fixed it. 

[bantolec]

I'm using a OnePlus 6.  I updated to Android 9 (Pie) on Saturday and have not been able to sync since.  I currently have version 2.78 (20213313) of the ZipFit app installed. 

I assume this is better or newer than the suggested version 2.76.1.  Just letting you know it still does not sync!  Thanks for getting it fixed!

Bill

[mr-Navarath]

just to update -- if anyone is reading this entire thread. My fix lasted about 6 hours and now it is back to not syncing again. Flex, Essential Phone with Pie (2nd update of Pie).