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! 

[ghlover]

I just got the updated Android OS to my phone and Fitbit refuses to sync with my Zip, omg this is so ANNOYING

[cathie-c]

I had the same problem, as soon as I made sure absolutely nothing else was connected to Bluetooth at the same time my phone and Blaze connected straight away and have done ever since, maybe I was just lucky  but I remember having the same thing happen a long time ago with a fitbit charge...good luck! 

[Gusthy]

Making a factory reset on the tracker, removing and re-adding it to the app usually helps.

[Muerte55]

Thanks....everything seems under control now.

[mattdm]

> Making a factory reset on the tracker, removing and re-adding it to the app usually helps.

No, it does not. It will help for one sync, but then it will stop working again. (This is at least true with the One and the Zip.)

Let's not give false hope.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello everyone.

Thanks for continually sharing your experience.

Please know that our team is aware of the situation as it has been mentioned before, and that it is being worked on.

Thanks to all of you that have shared steps that you have helped you personally. While they are definitely not a permanent solution, it is important that you share them in case they do help other users. 

Rest assured that we'll let you know as any additional info on this matter is available.

[ChipCharge]

>>> our team is aware of the situation as it has been mentioned before,

Lanuza,

Without meaning to be too rude, please understand that you have not “had this mentioned before”. What you have is 91 pages of this thread starting with when you *escalated* the situation 6 months ago. I don't think platitudes and letting us know that you are working on it are very helpful. I probably speak for most of the people here when I say that the entire situation has left a very very bad feeling about Fitbit in our mouths, and your comforting messages are irritating at best.

The “partial solutions” you refer to only cause people to do a lot of work, wipe out settings in their smartphones, and then do not work for more than a few cycles, causing endless wasted hours. Unfortunately Fitbit is in the enviable position of having the only really decent product on the market. So that my wife now is about to buy an Alta HR because that does work with Android Pie when her Zip does not, and she will carry it around bandless the way she carried her Zip. But the amount of goodwill you have squandered here is really impressive. She used to feel good about Fitbit. This is how companies go to their grave, by taking their customers for granted. And believe me I have done enough software development in my life to be able to say that if Fitbit really cared about the small percentage of its customers who have Android Pie, they would have fixed this long ago with real urgency, or would have compensated people who have products that simply no longer work.

This is no way to run a company.

[rickw999]

I seems like this problem has been known since august 2018 - and it is now February - does fitbit really think we believe you are working on the problem?

[aelucas]

I see the first post here was Aug 2018, 6 months ago, so it is obvious to me that Fitbit has no interest in fixing this issue.  Has anyone used the Garmin vivofit 3?  I am looking into trackers that actually do what they say, track my activity and sync with my phone...

[THX11384EB]

So my Blaze is now useless! Please tell me how to get a refund.

[Matysh]

Unless something has changed in the last couple of weeks my Alta HR doesn't sync on Pie either so you may want to hold that purchase. 

[KevinAsita]

I can't believe that the sync issue was happened form six month ago and no solution until now...

My Charge2 is the garbage now...

[ghlover]

Please stop with the canned responses, this is unacceptable, its been too long now and there seems to be no fix in sight

[fueledbycoffee]

no kidding!

And today when I asked support about when there would be a fix since my Samsung Galaxy S9 wants me up update to Pie and I have been waiting so as to avoid having a useless versa they told me I should udpate the phone.  They are advising people to perform an update that is known to break their device completely.  I asked them if they will be reimbursing me for the cost of my versa once its rendered useless..

[ChipCharge]

I just tweeted the following message to support. (The Alta HR has worked perfectly for several days, and we have the second on order. I did have to restart it to get it to update its firmware, but it has worked perfectly and smoothly since. It even augments my steps on my smartphone screen as I am walking, which amazes me after all of this.)

My wife and I have Zips, which stopped working six months ago when our phones upgraded to Android 9. After six months and endless complaints, along with endless "working on it" messages, we have given up and bought 2 Alta HRs. How do we secure refunds for our nonfunctioning Zips? I have all 4 receipts.

[ZipItGood]

I purchased a Zip years ago (and a back-up a few months ago) for 1) its incredible battery life and 2) the very convenient clip mount. In this context, an Alta is not a valid replacement as it will require a) a charger, b) a charge every 5 days or so, and c) it does not offer a convenient clip mounting.

As many on this forum have already stated, FitBit is making a huge mistake by not addressing this issue because I suspect that quite a few users will simply give-up on the company after losing patience with the non-existent service. I too am starting to get fed-up with the chore of doing a manual hardware reset every few days, as the switch to Pie on my Galaxy 9+ created the issue a few weeks ago. Reset, you get one (1) sync, and that's it... What a mess!

To end on a positive note, I am not sure how many people are aware of the fact that you not have to run CR2025 batteries in a Zip... The CR2032 is slightly thicker but it still does fit. I have been using the Sony brand without any issues for 2+ years and the battery life is vastly improved over the 2025; I am talking many months without requiring a replacement... 

[ChipCharge]

My correspondence with support continues:

Hi, Josh. Sorry to hear about your Zips. Please keep in mind that we accept returns for 45 days from the date of purchase if bought directly from http://fitbit.com/store  and we can only replace Fitbit products deemed defective following our warranty replacement policy as explained here: http://returns.narvar.com/fitbit/returns . If you've purchased from a retailer, you'll need to return your product directly to the retailer and follow their return and refund process. This information is generally printed on your receipt, though you may also find it on the retailer's website. Note that we're unable to influence retailer policies. Let us know how you'd like to proceed.

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I'd like you to acknowledge that you sold a product that doesn't work with the systems you claim it's compatible with--compatible phone, Android beyond 5.0, and make it right. You somehow think it's ok 2 months after I buy a product, or even two years, to fail to support it on an upgrade to my phone. If it took you a month or two, sure, but it's now 6 months, and I just spent $200 to replace your defective systems that are simply useless now. Do you think that's right? Do you think you should treat your customers that way? Other companies make their customers whole when their products fail as a class. Why do you think this is the retailers' problem to deal with?

And it's not my Zips, it's EVERYONE'S Zips, and Blaze and a bunch of others. And as your customer base starts upgrading more to Android 9, you will have more and more ugliness. I suggest you read the now ~2,000 messages at: [this message string] . Soon this will be all over social media, I'm sure, if you don't fix it by making people whole. Shame on Fitbit for not owning the problem and treating their customers with decency.

[chilehead]

I had been having problems since my Nokia 7.1 updated to Pie in December.   After a few weeks of fiddling, looking at suggestions here, it started working again.  I felt it was fragile, and was afraid to make any bluetooth setting changes as I thought it would break.

Then I started having trouble with my Nokia's charging port and had to send it in for repair.  Before I did I reset to factory settings and returned it.  When I got it back I thought I'd have to jump through hoops to get it to sync again, but it did straight away.  No idea why it's now working without having to do all the steps I did before.

The "all day sync" doesn't seem to work though, as the app only seems to update when I open it, but that's not a big deal.

[mrklukiwski]

I have been super disappointed in my charge 2 with this issue. My last successful sync to my phone was on January 16th and have not been able to get any data whatsoever. I am unable to follow my friends activity, nor anything to do with the community. This is not just related to sync issues between devices but everything related to the app not connecting anywhere.

I am especially disappointed in the fact that Fitbit has not been able to resolve this for 6 months now and that proper testing was not done prior to the release of Android 9.0. I have been hoping for a fix for some time and as this is still ongoing, will be looking at other products in the future instead of being a returning customer.

[ghlover]

I am gonna take my complaints to their Facebook page