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! 

[aelucas]

@ghlover

 I just bought one of those myself. Good luck with it and fitness on!

[Kamleman]

The behaviour of ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away is
symptomatic of Fitbit culture. Not just with this Android Pi problem, but
also my experience with them in the past. See the Huawei 6 thread for
example. The notion that communicating the truth with customers is not in
their DNA somehow.

I actually have managed to get my Charge 2 to sync well with my MiA2 for
many weeks now. See my solution on this forum if you are interested. But
the problem is it does not work for notifications which is one of the prime
reasons I bought the device. I have difficulty hearing the notifications
from the phone, and it is also really useful in meetings when you have to
silence it.

As far as censorship by the Moderators, well imho that is not their job
unless the post is offensive or irrelevant to the topic. You should take
your customers criticism on board and use it to improve...not silence them
and pretend everything is great. If they mention other products, so what?
Tell us why yours is better. If you can't then admit that you need to do
better and tell us when you are going to do it.

As for me, I am going to wait for the next update to Pi and hope that as
Google have said that they have fixed this. If not, then its a Huawei
(cheap and good) or Garmin (more expensive but more features) for me. I
need something that works.

Its a shame. I and my wife have been loyal customers for years. But if
the thing doesn't perform, what else to do?

[THX11384EB]

I agree with your post's points. The most important and useful function of syncing is the NOTIFICATIONS! It's only a watch otherwise. Who really needs live step counts?

 BTW I directly and politely responded to the mea culpa post by a moderator that there WAS actually a problem asking them whether they would have a fix or if we needed to wait for the next Google build. 

To date, no response!

[Fares94]

Long time and until now no fix from fitbit side, I tried all the suggested solution with no Luck.

I'm using Samsung S8+ running Android pie. I think that this is the time to switch to something better like samsung watch or apple watch.

The only thing that keep me using fitbit is that my friends are using it. Does anyone know which one is better and have a good active community, Garmin or Samsung ?

I was using Alta hr for a year, now 6 almost another year with Versa and the problems still exist.

[Skyrider]

I just updated to Pie as of yesterday on my S8+. For some reason the fitbit app keeps crashing whenever it has synced. I had to attach the Charge 3 on another device to my account because if I attempt to do so on the Pie (Android 9) device, it kept crashing whenever it was searching for the Charge 3.

Plus GPS tracking no longer works.. device says its searching for my mobile and then says it can't find it.

EDIT: Installed the following:

https://bit.ly/2Oav92A

The latest appears to have released on March, 7 - 2019, yet has a different version number over the others. Maybe meant for other devices? Anyway, once I installed this version, all crash issues on Android 9 disappeared and am able to sync just fine again, no problems. 

You would need to delete the existing Fitbit app before you can install this one. Also if you can't add the Charge 3 (if you happen to have one) as the screen disappears once it attempts to search for it, try adding it on another device and go back to your Android 9 device once added.

[Acid0057]

Same I'm waiting till the next Pie update in April to see if Google has fixed Bluetooth LE.

On a side note is anyone noticing the Fitbit App using a lot of foreground mobile data?

[thegoat001]

My pixel phone is running Android 9 patch level: 5 March 2019 as well as the latest update of the fitbit app.

As of this update my fitbit charge 3 no longer connects to my phones GPS.

The charge 3 also does not show in the phones list of available devices to connect to.  However other bluetooth devices seem to work fine.

I've tried re-installing the charge 3 by plugging it into the charger, but the fitbit app doesn't find it.

Battery optimization is not turned on under the app settings in my phone.

I've also tried turning bluetooth on and off as well as forgetting the device to repair it, none of this worked.

I'm hoping fitbit can recreate the problem and provide an updated solution.

I haven't been able to track any of my GPS data over the last 10 days and this is the primary reason I bought the charge 3.

[Sportygal7]

Me too since mon at 920 pm. 

[AshishG]

Thanks. This worked for me.

Also note that the latest update may have broken it for earlier version of Android as well. I have Samsung galaxy edge 7 and Android 8. Things were fine up until a few weeks ago and I started noticing the syncing problems. I've downgraded to v2.88 and have disabled auto-update. (current version in playstore is v2.89). Will try downgrading again if I start getting problems.

I've only owned it for a month and had just started loving it. Dissapointing as it seems they do not test the app thoroughly.

[VaSquirrel]

I have Android 9 on Samsung Galaxy S9.

I downloaded FitBit app from Play Store today.  It reports version 2.89

I am logged on to your web site (obviously)

I have a Versa.  it has not sync'ed with my Samsung since March 14, 2019.

However, the dashboard on the web site shows data from Mar 18, 2019 ????

I tried restarting Versa, restarting phone, reloading the Android app, and finally resetting the Versa.

Now the App will not let me logon using the same credentials I used to log on here.

At the moment the Versa and app are simply a waste of my time and resources.  I am about ready to put it in a drawer and remove the app.

[KenShay]

I'm curious if anyone is on the Android Q beta.

It might be time to start a forum on FitBit not working with Android Q just to get them ahead of the curve.

Seriously though, how can FitBit justify going this long without fixing the problem?  They just must not value the Android client base -- which is OK except they still advertise as being supported on Android.  So they should either stop saying they support Android and just be for iPhones or they should fix the problem with Android.

[spatula]

The simplest explanation is that it is not possible for them to fix the problem, because its root cause is a change or bug in the operating system.

They've done a remarkably poor job of communicating the facts though.  One can only hear the same empty platitudes ("we appreciate your patience," "we understand it's frustrating," "we are working on it") so many times before they start to sound like they are not sincere.

I agree that they should make it clear that Android Pie is not fully supported until such time that it is.  It would be the honest thing to do.

[THX11384EB]

Beginning to sound insincere!! LOL

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello everyone.

Thank you for continuing to share your experiences and possible solutions each of you has explored.

Please know that this is being worked on and we'll be sure to let everyone know as soon as more information is available. 

Thanks for your time.

[Woadier]

Meh, I think we've watched this long enough. 

I'm taking my Fitbit back to the retailer, I still have warranty left for a few months.

Going to switch to another brand while I'm at it.

[sneezyH]

I'm on Q Beta. I have a Charge 3 and a Flex 2. I switch them every day. While on Pie and switching devices, the app was always looking for the Charge 3 first and even while not wearing it. So... I would toggle off and on the bluetooth, restart either the phone which would restart the bluetooth or just the device. All of this would only take just a couple of minutes until both devices read the same data before the switch. Even while using the Flex 2 the phone was always looking for the Charge 3. Eventually it would catch the Flex. Now that I'm on Q Beta the phone recognizes the Charge 3 even LESS then before while wearing it. But it picks up the Flex 2 much better. Go figure...

I hope Fitbit is getting ready for the Q. Because I'll be getting 6 updates for it about every month, give or take, until the stable release in August I think. We will see.

[THX11384EB]

Hi Sneezy,

Are you saying the next public Android release is August. It doesn't seem the syncing/Bluetooth issues in Android are getting much better.

[sneezyH]

Well P came out last august on my Pixel 2xl. So since they've just released Q beta I'm thinking yes it probably will. A new one comes out every year right?

[Jeffrey04]

Just got myself a Charge 3, wasn't aware of the sync issues with Pie, and my last smartband was a Sony Smartband and the thing broke when I was using a phone running Nougat.

So I collected mine last night, and immediately hated the experience while trying to pair it to my Pixel 3. It just wouldn't pair, however after a few restarts somehow by following the same instructions it just worked, like magic (though I still don't understand why it took so long). After everything seems to work (also ran an update to the band), I played with the settings a little bit, and went to sleep. Then when I woke up the app told me the last sync was two hours ago, and trying to sync it manually would cause the sync to not complete. It eventually timeout though. Only workaround I found was:

1. Forget device in bluetooth settings

2. Force stop the app

3. Try to sync again

So far it worked for me. However I still couldn't get the fancy detailed sleep report though. The app is also not battery optimized, as adviced here https://dontkillmyapp.com/stock_android

Is there a way for us to dump a log so we can send it to you in order to troubleshoot the problem? Any public facing issue tracker?

[Acid0057]

Well hopefully for users of the Google Pixel it will be fixed in next month's patch:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/123997469?pli=1#comment35