Android phone and Google Watch 3 Fitbit Permissions

[RobFranz]

I have the Fitbit 4.65 Android app installed on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL phone and am connected to my Google Pixel Watch 3. Every hour on the hour my watch displays the message, "Fitbit/Attention required/Missing Permissions."

On my phone, I have granted all permissions that the Fitbit app has requested. Currently, under permissions Not Allowed it says, "No permissions denied." I expected that to end the error messages on my watch and then I would deny permissions one at a time until the message returned.

Unfortunately, with all permissions allowed, I still receive the error message on my watch.

Any idea how to resolve this?

Thanks!

[RiekoC]

Hello @RobFranz 

The next troubleshooting step that I would try is adding your Pixel Watch 3 to the Fitbit app as if it was a new device. Sometimes, re-adding a device to the Fitbit app clears an issue. Basically, you're doing the setup again. You can either remove the Pixel Watch 3 and add it back or just start the setup process and when you get the prompt to replace the current watch, you select Yes. 

[Guy_]

Hi @RobFranz - in addition did you also try to swipe off the Fitbit App and clear it's storage cache and force stop it? Or even logout and repeat.lastly restart the phone.

You also need to make sure the Fitbit can run in background all the time and is not battery optimised and also location.

One test you can do is have the Fitbit app synced and open on the display at the turn of the hour.

Other areas to check if used are Health Connect permissions, or any related phone apps.

[RobFranz · Accepted solution]

Hi @RiekoC  and @Guy_  (Racers),

Thanks so much for your suggestions. Reconnecting the watch (and I did it with and without deleting the connection first) did not resolve the missing permissions notification; however, I deleted the watch and cleared cache and data from the Fitbit app on the phone and then uninstalled and reinstalled the app from the watch. Then I reconnected the watch to the app, and while it's too soon to know for sure, it seems to have resolved the problem.

Thanks again for your help.

[RiekoC]

Hi @RobFranz

Thanks for sharing the troubleshooting steps that you tried and what seemed to work...so far. This will help others experiencing a similar issue. 

[RobFranz]

... and sadly, I spoke too soon. The missing permissions notification is back on my watch! 🤔

[RiekoC]

Hello @RobFranz 

Just to confirm, have you double checked the Fitbit app permissions in the Pixel Watch? I wasn't getting my SpO2 and skin temp data after installing the Pixel Watch LTE March update. A fellow PE shared that he had the same issue and was able to resolve the problem by enabling app permissions in the watch. Turns out that the March watch update turned off certain Fitbit permissions that I wasn't aware of. 

Here's the pathway that I took to get to the Fitbit permissions:

• Tap Settings icon on the Pixel Watch
• Tap Apps & notifications
• Tap App info
• Tap System Apps
• Scroll & tap on Fitbit
• Tap Permissions
• Confirm permissions enabled under Fitness & wellness, as well as the other permission categories. 

[RobFranz]

Hello @RiekoC,

Thanks so much for taking the effort to provide such a detailed, step-by-step.

All permissions had been granted for the Fitbit app, but Fitness and wellness was allowed "while using the app." I changed that to "Allowed all the time."

This may have fixed the problem. (I know, I said that before.)

Do you know, do the Fitbit apps on the watch and phone sync every hour on the hour by default? I was getting the error on the hour, and then discovered I also got the error when I did a manual sync.

Since I changed the Fitness and wellness setting, manual syncs no longer seem to generate the error message. I'll reply again tomorrow to let you know if it seems to be really fixed.

Thanks again for your help.

[RiekoC]

Hi @RobFranz 

On the Fitbit help pages, I've read that devices periodically sync with the app on a mobile device. I know that when I open the Fitbit app on my phone, it usually automatically starts syncing with the device. This happens a lot more consistently than it used to. 

Since you were getting the messages on an hourly basis, I suspect that the device/watch was pinging the app or the app was pinging the device/watch about once an hour to confirm connection. It's hard for me to tell that any tracked data gets synced during these periods. I've noticed times when my step count hasn't updated in the app. Other times, I see my step count in the app matches the count on my watch just as syncing starts. 

Hopefully, the hourly error message you were experiencing was due to the Fitbit's health & wellness permissions on your watch set to while using the app.