Bluetooth connection being lost during activity (RUN)

[GarethDPhillips]

I am having real problems with my Blaze in conjunction with my Android phone (specifically a Google Nexus 5x) when tracking an activity. Phone is runnig 7.1.2 but behaviour was the same on 7.1.1

I am using my Blaze to track my running, and I am finding that the Bluetooth connection keeps dropping during the run, despite being initially connected, which in turn causes the assisted GPS to stop tracking my run.

I have searched the community and there are various reports of this behavior, but no definitive solution. I am open to the possibility that this may be related to my Blaze and mobile model combination.

I have to say, the bluetooth connection to the Blaze doesnt seem amazing on my Nexus 5x as sometimes when I open the app, it can take a while for the connection to establish and for sync to start, even though I have it set to be always connected?  Bluetooth connections to my headpones, or car, or any other device are bullet proof. It just seems to be the Blaze that is flakey.

Specifically when starting a RUN activity (though any activity with assisted GPS would be the same), I often get the error that the Blaze cannot find the mobile. I restart my phone, and the Blaze, and it will connect. I can then start my run.

The main problem is that often (maybe 50% of the times I try) the bluetooth will crap out during the run, and I see a mobile with a red line through it at the top of the screen. This is really, really annoying, as I find that when I am done, the run stopped tracking at this point, so the data is all screwed up. Really destroying the usage of this device as a run tracker. 

The issue seems to only be with my Blaze, as Bluetooth is otherwise working perfectly. The phone pairs with my headphones when I am running without any issues, 100% reliable. I realise the Blaze isnt using classic bluetooth, and is instead using a low power bluetooth connection, and it seems to be this that is problematic on my Nexus 5x, and seemingly plenty of other Androids?

I have tried turning off WiFi, on the off chance that other radio interference is causing this. THe phone is on a strap on my arm, so plenty close to the watch, so its not a range issue. Its like the phone is just dropping the connection at times, but it never recovers. Once I see this icon on the screen saying connection is lost, it will not come back.

Is this a known issue? 

Is there any good advise?

I am contemplating running the Fitbit app during the run, and preventing the phone closing it, or going to sleep, in the hope this may persist the connection, but it is poor that I should have to find such workarounds

[GarethDPhillips]

OK so I ran again tonight. I turned off WiFi, opened the Fitbit app, and the Blaze was connected (green dot). I started the run (on the Blaze), and left the app open, and the screen unlocked. 

3 mins in and it disconnected. I stopped, rebooted the phone and the BLaze, messed about for another few minutes, and it connected again. I then started a fresh run, and off I went.

2/3 into the run and it disconnected, so I have no data for the last 1/3

Im really sick of this, it isnt doing what I bought it to do. Far from it. If even having the app open and phone unlocked doesnt help, I dont know what will.

Tracking the run with the app is not an option, as I dont get heart rate, or any stats on my wrist. 

Starting to wish I got a full GPS watch, but I like the Fitbit "ecosystem: 

Is this common on Android, or is it the Nexus in particular. 

Is there anything else I can try? I cant think what. 

Thanks 

[mvan231]

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@GarethDPhillips wrote:

OK so I ran again tonight. I turned off WiFi, opened the Fitbit app, and the Blaze was connected (green dot). I started the run (on the Blaze), and left the app open, and the screen unlocked. 

3 mins in and it disconnected. I stopped, rebooted the phone and the BLaze, messed about for another few minutes, and it connected again. I then started a fresh run, and off I went.

2/3 into the run and it disconnected, so I have no data for the last 1/3

Im really sick of this, it isnt doing what I bought it to do. Far from it. If even having the app open and phone unlocked doesnt help, I dont know what will.

Tracking the run with the app is not an option, as I dont get heart rate, or any stats on my wrist. 

Starting to wish I got a full GPS watch, but I like the Fitbit "ecosystem: 

Is this common on Android, or is it the Nexus in particular. 

Is there anything else I can try? I cant think what. 

Thanks 

---

Hi there,

I am also having the same frustrations. Fitbit is claiming the blaze is working fine and no issue but then I get odd map plots of my run and I get vibrations on my wrist that the connection to the phone has been lost. I tried running without my case, and without my headphones and still have the same issue. I am lost at what to try next. I have an iPhone 7 and have only had my blaze since Christmas. I am thinking of trying to do a run in airplane mode with the Bluetooth on to see if the GPS will still work properly and see if that helps anything or not. Seems when GPS signal gets slightly weak during the activity it just drops the Bluetooth connection as well.

[GarethDPhillips]

I don't fully understand how the connected GPS (ad they call it) works, but
I'd like the opportunity to get to speak to somebody in their 2nd line tech
team, rather than just the front line support. They don't seem to
acknowledge this behaviour as a known issue.

I don't think it's as simple as Bluetooth disconnect, as this evening when
my Blaze was showing the disconnected icon, I got my phone out of its
Armband and opened the fitbit app. The phone synced and updated my steps,
and showed my real-time heart rate. Still the blaze showed disconnected.
How can this be, when the device is clearly connected?

Is it weak gps? Could it be a black spot in mobile data ? No idea what
actually causes this disconnected icon to appear. And what does the icon
actually tell us? No connection to the phone? Or no connection to the GPS
service on the phone? Or no GPS fix?

A knowledgebase / technical article is needed here.

Regarding your suggestion of flight mode, wouldn't that also shut down GPS
? I've tried wi-fi off so far.

I must admit I am yet to try without my Bluetooth headphones, I'll try that
next (had to buy some wired ones) but as I said, I'm very skeptical that
it's caused by using Bluetooth headphones.

[mvan231]

---

@GarethDPhillips wrote:
I don't fully understand how the connected GPS (ad they call it) works, but
I'd like the opportunity to get to speak to somebody in their 2nd line tech
team, rather than just the front line support. They don't seem to
acknowledge this behaviour as a known issue.

I don't think it's as simple as Bluetooth disconnect, as this evening when
my Blaze was showing the disconnected icon, I got my phone out of its
Armband and opened the fitbit app. The phone synced and updated my steps,
and showed my real-time heart rate. Still the blaze showed disconnected.
How can this be, when the device is clearly connected?

Is it weak gps? Could it be a black spot in mobile data ? No idea what
actually causes this disconnected icon to appear. And what does the icon
actually tell us? No connection to the phone? Or no connection to the GPS
service on the phone? Or no GPS fix?

A knowledgebase / technical article is needed here.

Regarding your suggestion of flight mode, wouldn't that also shut down GPS
? I've tried wi-fi off so far.

I must admit I am yet to try without my Bluetooth headphones, I'll try that
next (had to buy some wired ones) but as I said, I'm very skeptical that
it's caused by using Bluetooth headphones.

---

The GPS on my iPhone still works when in Airplane mode but not sure how well.

The suggestion of not using bluetooth headphones while the activity is on-going was a suggestion by the fitbit chat support but obviously didn't prove any success.

I think it must be a weak GPS signal causing the issue but I don't understand it because I have run the same route for years with different running apps and have had no issue. Nike+ Running, Strava, Runkeeper, etc.

Hoping to figure out something because I really like the blaze but the continuous loss of the GPS signal and inaccurate mapping / possible loss of data and good results is a bit frustrating as you are also experiencing.

[mvan231]

Alright, so I discussed further with Apple (I know your phone is Android), and after going through some things, they had me reset the network settings.

I did a trial tonight by walking and tried the following.

I started the walk from my Blaze and my phone was in airplane mode with bluetooth on. It didn't lose the connection / GPS signal during the entire walk. Once I got just beyond a place where I was losing the signal before, I stopped the activity and turned airplane mode off and then started another walk activity and walked back to the start. Once again, everything was fine. I am not sure if something was goofed up in the settings or what but it seems to be working better now after resetting network settings. I will try an actual run tomorrow and see how it goes.

[GarethDPhillips]

Thanks for the info, this is interesting. 

A network settings reset seems to be a favourite of apple support, as its listed as the cure for a lot of problems!  I've tried the same on my Nexus 5x, as its worth a shot!  

Interestingly, I cannot get my Blaze to connect with flight mode on. If I enable flight mode, and then go and turn bluetooth on, I just constantly get "phone not found". As soon as I turn flight mode off, it works. Unsure why, I dont know if the GPS is off with flight mode, and that is the problem ,or if it needs mobile data. Who knows. 

I've a few more things to try on the next run, and will feed back here. I kind of want to eliminate every possible thing before I switch to wired headphones, as I'm not 100% convinced that its the Bluetooth headphones causing the problem. But who knows, maybe it is. 

I want to test all the things I have done so far, including the network settings reset, before I try none Bluetooth headphones, otherwise If it suddenly works I wont know what fixed it !

[GarethDPhillips]

 This map is my run last night. As you can see, there are two straight and near parallel lines where the signal was lost, on the way out to the half way point, and on the way back. (I actually ran around Mulberry way). The signal did re-connect both times, often it does not, and I have no location info for the 2nd part of a run, for example. 

[GarethDPhillips]

I have now learned, and know for sure, that this (at least in my case) is not related to a loss of Bluetooth connection between the Blaze and my phone, it is due to a loss of GPS fix, or a sudden loss of accuracy. 

Ive been leaving my watch on the initial "Lets Go" screen to do some test. This screen is useful as it shows a signal strength. I may be saying something other already know, but this is definitely GPS signal strength and NOT bluetooth signal strenth. Leaving the Blaze on this screen without actually starting the run allows you to observe the signal.

Im running an app on my Nexus phone called GPS test, which shows the number of connected satellites, the "GPS Fix" present (or not) and the accuracy in meters. I notice that when I keep the phone and Blaze together, but move under a desk or obstacle, the signal goes red and the Blaze vibrates. This always coincides with the GPS accuracy degrading. 20m or so seems to be ideal, up at 200, and its not happy. If I run the same basic test when the exercise is running, it causes the connection to be lost, and the dreaded mobile lost icon appears.

So, im fairly confident that its not bluetooth, and in fact is the GPS signal variations, which I assume is normal. What can I do to improve this?  Nothing I dont think. I think the Blaze software / Fitbit software just needs to be updated to handle this better?  I mean the GPS quality drops momentarily, then comes back, so why does the tracker need to disconnect?  Sometimes it recovers, often it doesnt.

Maybe the GPS isnt amazing on my phone and this isnt Fitbits fault, but the thing is, other apps handle it just fine, so something isnt right.

Anyhow, thats my latest observations, if it helps anybody, would be happy to hear yours..... 

[mvan231]

I agree with you 100% about your conclusion. Just as another thing I did, I deleted the fitbit app entirely from my phone and removed the bluetooth pairing as well. Then re-installed the app and allowed it to run the full setup of location services and pairing to my Blaze before I did a test and didn't have further issues. The fitbit personnel was asking about clouds in the sky as well but I agree that this doesn't seem to happen when I use the strava app on it's own but only when using the fitbit running as started from the Blaze itself.

[GarethDPhillips]

I think the GPS antennas in phones are notoriously poor, and phones use WiFi and Cell tower info to try and compensate for this. Its a fact of life I guess, that GPS quality will vary during a run. But you are right, when mapping the run using other apps, the overall result is as expected - we see the GPS route we took, without any noticeable problems.

The Fitbit (Blaze in this instance) just doesnt seem to handle this correctly, and gives up as soon as the GPS quality drops, never to recover.  I think its as simple as that !  (if only! )

[GarethDPhillips]

...The trouble is I'm not sure this puts us in a better place. We could potential found a workaround for poor Bluetooth connectivity, or interference. Im not sure we can do anything about GPS quality, unless we tape our phones to our head!  

My phone is on my upper arm in one of the common sports armbands. I dont think I can do much better than that...

on a more serious note, I hope they can release a software fix to make the whole thing more forgiving, or I am going to have to get a refund from Amazon

[mvan231]

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@GarethDPhillips wrote:

...The trouble is I'm not sure this puts us in a better place. We could potential found a workaround for poor Bluetooth connectivity, or interference. Im not sure we can do anything about GPS quality, unless we tape our phones to our head!  

My phone is on my upper arm in one of the common sports armbands. I dont think I can do much better than that...

on a more serious note, I hope they can release a software fix to make the whole thing more forgiving, or I am going to have to get a refund from Amazon

---

I certainly agree with you. I ran in Airplane mode on my phone and it seemed to work great after a delete and reinstall of the app and tracker. 

I also usually run with an armband but last night I was just walking with the phone in my pocket and usually keep the charger port pointing out of my pocket (phone upside down) vs the phone being right side up when it is in my armband. I am not sure if that has something to do with it or not.

[GarethDPhillips]

I guess orientating the phone so the GPS antenna faces out might help a tiny amount.

I did try flight mode, but there is no way I can get the Blaze to connect to my phone when in flight mode, even if I go and enable Bluetooth. 

[GarethDPhillips]

I may try disabling NFC too. I dont use it, and that has to be some cause of interference, no matter how small

[GarethDPhillips]

I cant actually replicate this issue in my house, as my GPS quality is always good indoors (oddly) so no idea how it can go so poor out on a run !

[mvan231]

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@GarethDPhillips wrote:

I cant actually replicate this issue in my house, as my GPS quality is always good indoors (oddly) so no idea how it can go so poor out on a run !

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that is odd that you can't get a connection while GPS is on but in airplane mode. 

the other thing I was thinking, is maybe it has something to do with the speed of the activity you are doing. Like running around a corner or under trees or back and forth on a certain type of course

[MikeMakeSuffer]

Same problem robbed of 5 miles serious issue, I use my fitbit tracking on a rewards website where I enter competitions for races etc. and let downs like this could end up costing me some expensive prizes etc.

[mvan231]

Are you on Android or iOS?

I'm unsure if you saw my previous posts, but I was able to have success with phone and blaze in visible sight of one another (on the same arm). For some reason the connection gets blocked across my body but I've been logging many successful runs with zero disconnections and maps are as accurate as I think they can be for now. 

[MikeMakeSuffer]

Im on android i will try the same arm technique on my run tomorrow and let you know how it goes