Fitbit App invading my Android

[bluemark]

Hi folks..

The last week (Aug, now Sep 2021) a fitbit app keeps popping up on my new Android S21+

It interrupts whatever I'm doing to suggest I set up my Versa 2 fitbit. Over and over.

I don't own a fitbit, no one in my household does. I had no fitbit application on my phone. I tried resetting all android notification settings to default. No effect. I tried switching all notifications off manually. No effect.

Next I tried downloading the fitbit app. I started it, paused it when it was trying to link to my fitbit, as I don't have one. I then when to android app settings and hit "force stop" for the app. No effect.

I tried uninstalling the app. No effect.

Is this the devil's work..?

Any ideas..?

Thanks - - -   Mark

[Odyssey13]

Hi @bluemark  unusual thing going on with your phone. Any chance you could take a screenshot? Does this happen when your bluetooth is off? Only bluetooth would detect a Fitbit.

[bluemark]

Thanks. Not sure how to take a screen shot of it. I'll try turning off bluetooth..

[bluemark]

Interesting, at least a little..

Turning off bluetooth seemed to stop the setup prompts.

I noted that, when my phone's bluetooth scans for devices, it does pick up a Fitbit Versa 2, as a device available for pairing- but only sometimes. I may have owned a Fitbit, 3 or 4 years ago, but I can't imagine it laying in a drawer somewhere, causing this. Its battery would be dead by now, and I'm guessing the Versa 2 is a newer release. 

The setup prompt just popped up on my screen again, so opened the Fitbit app, directed it to attempt a pairing, and it successfully connected. To continue, it asked for a code number it had sent to the Fitbit, which of course I couldn't produce. Then the connection broke. 

Maybe I have a neighbor with a Fitbit, that moves in and out of bluetooth range. That said, why I was getting setup prompts, before I installed the Fitbit app is a mystery. 

I'll try uninstalling the app again. This is a weird one.. 

Mark

[bluemark]

Alright. I deleted the Fitbit app. Rebooted the phone. Still getting prompts to set up a Versa 2.

I deactivated bluetooth and I'm still getting prompts. The prompt has a picture of a Versa 2, with encouragements to "tap to set up this device". I tap it and I'm transferred to the app store, to download the Fitbit app.

I'd upload images but I don't have permission to do so on this forum.

Very peculiar. Any thoughts would be appreciated..

Mark

[Giampi71]

The reason is likely your neighbor has a Versa 2, charged, that has not yet setup properly. Your phone sense it via Bluetooth and suggest you to pair it to your phone and prompting to install the necessary app that in this case is Fitbit (it is a feature of Android, nothing strange here).

What is strange is that you're saying that you detect it also if Bluetooth is off.

[BraulioFitbit]

Welcome to the Community @bluemark. Thanks for the detailed information provided and troubleshooting performed before visiting the Community.

I appreciate the help provided @Odyssey13 and @Giampi71. Next time you see this pop-up message asking you to setup a Versa 2, please take a screenshot and attach it to your reply as instructed here. This will help me to further investigate this with our team.

See you around.

[bluemark]

I've attempted to attach a screen cap photo of the fitbit prompt. Here goes..

Mark

[bluemark]

Seems like the photo upload didn't work. I copied the file location from my computer to the source line, as per directions. 

Mark

[Odyssey13]

You might try this site - click to go there - which can upload your photo and give you a link so you can share it.

[BraulioFitbit]

Hi @bluemark, 

Thanks for trying to upload the screenshot. Since you're still getting this setup message from the Fitbit app, I recommend you to contact our Support team by chat online or giving a call so they can investigate further. Click here to contact them.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Rich_Laue]

I've never tried to copy / paste the source address 

I find the photo through the graphicat interface. 

[bluemark]

Hi folks..

Thanks again for taking an interest. I chatted with an actual Fitbit assistant, who although a little puzzled, suggested I try and locate a neighbor who may have acquired a new Fitbit. The wisdom being the neighbor would be inside about 20 feet- the communication radius of a Versa 2. 

I have one neighbor this close. I asked, and she doesn't have a Fitbit. Other neighbors are a little further away, and I don't feel like knocking on doors in adjacent townhome complex. 

Strange, that this Fitbit setup prompt keeps popping up with bluetooth disabled. Even with the Fitbit app I tried installing, uninstalled. That makes it an aggressive device indeed. 

The device probably does exist, somewhere nearby. When my phone (and desktop computer) scan, they sometimes locate it, as a device available for pairing. That said, how it could keep doing this to my phone is a mystery. 

If it is only likely to do this when the owner hasn't paired it to their own phone, then I can hope that they eventually do so, or ignore it long enough for the Fitbit battery to go dead.

Here's a link to what the prompt looks like:    https://imgur.com/a/qYV5By9

Maybe, once this prompt process has begun on an android phone, the phone retains a piece of the process, and keeps running it. With or without bluetooth connected. Maybe an android glitch? A Samsung glitch?

Odd one..   

Mark

[BraulioFitbit]

Hi @bluemark,

Thanks for the update provided and the screenshot. If you still have the Fitbit app installed, I recommend you to check the following (this might change as this are the settings that I can see on my Android phone):

1. Tap on Settings.

2. Tap on Apps and select Fitbit.

3. Select Other permissions and deny all of them.

If none of this works, please keep the contact with our Support team.

See you there.

[Rich_Laue · Accepted solution]

Your fitbit app is detecting something that it thinks is a Versa 2. If this tracker was setup to an account, I don't think you would get a prompt. 

My thought if your curious.is to download one of the fitbit finder or Low Energy Bluetooth finders found in the app store. 

[bluemark]

How amusing..

One of the community members here recommended downloading an app to locate lost bluetooth devices. It worked. Its "cold-warm-hot-hot" radar walked me to my neighbor's home. 

Inside, the radar walked us to their computer. Turns out they bought a Versa 2 last Christmas, plugged it into a charger and forgot it. Never set it up.

I downloaded the fitbit app, linked to it and figured out how to power it down. 

We took the deactivated fitbit, wrapped it in foil and put it somewhere curious minds will be less likely to find it.

Lastly, I uninstalled the fitbit app. If this doesn't solve it I'll have to blame aliens.

So far so good. Many thanks - -

Mark

[Rich_Laue]

Why not make them an offer? 

Glad that the case is solved.