Fitbit Widget appears to be disconnected from the app

[Boothby171]

After realizing a few months ago that the FITBIT app has to be IN PHONE MEMORY (not the SD card) for the widget to work, I had my widget working again...until yesterday.

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 29, 2020), I got the following error message, instead of the circle and the feet:

"Launch the app to refresh activity data"

I did that--no fix

I deleted the widget and put it back--no fix

I restarted the phone--no fix

I have NOT tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app itself.  That feels like giving up.  I'm hoping for a more elegant solution, a more meaningful solution.

I hadn't made any changes to the phone (who knows what it was doing behind my back, though?).

Any thoughts?  Any solutions?

Thanks in advance!

[Boothby171]

Update:

I uninstalled and reinstalled the app--no fix.

(When the app uninstalled, the widget went away.  I put it back once the app was fully reinstalled)

I think this may all be related to the Version 3.13 update from 1/23/2020.  Let's say that my phone updated the Fitbit App on 1/24.  The widget was working fine.  But on 1/29, when I needed to actually get into the app itself, I was asked to sign back in to the app, and that's when the widget broke.

I continue to lose trust in Fitbit and their ability to create a functioning app and environment. I complained to them this past summer about how their system only records position points every few minutes, leading to serious tracking and distance measurement errors--even when just walking!  It would only be worse when running, bike riding, etc.  They said, "We're aware of this problem, but have no idea when it might be fixed."  I've stopped relying on my Fitbit for any distance-related information, and I'm using other solutions, so I do not know if they've fixed this issue.  So my Fitbit just tells me my steps and my heartbeat--like some cheap knock-off I can buy on Facebook for $7.

[Rich_Laue · Accepted solution]

Any app, as Fitbit does, that embeds part of its app into the phones OS needs to be run in main memory. 

I think widgets may also need the program in main memory. 

[Boothby171]

Thank you Rich.  That's what I figured, too.

And as far as the "Problem at hand" goes--it just resolved itself.  By about the 6th or 7th time I opened the Fitbit app on my Samsung S7 smartphone.

So...if I no longer have a problem, I have no way to fix it.  Seventh time's the charm, I guess!