Fitbit app draining phone's battery life

[Kierownik]

Hi there, 

Last few fitbit app updates have caused quite bad battery drain on my phone. I'm using Samsung s10e android 10.

It looks like fitbit app doesn't let my phone to go to "deep sleep" and makes my battery drop by 3% per hour while I don't even touch the phone. All day sync and always connected are disabled.

As soon as I delete the app my battery percentage usage drops form 3%p/h to under 2%p/h. Deep sleep percentage increases from 20% of screen off time to over 80% of screen off time (checked with accubattery app). It looks like fitbit app constantly triggers the Google Play Services and constantly runs the NlpCollectorWakeLock, which is related to location services even when my location is turned off. 

This is ridiculous. My phone used to give me at least 3h of screen on time. With fitbit app installed I'm struggling to get past 2h sot.

Any ideas how can I resolve it? 

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity 

[RicardoFitbit]

Hi @Kierownik, it's nice to see you again participating here in the Community Forums, welcome back! Sorry for the delayed reply.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for the details that were shared in your post, I totally understand how frustrating this situation can be for you and I appreciate your effort troubleshooting tihs matter prior to posting too. It is important to note that even if Always Connected or All-Day Sync is turned off, your Fitbit will sync whenever the Fitbit app is opened. If you open the app to check your stats it will try to sync, therefore, this could lead to more battery usage if done regularly through the day. 

Another suggestion will be to try to keep the Bluetooth off on your phone to avoid the phone and the Fitbit from syncing on their own. That way you can only turn the Bluetooth on when you want to have them sync and check your information on the mobile device. Please follow these recommendations and let me know if the issue persists.

Keep me posted and let me know if you have any additional questions.

[Kierownik]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. 
I appreciate the effort but keeping my bluetooth off is not the answer! This way I will not be able to receive any notifications on my Ionic, which is one of the reasons why I chose your "smartwatch" over a standard fitness tracker.

[Kyosho]

I noticed the same thing started happening with the latest update to the Fitbit Android app that was released sometime around 11/2219. Idle battery drain on my phone is significantly higher at 3%/hour. I also have a samsung s10e although it's still on Android 9.

Uninstalling and reinstalling the Fitbit app didn't help, the only way to get the battery drain back to what it was before the update is to disable bluetooth.

[Kierownik]

@Kyosho it happens on android 9 and 10. No difference what system it is, it's the fitbit's app issue.

My wife's Galaxy s9 on android 9 has exactly the same problem with latest fitbit app. It all started with one of recent updates, never had that issue before.

[Kyosho]

I've resorted to using a bixby routine to disable bluetooth every night so at least my battery doesn't drain 20% overnight when I'm not even using the phone.

Even disabling the "All-Day Sync" and "Always Connected" options in the fitbit app don't seem to help at all.

[Andy1120]

Disabling a core feature of the device, i.e. turning Bluetooth off and therefore preventing you from getting notifications isn't really a solution.

I thought this was being caused by an upgrade to Android 10 but now I see it is an update to the Fitbit app instead and needs fixing.

[tlab12]

I have the same issue with a Fitbit Charge 3 and a Samsung Galaxy S8 running Android 9.  My temporary solution is logging out of the Fitbit App.  When logged out my phone is able to go into deep sleep and my battery discharge rate is significantly reduced (4.4%/hr overnight logged in to app, ~1%/hr overnight logged out of app).

This is really frustrating.  I can only log into the Fitbit app every once in a while to sync my data, otherwise my battery drain is unacceptable.  Fitbit - please fix your app!

[Kyosho]

Seems like this is fixed after the recent 3.13 app update. My phone's battery drain looks normal even with bluetooth kept on. Accubattery app also shows the phone is entering deep sleep when idle now.

[Kierownik]

That's great news, thanks for letting us know. I'll update the app today and hopefully it'll work as it should.

[EranR]

Hi

I am having the same problem for quite some time.

I have a Fitbit Versa and a LG G6 phone (Android 9).

Recently my phone battery started to drain at a rapid pace. More annoying is the fact that the phone started to slow down (slow response). I also noticed that Google Play Services consumes a considerable amount of power.

I tried to find the source of the problem and then I found out that limiting the Google services location services helps to reduce the consumption as well as restore the phones response dramatically.

However, after a few days, I entered the Fitbit App and saw that there was no sync to the watch. The message was that it required the location service to be turned on. Once I turned on the location service (for Fitbit only) - battery drains, phone slows down etc.

I don't understand what is the connection between location service (used for GPS etc - which I was not using) and watch phone sync. Any idea?

Please help as this is pretty annoying situation