Fitbit no longer connects to app via bluetooth

[SteveVale]

As of yesterday, my Fitbit (Charge 4) will no longer connect to my phone via bluetooth. I tried all the usual things mentioned in the various help articles - switching bluetooth off and on, uninstalling and re-installing the app, re-starting the Fitbit etc, but no luck.

The only information I can find is that the Fitbit app is no longer compatible with older versions of Android. My phone is a Blackberry Key2, running 8.1.0 and the version can't be updated. Now that the desktop dashboard has been removed, is there any way I can see my Fitbit data without having to buy a new phone? - which I am not prepared to do at the moment, as I have no other problems with the phone or the apps I use. For example, can I download an older version of the app somewhere? Or is the answer to switch to a different brand of activity tracker? That would be a shame, as I have been with Fitbit for over 8 years, and am on my 4th watch.

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @SteveVale welcome, you will see from Fitbit Compatible Devices - Help that you do indeed need Android 10 or newer to run the Fitbit app. You will have noted the latest Pixel phones are on Android 14 at the moment and anticipate Android 15 in the next month or two. I do not believe you can download an older version of the Fitbit app anywhere, we have never been able to access earlier versions of the app when it is thought a new version of the app is the root of a particular problem. Sadly time has cast its vote against your old phone and it waits for no one. You may well find older (reconditioned) phones running Android 10+ are a cheaper option to getting another activity tracker, particularly given your long commitment to the Fitbit ecosystem. Note that as time passes the benchmark minimum Android OS advances.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[SteveVale]

Hi, @Gr4ndp4 thanks for confirming what I had feared to be the case. Switching phones is not really an option for me at the moment, as everything else I need works fine on my current one, and the battery life is still great, so a cheap reconditioned phone wouldn't really be a step up. I see the new Samsung Fit3 is now selling for just £50, and their app is apparently OK for Android 7 and higher, so I will probably go down that route. Actually this came at a good time, because my wife was about to replace her ageing Fitbit, and will probably now also go over to Samsung. Her app still works fine for now, but she really doesn't like the new interface. As you say, time passes, and, unfortunately, I think Fitbit is going the way of many other tech companies that started as something really special, but gradually lost the plot - and the Google takeover clearly hasn't helped.