Flex 2 often won't sync with Moto G5 Plus

[jwl80303]

I purchased my first Fitbit -- Flex 2 -- back in May, paired it with my brand-new Moto G5 Plus, and it worked flawlessly. At least until a few months ago when it stopped sync'ing on a regular basis. But oftentimes it just won't sync -- pull down on the Fitbit app to start a sync, sometimes the progress bar will appear and then disappear but no sync happens. Sometimes the little 'connected' icon (dot with 2 radio wave arcs on either side) will flash (gray) for a while but won't 'go green' and no sync happens. I can drill down into the screens until I get to the 'Sync now' circular arrows -- click it and again... it seems to go thru the motions but no sync actually happens. 

What seems to work for me - at least it fixes the problem for a while -- is to go into bluetooth, find my 'Flex 2' device in the list of paired devices, click the 'gear', click 'Forget', and THEN manually start a sync in the FB app. That almost always works -- but only works for a while. I find myself doing this 'Forget' business several times a day now and it's super annoying, especially since this all used to work, and worked fine for months until just a month or two ago. Bad FB firmware update?

[jwl80303]

BTW... my wife has an IDENTICAL Fitbit and an IDENTICAL Moto G5 Plus (on the same carrier -- TMobile -- and thus at the exact same level of Android -- 7.0), and she has the exact same problem. 

[jwl80303 · Accepted solution]

Somebody posted a response (since deleted by Fitbit) that older versions of the Fitbit app didn't have this problem, and pointed me to a specific older version (2.58) that could be downloaded from a 3rd party website. I've tried this and it indeed does solve the problem.

I won't go into more specifics than this because the Fitbit person who monitors this forum deleted the previous response with specifics on this -- not sure why (maybe they used to work for Apple).

So if you have this problem, and if this post doesn't get deleted as well... Google for the 2.58 version of the Fitbit Android app (APK), download and install it, and change the setting in Google Play app to turn off automatic updates so that more recent versions of Fitbit app don't overwrite it and thus reintroduce the problem.

Hey Fitbit forum admin... being that Fitbit still doesn't support a major manufacturer's phone that's been out for almost a YEAR now, how about leaving this post here...?

[Aaeolien]

Thank you. Finally a post where someone fixed the problem.  Just did this and it seems to be working properly for the moment. Appreciate the info. 

[Mole07]

so i keep trying to install the 2.58 version and somehow it installs the newer version... do you know what can i do?

[jwl80303]

Definitely turn off Play's auto-update, otherwise it will overwrite the older one you install with the latest one (not sure of how quickly, though). I'd uninstall your current Fitbit app and then install the 2.58 version. Once installed, go to settings > apps, find and tap FitBit in the list, it should show you that 2.58 is installed. If not, then I'd question that the APK that you have and are installing is really the 2.58 version, so double-check that.

[Fredl1964]

Thanks for the post. This has frustrated me for the past few months. 

Thanks

[Mole07]

so you were able to download the 2.58 version? y tried and tried on different websites and for some reason the new version always gets installed. how did you do it?

[jwl80303]

Yes, I had no problem getting the 2.58 version downloaded and installed (though just getting to the 2.58 version could be made a lot easier). I just did it again (on my phone) and worked fine

Visit www.apkmirror.com, Enter 'Fitbit 2.58' into the search field (hourglass icon/field) and search. In the next page's 'Results' section it should show a single entry. Click the download button (underlined down-facing arrow) which will take you to a screen that is not terribly obvious (and which also has lots of ads, some of which have buttons that looks like they'd download what you want -- don't be fooled). In the 'Download' section of the screen, under 'Variant' header, there should be a '2.58' in the list -- it's a link so touch it. Yet another screen, this one has a list of information about the APK, below that list is a big 'DOWNLOAD APK' button -- touch it and the download begins. On my phone, after the download is complete (takes a while, you should see download status/progress in notification bar) I touch the download icon in the phone's notification bar and Android offers to install the APK for me (for this to work, you must turn off the system setting that restricts APK installs to only those downloaded from Play store). If you don't get that download notification, you should be able to get to the downloaded APK by using File Manager app and going to the 'Downloads' area, then find the APK and touch it to install. After installed, go to system settings > apps and it should show version as 2.58. Be sure you turn off Play's auto-update or the version will be overwritten with the latest version at some point. 

[MimiMegan]

Do you know of a version that works well with the Alta HR?  I'm not getting notifications

[Flex2MP]

I just posted this on the Flex 2 and Moto G5 syncing issues board as the simple no hassle solution:

I think I found the answer, and really wanted to share it with everyone although I never post on boards.  This war very frustrating and I hope this helps others.  This will work with the newest fitbit app.  First of all start from the beginning.  Forget the Flex2 from your blutooth list and delete the Flex 2 from your fitbit app.  DO NOT reconnect your Flex 2 with your blutooth.  ONLY connect it through the app.  DO NOT EVER connect it through the blutooth menu.  That could have been the solution but just to be safe I also turned off All Day Sync, Always Connected, and Keep-Alive Widget under the Flex 2 options.

If you pull down on the screen to sync the radio signal icon will turn grey and flash, then turn blue and flash, and finally go green.  All good from there.

I hope this helps others because I was getting very annoyed.

Thanks.

[kdwoolfe]

This is now July 13, 2018.

I have had the exact same configuration for both my wife and me with the same intermittent syncing problem:

Flex 2, Moto G5 Plus (and same problem with our previously Moto G5 phones).

I've called tech support a half dozen times and tried a dozen things to fix it. Each fix usually works one time and then not again until I try another approach: unpairing the Flex2 in bluetooth, resetting the Flex, setting up the device as new, restarting the app, etc. They

Intermittent syncing had continued for many months until this week when syncing appear to work almost all the time and all-day sync also now works on both phones/devices with regular interval notification of sync completion. There have been two recent phone app updates: one on July 9 (2.74.1) and another on July 11 (2.74.2) so I think the first one fixed the problem with Android app on this phone. I still have intermittent syncing problems with the dongle on my mac and pc but that is another matter. Time will tell if things stay stable but for the first time, the Fitbit is reasonably usable.

[Aaeolien]

I've not updated my Fitbit app for a long time. I have a Moto g5 plus and
have stayed on version 2.58 of the Fitbit app because that's the last
version that syncs 100% of the time with my flex 2. That's the fix sadly if
you want it to sync all the time.

[jwl80303]

2019-03-21 update: A few months ago my phone (Moto G5 Plus) was updated to Oreo. I decided to let Google Play update the Fitbit app to the latest & greatest, just to see how that would fly. I'm happy to report that since that update (and subsequent ones - I'm currently at Fitbit app 2.89) I've had no problems with the app sync'ing to my Flex 2 Fitbit. I just checked Fitbit website's list of supported Android devices -- Moto G5 Plus still isn't in the list of officially supported devices. But so far so good -- seems to work for me. Just hoping it will stay that way.