Huawei P9 & Lite Compatibility

[srmellis]

I have a surge paired to a Huawei p8. I have tried all the different fixes listed in various forums. I have notification on in the all on my phone set to Huawei contacts. I have notifications on on my surge. I get absolutely nothing. Anyone with a P8 solved this problem. I have later Android and fitbit versions.

Moderator edit: edited title for compatibility

[kokodile]

Any updates??? I hope your team knows that Huawei is one of the largest phone brands sold worldwide. I'm still upset about this. I literally have to bring out my old LG3 to sync my fitbit. I have nothing else to sync it to. This better be fixed soon.

[BelindaF]

Thanks very much for your helpful feedback. Based on comments and reviews
on internet this is an old problem and there is no solution as yet!
Disappointing. I returned my Charge2. I'm lucky that the supplier took it
back after I unboxed it. Lesson learned.

[luca85]

Hi @FitmanFit, I've seen that like a month ago Fitbit declared the Hauwei lite models not to be compatible. After more than a year since the issues began. That's ridicolous.

Now, very recently I've started googling a lot and it does seem that it's Huawei's fault, also other trackers from other brands are having the same troubles. But here you see where Fitbit is at fault. On Garmin forums as soon as the issue appeared the engineers answered in days, in a week or so they identified the root of the problem and then escalated the problem to Huawei and found some solutions. While constantly keeping the customers updated about what was going on.

Here we haven't been given any update of any kind for more than a year. The only answer that they keep on giving us is a ridicolous "please, choose a phone from the list of supported devices", despite the fact that the list has seen just 2 additions since 2016 and, at the moment, it lists JUST ONE phone that is currently on the market.

[FitmanFit]

Hi @luca85,

thanks for the info.

Do you have a link to the declaration regarding the Huawei lite models being incompatible?

I wonder what is going on because there seem to be some users who got the P9 lite working with their Fitbit devices. There really shouldn't be a major issue. I realise that some Huawai phones are very aggressive regarding increasing battery life, but there should be a way by using phone settings and Fitbit app behaviour in a manner that makes the Fitbit device work with the Huawei phones.

I recently managed to get my Pebble (the classic, the very first model they made) going on the P9. I had severe disconnection issues initially but managed to configure the P9 in a manner that it does not turn off the Pebble app in order to increase battery life. I have some hope that the same technique could work for the Ionic.

How is it possible that a smartwatch from a lowly garage company from 2012 is working with my Huawei P9, but Fitbit devices from 2016 or later find it impossible to work with such phones? That does not make one bit of sense to me.

[luca85]

Here it is:

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2315

It's been published recently, most likely at the beginning of february with no publicity whastoever. Mods weren't citing it even weeks after it appeared, keeping on copy-pasting "not compatible yet". That's all I know.

[FitmanFit]

Thanks for the link.

I'm very puzzled.

First, there is at least one user who reported that the Ionic syncs with the P9 Lite.

Is the Ionic not a Fitbit device?

Second, why don't they just program the watch/app combination in the same manner as the Pebble classic combination works? I repeat, my Pebble from 2013 perfectly syncs with my Huawei P9. Fitbit is supposed to have engineers from the Pebble team, so they should know how to do it.

I find it extremely hard to believe that the Huawei Lite models have limitations that make it impossible for Fitbit to make their devices compatible with them. As a result, the phrasing "Due to Bluetooth issues that prevent Huawei Lite models, including P8 and P9 Lite, from syncing with some devices, like Fitbit devices, our products are not compatible with these mobile phones." strikes me as laying the blame on others while it would seem technically possible to make the combination work.

There is a chance that the P9 Lite user I referenced above used on older version of the Android OS running on the phone and that there are indeed severe technical hurdles with newer versions, but that seems unlikely to me.

[RonaTyger]

Agreed.  I do like my Huawei P9 Lite phone but it is their fault that it won't pair with my Fitbit.  I bought a Garmin VivoActive HR and it won't pair with that either.  Bummer.

[SunsetRunner]

Now I'm going to throw a spanner in the works. Ever since it became apparent to me that Fitbit was not going to support the Huawei P9 lite with my Charge2 I bought a Sony Xperia. Recently I've had some minor trouble with the Charge2 recording inaccurate distance when linked to the phone (after a year of being 100% accurate) and Fitbit help was at a loss to correct it. Different problem I know, but I decided to fire up my old Fitbit Surge to obtain the GPS functionality. After reading the latest postings I decided to get the Huawei P9 lite another go, again refuses to sync with the Charge2 BUT SYNCS PERFECTLY WITH THE SURGE.

Someone within Fitbit is not being honest with its customers, Huawei may have changed the android operating system in such a way as to make it difficult for Fitbit Charge2 to sync but as the Surge syncs I cannot see that this is an insurmountable issue. Rather I see it as a direct decision not to support certain phones.

[FitmanFit]

@RonaTyger

Regarding your Garmin VivoActive HR have you tried temporarily deactivating Google Play Services? Maybe it won't work for you; maybe there is a hitch, but any time I look into something it appears that someone finds a solution.

So, I wouldn't be too quick to state that the Huawei P9 Lite makes a connection impossible.

[FitmanFit]

@SunsetRunner

I agree, it sure looks like it is a "decision not to support certain phones" rather than any insurmountable technical hurdles.

I guess future Huawei P20 Pro users -- this phone has just been measured to have the most capable smartphone camera on the market -- won't be able to use Fitbit devices either (unless they manage to come up with their own workarounds).

[FitmanFit]

@RonaTyger

Regarding your Garmin VivoActive HR have you tried to temporarily deactivate Google Play Services?

It seems any time I look into such issues there is someone who is able to find a workaround. So I wouldn't be too quick to believe that the the Huawei P9 Lite makes connections impossible. As other watches/apps demonstrate, as long as one properly programs to account for these phones (probably regarding energy saving features that exist on some other phones as well) then they do work with external devices.

[luca85]

I'm ready, this time, to give fitbit credit. If other brands had the same issue most likely there's something wrong in the Huawei device. I don't have any clue regarding what it could be. It just doesn't make any sense that noone is investigating the issue and reporting what's happening. Like you, it seems impossible to me that someone is making the hardware incompatible (Bluetooth is so standard) but... What do I know?

Why can't anyone tell where the issue is? I mean... if it turned out that it was 100% huawei's fault, wouldn't it be better for fitbit?

[Ternerh]

Fit bit have stated that they do not allow the Huawei to connect.Their is
only certain phones fit bit will allow to connect

[FitmanFit]

@luca85

Unlike you, I'm not ready to give Fitbit credit.

1. If a Fitbit device doesn't work with a Huawei device out of the box then that doesn't mean there is something "wrong" with the Huawei device. It may just be something "non-standard' about it. That non-standard behaviour (e.g., saving battery life) could actually be good for you. In this case, it would be easy for Fitbit to just account for the non-standard behaviour or tell Huawei users how they need to configure their phones so that they work with Fitbit devices.
2. It is not the case that Huawei devices are the only ones having trouble with Fitbit devices. According to reports on the net, other phone brands/models are affected as well. In other words, Fitbit devices seem to be the common denominator just as well as there appear to be a range of devices that won't work with Huawei phones (out of the box).
3. My Huawei P9 works perfectly with other Bluetooth devices. Not a hitch. It needed a bit of massaging to work with the Pebble, but now it is working. There is nothing wrong with the phone and if the age old Pebble app can work with the phone, a modern Fitbit app should as well.

I agree that if there were an actual issue with Huawei phones, it would be ideal for Fitbit to explicitly point that out. Fitbit doesn't, however; they only use suggestive language to imply that this is the case but the phrasing is such that they don't unequivocally assign blame.

One can wonder why Fitbit isn't more forthcoming about blaming Huawei devices. Either it is because they are unable to as the fault is with their technology, or they just don't care.

[FitmanFit]

@Ternerh

Do you have a link for us?

[FitmanFit]

@luca85

Unlike you, I'm not ready to give Fitbit credit.

1. If a Fitbit device doesn't work with a Huawei device out of the box then that doesn't mean there is something "wrong" with the Huawei device. It may just be something "non-standard' about it. That non-standard behaviour (e.g., saving battery life) could actually be good for you. In this case, it would be easy for Fitbit to just account for the non-standard behaviour or tell Huawei users how they need to configure their phones so that they work with Fitbit devices.
2. It is not the case that some Huawei devices are the only ones having trouble with Fitbit devices. According to reports on the net, other phone brands/models are affected as well. In other words, Fitbit devices seem to be the common denominator just as well as there appear to be a range of devices that won't work with some Huawei phones (out of the box). Note that Fitbit devices are compatible with some Huawei phones (e.g., the P8). 
3. My Huawei P9 works perfectly with other Bluetooth devices. Not a hitch. It needed a bit of massaging to work with the Pebble, but now it is working. There is nothing wrong with the phone and if the age old Pebble app can work with the phone, a modern Fitbit app should as well.

I agree that if there were an actual issue with Huawei phones, it would be ideal for Fitbit to explicitly point that out. Fitbit doesn't, however; they only use suggestive language to imply that this is the case but the phrasing is such that they don't unequivocally assign blame.

One can wonder why Fitbit isn't more forthcoming about blaming Huawei devices. Either it is because they are unable to as the fault is with their technology, or they just don't care.

[Ternerh]

Fit bit engineers have stated that they do not allow Huawei. P9 to sync
with fit bits

[FitmanFit]

@Ternerh
You said something very similar before.

I looked for a respective statement but didn't find anything, that's why I asked for a link.

Can you point us to a source, please?

P.S.: Why would they not "allow" it?
They "allow" it for the P8, etc.

[luca85]

---

@FitmanFitwrote:

One can wonder why Fitbit isn't more forthcoming about blaming Huawei devices. Either it is because they are unable to as the fault is with their technology, or they just don't care.

---

That's the other thing I don't understand. Apparently fitbit mostly works with all android phones. Yet the list of approved devices doesn't include any device made after 2015, excluding the S7, S8 and the first pixel. It does look like they're trying to hide something.

[Ternerh]

Go to fit bit then go to fitbit supported devices.It tells you which phone
you can use