Notifications effectiveness on Versa and Sense

[ASB57]

Is there a Fitbit watch that works reliably with Android  (in this case11)?

I have had two Versas over the last few years, on both Android 10 & 11 on Samsung mobiles.  They work relatively well as fitness devices, including Syncing, but notifications ( including Text or Call ) is ridiculously unreliable.  There is a limit to the number of times I want to restart the App, or follow Supports' "remove the device, clear Bluetooth, factory reset, re-add, and cross fingers etc", for it to only work for a few hours/days.

There seems to have been several newer Versas, and of course the Sense.  Are these any better?  Or is it just a basic inability of Fitbit to make it work properly?

Looking at the Community pages, it does seem to be an intrinsic problem.

Is it just time to bite the bullet and change make?  

[SilviaFitbit]

@ASB57 Welcome to the Fitbit Community. Thanks for the detailed information shared. 

I appreciate the troubleshooting performed when experiencing difficulties with notifications.

Your feedback and comments are appreciated, we're always striving to improve our services offered. Be sure that Fitbit improves and implements features based in user's feedback. 

In this case, you could purchase a Fitbit Sense or Fitbit Versa 3 which are one of our newest Fitbit device models and take advantage of the 45 day return-warranty policy. Learn more about it here. 

Last but not least, make sure you're following these tips when using the Fitbit app on your Android phone. 

Hope this helps. 

[ASB57]

Thanks for the reply.  I know about the 45 day refund, (although I don't think that includes shipping and VAT).

But nothing beats user real experience.  I was hoping that I might get some real owners confirming or denying whether the known problems around intermittent call/text notification on the Versa still exists in later models.

Alan

[murka]

I have a Samsung S20.. The notifications drop for no reason. I am ready to get another smart watch and get rid of the versa 3.  Very disappointed in the reliability of this product. 

[ASB57]

Thanks Murka,  I expected as much.  Notification failures seem to be basically a Fitbit issue, not a particular watch model or phone model.  It would be nice to know if they thought they knew why it happened and could advise, rather than the useless string of repeated "have you done this?"  "have you followed that?" every time someone asks for help.  Or worse still "Buy our latest model", when they presumably know the issues still exist.

[sherD]

I too would like to know if a different Fitbit didn't have the notification issue that I've had with my Versa ever since I purchased it. I've been able to get notifications working on occasion but I haven't been able to get it working now for several months. People will probably think this sound ridiculous but my main reason for wanting a smartwatch is so I can get text messages on it. I don't always have to respond to a text so it's nice when I can see who's texting and if I have to grab my phone and reply. And I thought one of the fixes was actually making sure the watch said notifications was turned on but I don't see any option on the watch itself that says anything about notifications. Is that not on the Versa watch? If it's supposed to be, how do I get to it?

[murka]

I am having the same problem with my versa. And I find the fixes and solutions very time consuming., tedious and should be totally unnecessary if the fitbit android app ran the way it is supposed to. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[ASB57]

Thanks sherD,

I do want to get rid of this Versa, mainly because of the poor notification performance, but also because I am tempted by the ability of answering calls on the device.  My phone is not always near me and the ability to answer, and tell someone I'm on the way to the phone would be great.

But not at the expense of the hassle the Versa gives me.....

[ASB57]

Thanks murka,

I think I would be happier if Fitbit would at least acknowledge that there is a problem, and maybe even open up to what is going wrong.  Repeatedly following the old scripts is just lazy support.

And as for going out and buying later and more expensive models, without the guarantee that things will be better...