Notifications: not working on Silent mode (RESOLVED - 5/3)

[AlessFitbit]

Fitbit Update: 5/3/18

Hi, everyone! 

We released to 100% the next Fitbit for Android app update: 2.71. In this app version, we released the fix for this notifications issue. Please update your app!

You will see a new option in your Notifications Settings that reads "Vibration Settings," which is where you can toggle on/off if you want to receive notifications when your phone is set to Do not disturb or Silent mode. 

I'm glad we could get this resolved for you all! Your patience was really appreciated. 

---

Fitbit Update: 4/23

Hi all - Our team is currently working on a fix so you all can get your notifications back whenever in "Silent mode." 

I don't know when the fix will be released but I will let you know once I have that information available. Thanks for your patience! Sounds like many of you are using the workaround to just put your phone on vibrate to the lowest setting. I appreciate everyone helping each other out and making suggestions for the time being. 

---

Updated: 4/20

Hi, everyone!

Our team is aware of this Notification issue when you put your Android device in Silent mode. This began with the last app version 2.70. 

If your phone is on Silent mode, notifications will not reach your watch/tracker. If you have silent mode off, your notifications will be received. 

I will provide updates on this problem here. Please stay tuned! Thanks so much for your patience. 

[kj1218]

I am having the same issue.  When I first got the Versa, text notifications were working  (not phone or email) although I was not able to pull up the entire text.  It seems after an update that even quit working and now when I go into the Fitbit app on my phone it is stating the following "Your phone's ringer is not on.  Incoming calls and app Notifications will not be sent to your tracker while your phone is in silent mode."

I can say I will be very disappointed if this stays this way and will defeat the purpose in purchasing the Versa.  Obviously when your at work, a lot of people can not have their phone on but still want to receive notifications.  Fitbit I hope you fix this!!!!!

[sibbl]

I'm absolutely looking forward to the fixes but wonder what you mean with "silent mode". I.e. Pixels with vanilla Android 8.1 have either DnD, vibrate or vibrate+ring. I really hope that "do not disturb" will also work as there's no other way to silent my phone but still get notifications on my Ionic. Technically it's possible, lots of people want it but it's still being ignored for whatever reason... 

[perrettleah]

I have an I phone 6s. I can turn the sound off and it comes through my watch which I always have on. It is not DND. I have an on /off sound switch. If it is off ii don’t hear it ring but it always comes through my watch. I was wondering why it want happening until I looked up Fitbit.
Thank you for your quick response. I hope it can be remedied.

Leah Perrett.

Sent from my iPhone

[KCHarting]

@sibbl silent mode is when you have your phone on silent.  No ringer and no vibration.  Those of us who can't have phones ringing or vibrating ar our desks because it would be unprofessional, have our phones on silent.  This is a very different setting from DND.  Most of us have used this silent mode for many years.  I have used it for 10 years myself.

[sibbl]

@perrettleah we're obviously in the Android section here and Android does not enforce OEMs to have a silent mode. They don't even have this enable on their own Pixel phones, you need to use DnD to disable vibrations for notifications. 

[sibbl]

@KCHarting like I stated above, Android does not necessarily have a silent mode. Especially Google's own phones only have Do not Disturb (dnd), vibrate only and vibrate+ring. Since DnD was introduced (in Lollipop I guess?) an Android system doesn't need to have a silent mode. I guess this isn't even clear to the Fitbit devs and that's why I've been trying to raise this problem for months now without any success.

Even my almost 3 year old MS Band could send me notifications even though I had DnD on, so it's definitely not an OS but an app issue.

[Lisaloca]

I see posts about dnd....and have no idea about this.

[KCHarting]

Hmmmm, I'm using a Samsung Note 8, with Android ver. 8.0.0.  So I guess I haven't lost my ability to turn off the ringer and vibration without putting my phone in DND.  Right now, a lot of us have the phone in vibrate with the sensitivity set at zero so we can get our notifications without disturbing others.  Sorry you are having so many difficulties.

[sibbl]

@KCHarting this is because Samsung decided to enable this "true silent mode". I have to admit that Google's decision to go from "ring+vibrate" -> "vibrate" and then directly -> "do not disturb" totally makes sense. I mean why shall there be 2 states doing exactly the same?

The problem is that I have two possibilities:

1. leave vibration on and annoy my co-workers out of the hell with my phone vibrating all the time I get a message or so

2. use do not disturb and turn my Ionic into a dumb watch, just because Fitbit cannot get this feature right 😉

Currently I'm doing the latter which just feels very wrong 😕 It's so frustating that I event think that I should've bought a Google WearOS device which automatically silences phones when it detects that the Wear device is worn.

[JonDavidL]

I love Fitbit but this is so frustrating. There's no excuse for fitbit programmers to have not fixed this problem after more than a week now. I have a backup Garmin tracker I use. Never had an issue with Garmin and Android. Plus it receives all notifications and even has weather data too. 

[annboyd55]

Yep - meant what you said ;). Hope they get it fixed soon, as I'm tired of
calling. The i fit help line has been very nice, but it's been going on
for@2 weeks.

[Anthony123]

---

@sibbl

---

I guess I'm confused. I have an S8 and you can put the phone on silent mode without enabling DND mode. This was the perfect setup to get notifications on the Fitbit without having the phone sound or vibrate. Now I can understand that all phones aren't as good as the S8 (sorry for those users lol) and some user's phones put the phone into DND mode instead of silence. But I would ask those users first does the phone (if it's Android based) have DND exception ability? Again my S8 has this also. And that would have fixed the issue as well. Plus you can turn off notifications on your fitbit if you don't want them. I have the Fitbit Charge 2. That's as simple as holding down the button for like 2 seconds. Just seems like there were many easy ways to fix this rather than affecting 98% of your customer based for a complaint by 2%.

[Mananda388]

My phone is not in silent or DND and I'm still not receiving notifications. Any suggestions? Is this happening to anyone else?

[Mananda388]

If you are a Verizon Messages+ user and you do not have your phone in silent mode and are still not getting text notifications try this: open messages+. Click the menu button on the upper left hand side. Click customize. Click notifications. Click Importance and change it to High. This allows the text notification sound to actually come through. This also allowed me to then receive my text notification on my Fitbit. I tried turning my volume up and was still not receiving on my fitbit and also noticed I was getting no sound period. Found this in the settings. It also still sends notifications while in vibrate mode. I know this still doesn't help the silent issue but for those who couldn't receive it either way, I hope this helps!!!

[TakenByToya]

Hello. Any update on this? I just got the Versa and I have the same frustrations as everyone else. Why can we not receive notifications while on silent? Please fix this!

[JonDavidL]

Monday 4/30 and .... STILL not fixed. This is totally unacceptable and I'm putting my plans to buy a Versa on hold for now. Come on Fitbit! I expect better than this from your company. 

---

@RobertoME wrote:

Hello everyone and thank you for all your comments and feedback.

To all our affected users, rest assure this is an important functionality of the notifications feature and we understand you are eager to see a fix  as soon as possible. As it was mentioned earlier by @AlessFitbit: our team has identified a fix and will be confirm in this thread once it has been released.

@threshfire, @fredegar, @DanielleCarr, @Cutie_pie, @Anthony123, @Mdecker. I was reading all your comments and thank you for your great input. My apologies for giving you an update until now. I'm taking all your comments and merged them with our dedicated post for this issue so you can be aware of all the progress while we work to address this issue.

I appreciate all your patience and stay tuned for future updates.

---

[annboyd55]

I have heard nothing.  

[Anthony123]

---

@Mananda388 wrote:

If you are a Verizon Messages+ user and you do not have your phone in silent mode and are still not getting text notifications try this: open messages+. Click the menu button on the upper left hand side. Click customize. Click notifications. Click Importance and change it to High. This allows the text notification sound to actually come through. This also allowed me to then receive my text notification on my Fitbit. I tried turning my volume up and was still not receiving on my fitbit and also noticed I was getting no sound period. Found this in the settings. It also still sends notifications while in vibrate mode. I know this still doesn't help the silent issue but for those who couldn't receive it either way, I hope this helps!!!

---

I don't see that choice in messages+ When I click customize there's no choice for notifications. I went to settings and there I can choose notifications but still no importance category. Are you in the general notifications or for a certain contact? That might help because even with my phone on I hear the phone go off but my fitbit still doesn't go off with the message. Sometimes it does like minutes later. So, it seems like they have broken notifications all together and now it's a matter of work arounds for everything.

[digitaljustin]

Why does FitBit keep referring to identifying a fix? It's appears based on the message in the app that this was a design decision not a bug.  Yes it needs fixed, but using language that would imply it is a bug is dishonest.  Correcting this should not take 1.5 weeks (and counting) either.

[Sarahmiller]

I spent all weekend trying to figure it out and even chatted with Fitbit for over an hour.  They need to educate customer service so they can relay the information. The whole point of getting notifications was because my phone is on silent at work. Fix ASAP please!!