S10e's GPS Turning Off

[jcf224]

I have a charge 3 and use a Samsung S10e.  I noticed on a couple of occasions last week that the GPS map for bike and walk show as straight red lines on the map when finishing the exercise, one even suggested I had walked a fair distance over a large body of water and ended up in a town at the other side! This has only happened since the latest update on both the charge and the phone. Prior to this tracking activity using the GPS showed a fairly accurate red line route on the map.  I have tried today and started a short walk by waiting for GPS to connect first then setting off. As soon as the phone screen goes off the charge vibrates to show GPS  is off. As soon as  I open the fitbit app the GPS goes on again. Soon as I put the phone back in my pocket GPS goes off. So it is not staying connected unless I keep the app open which isn't practical at all. This worked fine prior to updates and I have not changed any settings on the phone or the app so don't know why this problem has suddenly occured. When walking or cycling I can't keep the screen on on the phone and the app open obviously. It should stay connected during the course of the exercise. I've looked at various settings and all seems ok so can't understand why this is suddenly happening.

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

[Summertime_jen]

I have been having this issue as well, figured it was related to an Android power saving setting, but cannot find any that will fix it.  Eerily similar to an issue that happened last year and caused me all sorts of frustration.  I do not wish to lose all of my data, 2 years of use, but this is beyond frustrating.  I very much may go to Garmin.  This should not be a continual issue.  And I don't understand why I didn't see any resolution posted on this thread after 3 weeks of comments.  S7 phone/Charge 2HR.  RunKeeper is working accurately.

[SunsetRunner]

SO it's been almost a month now since @LanuzaFitbit advised us that the fault had been passed to the engineering team. How much "patience and understanding" are we supposed to exhibit with no information, no offers of a resolution and no apparent interest in Fitbit doing right by their customers?

This fault is a joke. It's a simple software problem, it used to work pretty much perfectly, and you broke it. FFS rollback to an earlier version if necessary but give us the functionality we paid for when we bought these currently worthless (to me at least) devices!

[SunsetRunner]

I fully agree! @LanuzaFitbit , it would be very much appreciated here if you would update us on an ETA for the problem to be solved. At least you could give your engineers a little nudge. It took them so little to break it, why does it take so long to fix it?

[DebbyPu]

I totally agree with you all...Fitbit is refusing to answer or respond to give an answer to those of us with the defective device. I wrote a note in the discussion regarding my frustration and was sent a note from Fitbit that they would not allow the post to remain. It is obvious they are reading these posts but will not respond to the actual problem of the Fitbit’s not working correctly. This post will more than likely be removed too there should not be a problem with simply answering and give a simple “We will or will not take care of the problem”. As you said, Fitbit stated they would get back to us. I don’t know if they will respond or not

Debby

Sent from my iPad

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello everyone.

I'd like to thank you all for the patience on the matter. 

This situation has not been forgotten about and our team is working on it as we speak. I do not have an ETA to share with you all but I will let you all know as soon as we have any updates.

Thank you for your understanding. 

[Summertime_jen]

Just undo whatever update happened in April???

A 2 month long glitch that happens once a year says that you don't value your running users.




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[SunsetRunner]

@LanuzaFitbit. How do those of us who could not wait this long go about getting our money back? My wife and I have already switched platforms.

[SunsetRunner]

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@LanuzaFitbit wrote:

Hello everyone.

Thanks for sharing your feedback on the situation.

Please do know that we take all comments seriously and that we will be letting everyone know as soon as we have any updates we will be posting them publicly. At this time we do not have any timeframe as to when an update can be expected by we will be sure to keep you all posted.

Thanks for your understanding.

---

I think you're misreading the tone of this thread @LanuzaFitbit, we have lost our patience and I for one have zero understanding of why your engineers have not rolled back the breaking software change yet? These are not faulty devices, but they are faulty products and completely unfit for purpose. The device and the software are both useless on their own and are unable to independently provide the advertised functionality. The product is not currently fit for purpose and I either require a response with a reasonable explanation of the problem along with an estimated (or actual, up to you) timescale of when we can expect a resolution. Failing that, please provide a means to obtaining a refund in full from your company or either public or private messages that we can provide to the retailer we bought from so we can get our refunds from them.

[just2bhealthy]

I saw this "fix" on another similar thread...

It seems people who are running multiple tracking/fitness apps aren't seeing this problem.

I ran the samsung health app. at the same time as the fitbit app. and the tracking worked normally.

I'm sure fitbit doesn't want to recommend running a competitors app. but it was a band aid to keep the tracking function working. As a bonus the Samsung app. calls out enabled miles stones..such as mile increments and splits.

[Summertime_jen]

Unfortunately, I actually do use it concurrently with another app, and it still doesn't work properly.  But glad it works for you!

Maybe I'll try the Samsung Health App, and see if it helps for me.

[ShawnPHX]

I mentioned it before, and I wouldn't go as far as to recommend it, just presenting it as an option for people, but downgrading to 2.91 (you can find it on the larger android a*k mirroring sites) and disabling auto-update for that app in the play store has worked for me. (2.91 was the last version that worked correctly)

As someone who works in cyber security I'm aware running older versions of software (or obtaining files from third party sites) aren't recommended, but IMHO the risk is minimal, the files are signed.

I'll echo what many people have been saying, it's really unfortunate FitBit would introduce this significant of a bug that affects fundamental operation for runners, and take so long to address it. There is a lot of competition in this space and pissing off the customers who buy your products seems really short sighted. They know the problem is with background operation, they know the release the bug was introduced. We're talking an android app here, not firmware. A few weeks to fix/rollback and QA should be all it takes. Obviously speculation, but this feels like there are some serious communication and software development issues going on at FitBit.

[Crompsy]

Yep, this is pretty ridiculous.

[hkbikee]

@ShawnPHX 

The key issue is most likely that the S10e ain't supported. I don't see it in the Fitbit list: 

https://www.fitbit.com/eu/devices

My Mi Mix 2s isn't supported and I get so many errors that I can't use it. I tried 2.91 too. Luckily I have an old phone that is compatible, I use that now when I bike for tracking. Have to add, I wear the watch only for sports, not in daily life or work.

[ShawnPHX]

@hkbikee 

Myself, and a number of other people on the thread don't actually have a S10, but rather our GPS Connected stopped working on the same release.

[Summertime_jen]

Did people notice that it is syncing correctly again?  My Fitbit and Runkeeper are agreeing this week, for 2 different runs.

But, my battery seems to be running down very fast, not sure if that is a side-effect, or if a 2 year old device needs to replace the battery?

Anybody else notice the same?

[SunsetRunner]

Unfortunatetly I can't confirm that, @Summertime_jen. Connected GPS is still not working on as it should on my devices. It's been more than three months now and a series of updates for the app have been released since the issue came up in May but still no solution for this problem. This is very disappointing, @LanuzaFitbit !

[SunsetRunner]

Sorry @Summertime_jen but I don't know what version of the software you're using, but I can not confirm the fix here. I still experience the same problem despite the software having received a MAJOR version update since my last post here.

This is absolutely unacceptable FITBIT. How has your management allowed a MAJOR version update to be released without fixing the bugs your engineers introduced into the software? It feels like you don't care about your customers at all. This has been going on for months, you continue to release new layout designs and adding pointless, useless and annoying informational features without addressing your very real bugs.

OR are you just suggesting that we are all lying to you and as a result, we don't warrant any attention? FIX THE BUG OR GIVE US A REFUND NOW. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

[SunsetRunner]

This is what my typical GPS tracks look like for over three months now. I can't believe you still haven't been able to fix it. @LanuzaFitbit , what can you tell us about any progress on fixing this problem? Please realize that at present your product must be considered simply broken like that. And this goes on for more than three months now. Are you serious? That's ridiculous and very embarrassing for Fitbit. And please, don't say your engineers are working on the issue. It just doesn't seem they do. I repeat myself: Very disappointing and poor performance. Please, at least have the decency to comment on the matter, @LanuzaFitbit (or anybody else who is in charge at Fitbit)

[SunsetRunner]

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@Summertime_jen wrote:

Did people notice that it is syncing correctly again?  My Fitbit and Runkeeper are agreeing this week, for 2 different runs.

But, my battery seems to be running down very fast, not sure if that is a side-effect, or if a 2 year old device needs to replace the battery?

Anybody else notice the same?

---

Interestingly, my 8 month old fitbit charge 2 has just started exhibiting excessive battery drain in the last week. It has gone from needing to be charged about once a week to needing to be charged every day. I'm not suggesting this is related to the already evident software failures but WTF are you playing at Fitbit? When are you going to refund us? This is beyond a joke now and you're treating your customers with the utmost disrespect.

[Summertime_jen]

I had very quick battery drain a few months ago, and did a hard reset that someone suggested.  And all was well for a bit.

Now my fitbit is showing extra distance, not short distance.

Totally useless for serious training.  I really didn't want to migrate to another device, but this is out of control.