Starting from Oct 1st my Pixel Watch 3 Fitbit won't sync anymore

[nalott]

Hello all.

I'm another one suffering from Fitbit sync issues with Pixel Watch 3. My symptoms don't exactly match anything I could find, they are similar to a thread "Couldn't sync your Google Pixel Watch 3" from late September but there the discussion is dead now which may indicate the problem has been solved for the OP. Not for me. What also puzzles me is this thread "Update your Fitbit App by September 30, 2024" (I was not allowed to include the links to the threads) which might indicate some potential disruptive change on the backend was going to happen on Oct 1st - it suspiciously coincides with the start of my problem.

Until Sep 30th everything worked fine for me. Both devices (phone and watch) on the latest versions of the Fitbit app, latest OS versions. From Oct 1st the watch has not synced. Force sync from the phone app results in:

The watch Fitbit app shows last sync Sep 30th. Force sync from within the watch results in an error: "Data synchronization not possible" (translated from my local language).

1. I've tried all possible general troubleshooting steps (restarts of the phone and watch, clearing caches, checking connections etc.).

2. The watch is indeed connected in the Pixel Watch app (all functions but Fitbit work fine) and even in Fitbit app:

3. In the course of troubleshooting I disconnected my Google account from the watch Fitbit profile. Then I couldn't connect it back again (the watch directed me to finish on the phone, there only white screen with the Fitbit logo forever, always cancelled by me after a minute or so). It finally succeeded in maybe 50th try. This is strange - seems like account connection has no or very long timeout - see next point.

4. I seems to me my watch Fitbit app can't reach the cloud backend. This may always time out which could be indicated by my finding the previous point.

Please help. This really is driving me crazy.

[alexthecat]

@nalott What phone do you have and which Android version are you running? I also have a Pixel Watch 3 and mine is syncing fine with my Pixel 9 phone. 

[nalott]

Pixel 8, Android 14, fully updated.

[nalott]

After 4 days it started syncing again. No action of mine had started this problem and no one (of many actions taken) has solved it. Strange. Not giving much trust in the service. 

[alexthecat]

@nalott I noticed that mine was syncing very slowly during that timeframe. It's working better now, so it seems like that issue has been resolved. Pixel Watches seem to sync more slowly than Fitbits, in general.

[Jimichan]

I'm another one suffering the same as you.  My Pixel Watch 3 last synced on October 8.  My watch also shows it synced "just now" and the app shows the battery status and even occasionally seems to pick up steps, but that's about it.  No sleep, no HR data, no workouts. 

I've had a case sitting there open for 6 days.  Starting to wonder why I paid for Premium!

[nalott]

Just wait and don't take any destructive measures (like resetting the watch). If the problem is the same (and the symptoms indeed look so) it will simply catch again and almost all data will sync (even those data which aren't visible anywhere, neither on the watch).

Of course, this is nothing which one expects from a paid service.