Battery drain/Notifications - Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

[AlessFitbit]

Fitbit Update: 09/3/2017

Our team is still actively investigating the root cause of this battery drain with Blaze and the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+. I'm sorry that many of you are still having issues with a shorter battery life, but rest assured this is being looked at as high-priority for our team. My apologies for the inconvenience, and thank you all for your patience! I will provide an update as soon as there is more information available. In the meantime, please continue manually syncing your Blaze trackers only when needed. This will help preserve the battery-life.

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Fitbit Update: 08/14/2017

Hi everybody!

Thanks for reporting your experiences with a rapid battery drain on Blaze trackers and your Android device - Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+. Our team is aware this is affecting Blaze users and they are investigating the root cause. I will update this thread when there is more information available. 

As a temporary workaround, turn OFF "Always Connected" and the "All-Day sync" features. Make sure to manually sync your devices at least once a day.

Thanks for your patience! 

[AsukaN09]

I have a Samsung s7edge, so not sure if it is the s8 issue only. 

I will see how mine lasts today. 

[glenstrek]

As of 8/24/17, my patience has worn out. I've tried everything mentioned in this thread and I'm still forced to charge at least once a day. It feels @Fitbit is ignoring this problem so I will NOT buy from @Fitbit again. I'm sending back my @Blaze (sure got "burned" on the purchase. I want nothing back, just peace of mind I won't deal with you any longer and I'm informing everyone I see wearing a @Fitbit to trash it or considering purchasing one to NOT purchase one. For me, I'm going back to my first generation Samsung Gear which out functions ANY @Fitbit on the market today.

Moderator edit: Format

[Melancholyblues]

If it is a Bluetooth problem, can this be fixed with a software update or will it require a hardware update?

After turning off notifications and allday sync on both phone and my laptop my battery life is a lot better,  however, the lost of functionality is very disappointing.  An update on any progress from Fitbit would be useful, I think the lack of information is frustrating people.  Like others I am seriously considering alternatives. 

[JayBudd650]

Got the Blaze back in June to use with my S7 Edge. Flawless. 

Got the S8 about 2 weeks ago and this is terrible, no notifications and syncing takes forever unless I'm on super fast WiFi at home so out and about its useless. All Day sync does not work. How FitBit can consider this solved is ridiculous. I'm about ready to call up FB and demand a refund for my purchase so I can go buy a Gear S3. It's no wonder their stock has fallen so badly. Don't even think about a SmartWatch when you can't even get your current gear working with devices, esp 4 months after the phones release. Makes no sense. 

[FB_Shane]

Is there any expected timeline for an official solution to the battery drain issue with the Galaxy S8 devices? Any firmware updates coming soon? I understand there are workarounds posted in this thread but an official solution will be more welcome.

[ShaftLH]

>From my discussions with their customer service it is as if they don't even
read the forms or do any root cause analysis on why they are getting so
many complaints, because they told me they don't know of any Bluetooth or
widespread issue regarding the Blaze and battery drain. Not too optimistic
about a fix soon.

Shaft Howard
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone

[JayBudd650]

They also of course have a FB page, I just posted about the issue on their new post about their new Smart Watch. Releasing new gear when not that old gear doesn't even work with new phones. 

My app would not sync yesterday, restarted my phonea and it worked instantly. Also turned the All Day sync & Always Conntected are on, though still not getting texts. With these left enabled it seems to actually sync and not take a long time, downside is that less than 24 hours on a full battery and its already at 50%. This is terrible, gonna have to buy another charger to keep at work/in car

[Dinah1947]

I tried to send the CEO David Park an email  but it was returned....Not sure what to do now.  I have already had it replaced twice and I still have to turn off all day sync and always connected and it still drains after a bit more than 24 hours and notifications don't work at all either way. Not sure where to go now with this....

[stevesroberts]

My blaze battery has suddenly been running out within about 6 hours.  Is it a setting or does the battery just be failing?  Can't use it the way it is. I have an apple 6s

Steve

[gellenb]

From the Fitbit pages, the CEO is James Park.

Although, I don't think that will make much difference.  After about five months or so and 27 pages of complaints on the Blaze issues, I don't think they really care.  I saw one message where the person was told that Fitbit doesn't monitor the forums.  As a company, they should be using the forums to determine if there are problems, how their customers are using their product, what they could be doing to add more value.  If that's really true that they don't monitor this, then they really don't care, and I doubt that they have any intention on fixing the problem.  I think they lost focus on their customers, and now it shows in their stock.  In July 2015 it was at $47 a share and now here in Aug 17, it's only $5.95

[bassthumpa]

So they've announced a new device (the Ionic) and it has a $300 price tag.  Yeah... looks underwhelming with a huge bezel, and considering this mess hasn't been resolved, I'm not keen on "upgrading".

[Dinah1947]

I saw that in my email!  What a joke.  I think I am going to the Samsung but first I am going to try to return this one that I bought from Costco online.

[HDBrian]

My guess is that is the fix. The Blaze is screwed up, so instead of fixing
it, just bring out a product to replace it 😞

[SunsetRunner]

As did I, because the new smart watch has the same Bluetooth technology as the Blaze... So if that's the issue, I would imagine the ionic would too.

[Caroline_A_S]

I'm so relieved that I'm not the only one. I am just now seeing that other people are also having this problem. 

My battery on the watch dies extremely fast ever since I got the S8. When I had the IPhone just a few months ago it synced perfectly and the battery was great. Ever since I switched over to the S8 I have had the following issues,

1. The battery life is terrible and I have to charge it almost every other day. I've turned off all day sync too.

2. On the off chance I do get it to sync, it doesn't show me my sleep stages like before. That could be an unrelated issue but I have sleep apnea and it is helpful to know my patterns. If y'all know how I can fix that please let me know. 

3. Half the time it doesn't even sync or I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to sync it. Whether that be restarting my phone or turning Bluetooth on and off.

I really hope these issues can be resolved. I didn't buy this expensive watch for it to not work. If anyone has any tips please let me know!

[JayBudd650]

With both All Day Sync and Always connected on the BT sync was working as normal but no notifications, bad battery life. About halfway through battery life I turned off the Always Connected. Will be taking off charger shortly and going to sleep. Then will see how battery life does with always connected off until needing to charge again. After that I will switch to All Day Sync off but Always Connected on and montior battery life and syncing ease.

Turning All Day sync off seems to be the issue with BT not wanting to sync efficiently since have Always Connected off right now I have no issues. 

[ashwooi]

I have now raised this with BBC Watchdog (UK Consumer Rights TV Programme)

[Melancholyblues]

Nice one, keep us informed

[Mogatrons]

That's fabulous.. fingers crossed they take notice.. I'm having a conversation with a fitbit member of staff on my Twitter inbox and they assure me that something is being done.. I find it annoying they have brought out a new smart watch which probably is compatible with the s8/+ but can't update our blaze's with a way to stop battery drain.. this has been going o  so long now it's tiresome.. admittedly they have been great sending out replacements etc but when you find out it's the software you assume it would be fixed immediately xo

[NessieM]

Will be interesting to see the result!

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@ashwooi wrote:

I have now raised this with BBC Watchdog (UK Consumer Rights TV Programme)

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