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! 

[BrianB82]

Any update? Battery drain? No notifications? Come on this has been how many months? Is there anything insight either fixing the problem or starting a mass refund policy? Need my fitbit to work again please

[Scott_Turnbull]

according to the fitbit website there was an android update released yesterday to "fix some bugs and made stability improvements."

should filter through the store today. be intersting to see if it does anything as a lot of updates have the same info. 

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2025#android

[mbs_SE]

@Scott_Turnbull wrote:

according to the fitbit website there was an android update released yesterday to "fix some bugs and made stability improvements."

should filter through the store today. be intersting to see if it does anything as a lot of updates have the same info. 

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2025#android

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I don't think any updates for the app will help for the battery draining. They need to come out with a new fixed firmware for the Blaze. But any bugfixes are welcome, sadly Google don't want me to have the new app, version 2.57. Google only serves me with version 2.56. I suppose I need to wait a few days before Google thinks my devices are ready.

[Bik3rjon]

Glad to see Fitbit have accepted the issue. Hopefully they're investigating the Bluetooth 5.0 compatability concerns.

Is there any way to get notified of fixes regarding this issue? (or maybe fitbit updates on this post?)

This is a big deal for us all, I thought it was a coincidence this started happening to me after getting my S8, even considered it was due to the bluetooth 5.0, but in the end just assumed it was because my blaze is getting old and batteries wear out. Was even shopping around for a replacement. Looking forward to seeing a fix come out.

[MegsyT]

I turned off the all day sync and found i get more time out of my fitbit. Not sure if this will help until they fix the issue properly. 

[ostate4]

I am having the same battery issue with iPhone.  Battery is lasting <24 hours.

[JayBudd650]

Yeah FitBit app update doesn't fix anything, they need a FW update. 

[willow71uk]

What an awful device the Blaze is when using with the Samsung S8 nothing works as it should it's obvious they can't fix it. I need the connected GPS for my running and cycling but its never worked with the S8. Time for Fitbit to refund people for this useless not so 'Smart' watch.

[DarenB]

It seems as my Blaze has magically come to life!  Turning off all day sync seems to have done the job.   Battery is still having to be charged daily though. 

[celiawheelia]

I have a galaxy s7 and the other day I tried using classic Bluetooth so I could control my Spotify from my tracker when running. It worked beautifully but I noticed that even after i had unpaired the phone and tracker my phone battery life was around 30% less than normal (one of the real bonuses of Samsung is the great battery life). 

I had to unpair again and remove the tracker from my Bluetooth list (even tho they weren't paired) 

I don't know if this is possibly what the problem may be? That's the s8 defaults to classic Bluetooth pairing with the tracker? 

Since removing these links my tracker still syncs on all day sync but my battery life has noticibly improved again. Just a thought? 

[eprice8150]

I turned off all notifcations and today it has gone back and recorded all
data.

[Bik3rjon]

I think unfortunately you need to be a little more realistic about that. These things happen. Someone came up with a bit of hardware (S8) to connect to an already existing product (Blaze) that was on the market before the new hardware had started being designed and then the manufacturer of the existing product takes the flack? To me if it is a Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility issue the blaze should not operate any differently as it is not 5.0 and the 5.0 should be backwards compatible so as far as the blaze is concerned it is dealing with a 4.1 or 4.2 device or whatever it is in the blaze. I think that if there is a firmware update that either Samsung or Fitbit can release to fix the issue they should be commended for doing so quickly or slated for taking a long time to sort it or worse never fixing it. For now it is unfortunate but they have come up with the temporary solution of stopping the all day sync while they work on a more permenant solution which I think is fine. They could if they are struggling release a new version of the Android app that determines if you are running an S8 and a Blaze and change it to be a once a day sync selection that attempts the sync once it sees you come out of a sleep cycle rather than an all day sync selection. That would solve the problem until they can find a better solution. But I think that they deserve a little patience... 

[JhawkBeerMaker]

I am being realistic. THEY are the ones that list the S8/S8+ as FULLY supported... I expect it to be fully supported. 

They refuse to update their compatible devices list. https://www.fitbit.com/devices

People seem to love the customer service but when they list a compatible device and it's not it's dishonest at best and fraud at worst. 

[ptrowski]

It's not just a Samsung issue though as it has popped up on my Nexus 6P.  For over a year I had 4 days or so of  battery life and now can barely make 24 hours.  This seems more like a firmware issue, not a specific phone.

[calecp01]

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@JhawkBeerMaker wrote:

I am being realistic. THEY are the ones that list the S8/S8+ as FULLY supported... I expect it to be fully supported. 

They refuse to update their compatible devices list. https://www.fitbit.com/devices

People seem to love the customer service but when they list a compatible device and it's not it's dishonest at best and fraud at worst. 

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This. Also sending endless replacement hardware as a fake fix to a software problem. 

[ashwooi]

Sorry but time for patience has long gone. I accept the issue is not of their making but the way they've handled it is appalling. I've come across similar issues and the key to handling it properly is to communicate with their customers. We have been strung along for far too long.

[JayBudd650]

All Day Sync on, Always Connected off. Randomly I looked at my phone and it asked about Smart Lock when connected to Blaze! Sent test notification and it worked! So random

[shielalee]

Does the blaze function properly when you utilize the S8+'s Smart Lock? Battery life?  Gps? Notifications? 

[SunsetRunner]

If this is a Bluetooth 5.0 issue I bet we'll see a fix soon as the iPhone X was just announced and is to have BT 5.0

[JhawkBeerMaker]

And Smart Lock is a ridiculous feature...Be any place with in 100 feet and any person can unlock your phone, not to  mention it can more easily unlock while in a pocket...