Blaze Firmware Release - 17.8.401.3

[AndrewFitbit]

Hey all,

Blaze firmware update for 17.8.401.3 is live! 

CLOCK FACES: Chronograph, Multistat, Arc

New stuff:

• GUIDED BREATHING SESSIONS
  
  • The new Relax menu gives a choice between a two-minute or five-minute session.

    The first time you go to the Relax screen you may be prompted once or twice to sync your tracker. To do so find the Sync Now option in the Fitbit app.

• CARDIO FITNESS
  
  • Based on VO2 Max (the gold standard for measuring cardiovascular health), your cardio fitness score is a new way to monitor your overall fitness over time.
• SLEEP STAGES
  
  • In addition to total nightly hours, you can now can see how much light, deep, and REM sleep you’re getting to help you better understand your sleep quality. You’ll also find your 30-day average and benchmarking stats.
• SLEEP INSIGHTS
  
  • Sleep insights in the Fitbit app use your Fitbit data to provide personalized guidance on how to improve your sleep for better overall health.

Other stuff:

• Active minutes now appear on your tracker and on your dashboard. Look for them in the Today menu with your other all-day stats.
• The Alarms menu on your tracker now includes the option to create an alarm. You can still snooze and dismiss from the tracker as well.

FIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• We’ve resolved an issue with connected GPS and notifications on Huawei mobile devices.
• You may notice that your clock face changed or that you can’t start a Fitstar workout or Relax session after updating your tracker. To fix this issue, sync your tracker three times. Open the Fitbit app and wait a few moments for your tracker to sync automatically. Then manually sync your tracker twice using the Sync Now option in the Fitbit app.

[Lsteele00]

Yes! New clock faces! Can you make a feature where we can create our own?

[Winchested]

Well this latest update has screwed my blaze up completely.  The screen gets stuck 9 times out of 10 when scrolling. I have to hard restart it because I can't scroll through the screens to get to "shutdown" hard rest by holding all 3 buttons til it resets.  

Latest. Battery is dead within 5 hours after removing from charger this morning. Battery was full.  Settings are the same as before the update.  

All I changed was the clock face. 

$280 waste of money.  

You better flash us back to the old firmware and do some major bug fixing on this one. 

[Kristinalablove]

Since doing the update I have not been able to sync my fitbit. I have owned it for almost a year and have not had one problem. Now it wont sync and the battery has to be charged every day. All of this started when I updated it. 😞 I love my fitbit it was a mothers day gift from my kids. I have tried all of the suggestions and still no luck.

[NoHo1]

I am experiencing the same problem. It synced once or twice after the update and now there is just no way to sync it to my s7 edge. I've tried everything, including resetting the blaze and my phone. I even unpaired the tracker from my account and now can't get it back on. When using the normal blaze on Bluetooth, it kept rejecting pairing. Tried with blaze classic, pairs to Bluetooth but gets stuck 'connecting' after I input the 4 digit code. Help please!

[sixfooteightdan]

Hey...I got on the live chat, they are sending me a new one. Try it.

[x002657]

I've also noticed my Blaze is not holding a charge for more than about a day. I also don't understand exactly why "Location" must be turned on/activated in order for the device to communicate with a phone. Isn't BT enough for that? Location eats up the battery on my LG G3 and leaving it on all day depletes the battery much sooner than convenient, so now not only is my Blaze being depleted soner, so is my phone.

I've never written an app, but have done some serious programming over the years, and it just seems that Location should not be something required for the device to "talk" to the app.

Fitbit has been a real big disappointment; a fairly good idea executed poorly. It seems we're now seen as the cash cows of the wearable tech industry. I should be wearing my Blaze as I type this to check my heart rate. Alas, I'm not, as it's charging.

[N8teGee]

The requirement for location services to be on for Bluetooth sync is an android requirement. Unfortunately there is nothing fitbit can do regarding that.

"Permissions

The Fitbit app for Android must have location permissions to scan for Bluetooth devices, which is a requirement to complete a successful sync on Android 6.0+."

---

@x002657 wrote:

I've also noticed my Blaze is not holding a charge for more than about a day. I also don't understand exactly why "Location" must be turned on/activated in order for the device to communicate with a phone. Isn't BT enough for that? Location eats up the battery on my LG G3 and leaving it on all day depletes the battery much sooner than convenient, so now not only is my Blaze being depleted soner, so is my phone.

I've never written an app, but have done some serious programming over the years, and it just seems that Location should not be something required for the device to "talk" to the app.

Fitbit has been a real big disappointment; a fairly good idea executed poorly. It seems we're now seen as the cash cows of the wearable tech industry. I should be wearing my Blaze as I type this to check my heart rate. Alas, I'm not, as it's charging.

---

[loftygit]

Just like to say that my Blaze works fine after the update.

It synchs to my iPhone

It lasts days after charging

It counts steps as accurately as I need (sometimes it misses an hour on the dashboard)

It records my sleep

It helps me relax my breathing

It forwards notifications from my iPhone

It records my heart rate

It records my activity

It has a variety of faces

It costs a lot less than an Apple watch

Not bad for a small box of electronics on my wrist.

Thank you

[SunsetRunner]

I too am only getting a few days since the last update where I was getting about 5 days before.

That coupled with the fact it doesn't track my pulse correctly concerns me.

Jim

[RandiB]

Hi...It seems that my Blaze is wildly inaccurate since the update. My workout was nearly twice the calorie burn than normal. I hit 10,000 steps by noon yesterday and ended at 22,000 plus. Based on past performance I would have expected yesterday to be around 15,000. Very strange and discouraging! Please advise. Thanks. 

[Jillyak]

I thought it was just me!  Any responses?  I'm still having issues with the 250 steps per hour synching.  My watch says one thing and the app and online account say something different.

[kimanrivers]

Re: I thought it was just me!  Any responses?  I'm still having issues with the 250 steps per hour synching.  My watch says one thing and the app and online account say something different.

It's not just you. That's exactly what's happening with me. I have the latest firmware version. I've disconnected and reconnected bluetooth. I've deleted and reinstalled the app on my phone. The Blaze syncs with the phone app and dashboard. But only some of the numbers match. The daily step count seems to be the most consistent. But the other stats no longer match among the Blaze/app/dashboard the way that they used to match. The most glaring discrepancy is the 250 steps per hour syncing. Hours that are counted on the Blaze and that are missing on the app/dashboard were much earlier in the day so it's not a matter of delayed syncing. Later hours that are counted on the Blaze are NOT missing on the app/dashboard. 

I don't know what else to do. I was hoping to find some suggestions here. 

[Jillyak]

I'm beginning to wonder if Fitbit is the way to go.  Maybe there is another device that would be more consistent.

[RandiB]

I am really disappointed in this - I would estimate that is it over counting by 40-50%. I have not heard from FitBit yet.

Sent from my iPhone

[Poo]

Have all you guys with issues raised a support ticket? Whilst this thread is good for other user's tips it's not where you'll get customer service.

[jjsims]

Yeah I have receiving the usual BS response... oh sorry for the inconvenience but there is nothing that can be done. Line of crap! Firmware is firmware! It is their choice to not satisfy the paying customers! Put it up online so users that dislike your lame "new feature" can roll back to what they prefer on the device they own!

[Poo]

@jjsims that's a shame - sometimes they come good but it's true that one often gets a standard response for some things. 

[VLRE]

I have been using Blaze for about a month. New firmware. New updated app. iPhone 7.

Never an issue. Never. Ever.

My wife's Charge 2 - android. Always something happens, problem with sync, something else. Always.

Guys....believe my experience with devices, Android is waste. That is the whole issue. How can you make one OS for hundred of different devices? There's going to be issues!

[kimanrivers]

I too have been using Blaze for about a month and have an iPhone 7 with the latest operating system. I have had to repair at least once every three or four days. That's a minor inconvenience that I can handle. However, now the app/dashboard is showing data that directly, but inconsistently, contradicts what the Blaze reports. Garbling the data is not a minor inconvenience and is not exclusive to Android. 

[SunsetRunner]

Yeah " waste "... with a mere 1.6 billion users worldwide and 87% of global smartphone market. I don't think Andoid is the problem.