Blaze Firmware Update - 17.8.200.3 [Closed]

[AndrewFitbit]

Update 5/6/16:

Hey all,

I've been keeping a close eye on this thread, and I wanted to give a quick update.

For reports of Blaze steps and/or distance being inaccurate, I think this is definitely something worth looking into. I've passed on all the feedback to our team so they can investigate. As a friendly reminder, remember that accuracy depends on many factors.

Here's a couple things being worked on:

• Excess Calendar Notifications
• 'Auto' brightness setting is too dim or adjusts slowly

For 'Auto' setting being too dim, you can switch to 'Normal' as a workaround in the meantime. Please note switching to 'Normal' will have a slight impact on battery life.

I'll provide updates when I can. Thanks everyone. 🙂

Update 4/27/16:

The firmware update should now be available to everyone. Update your Blaze and let me know how it goes! You can read the release notes for version 17.8.200.3 in the lead post or check them out on our help site. 🙂

Update 4/23/16:

Sorry for the wait, here's the release notes!

"The Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages are now available on Blaze. Note that Blaze is only available for pre-order from fitbit.com in China, Japan, and Korea.

This release also resolves a couple issues:

• Some customers were unable to resume a paused FitStar workout.
• Some customers reported problems with the Blaze screen (display)."

You can find these release notes for this update (17.8.200.3) on our help site.

4/21/16:

Hey everybody,

Some of you may have noticed there's a new firmware update for Blaze! We just started pushing this update out yesterday, and just like any other update, we'll be rolling it out in waves. This update focuses on a few bug fixes. Release notes will be posted here soon.

Thanks!

[CMichelle]

Same here, @meresydotes - my Flex was always very accurate so that's why it was so noticable when this one starte shorting me.  I have a routine, like everyone else - go into the office, work a certain amount of hours, work out a certain number of days a week and I was WAY off from my normal counts.  Glad you checked to see that you are being shorted too because I think a lot of people probably are and don't even realize it.  I was so paranoid, I drove my car around my walking route again, just to be sure that Fitbit wasn't right but nope, the Endomondo app is spot on the mileage for each of the pictures I've posted.  So disappointing because I finally started getting texts on my Blaze from Verizon Messages+ rather than just being notified of a message. I love being able to read them on my Blaze. . .I don't want to have to get rid of this so they better figure out some way to fix it!

[pmlp]

I`m korean and I bought Blaze in U.S amazone. 

if i firmware update, can i using korean in my blaze?

[Iankahl]

Andrew— Are the issues listed in the notes the entirety of the changes/issues addressed? If so, if these are not my issues should I not update for fear of introducing new issues?

[jcrock72]

hopefully it will address how sensitive it is it counts way more steps while driving then it should and mine and my partners. i tried to change the sensitivity setting for sleep to see if that would work but the only way to stop it is by not wearing it, it's a watch i should not have to take on and off throughout the day.

[meresydotes]

@jcrock72If you want to minimize sensitivity, you should wear the tracker on your non-dominant wrist and tell the software it's on your dominant wrist. Most of us would prefer it was MORE sensitive, so...

[jcrock72]

I will try that thanks

[meresydotes]

@CMichelle@AndrewFitbitI've been doing a bunch of testing, because this whole undercounting thing is making me nuts. I swear I'm racking up at least approximately the correct number of steps, but whenever I COUNT, I get shorted by 15-20%.

I'm thinking that, much like on the treadmill, the more I swing my arms, the more steps are missed. So, when I'm testing, I'm exaggeratedly WALKING NOW and swinging my arms vigorously. In the day to day, I don't swing that much, I guess.

So I went to an empty floor in my office building and walked 100 steps normally, just swinging my arms a little and, bingo - 101 steps on the blaze.

The real question is why this happens. Logically, an exaggerated movement would be easier to record. Is it because fitbit was trying to minimize over-sensitivity?

[Incuchris]

@meresydotes so are you saying to swing your arms, or not to swing your arms?

[Incuchris]

I'm going to test it now. With and without swinging.

[meresydotes]

@IncuchrisSeems to be minimal swinging to arm/ hand touching the body counts steps most accurately.

[Adisol]

Why i can't see any firmware update for my Blaze on the ios app? I still use Firmware Version: 17.8.104.1.

[Corvettekid]

That's the one I am running on my 2-week old Blaze.

Maybe an update will fix a synching problem I am encountering ?

[Incuchris]

@meresydotes I cab confirm that minimal arm swinging with arm against body is the most accurate..which is great if walking but unrealistic if running. I'm still not getting accurate distances

[meresydotes]

@CorvettekidIf you're talking about the problem syncing with a PC - it will not fix that issue. I've had that problem since at least early this year, with my old charge HR and now the blaze. It's apparently been excalated to engineering.

[meresydotes]

@IncuchrisYeah, when I'm running, I keep my blaze thumb lightly pressed against my chest. Since I'm running on my treadmill in my house, no one can see me, so it doesn't matter how silly I look.

You need to set stride length to get an accurate distance. I just took the distance my treadmill told me I went and divided it by the number of steps and adjusted as needed.

[KevinYun]

i still use old version. there are no update icon in my app. is there any way to update manually?

[ErickFitbit]

@CMichelle @meresydotes To clarify, steps are counted by your Blaze tracker if you're doing a Connected GPS activity such as "Walk." If you're experiencing issues with the accuracy of step count, I recommend confirming that your wrist placement settings are correct. If the issue persists after doing that, restart the Blaze and try the step test again.

@CMichelle Your distance on the other hand, is calculated using your phone's GPS during Connected GPS activities.  If you're seeing a discrepancy for distance during Connected GPS and are using an Android device, I suggest switching between the 3 different Location settings that Android provides.

To switch between the different settings:

• Go to Settings > General > Location > tap on Mode - you should have three options (may be located in different location depending on phone): 
  • GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile networks
  • Wi-Fi and mobile networks
  • GPS only
• I tend to use GPS only, which I have seen improves the distance for my activities. Play around with them and let me know what results you get.

@dkboxing If you perform a restart on the Blaze, does the step count screen when you tap once not update as it previously did? Do you see it update on the Today screen still? Let me know what happens.

@Incuchris You should be using natural arm movement for yourself, no need to over exaggerate it. To improve the distance measurement, I suggest confirming that you've measured and adjusted your stride length using these instructions. Let me know if that helps out.

@Incuchris @Koshka Reminders to Move should be coming to Blaze in an update in the near future. No exact ship date for this feature but I can confirm that it is definitely coming to Blaze.

@meresydotes If you're using the "Treadmill" workout on the Blaze, it will overwrite any SmartTrack activities so you shouldn't have that issue.Try @ThePreacher's suggestion of measuring and adjusting your stride length as well. That should help improve your distance measure.

@genericscissors If it's still taking too long to complete the update, I suggest restarting the Blaze with these instructions and then giving it another try.

If that doesn't help, try doing the update from a computer using the Fitbit Connect software. Let me know how it goes.

@JoAus Did you try to restart the Blaze and then give an exercise that meets your threshold for SmartTrack another try?

@pmlp We're always striving to improve Fitbit products and services to better serve our global customers; however, we don't have the Korean firmware update for Blaze quite yet. We're hoping to release this firmware soon. For the latest information, please stay with us on this thread!

We hope this helps you to get started with Blaze! Please don't hesitate to reach out with additional questions.

@Iankahl I always recommend updating as these updates comes with bug fixes and improvements.

@jcrock72 I recommend logging "Driving" as an activity during the time period that you were driving to remove extra steps. Check out this help article for more info.

@Adisol @Corvettekid As @AndrewFitbit said in this post, the firmware update will be coming in waves so you may not have access to it yet. Keep an eye on your app for the update soon.

@Corvettekid Try the troubleshooting steps here. That should help get you back on track.

[CMichelle]

@meresydotes I 100% agree with your assessment.  When I'm just walking around normally, my step count is much more accurate than when I am doing a workout walk at a pace of around 4mph.  I have a tendancy to swing my arms a lot too and my husband mentioned that maybe that was an issue too.  However, it shouldn't matter how hard we do or do not swing our arms, it should still count your steps accurately or at least, within 95% or so.  I can live with that but not 25%. UNACCEPTABLE. 

@ErickFitbit  I will do another walking test tomorrow night but again, the last few walks on my old Blaze were completely inaccurate in terms of steps AND distance but last night, with my replacement Blaze, my mileage on my bike ride were spot on to the Endomondo app so I'm hopeful something has been fixed.  If distance is only off on Connected GPS with the Walking Exercise function but not the Biking, then I will truly be stumped.  What difference would it make what exercise I'm doing if the GPS is tracking me for both?  

Another question - my old, inaccurate Blaze was set up under the Bluetooth Classic option, as instructed but when I set up this new one, I must have missed that step because on my Blaze, under Settings, it says Bluetooth Classic is Off but it connects to my phone just fine.   What purpose does the Bluetooth Classic connection serve?

Thanks everyone for chiming in - we will get this figured out!

[ErickFitbit]

@CMichelle I agree that it will be odd if the accuracy is different for distance between a bike ride and walk if they're both using GPS for distance. Keep me posted on the results of your tests tomorrow night.

As for the question about Bluetooth Classic, that is only used to set up and use the Music Control feature on your Blaze, not for syncing. If you'd like to set that up on your new Blaze, here are the full instructions. 

[pmlp]

@ErickFitbit
how can i do? i can't use korean forever? (purchased in U.S)
I'm embedded programmer in korea
I can't understand this situation.
What is different between U.S blaze and Korea Blaze?
Using Same MCU. Same Sensor isn't it?
if it is different will you change my blaze in korea when release blaze in korea?
It is perfectly fitbit's fault.
fitbit's lack of skill.