Blaze won't display text messages

[JDabbs]

Hello all,

I just purchased the Blaze last night, and got everything up and going on it. The phone call notification works, calendar notification works, but it will NOT display any incoming text messages to my phone. It appears to be syncing but not my texts.  Any help is appreciated.  thanks

[CYBERSIS1]

It will continue to tell you there is an update available, because there is. You should turn off your auto updates.

[SunsetRunner]

Interesting article on the Charge 2 issues people have been having:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/fitbit-customers-angry-company-ignored-complaints-after-l...

[sbecertified]

Interesting that since I've been communicating a problem on this forum about my Blaze, I've been getting emails from Fitbit to buy a new device!  I don't wan't to buy a new watch! I want my ol one to work right! 

Moderator edit: format

[Texican]

Other than try this or that which is NOT the problem, I have not received any further offers or communication from Fitbit. I was a loyal customer and was planning or upgrading but with the way they are treating customers following their mess up I have not choice but to seek an alternative replacement.

[Smsculley]

Exactly! I was gonna upgrade and give my daughter mine but if they can't find a fix for this one its time to move on to another brand. 

[daverino]

I'm in the same boat as well, I've been a Fitbit customer for years, the
Blaze is my third Fitbit and was planning on upgrading soon, but I will be
moving on to another brand after this.
Their lack of transparency and an unwillingness to admit that they caused a
serious problem with the App update has lost them a loyal customer.

[vern748]

Hi,

To be fair, its a numbers game for them. There is a product line that is getting old. The bug impact a % of that older product line. A pre-calculated number will upgrade to their new product. A minor and disposable number will piss and moan online, will not. 

As a prior software engineer, its pretty obvious that the code line can not or will not accommodating instructions for both products. So, fixing messaging for the older product will damage messaging, or another feature, for the newer product line. Why didn't they branch ? (if your a coder, you'll understand) Likely not enough resource to maintain an additional line..This is all purely speculation.  

In conclusion, there are several options.

Roll back to 2.90 - What I did and am really happy about it

Keep using the updated software and forget messaging

Buy a new product

Ditch FitBit for a different brand ( not sure but you will be trapped into this upgrade numbers game again in 2+/- years )

[CYBERSIS1]

I'm sure you are right vern748.  Fitbit wants us to buy the newer version of their product. I don't plan to do that. I will keep my blaze using the old app version, and I am happy with it. I only purchased my blaze less than two years ago. So, I am not in the market for a new one. I know programming and coding is expensive, however this product is not that old. They should write a fix for this.  Maybe they need some new or smarter programmers. Or, they should at least be upfront and tell us they no longer support the blaze. I think the newer version is the Versa. I looked at it. If  you want to get some of the features the blaze has you have to buy the more expensive one. Also, with the Versa you cannot change the face plate, only the band.

[SunsetRunner]

Why should i have to revert to old software to run my Blaze fully when i only had it 2 years or less?

Fitbit want me to buy a new one , with this kind of service i'll buy a garmin, i have an old garmin etrex gps unit that is still supported.i liked fitbit till now.

[Rich_Laue]

@CYBERSIS1 if notifications are turned on, on the Blaze. The problem is in the Fitbit app on the phone. 

If you want Fitbit to put out a fix, this fix will be with an app update. 

[Del-boy]

I have a Blaze that will not receive notifications using a Huawei p20 lite. After contacting Fitbit support they have said there is problems with latest update and Android phones in general with no fix available

[Rich_Laue]

So the problem is not that the Blaze doesn't receive notifications, but that the Fitbit App does not send the notifications. 

My thought is that before a fix, can be released, the cause must first be found. Then the fix can be added to the next Fitbit update. 

This has nothing to do with the Blaze, or any tracker model, but with Android 9 and the Fitbit app on a few Android phone models. 

Recently there was an OS update to one phone model which got notifications to work, that user already confirmed that their problem was not with Fitbit but their OS

[vern748]

Yawn.

One would have thought it would have been in update 2.95, or 3.whatever or 3.5, the latest version. 

That ship has sailed. 

[Rich_Laue]

You can read @LizzyFitbit 's response in the other Blaze thread on this subject. 

[Del-boy]

It was working before the last update. Should not have been released without product testing on all platforms.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Rich_Laue]

Yes I understand that, but it is next to impossible for Fitbit to test the app with every phone model and every customized OS on every network. Then we need to add the different configurations for each phone model. 

At one time the problem has been with an app that has nothing to do with Fitbit. 

If it helps, many have found the latest version to be the smoothest version so far. 

[pizzaboy192]

Throwing my hat in the ring.

I've been using 2.95 to fix my messages since early July, when the problems started. I've tested on: my Moto z2 force (Fitbit support said that one doesn't count since it's not officially supported) a pixel 2, and a 2xl. I've also found a couple of other phones that have pie and use messages as default.

1: any v3.0 version of the app will not reliably send Android Messages notifications to the device. I've gotten a rare one or two if I carpet bomb my phone with them (close to 50/minute might get one through) but not as reliable as all the time on 2.95.

2: I then tested it with any phone that comes with the ability to use third party Android versions. This includes my Nexus 5x running aosp, my Moto g5S+ running Lineage, and lineage on my Z2 force. All also exhibit this behavior.

For now I plan to keep using 2.95 but I know this won't help Fitbit diagnose the issues, and this is probably by design. The less people using the latest app, the better so that people with old devices stop being supported.

I'm just glad I use Android where I can roll back a faulty app instead of being stuck with a broken device and a company that doesn't care.

Edit: read though some of this post About issues with other trackers.They are mentioning the same thing: it doesn't work with Android Messages, does work with other apps. My bet is the same issue manifesting in different ways for blaze compared to other devices

[Rich_Laue]

That is interesting my sync and notification never was as stable as it has been since V 3.xx and has been getting smother with every update. As mentioned this seems to be an issue with a small selection of phones running Android 9

[pizzaboy192]

@Rich_Laue

This issue seems to affect any phone that yes stock Google apps for messaging so it won't affect any Samsung users, and a few other OEMs. (Moto, Nokia, and Google are the main ones using stock apps. Samsung uses custom Samsung apps). Might be a big part of why it seems so random.

[Rich_Laue]

But not phones on your list is affected, it also might not have anything to do with the phone but with a cell providers spin on their version of Android 9. 

I know many with Samsung phones that have no issues with syncing, and one user on a specific cellular network having notification issues. Then again, as happened in the past, it might be an unexpected problem when a specific unrelated app is installed. 

Sometimes sending the log files of every affected phone could be helpful to the developers. 

When I was having issues I was sending log files or memory dumps weekly.