Brand new Blaze - first update taking forever

[Lockke]

Hi all.  Unboxed new blaze, downloaded app onto LG v10 Android phone.  It found it right away, put in the 4 digit code and started the "10 minute" update.  It's been over 2 hours now and the bar is only about 20% of the way (on the phone).  

Is this normal?  Never had any issues with my phone.  Could I update it by plugging the USB from the Blaze charger directly into my computer (win10) somehow?  Or maybe if I stop the update in the middle it will crash something in the Blaze and I shouldn't?  

Not exactly a good first impression for this.  Thanks guys.

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

I have not had this worry with the Blaze, but with other Fitbits where I have occasionally found an update taking an unreasonable amount of time I did find the best solution was to start over.  You could do that either with your phone, or start again using your computer.

Let us know how it goes.

[Lockke]

I didn't want to mess with it as the bar was moving.  It finally finished after 3.5 hrs.  Wow ?

Thanks for the reply.

[Julia_G]

Glad you had fhe patience to let it keep going. Enjoy! Keep us posted how you get on.

[EFTC]

Fitbit firmware update is a nightmare.

Your phone needs to be fully on. You have to tap the screen to stop it from going to sleep.  Most phones, when the screen is off, will turn WIFI to power save thus it will stall the update.

Make sure you are in an area with strong Wifi reception. 

Make sure you are not doing anything else other than running the update app.

Hopefully it helps.

[Driver8666]

My phone doesn't turn the Wifi off when my screen is off. I just bought this and I have an Alta as well. Both of these were done with the screen off for the initial update, and it still went fine. I was also texting as well. My Blaze updated fine. 

Mine finished in 15 minutes. 

[Rich_Laue]

The key @Driver8666, which you did was move the Fitbit software to the background. This happened when you brought other programs to the front.
Leaving the Fitbot software in the foreground will fail when the phone goes to sleep.

Last week i got the Charge 2 five minutes after pressing add tracker i was out the door with it connected and updated.

[Driver8666]

I also put the phone to sleep as well. Still took 15 minutes. Even with a couple of times in the foreground.

And just in case my phone was right beside the Blaze.

[gretchenmoll]

if your smartphone screen dies then the cache is set to pause. so before inital setup keep your screen alive for at least 30min and set phone to wifi mode . 

reasoning: bluetooth transmission seems to go to sleep whenever screen dies

[Rich_Laue]

Once the update starts open another app uo, this will move the fitbit app to the background and you won't have to worry about the screen timing out or the phone going to sleep. 

[J-flex]

My phone's Wifi keeps working when the screen goes off. My first download for my new Blaze took well over 3hrs. And, it was worth it as I like my Blaze

[AngelaMa]

Hello @Lockke welcome to the Fitbit Community! Thanks for sharing your experience with the set up process, I'm glad to know you are on track!  @EFTC, @Driver8666, @gretchenmoll and @J-flex thanks for sharing your experience! 🙂 Hope to see you around more often. @Rich_Laue and @Julia_G thanks for your amazing cooperation. 😉 

Catch you later! 

[EFTC]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:
The key @Driver8666, which you did was move the Fitbit software to the background. This happened when you brought other programs to the front.
Leaving the Fitbot software in the foreground will fail when the phone goes to sleep.

Last week i got the Charge 2 five minutes after pressing add tracker i was out the door with it connected and updated.

---

There should not be any firmware update needed for Charge 2 as it is less than 1 month old.  The reason it takes less than 5 minutes is because there is no firmware update required.

[Rich_Laue]

Since i was one of the first to receive the Charge 2 it had the latest firmware on it when it was manufactured.. My Blaze came from some units that where in the fitbit offices, and not straight from the factory., so yesit was running an old firmware.

[Driver8666]

@Rich_Laue:

I even did have it up front and it never crashed. 

@EFTC:

When I was setting up my Blaze there was a firmware update for it. That took 15 minutes to install, but probably 15 seconds to download from Fitbit.

Strange that I never seem to have the other issues people are reporting. I also have an Alta that has none of the ills either. 

[Rich_Laue]

@Driver8666 I'm not surprised, with as many Fitbits that are sold each month, and the fact that in general only those that have problems post here, I bet it is only 1% of the users having problems.