Charge 5 Battery Life Gone

[Phdrunningchick]

I have tried searching for this topic and seached for how to turn off autosync on the IPhone app. Can't find it. I've owned a Charge 5 for less than an year and have had great battery life until in last week. Overnight it was lasting for a week to draining in 36 hours. I have no clue what happened or what settign might have been changed accidentally. 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity. 

[Stevesqueak]

The ECG (electrocardiogram) app is for monitoring the heart and is a special feature of the charge 5.

If it is installed it can be found on the Fitbit by swiping right from clock screen, if when selected it says cannot find phone, then I suspect it is not installed properly possibly causing the phone app to constantly try and reinstall it draining the battery, with error message ‘unable to update/install one or more apps’

In the Fitbit app on the phone, from the today tab, go to the cog in the top left, then select the charge 5 device, then select Gallery, with charge 5 tab selected scroll to see if it is listed, it will only be here if it is on the Fitbit. If you select the Apps tab you should be able to see ECG as an option there, if you select it, you want it to have a button with Install written on it, once you manage to uninstall it.

For advice on resetting Fitbit and reinstalling the Fitbit app I suggest looking at previous posts, I found doing both at the same time allowed me to cancel the failed ECG install.

Regards,

Stephen

[seandunderdale]

Ive uninstalled and reinstalled the fitbit app on my phone, and the ECG app on the Charge 5. Everything is updated and charging...will report back if things have improved back to anything usable tomorrow. 

[HeidiUSA]

@PhdrunningchickMy Charge 5 was only a few month old and failed completely.

I loved it so much, as long as it was working.

But now I am fed up, this really sucks

[tamarpac]

THANK you Stephen, for taking your valuable time to explain. Very much appreciated and will certainly try tonight. Maybe I have luck, otherwise its the trash bin

Kind regards,

[Hudalimardan]

Hi guys,

I had the same issue of battery draining, I tried everything possible but nothing seemed to work. I gave up and just threw my watch in the draw looking to buy some other brand.

I didn't see why my Bluetooth was still paired to Charge 5 so I deleted it from my mobile.

Now 3 days ago I finally received an update but it didn't look like a firmware update, so I thought nothing to lose let's give it a go...

First I charged my charge 5,then I updated which was quick, then I restarted it and restarted my mobile, all this time I forgot I deleted my Bluetooth connection from my mobile..... weirdly my watch went back to normally discharging as it did before the issue, I bought mine in June of 2021.

I did a bit of research and found out that Fitbit are using some sort of technology that once you pair your watch once it keeps the info of it even after you unpair it.

This would mean the Bluetooth connection could have been the source of drainage of the battery....

I thought this could help other people facing the same problem.

Cheers.

[Udy7000]

Nice. Mine doesn't start anymore. I connect it to the charger and starts pulsating. There's nothing displayed, the screen is off. I tried resetting it with the 3 pushes method, I tried long pushes. Nothing brought it back.

[seandunderdale]

Ive tried just about everything I can think of. USB button pressing, remove bluetooth connection with phone, re-pair bluetooth, reinstall phone app, uninstall ECG app on the Charge 5. Charged many many times, never gets above 99%. It used to drain in less than 5 mins, now it drains in a few hours...which is an improvement, but still useless. Bare in mind it is sat on my desk, not checking heart rate, not being looked at for the time, not getting email notifications...so if it was being used properly, the battery would drain in less than an hour. 

I'm losing the will to care anymore. I think I'll just write off Fitbit as a company I'd ever give my money to again, as all I've had is a big corporate shrug from them essentially sending a virus to my personal property. If this wasn't some corporation, it'd probably be deemed a crime to send out malicious code that damages and renders useless peoples property. I think the lack of apology and contrition from Fitbit is the most galling part. They haven't publicly admitted to the fault, and haven't publicly stated they're working on a fix as fast as possible. "Go get a new one" is their response. 

[Lowbattery69]

I am returning mine this weekend. It now only last 12 hours. It's 4 weeks
old ffs. As soon as I updated it was ruined. Crazy that fitbit isn't
working night and day to fix this

[BaselU]

Good choice, they did not offer a replacement for me and I am stuck with a half functioning device

[tamarpac]

Hi,

I saw your post and was wondering what and from whom you received an update to install. I have been on the chat with these people multiple times and all they can tell me is that my device (Charge 5) is defunct and that I had been offered to by a new one with a discount (which by the way, I also never received a code for). I have tried everything I read about in this community board, but nothing changes. Battery drains within less than 12 hours and, newly, the device shuts itself off even if it is still half charged. attaching it to the charger restarts it....but only to continue draining in a few hours. 

Talking to the chat people is worthless. Actually, they "politely" told me to get lost... thanking me for my valuable input. 😖

[BaselU]

it is extremely unprofessional that they are not taking responsibility for the defect 

[BatteryProblem]

My Charge 5 was working fine for the last year or more.  One day the battery started draining to zero in 12 hours or less.  I have tried all the suggested fixes.  I the battery dead and will not hold a charge?

[SunsetRunner]

10 minutes ago, I pulled my fit bit off the charger and it was 100% battery. Now it is 80% it is draining that quickly! Apple Watches are looking better every minute. Only thing is this charge 5 (ironic name huh?) is only 8 months old. 

[mattmotyl]

Up until my Saturday evening, September 9th, 2023, my Charge HR could typically go a good 5 or 6 days between needing to be recharged. Upon the firmware update, it's battery life went from about 144 hours to less than 1 hour. I can't even take the dog for a long walk, or wear it to sleep, now because it is dead before I'm done. I've gone through all of the troubleshooting tips on this forum, and elsewhere, and none of them seem to change the fact that I'm now the disgruntled owner of a $150 piece of plastic that must be plugged in at all times.

Having been a loyal customer of Fitbit products for about 15 years now, I've had 2 instances where a device crapped out on me. In both of those cases, Fitbit customer service was spectacular in responding quickly and, after a few attempts to help me troubleshoot any bugs, they replaced my Fitbit. This is the first time in probably 7+ years that I've had any issue with any of my Fitbit devices, so I assumed Fitbit would take care of me and either rollback the firmware update, roll out a new update, or send me a replacement. Instead, I spent 2 hours talking to customer service representatives and then was offered a coupon to buy another one at a 35% discount. This is a non-remedy, as there's a good chance the replacement device would have the same issue... but then, I would have spent $250 to have two different pieces of plastic that fail to track my physical activity. If a company does something that breaks device, they should unbreak it -- not just tell you to dish out another $100 to fix their mistake. For the first time in 15 years, I'm now looking at fitness trackers from other brands that might care more about their loyal customers.

[BatteryProblem]

I’ve come to the same conclusion. Looking for another reliable tracker. Thinking about one of those ring trackers. Fitbit has been very disappointing. The scale I put never properly connected. I binned it and bought a Withings.

Sent from my iPhone

[Ique]

Hi!

I've always been a Fitbit user. The last two models I had were charge 5 and both had the same ending after less than 1 year of use: one turned off completely and the other drained the battery quickly, after the **ahem** updates. As I live in Brazil and there is no authorized reseller here, the Fitbit left me lost on the road. Now I'm a Xiaomi user

[mamadunc]

I am super frustrated. My Charge 5 battery life is about 45 minutes or less.  I have currently turned off almost all of my apps.  Why would I even want to use my fitbit now. It does me no good.  Please help

[JT-50]

i can no longer use my fitbit to track my sleep. it doesnt last more than a few hours.
i sent mine in for warranty but still havent received my replacement

borrowed my kids charge 5, which also drains itself within hours.
disabled or removed every possible feature, and it still only lasts about 4 hours
this one is 16 months old and not entitled to a warranty replacement

if its a firmware issue, why cant we roll it back like every other firmware device on the planet??

also noticed when it glitches out it asks for me to 'add a card' for making payments 
just buzzes and loops, 'add a card, add a card' until it dies. 

[Ique]

Mine does the same:
just buzzes and loops, 'add a card, add a card, add a card' until it dies. add a card..Unbeliaveble!!!

'add a card, add a card, add a card', sad song!!

[notconvenient]

Having almost the exact same problem as mattmotyl

It drains in <6 hours of walking the dog

I have tried
1. Resetting the fitbit
2. Uninstalling the app
3. Repairing it with the android phone
4. Fully charging
5. Uninstalling ECG and any other app i could uninstall tbh.

But it still fails really quickly. I mainly use it for tracking the heart rate, and bluetooth is usually off on my phone. 

It's practically useless, I can't even wear it as a watch right now.