Charge 5 - Battery draining too quickly after update

[Tlpg]

there was a recent update and since then I've been having problems. First my charge 5 was not responding like normal. after another day all I was getting was the Fitbit symbol or a black screen. I went online and tried the three button restart several times and finally after about the 5th or 6th time my watch came to life. but it said the battery was at 4%. so I plugged it into charge for a few hours. once it got to 100% put it on my wrist and went to bed it took three and a half hours to die. at 1:30 in the morning it was dead. I charged it again this morning to 100%. And now every 10 minutes the battery drops 5%. so in 3 and 1/2 hours the battery will be dead again. I've had this watch for a year and a half and this problem only started in the last week since the last update. 

If your watch face is black try the three button reset multiple times try changing outlets if nothing's happening with the one you're plugged into keep doing it until you get the normal screen back but more than likely you'll be dealing with a battery issue then as I am.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[DavidFitbit]

Hi @Tlpg, welcome to the Fitbit Community! It's great to have you here!

I'm glad to help you with the battery life issues you are recently expeirencing with your Charge 5 after the last update.

I appreciate all the troubleshooting steps you have already tried. Rest assured, i'll find a solution for you.

For battery life issues we usually suggest some tips that apply in certain cases when battery consumption is affected by some features. See Extend your Fitbit device's battery life > Tips to extend your Fitbit device's battery life.

I understand the issue started after the update but I invite you just to check these tips to see if the performance improves to an acceptable level. 

[JasonMTL]

Hi David,

I have had this problem as well ever since I got my Charge 5 and just lived with it. I've done all the steps detailed in the "Extend your Fitbit device's battery life" article and it is still barely holding onto a charge for more than a day. I've turned everything off (no gps, no notifications, manually wake), I even have it at the lowest brightness - and this is getting ridiculous! What can I do about this?

Thank you! 

[RiekoC]

Hello @Tlpg , @JasonMTL 

When my Charge 5 started having rapid battery loss, I restarted and recharged my device multiple times over several days. As soon as I saw a rapid drop in battery, I restarted my Charge 5 and put it on the charger until it was back to 100%, often doing this multiple times in a day. Eventually, this process got my device "unstuck" and the battery went back to lasting 6-7 days. Although there's no guarantee that this will work for you, it might be worth a try.

[Tlpg]

I have been charging it about twice a day so I'll keep doing that and see
if it works for me

---

my father had the same thing happen to his charge 5 we noticed it within a
month of him getting it. we contacted Fitbit because it was within his
warranty time and they sent him a replacement watch. hope this helps

[txrican]

I too have a battery issue ever since the update. Now it does not hold the battery charge. It goes from 100% to 60% immediately. Something is wrong with the device or upgrade. I literally disconnect it from the charger, and it goes down so fast. This is not normal...the update messed the watch. There needs to some kind of bug to be fixed. 😵

[Tlpg]

my watch lasted 7 Days on a charge until a week ago. and then it started
dying in three and a half hours. there've been two Fitbit updates since but
neither has helped yet. I completely agree that it's to do with the update.
and another update will probably be the only fix.

[sgrim]

Same here - my Charge 5 is 20 months old. They told me sorry, it's out of warranty and they'll give me 50% off a new one. From all the other comments I've seen it looks like there's some kind of bug, but until they figure it out I'm SOL.

[JackG058]

I’m having the rapid battery drain too. Took it off the charger a little bit ago because it died while wearing that work today (started the day with full charge). Within about 20 minutes it dropped from 100% to 86%. The device is worthless now. 

[Tlpg]

Being this seems to have started for so many people with a update I'm
hoping it will also be corrected with an update. Once I got mine running
again, because it had been black screen and unresponsive for a day or two,
it only held a charge of 3 and 1/2 hours now it's at 7 hours I don't know
if another update or more time could possibly get it back to normal but
that is what I'm hoping for.

[greenleesh]

Same issue here! A week-ish ago it starting draining so fast it can’t even last a whole day, before that it was lasting 6-7 days between charges. Something happened with the update that messed up Charge 5 and it needs fixing ASAP. I can’t afford to buy another less than 2 years after this one.

[Tlpg]

I totally hear you. This is ridiculous. I get 6-7 hours now for the last 2+
weeks.

[Tlpg]

I totally get it. There was an app update 2 days ago I think. I am still
holding out hope that an upcoming update will correct this problem. But in
the meantime I am also shopping for my next fitness tracker.

[CGFTW]

I contacted Google and here is what they shared: Starting, Monday July 7th (Pacific Time), Fitbit App Release 4.47 (iOS and Android) will start slowly rolling out to Customers. The rollout is expected to be completed by Tuesday, July 15th.

Hope this update helps to resolve the battery issues that likely resulted from the current app version.