Charge 5 Firmware Update 1.188.58

[YojanaFitbit]

Announcing the release of Fitbit Firmware Update 1.188.58.

This update should now be available to all customers! If you have any difficulty updating, make sure you are following the directions in How do I update my Fitbit device?. If you choose to post about your issue, provide as many specific details as possible in your post so that we can assist you.

*Firmware releases are not distributed based on region or location and can reach anyone no matter where you reside. We do not recommend performing a factory reset to force the update to your device as your data will be lost and you may not get the update. Please be patient and wait until you see the update banner inside of the Fitbit app to begin the firmware download.

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

• This firmware release has general bug fixes.

Full release notes from previous updates can be found here.

HOW DO I UPDATE?

• Step by step instructions for updating your Charge 5 can be found here.
• If you run into any trouble updating, review these troubleshooting tips. 

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, thanks all the information that you've shared about the update so far. 

Many of the users here sharing their experience have confirmed they've been having trouble with the battery draining too fast after the update. This information has been shared with the team so they can look into it, but we haven't received other updates for the moment. Any news about this subject will be shared here as soon as they're available. 

In the meantime, If you already followed the recommendations to improve battery life, I recommend that you reach out to our Customer Support team for further assistance. You can click here to get connected for chat or phone support as well. 

See you around in the Community. 

[helion]

Thanks for acknowledging your team are aware of this, @DavideFitbit.

However, please don't recommend articles that cripple the features on our devices or waste your support team's hours whenever broken firmware is released - it does not help anyone. Instead, a better effort would be to roll back the previous working firmware immediately until your QA team can validate the generic 'general bug fixes' update that broke our devices. Basic unit tests and hardware automation are relatively simple to set up and prevent broken firmware from ever going public.

On another note, your customers will much appreciate more meaningful release notes describing what exactly was fixed or improved so that potential issues like this can be narrowed down more quickly in the future.

[Petunia444]

This is true of mine as well...Bricked....CS said - well its out of warranty (it was literally 10 days out of warranty!) and took no responsibility for the breakage.

[Oh4Vink]

100% absolutely agree!

@YojanaFitbit and all moderators, please read that person's / @helion  comment 😠

 

[Grips]

Amen. Was a loyal Fitbit user for many years. Bought an Apple Watch last week 

[GregtheBear]

There good news concerning this issue.  I recieved my replacement, I charged and syched it up and did allow it to update.  It did take a long long time to charge from 99% to 100%, but it did make it.  When I started using it, it did drop to 97% rather quickly, but slowed after that.  I have operated it wearing it daily for almost 1 week and have only charged it yesterday, but it was still withing good operating levels.  I forget, but think it was in the low 70% range.  It did charge quicker to 100% this time and is now still at 93% after wearing it continually all day and last night.  Fingers crossed the problem is cured.

[Spikemeister]

I'll repeat what I posted earlier to be fair to Fitbit, I purchased a charge 5 Dec 1, updated firmware to 1.188.58 and have no issues with the unit or charge, charge lasts 7-8 days.... But I have refrained from updating to android 13 on my phone for now until I see a Fitbit firmware update that works with Android 13 successfully!!!

[barnabas7]

Hi All,  discussed issue with fitbit that firmware had broke my watch. Support did not discuss the firmware issue , but wanted to know where I bought the CHG 5. After proving it was Amazon and had an extended 3 yr warranty , I have now received a new pebble today (January 13, 2023) with firmware version 57.20001.182.26. I charged the charge 5 and re-paired to the android ( version 7) phone.  It is working now.  I have changed the app on the phone to not allow any interaction with charge 5 as it started doing weird things last time before I even ran the firmware update. I have also disabled bluetooth for the fitbit app. I will now only allow the phone and charge 5 to communicate once per day, most likely in the morning so i can get my sleep stats. Will be monitoring the issues of release 57.29991.188.58 and looking for the next firmware release before i allow and more updates, even though I have 3 more years on my warranty. BTW, the warranty was around $22.00. Well worth the .019 cents per day. The original charge 5 was bought in November 2021, everything still appears to work on it but the HR monitoring.

thanks to everyone who is posting about their charge 5

BB

[helion]

Fitbit replacing hardware devices because their customers or themselves can't flash a working firmware sounds like management failure at its finest.

Using a dedicated phone or refraining from updating one's phone because Fitbit does not support newer versions of Android is as ludicrous as having to pay extra to get new hardware when its software bricks it.

@YojanaFitbit, and @DavideFitbit, we're waiting for an update on the situation. Has your team looked at this at all yet? Why is it taking so long?

[Robynboyd]

I got mine for Christmas and it will not give reminders to move or log my 250 steps on the app. The device shows correctly however. Got out the old reliable Charge 2 and if worn at the same time I get reminders on both of them and it shows on the app?!!!

Come on!!!!

[GUU]

Charge 5 no longer working properly.  Was fine a month ago.  How do we find out why it's not working anymore?

What is warranty period?  Might be time to give up on this Charge 5, hoping it's still under warranty.

[SimonCreek]

This doesn't help when my phone - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 - won't pair with my new Charge 5 so can't get past 'download the app' msg straight out of the case. The phone finds the Chsrge 5 but can't pair

[Steve_t100]

Android 13 update between November to December cause Fitbit to go 👎👎

[GregtheBear]

Have not recharged it yet, and is still at 76%

[delawareBirder]

I took part in these discussions when many users upgraded from 1.149.11 to 1.171.50 and started to have battery draining issues.  My wife and I have two Charge 5s that have been running with 1.171.50 for months now with no battery issues.  I had to get a replacement pebble, my wife's worked fine after the 1.171.50 update.  After reading users having trouble with battery draining issues with 1.188.58, we are going to take the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach.  We will stay with 1.171.50.

[Cabdmd]

I just received my Fitbit 5 this week and was concerned about the 1.188.58 update and didn’t do it. I’m running 20001.171.5 with IOS 16.2. The initial result with the watch face always on and most of the notifications switched off for the first 24 hours was about 38% loss of the charge.
Now with the clock face not always being on the charge has only diminished 7% in 24 hours. I am happy with this result. 

[flawedoptimist]

Here is another Charge 5 user with a battery draining in 1-2 hours! Hadn't updated for some time before updating to 171 late last year. Immediately afterward battery would discharge within hours. Hadn't had any problems before that. Followed the instructions for turning off everything I could but made no difference so haven't used it for a month or so. Updated to 188 today in the forlorn hope that it might fix the issue. It hasn't!!

App on iOS 15.7 said battery full but as soon as I removed Charge 5 from the charger, the Charge 5 screen said 79%. It has now dropped to 40% in about 30 minutes!!!!!

Can I go back to an old firware release that doesn't make my Charge 5 basically useless?!

[Basitadam]

At weekend started run activity with 78% battery. After 45 minutes, Charge5 (with 1.188.58 firmware) become non responsive. Would not wake up. Thought battery drained. Two hours later, plugged in to charger and immediately woke up, stating battery has 38% charge. Unplugged from the charger at that moment and it started working OK

[Robynboyd]

Why is nobody responding to anything on this thread?!! Fitbit support?! 

[T1BlueNoser]

This could be the beginning of the end for the Charge line, as they are pushing the pixel watch.   The firmware is bricking some devices, and others are losing their battery charge in a couple of hours. Google/Fitbit should be able to test and confirm firmware before it is released.     This reeks of the Apple watch scandal a while back.    I would love to be able to look at the actual firmware file. I have a replacement, but I haven't updated the firmware yet.  I am hoping they release a new one soon.