Charge 5 Firmware Update 194.91

[LizzyFitbit]

We’re excited to announce that a firmware update version 194.91 for Charge 5 is now available! If you installed it, let us know what you think!

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

• All exercise modes are now available in the Exercise app, and your most recently used modes appear at the top. For more information, see How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?
• Find new clock faces in the Fitbit Gallery in the Fitbit app. For more information, see How do I change the clock face on my Fitbit device?
• View your daily readiness score on your tracker (Premium feature only). For more information, see What’s my daily readiness score in the Fitbit app?
• Support for global characters and right-to-left text notifications:
  Arabic
  Hebrew
  Thai
  Hindi
  Vietnamese
• This release includes bug fixes and improvements.

Full release notes can be found here.

HOW DO I UPDATE?
See How do I update my Fitbit device? for step by step instructions for updating your Charge 5. If you run into difficulty updating, review these Why can't I update my Fitbit device?

We’re interested in hearing your feedback on this update! Let us know what you like! If you encounter unexpected behavior during or after your update, please post the details below.

[Fitmaster4285]

Well, my charge 5 is perfectly fine. Maybe replace it’s battery?

[TLuv1]

Lucky you. This device isn't even a year old. The battery should not die so fast. 

[Hendrik55]

On Friday around 8:00 am I noticed my FitBit restarting after what seemed like a new firmware update (it wasn't). But it stayed dead.
On the charger and it started again. Battery 82%. After a few minutes 63% After that everything seemed normal again.
Turned on GPS (dynamic) for a walk on Sunday at 71%. After about an hour of walking, my Charge 5 vibrated and turned off. Rebooted on the charger and it shows 74%, also in the app. After a few minutes it is 46%. Weird!
Charged and 77% at 2:00 PM. Still 77% in the evening and now also 77% on monday around 12:00. That is very strange and I have previously observed 60% for 3 days.

Moderator Edit: Word choice.

[Jfeath]

I thought mine had come back from the dead, but it goes from 100% to 0 in less than 4 hrs.

Moderator Edit: Word choice.

[Michal999]

Last week - 12000 steps a day, 4 hours of swim, 1 hour cycle. Battery lasted a 6 days or a WEEK (for months consistently since new). Today - charged fully at 10am, down to 4% at 2pm. WTF? 

[Sebastian.B]

Hi everyone, following my previous post, many of you asked how i got a replacement for my Charge 5. Actually, all i did is recover tangible elements of the defect in workmanship of the watch. Although the official guarantee was over (it stopped working 14 months after the first use), i was able to make my point that there was an actual defect causing a premature end-of-life of my device.

You must first assume that Fitbit has a lot of information of your use. I mean... a lot. So the right questions to make your point is to ask :

(a) How did the battery life changed recently : Fitbit has this info. Customer service told me, in december 2023, battery life was 5,5 days. And it dropped to 1 day in january. (remember this is average here. At the end, my watch couldn't last more than a few hours). So a drastic loss of battery life can be a sign of a defect in workmanship.

(b) What is the normal lifetime of a Fitbit watch : Engineers at Fitbit are designing their equipment with clear lifetime criterias, because that's how they choose the quality of the electronic parts they use. So you must know if your watch is within normal "limits" to evaluate is there is a potential defect of workmanship.

(c) You can also compare this data with other similar devices from other manufacturers (similar price range and features) to make your point stronger. 

Fitbit's questions about "extensive use" of the watch and use in cold temperature were not relevant, assuming that you should be able to wear the watch all the time and even during winter! There is no use of a watch staying in a case at home. Of course, a minority of people might be harsh with their watch, but remember that Fitbit has a lot of informations... including sensors data. If they can detect you are swimming or running, they can know how harsh you are with your watch.

In the end, of course, it's Fitbit's reputation that is at stake. They definitely don't want people to believe there could be programmed obsolescence (which is somewhat legal in USA by the way, but very bad for customer retention). 

It took several days and messages before Fitbit agreed to replace my Charge 5. So, if you believe there is a defect in your watch, don't give up.

[Rock22]

Hey Lizzy, if this update is so great, Why does it only have 6 thumbs up votes? I see a lot of negative comments.Fitbit might want to fix this issue and show some customer care. If I was a person looking to buy a tracker and stumbled upon this info, yikes I sure wouldn’t want to purchase a Fitbit.

Happy stepping to you because it looks like you have the only tracker that works on this sight, besides other people that have replaced theirs with the competition!

[Codypal]

I've been wearing a fitbit daily since the  charge 4. This is the only time in 6 years I have had actual problems with my device. Never had a complaint until now.

Sleep score show on the fitbit and battery draining fast. Give me a discount on charge 6 and I'd upgrade 

[SunsetRunner]

March 12,  using Charge 5..  I’m experiencing the same issue.. started with black screen, unresponsive to touches; tried “jump starting it” with 3 button presses on the cable.. now its just dead weight with a flashing Fitbit logo blinking endlessly every other second. It never boots to the clock. Is there a fix for this or can I get my $ money back?? 

[Widdershins]

My C5 is on the bookshelf gathering dust as a combination of firmware and Android App updates have made it useless. I've looked at the C6 but it looks like the same hardware and comparing the specifications there's very little difference. Also the C6 section of the forum is full of similar issues that are seen with the C5.

[Rock22]

I encountered unexpected behaviour awhile after update. Fitbit is no longer working.

[Hamster2000]

I have also been experiencing rapid battery drain. It started yesterday, my fitbit fully discharged. I sometimes forget to put it into charge so thought nothing of it but I fully charged my fitbit at 8pm yesterday.  It is now almost 5pm and my fitbit is at 7% charge. Not even a full 24 hours and it's fully discharged. I'll be claiming the warranty as I've not even had this fitbit 12 months.

[ChargingSusy]

I have experienced the same thing today. I called several times, they are not responsive at all. 

I now write an email referring to this community, and the BBC article about the Charge 5 problem, demanding a solution. 

I am curious to see what their solution is going to be. 

[JohnTheBrave]

Well it has started again!!! I posted in the previous section "194.61" - now closed, that on 21/12/2023 I finally after many, many, many  aborted attempts I got an update but to "194.91"!!

So why yesterday did I see the screen on my "on-charge" C5 show an update happening?? I was not asked if I wanted to do an update via the App.

When it completed and rebooted, the screen was black!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😠

I tried many times to reboot via the charger. The reboots worked i.e. vibrated but the screen remained black/blank. However, I was still able to communicate with the C5 via the App.

The last time I had this problem I changed my clock face away from "Runliner", which I always use, to something else.

I tried this method again and afer '''many''' clock changes and reboots eventually the screen returned to normal. Thinking the problem had now gone away, I foolishly changed back to Runliner  and hey presto blank screen AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

After more 'many, many' clock changes and resets the display is back OK again. I am leaving the clock on "Progressive" for now - too afraid to change it.

Question : The version still shows as 57.200001.194.91 i.e. what it was on before so why did it do another update???????? Is there a NEW version of 194.91 to try to overcome previous issues???? If so why not give it a new version number????

I haven't taken it off charge yet (showing 100%) in case it now has the battery run down issue. I am able to reset OK via the menu and have changed the display to Normal - I had it on Dim.

If anyone else has problems and uses "Runliner" I would suggest changing to a different clock face. My experience  can't be completely random!!

I will post again when I have any more news.

P.S. My C5 has **just** gone outside the warranty period ..............................

[bradleyem75]

Yeah, this update completely borked mine.   Won't hold charge; seemingly random battery charge figures (differing between phone and watch, changing every time I manually sync).

Can Google give me one good reason why I don't just bin it?

[dan3458585]

My Charge 5 has for the third time in the last few weeks stopped syncing and screen goes black until I put on charger.   The reported battery level before putting on charger was 43%.  After being on the charger awhile I was able to manually sync to get Charge 5 working again and app reported 24% battery.   I use the default screen.  Is anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

[Akaushi2024]

Similar, 3 days in a row,  a uncommanded shut down occurred between  6:32 & 6:42 AM CDT .. all three events occurred within the same geographical space ( within a couple hundred yards of each other) and all at approximately the same time.

Been through all the battery and reset... it turns it back on and all seems normal except the data is lost for much of my exercise session.

Not buying the story that this is a battery problem, more likely Charge 5 is incompatible with the last update...

Feelin a Samsung moving in...

If it shuts down again, game over.

I am a google share holder...

[TLuv1]

This is the latest received from their chat help desk:

Give it a try and let's all see what happens. 

[Waddyawant]

So the latest is that FitBit sent me a replacement C5 which worked for all
of two hours before developing the same fault as the first one.

I've asked them to supply me with a C6 at no additional cost which is fair
seeing as I only bought the C5 back in October

[Akaushi2024]

From the comfort of my couch and right beside my C 5 charger,  I just did the EDA 3 minute wellness scan... when the scan finished, another uncommanded shut down occurred. I connected the Charge 5  charger & bingo, the C-5 lit up and I was back in business... ironically, Fitbit recorded that the EDA scan had been performed and noted such on my Premium account.

I'm not a computer scientist but speculating that Google supplied Fitbit with an Unstable Firmware update( maybe like AI program  they put out recently) ... and likely it wasn't tested enough to determine that the  C5 doesn't  have sufficient memory  to run it. Just speculating.