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Charge 5 Ghost Update and Rapid Battery Drain

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‎07-27-2023 09:13 - edited ‎07-28-2023 11:06

‎07-27-2023 09:13 - edited ‎07-28-2023 11:06

Hello!! I purchased my fitbit in May 2022 and for 13 months was very happy with how it functioned. I don't have a great memory about specific days things happened, so dates are reconstructed based on notification emails and complaining to friends. 

On July 13, I requested a full download of my Fitbit data. A day or two later, I noticed that the device was not holding its regular 5-7 day battery life.

Somewhere in this time frame, I updated to the iOS app version 3.86. Unfortunately I don't remember if it was before or after I noticed the battery issues. I also don't remember what version of the Fitbit app I was running previously--I am notoriously terrible at timely app updates.

Also somewhere in this time frame, I noticed I had the option to update my firmware, so charged my device up past 50% and left it on the charger by my phone in order to update it. A couple hours later, I checked and the option to update was gone, so I assumed the update had worked. 

The version I am currently running is 188.58. I have no idea if this was the version I was running previously. (See above, re: bad update hygiene.) Either way, it's weird: if the update was to 194.whatever, and it failed, then why do I no longer have the option to update? If the update was to 188.58, why would I have the option *now* to update to an old version, especially one that seems to correlate strongly to the exact battery issues I am now experiencing? 

Fitbit support has thus far been unable to tell me how long I've been running 188.58 (which would at least rule out some issues), obviously can't tell me when I last updated the iOS app/what version I had before that, and does not seem to grasp that absolutely nothing about my settings or habits changed in the last few months. (And thus that the issue *cannot* be the screen turning on due to my arm movements, GPS, or bluetooth syncing.)

It's been alarming and frustrating to see how many other people are ALSO having brand new issues in the last four weeks, and how few of them appear to have solved the problem. 

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5 REPLIES 5

‎07-27-2023 18:38

‎07-27-2023 18:38

Just for the record, I did the "three pulse restart" yesterday and my fitbit still drained overnight last night. 

Today I did a reset on the device itself and less than 6 hours after taking it off the charger at 100% it's at 65%, so I imagine it'll die overnight again. 

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‎07-27-2023 22:40

In response to dargret

‎07-27-2023 22:40

My mother in laws battery wont last a night either. Bhrought in may 22 aswell. Ill see what fitbit says

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‎07-28-2023 11:10 - edited ‎08-01-2023 10:46

In response to dargret

‎07-28-2023 11:10 - edited ‎08-01-2023 10:46

While it did not entirely die overnight, by 6:30am it was down to 15%, which doesn't seem good. I fully charged it up this morning and am going to let it sit on my desk all day to see how long it takes to drain when there are a minimal number of screen light-ups. It's been about 5h and 15 minutes, with 3 text messages and 2 alarms. Battery is down to 70%. 

I think tomorrow I'll let it die with the bluetooth off, to control for that variable and see how long that takes. 

----------------

 

update from Sunday:

And this morning I have now experienced what many others have: the device is stone cold dead, screen black, will not charge or turn on. 

Given that this exact progression has happened to so many other people in the past month, these cannot be isolated incidents. As I live in the US, I don't think I have any options like people in Australia do about consumer protection, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

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‎07-31-2023 06:24

‎07-31-2023 06:24

I am having similar problems.  Unit was lasting week on a charge.  About a week ago, it starting not lasting a day much less overnight. Firmware version 57.20001.188.58. Went through restet, disabled GPS,  display set to minimum,  etc. No changes. Just now, lost 16% battery in less than an hour. If it is an updated code issue, how can I back rev it to what it was last week? Not happy.

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‎07-31-2023 07:14

In response to Bdscoach

‎07-31-2023 07:14

Same here. Starting noticing the battery drain then a couple days later the blank screen of death hit. I’ve noticed if I push firmly on the screen it will display that it is charging but won’t hold a charge at all off the charger and the display goes away when I quit pressing on it. 

Really frustrating when this seems to be caused by some update but now we all have dead/useless devices and apparently no support from Fitbit for an issue they caused. Something just doesn’t seem legal about this at all. 

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