Charge 5 Not holding a charge

[dj12345]

My Charge 5 won't hold a charge for over a few hours. It lasted for 5-7 days until last week. None of the power using features (GPS, screen always on) are turned on. There is no physical damage to the watch. Why has my battery life suddenly made the device effectively unusable? Help! Thank you

[The_real_kate]

This just started for last night. Was completely charged, died overnight (missed my alarm because of this). Put it on the charger, it was stuck on the Fitbit logo. Did the button pressing 3x on charger, got the device to start up. Now my device just keeps restarting itself over and over on my wrist and the battery is draining fast. This is super annoying. Never had a problem before today. 

[Carpedmm]

Your advice does not resolve the issue. 

Same here!

[Surf_Doggie]

Same here started 2 days ago 4/20/23

[Carpedmm]

I know!  I took mine off the charger at 9:02 pm and at 9:21 pm it is at 78%!

[ZoePet]

• I have the same issue with mine. It’s only 8 months old. I’m contacting customer support 

[jenthusiasm]

I am having the same issues with a fast draining battery. I went from easily 5-6 days to needing a charge twice daily. All my settings have been the same since I got the Fitbit, all set to prolong battery life, no changes since January 2022. The warranty has expired and sadly this is not the first Fitbit I’ve had to die just outside of the warranty. I think these should be able to last longer than a year and some months, especially considering I use protective covers, clean it regularly, and have never used it in water.

I have contacted Customer Support and have been told I will be contacted soon. I suspect they will offer a discount on a replacement, and though it is something, I don’t know if I am going to continue as a Fitbit customer.

I hope this and the other messages go up the chain and they consider how to improve longevity of their products.

[AimLG]

I've been having the exact same issue since 19.04.23, my Fitbit used to last 5/6 days with all features except GPS enabled and now it lasts 6 hours at most! 

I had the charge 3 and it malfunctioned after 3 years which wasn't too bad, but I only bought the Charge 5 in January last year and there is no damage to it. Customer services "solution" was to stop using basically all features although this didn't help, and because it is over a year old they won't have anything to do with it, depsite this being the second time a watch of theirs hasn't been fit for purpose.

Customer services response was so poor, depsite these forums showing the product evidently isn't up to scratch they couldn't care less. I certainly won't be purchasing another watch and will look to Samsung now. 

[cecewalks]

It is a shame because the Fitbit name is highly regarded, or I thought it was. The best solution I've got is to get another charger for my car, so that I can recharge the Charge 5 whenever I see that it is low, like every other day, to keep it from dying completely until I get back to the charger. Or I could put it in my purse and take it with me wherever I go. Or I can just make a habit of charging it every other day just like you'd wind a watch in the old days. And I just noticed that it seems to take a long time to sync. I don't know what's up with that. I definitely didn't expect this problem with a Fitbit. So we can just adjust to it's requirements for use or find something else. No, folks, I don't have any other solution and, based on other people's comments on this forum, it appears that Fibit isn't interested in fixing it. I've offered in this post the only solutions that will work for me.

Do you mean the charger? I don't know what that is and frankly am tired of taking a lot of time to find the instructions, look for a micro button, etc. I've invested more time than I have to resolve this problem, and have moved on to more pressing matters.

[cecewalks]

Only solution I have is to keep your charger handy. Anticipate charging it every other day. Others might have a more useful suggestion.

Wow. That sounds like a more serious problem than what I have with mine. I hope customer service can help.

[ianl1427]

Mine doesn't doesn't even last 6h after it suddenly failed. Before the failure, I could do with charging it once every 3 days.

Taking it off my wrist to charge it every now and then completely defeats the purpose of having a 24/7 tracker. 

I shouldn't complain because I was issued a replacement. However, it is a replacement of a previous replacement. So that speaks so much about the quality of the Charge 5.

My old Inspire HR is still working but I want to track my sleep and SpO2.

[JohnRW]

I have just experienced the same issue.  Seemed to be on a fast discharge.  Additional could not use the watch to tap and go.  Tried to delete existing card and instal new one.  Came up with, “Your Fitbit is in an unstable state.  Please reboot your device.”.  Reset a number of times.  However, good news it is now working OK.  After using all day, battery now 95%.  The watch is 18 months old.

[P.C.Gamer]

I also bought mine on Amazon, but I was 2 months past the warranty. I shipped it back to Amazon and use some Best Buy gift cards to buy the Samsung Watch 5. Only have 2 days of battery life (knew this before purchasing), it's already infinitely better than the 5. Never buying from FitBit again.

[JohnRW]

The problem only gets worse when there is problem with the device. You then have to go through the chat line and do a lot of things you have already tried. We spend a couple of bucks and the thing does have a long life.

[neil84]

same issue, fitbit instantly offered me a replacement charge 5 - but sounds like all charge 5's now have this issue?  not sure whether to take it 

[Surf_Doggie]

Software update I suspect. I have had issues with Charge 5 multiple times after software updates. I would spend a few days trying to fix it and magically it would heal itself on the next software update. I suspect that will not be the case this time. I have reset the device, reinstalled the software, re-paired and tried running it with bluetooth turned off my phone for a day. Nothing seems to work so far. 

Each time in the past when I have had an issue with my fitbit I have come here and seen others experiencing the same issue. Then there is a software update and everything runs fine. I'm not sure how old the charge 5 line is maybe they are phasing it out? Mine is 2 years old. 

I personally would want my money back and buy a different family of fitbit. This is my second one, first was NOT a charge 5, and I never had problems with the first one. The charge 5 has caused me headaches about every 6 months or so because of fitbit updating software.  

[Debpaints]

Agree. I’ve done the whole gamut to reset and fix. I’m done with FITBIT! When my current Charge 5 bites the dust I’m going back to a simple pedometer to capture my steps. Especially since I can no longer post daily challenges to my friend group.

Deb

[Surf_Doggie]

I just noticed a new fitbit software update on my phone ready for install 4/25/2023. Wonder if that contains the "fix"

[Surf_Doggie]

I had a fitbit software update ready for install this morning on my phone so maybe your software updated last night. It might have something to do with that. I have looked at other forums and the fast draining battery does not seem to be specific to the Charge 5. Appears some other fitbit lines are starting to have issue with fast battery drain;.

It appears to be happening in other lines of fitbit, not all. Check out some of the other forums... Possible software update issue?

[Carpedmm]

Fitbit offered me nothing, claiming they could not guarantee my Fitbit Charge 5 was real since I purchased it through Amazon!

Agreed!

[April_B]

I’ve only had it for just under a year and the past couple of months I’ve noticed a lot of low battery notifications within only after 1 or day charge.