Charge 5 Stuck on Fitbit Logo / Not reacting to restart

[Untilitkills83]

Here are the basics for what has lead up to this unit effectively showing the Fitbit logo and being completely unresponsive to restarting it:

I noticed about 4 days ago that the unit would light up on my wrist with no motion.  I didn’t raise my arm, there were no notifications coming through, my arm was completely still.  Out of nowhere, it would decide to display the time.  It would happen sporadically but fairly often.  It wasn’t at a given time, I tried to keep note of the time in between it displaying the time or ‘lighting up’ and it would either be 30 seconds, a minute, 5 minutes, seconds, etc.  There was no formula to it.  I figured it was just a little glitch, nothing that I minded.

With this consistent lighting up whenever it felt like, my battery was draining quicker than usual.  Normally I would be at the gym for 2 hours and would not charge it till the next day.  Regularly, after that long without charging it would be at, the lowest previously, was 80%.  Over the past few days however, it dropped to 60% and would take significantly longer to recharge.

Yesterday, I had set the workout to ‘Treadmill,’ and it worked without fail.  It counted steps, kept the time, ‘talked’ to my phone, etc.  For all accounts, it was working fine.  Once I completed my treadmill workout, I stopped the workout and started a ‘weights’ workout.  Since I wasn’t looking at my wrist, I didn’t notice that after a while the screen changed to the Fitbit logo nonstop.  No notification, no buzzing, nothing to give me that little heads up on my wrist that something happened.

So now, this Charge 5 is perpetually stuck on the Fitbit logo.  It doesn’t react to any interactions (swiping, tapping) and after restarting it, the device will just return to the Fitbit logo.

Any help aside from a ‘you should’ve purchased a warranty’ or an offer of a discount on a new device would be appreciated.  If nothing, I’ll be happy to quit Fitbit sadly and just purchase an Apple Watch.

[ManuFitbit]

Welcome to the forums @Untilitkills83.

Thank you for taking the time to share with me all this information regarding your Charge 5.

Some people have found useful the standard troubleshooting steps listed here below: 

• Complete the three pulse restart method with the charging cable. 
• Please follow these steps in case you're having trouble to charge your device. 
• Please sync your device in the Fitbit app by tapping your profile picture > Charge 5 > Sync Now.
• If you  can't sync, tap on your profile picture > Charge 5 > Tile to see if a firmware banner appears. 
• If it's still unresponsive, please try changing the clock face as well and check if you're able to see anything on the display. 

[Untilitkills83]

None of these helped.

The 3 pulse method only causes the device to restart and show the same Fitbit logo.

The device is not communicating with the app even after removing the Fitbit from my devices and turning Bluetooth on and off.

The device does not go anywhere past the Fitbit logo and is unresponsive.

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Is there anything else that can be done at this point?

[HikerConcordia]

I have this same experience with my Charge 5. Except that I'm just "Walking" not in a gym.

I have tried each of these steps, too, but my Charge 5 is still stuck on the logo screen.

When I am trying to sync, it just grinds away NOT syncing. Most recently I get a message in the phone app telling me to charge my Charge 5 in order to sync properly. (The Fitbit is next to the phone and plugged in so it should either be recharging or fully charged.)

The firmware screen tells me that I have Firmware Version 57.20001.188.58.  (AND it says "Battery Full").

When I tried changing the clock face the process seemed to start off fine, but then stopped. I got a message telling me to try again later. It just grinds away NOT switching to the new clock face, although I see in the app that the one I chose to change to is "My Active Clock." Finally it gives me this message "Unable to Install: Install failed, please try again later."

So ... after running through the 5 bullet points provided, what's the next suggestion?

[Bruti413]

This exact problem has happened with my FC5. I've tried every single suggestion online including the ones you tried. I've been trying to talk with customer service but that isn't going well since they're disconnecting the chat almost immediately after it opens. 

[HikerConcordia]

Now, interestingly, after posting the above 3 hours ago I took my Charge 5 back to the bedroom and left it sit on my dresser. Went about my business. Was back there just now for something else and noticed that the screen had lost the logo and gone blank. That's progress, anyway.

Carried it out to my where my phone was and discovered that 1) the app could connect via Bluetooth; 2) sync with the Charge 5; and 3) finish installing that clock face change that had become stalled and unable to finish.

Now when I pick it up my Charge 5's new clock face displays. And I can swipe through the screens. Oh, and the battery reports in at 71%.

I'm going to let it sit on its own overnight and try putting it on in the morning. I will report back if it fritzes out again.

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So, I was excited to find my Charge5 alive and well this morning. Put it on and went about my day. Which included a 5 mile walk. Even remembered to roll up the long sleeve of my sun shirt so there was nothing rubbing the screen.

Kept checking and it was keeping track of my pace and distance. Cool! Sadly, though, about an hour in when I checked we were back to the logo screen. Arrgh!

Took it off when I got home and made it sit by itself to think about what it had done. And just now the screen had finally gone black. And was unresponsive. So I tried syncing, but my phone can't find the FitBit. Tried putting it on the charger to restart it, but after the requisite vibrations all I have is the logo screen.

I'm thinking I have two more experiments (if I can stand it that long). Assuming it'll somehow magically resolve again as it did yesterday I could 1) wear it on my next walk but NOT set it on exercise mode, just let it count steps in the background; or 2) carry the thing in my pocket instead of on my sweaty wrist, in case it doesn't like being in a hot and sweaty microclimate (which would seem pretty stupid for a fitness tracker, but what do I know?).

[Untilitkills83]

It’s good that it began operating again but, isn’t it still not working properly if you have to use it without setting it on an exercise mode?  It’s great if it keeps steps but seems like if it can’t be used the way Fitbit provided then it’s still faulty.

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Aside from trying to call or chat with support, it would seem FitBit’s moderator hasn’t checked back in on the issue.

[HikerConcordia]

Yes, it's clearly faulty!

Yesterday I wore it while I was out walking, but didn't set it to track
"Walking." I was just using it as a watch, really. But the clock face I
have does track the day's total steps.

Was working fine.

Until about 90 minutes in. Which was when I saw it had switched to 'the
logo screen of death.'

Took it off when I got home later. It's been sitting on the table. The
screen finally went blank.

I'm pretty much done with it. This Charge 5 is just under 2 years old (got
it late November 2021) BUT I didn't wear it a few months in summer 2022
when I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail (couldn't guarantee being able
to charge it as needed). So it has seen less than 20 months use.

Seems like @Fitbit could make more durable gear, doesn't it?

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

Also, I'm sorry about hijacking your thread!

I was hoping, I guess, that more activity would attract FitBit's attention to the issue we're both having with their failing equipment.

[BillieShakes]

Mine went blank dring the nighttime after stalling on the logo last night. None of the reset options are working and it is back to being stalled on the logo, unable to connect. This clearly isn't an isolated issue.

[LBBUZZ2]

Still stuck, no matter what I do. Several times recently, this has occurred but eventually it decides to function after being connected to the cable for a LONG time. I have reverted to my old Charge 2, a significantly more reliable device. I will not be purchasing any more Fitbits, that is certain. After getting mine, I got one for my girlfriend, and hers is still working, although it is erratic recording sleep and steps. Sad. 

[Untilitkills83]

No worries whatsoever, I would be hoping the same thing with more activity being pointed to the issue!

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It would be nice if @Fitbit were following up on this since you’re right, not an isolated issue.

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I reverted to an older Fitbit I had as well and due to the poor response regarding this issue I’ll be sure to move on to another company’s product.  Not happy with paying so much to have it just give up in a short amount of time.

[HikerConcordia]

And here we are another couple weeks on. But with perhaps a bit of positive news on this thread.

I had thought I was narrowing down the triggers to my FitBit Charge 5 acting so poorly. I could wear it around the house as a watch and step counter and it would seem fine. I could wear it out on a 5 mile walk and it seemed to count all the steps and buzz happily when I hit 10K. And I had pretty much decided that it was a combination of heat and sweat that set it off on shutting down. Which wouldn't be a great selling point for a device that's supposed to track exercise, right?

Since then our weather has taken its turn toward autumn. And my device SEEMS to be working. It hasn't frozen up and died for weeks now. BUT I also haven't tried to have it track all my exercise stats either (also not a great selling point). If the weather turns hot and sunny again as it sometimes does, I will certainly try to recreate what the conditions under which it failed before. I don't really need it to measure the routes I take because I know how far they are and how fast I'm walking them. 

Meanwhile it's just a watch that also keeps track of my steps.

----

I spoke too soon.

Went out this morning for a walk. Got my 5 miles in. Cool and overcast weather. I was wearing a sweatshirt covered by a lined windbreaker. FitBit counted all the steps. (Yay!!)

Got home and took off the jacket and sweaty sweatshirt. Made myself lunch. As I was sitting down to eat, I looked at my wrist. THE LOGO SCREEN OF DEATH!

I'm about convinced that this Charge5 just doesn't know how to deal with sweat. Whatever it is, it does still have serious problems.

[HikerConcordia]

But wait! There's more!!

Before I went to bed I noticed that the logo screen had disappeared. (hooray!) But that the Charge 5 screen was stuck on a white X with red circle around it!  (Boo!)

And this morning, the whole thing appears to be turned off, won't sync, won't wake up. One thread on that "white X in a red circle" problem suggests the hard restart which probably won't work, and then trying to re-link the Charge 5 to the app, and then trying the restart. And somewhere in there letting the battery run itself out. Anyone have other suggestions? Like, say, anyone from the FitBit corporate office??

[Untilitkills83]

Sounds like this is a perpetual loop with it coming to life and minimally working to just becoming inactive.  I’ve had mine offline for a couple weeks and went to charge it.  It seemed to become discoverable to my phone but the screen wouldn’t display anything and then, after a few minutes, turned to the Fitbit logo and that was the last attempt I had made.

while it would be nice to have Fitbit try and respond to these posts regarding our issues, apparently one message on this thread from me was deleted citing a ‘multi-post’ or ‘multi-reply.’  So their team is monitoring the thread but not doing anything to assist past the point of providing the troubleshooting link from weeks ago.

[SeeShelGo]

I've been searching since yesterday. Shortly after my morning jog my FC5 went blank and would not respond. I found the help link and tried all of the methods & nothing has worked. The charger trick, changing the watch face, nothing. It will not even sync. I just renewed my $80 annual membership, so I am really hoping that I don't have to go out and buy a new device. I'm guessing that is what Fitbit's goal is, though. 

[Untilitkills83]

Thank you for helping to keep this post alive.

@ManuFitbit please see above continuation of issues with Charge 5’s no longer responding.  It would be helpful if there could be some type of resolution regarding faulty devices.

[candieapple]

This happened to me last night! I was able to fix it with the steps below, only for it to revert to the logo screen soon after. I repeated the process and got it working again. While I was sleeping, the C5 must have reverted to the logo screen once again because it was completely dead when I woke up. I plugged it in and let it charge for a bit in the morning and it seems to be working okay now. I should mention the fit bit app on my phone was also updated to the new version overnight. I cant help but think the issue is related to that...

Anyway, maybe try this process if you havent already?

(copied from another feed)

• Unpair your Charge 5 from your phone's Bluetooth and Fitbit app.
• Unpair other Bluetooth devices that you may also have paired to your phone's Bluetooth settings.
• Force quit the Fitbit app.
• Turn off other Bluetooth connections when not in use. This can help to prevent connectivity issues or Bluetooth interference.
• Shut off your phone and turn it on after 1-2 minutes.
• Turn on the Bluetooth on your phone.
• Plug it into the charging cable and open the Fitbit app.
• Set up your Charge 5.
• If there is no connection, restart your Charge 5.
• Once your Charge 5 is paired and syncing, please proceed to set up your other Bluetooth devices to your phone again. 

With the steps above, what I want you to do is to pair your Charge 5 first to your phone's Bluetooth settings before any other Bluetooth device is connected to your phone. 

[SeeShelGo]

Update: After 48 hours without a screen and trying every trick, I chatted with Fitbit via their little chat box. Not sure if it was a person or a bot, but every time they asked for information and I gave it and asked a question, the response was "Thank you for the information." The conversation ended when "Laura" told me she would send the info about my problem along and I would be contacted via email by Fitbit Support for more info. I was pretty up-front with Laura-bot that I understood this was a widespread issue and many other FC5 users were experiencing the same thing. Your original message was on 9.1.23. I said that it was clear there was an upgrade or something to the firmware or OS and it caused a bug that had not been fixed in nearly a month. I said if Fitbit is not interested in fixing the bug, they should offer me a good discount on my next purchase. I explained that I likely wouldn't be continuing my business with the company if they didn't do something to fix the situation. I was irritated, but I expected it to be a total bust, so I wasn't too upset. I was extra frustrated with the whole situation because I just paid for my annual membership. A few hours after chatting with Laura I got an email saying Fitbit had heard about my problem and were going to send me a coupon for a discount on my next Fitbit product. A few minutes later, I got an email for 50% off any new Fitbit device! I was shocked it was 50%! When I went shopping online, I found the Fitbit Charge 6 is on pre-order and comes out on October 12. They just announced/dropped the announcement about 20 hours ago. I imagine when they upgraded the FC5 to build the FC6, whatever they did, had a widespread effect on the FC5's operating ability. Considering they gave me a 50% discount, I take that as a signal they know they screwed something up.  

[Untilitkills83]

Just happy your voice was heard on the issue and kudos on securing a decent discount!  I’ll try with the chat bot as well again and see what happens!

[Jbarbing]

I had a similar series of problems as you and now has total failure. I can charge my fitbit charge 5 to 99% remove from charger and it shows 1% charge and dies. It's useless. Had a fitbit for just over a year however this one is a replacement as the first broke so it lasted less than 9  months.

Following for an solution 

Or leaving fitbit