Charge 5 abruptly stopped working

[Shashankkr]

Hi,

My charge 5 has died out of the blue. I can confirm that it was fully charged. If I connect to the charger now, sometimes the logo appears for a second and nothing after that. 

I have followed all the possible steps to troubleshoot it. 

Please help

[Ke.steel]

If it doesn't vibrate when you connect the charger, it's dead as! Mine hasn't worked for 7days 

[RogerAgness]

Mine feels a magnetic pull but won't stay attached. It does vibrate when you press the round button on the USB charger plug.

[SunsetRunner]

Exactly the same as what I experienced. Now my less than 1 year old Charge 5 is in the trash. 

[Suzyq42]

You have to re-pair it.

[Shashankkr]

Tried it. The fitbit refuses to even start so the phone is never able to find it. 

[Suzyq42]

I just went through that. It said it was at 72% battery as I took it off the charger. I could not get a screen, only black. I put it on a spare charger and it went up to 99%. I could not get the screen to work until I opened the app on my phone. The screen opened on the charge 5 and I did a reset. The screen opened and it was the wrong time of the day on the screen. I went to screen settings on my phone app and selected the time zone for my area, nor the automatic time zone. I also checked the Display settings on the charge 5. Mine was on dim, I reset it to Normal. It is working fine now. This is the second time this has happened.

I have been told to only charge up to 85% on my Charge 5 and my cell phone to prolong the battery. That means monitor the charging.

I checked my APP for Android.    Updated Jan 22, 2024.

Check your APPand make certain it is linked, check your settings on your app, make certain your charger is working, clean the contacts. Do a reset on your Charge 5 when you get a screen. If none of that works call support.they will not allow me to post the phone number or the app number

[Ke.steel]

It can't locate the Fitbit, everything done Google killed it with updates!

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[Connie999]

Mine has died 3 times now while running with over 50% battery charge. It stops within 15 minutes, map and stats gone. After run I just have to put it on charger to get display back. The last Fitbit upgrade sucks. I am getting tired of issues after each Google upgrade to Fitbit. Mine is a Charge 5 just past 1 year.

[ptbee02]

The same thing happened to mine last night. For those of you who have contacted Fitbit, what do they say?  Are they working on a fix?

[Connie999]

Fitbit said to do a restart on device (button on USB cord) and a long charge. I won't know if it helped until my next run.

[lpkraus]

Hi, 

Mine has also died out of the blue, today, 2/12/2024. I think mine has bit the dust. When I came in from a bout with some heavy gardening, it had a circle with an x in it on the screen. I tried connecting to the charger and got a little buzz. Tried rebooting and got some buzzing, but nothing else. Now, an hour or so later, I don't even get a buzz.

[A1onso]

The same happened to mine! Battery can be 90% and then it went down to 35%! I can confirm I charged it close to 100% earlier. This is extremely upsetting. And I took my dog for a walk, and the fitbit died on me half way through the walk. This is becoming ridiculous! 😞

[Littleghost]

Add another to the pile. My charge 5 was at 78% battery last night, this morning it's dead. Won't charge, won't turn on. It was a replacement for the last charge 5 I had which also died after a year (wouldn't hold a charge) and it didn't even make it that long. 

[ptbee02]

They finally agreed to send me a new Charge 5. I asked if it would have
the same problems and her answer was that the life of each one is
different. I lobbied for a Charge 6, but to no avail. I left this
charging overnight and today it has a red circle with an "x" in the
middle. It's a goner.

[jmango0320]

Wow, eight years! I’ve had mine for a little over three years and it just died. My wife said I should get a new one but why bother if they don’t last?

[Apologia]

This is frustrating. I purchased a Fitbit 2 years ago. After 9 months, it died and I received a replacement. Then the replacement died after 6 months of use. Same issue. The Charge 5 gets stuck on the logo and then goes black but the red LED on the bottom blinks like it is functioning. I tried all the troubleshooting steps from the forums (resetting using the charger button, waiting a week and trying again, etc.). The app cannot sync or see the Charge 5. So, I thought I would get another Charge 5 and hope for the best. At one year and one month it has the same problem and my friend had one die right before mine did. So, two Charge 5's later I am not happy. I had hopes that Google would have integrity in fixing the problem. I hate to say it but I believe Google/Fitbit is aware that these devices are failing yet continue to sell their inventory of bad products. Is Google/Fitbit going to help its customers or are we merely fodder? I have read about so many people's Fitbit Charge 5's failing.

[Valiavalia]

HI, how did you actually manage to get support and contact them?

it looks like there is no customer service anymore?

[Suzyq42]

I figured it out myself. I think the phones are off the hook. This morning
I texted them to use the chat and they referred me to a different company
to pay a $1, and get an answer. When I saw they would charge $46 a month
for a subscription. I think fitbit stock is not where I would put my
money. Try their chat and let us know what you get told to do.

[ptbee02]

You can go to https://help.fitbit.com and it will give you options for a
live chat, phone or X contact.

[lpkraus]

Hi Suzyq42,
I did use the chat, and it looks like they will be sending me a shipping
label to return my device and they will send me a new one, fingers crossed!
So it looks like it's worth it to go thru the hassle.
lpkraus