Charge 5 battery drained twice

[Mahadme]

Hi. In the last four days my fitbit battery has drained twice. I am now charging it twice a day and praying that it lasts through the night. Have a 50% success rate. The heart rate tracking did not update on Sunday. I have called support but they have asked that I charge twice a day or more....like I have time for that. Apparently it's a common problem with charge 5 and a firmware update is in progress but there are no timelines so I may be charged constantly indefinitely for a charger that's 3months old. It's ridiculous and I am now shopping for alternatives...if anyone had ideas.

I have tried everything recommended including force stopping, removing the app and reinstalling, disconnecting gps and all apps, restarted 8 times. Many of these solutions were than once and nothing works. I have no faith in the firmware update especially since no one can say when. Please help. This is my last resort.

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[DavideFitbit]

It's good to see you around in the Community forums for the first time, @Mahadme. 

I'm sorry to see that you've been experiencing this problem with the Charge 5. 

As you mentioned earlier and as the Support team said, unfortunately there's an ongoing issue with the GPS chip affecting battery life in many cases. The team is working to fix this issue with an upcoming firmware update, but it's not possible to provide you with a specific date for the release. 

In the meantime, it's recommended to try the following steps: 

• Try restarting your tracker by connecting it to the charging cable,
• Open the Fitbit app, pull down on the screen to force a manual sync and monitor its behavior in the next days.
• If you use GPS to track your exercise, use the Phone GPS setting to preserve battery life.
• Follow the standard troubleshooting steps to improve battery life. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with this. 

I'll be around. 

[Rets4]

I am having the exact same problem and contacted Fitbit three times without a solution except to reboot!  Not exactly consumer friendly when you can’t even check the time as your screen is dark again.

[rrrzzz]

There is another thread on this forum that currently has 728 posts from people complaining about the Charge 5 battery draining too fast. Fitbit have been promising a firmware update to fix this issue since January, it seems, but no fix has appeared and they have gone quiet about it.

[MAWilliams400]

I am having the same issue for a few days now... Fitbit completely drains within a few hours and won't even make it through the night when sleeping.  GPS isn't on at all.  When I called support (twice) they mentioned the same firmware update (After telling me to restart like I'm an idiot!).  They failed to mention that this may have been an issue since January!!! Well that really sucks!  Currently my Fitbit is unusable and I get money for my healthcare plan for completing daily step goals... sounds like if this isn't corrected very soon I will have to drop Fitbit and search for an alternative. 

[Dhusak]

Agreed.  Battery life is abysmal.  Independent reviews of the product did not clearly spell this out.  To espouse features that can’t be used without continuously recharging, I feel is deceptive.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, thank you for all your replies and feedback. 

As you mentioned earlier, many users are being affected by an issue with the GPS chip affecting battery life. The team is already aware of this problem and they're working to fix the issue with an upcoming firmware update, but we haven't received other updates for the moment.

If you're not using the GPS feature and you're still having this problem, I recommend that you continue the communication with the Customer Support team for further assistance. 

Thank you for the information provided; our team is always working to enhance your experience and your feedback is a big part of that process. 

See you around.