Charge 5 battery draining too fast

[SharleneH]

I have had the new Charge 5 for 2 days. The battery discharges within a day. GPS is off, the phone is not set to always on. In looking over the troubleshooting instructions from Fitbit, it seems that you essentially have to disable all of the features that were selling points of this device in order to get decent battery life. Even my ancient Charge 3 got 6 days on one charge! Has anyone with this battery problem found a solution other than disabling everything?

[SharleneH]

It seems that each member of this forum has a different experience IF they
are able to get the device to work. The point is that a customer should
not have to do this with a brand-new device.

[Riverbear]

Sharlene is exactly right! I have been a Fitbit user since 2014 with the original Charge. I have owned each model up to the 5 and NEVER had these issues with past models. I typically don't buy a newly-released model for reasons like this, but my old Charge 4 broke where the band clips, so after a few days with duct tape holding it together, I ordered the Charge 5. You can see my previous posts here about the battery problems. I have an Android phone and latest version of the Fitbit app. For a week, I tried turning all aps off (everything that was recommended here) and none of it worked. I am now happily wearing my new Charge 4, which came in yesterday from Amazon and works perfectly (as I expected it would). The Charge 5 will be sent back tomorrow. FWIW, here's my thoughts on the Charge 5:

Pluses: 

• the color screen is nice (especially in sunny conditions outside). 
• the size, weight, and feel of it is better than the Charge 4. 
• the band was an improvement

Minuses: 

• the battery life issue (obviously!), which killed it for me hands down
• the heart rate monitoring did not seem as accurate - it would read consistently lower than my Charge 4 for the same exercises and would take 7-8 min of hard riding on a stationary bike to go up to correct HR. My Charge 4 typically takes 1-2 min to adjust.
• the lack of a barometer and not having stairs anymore (another big downside for me)
• the lack of a side button, which is so nice to get you back to the start menu. It was too easy to double tap your way into the wrong menu on the Charge 5 (at least for me). I found myself constantly pressing the side of the 5 looking for that removed button. 

So as you can see, the minuses greatly outweighed the pluses for me. I will wait a long while before I look at another tracker since I have a new 4. Probably by the time I need to upgrade, Google will have come out with their Fitbit product line, which could be good (or quite bad!). 

[JaymeH55]

How low did you let it get to before you did your second charge. I did a second charge at about 24% and I'm still having issues. 

[royalle]

im returning Charge 5 because of battery life issue and losing gps signals outdoors.

thinking of getting Charge 4

does anyone have recommendations on a better alternative??

[SharleneH]

I couldn't tell you specifically. It was mid-low. I have returned the
Charge 5 and purchased a Charge 4 and couldn't be happier with the
performance. I am at the end of my second day of wearing it continuously
and the battery level has barely budged from full.

[Riverbear]

Down to 5%.

[str85]

Having the same issue (even made a post about it before noticing this).
On my 2nd day now i charge the device to 100% yesterday at 21:00 and then restarted the device twice.
now... about 12h later i'm at 88% better than yesterday but still way to much battery draining.
during this time i have only activated the display 4-5 times and done no workouts or anything.

Has there been any statement from Fitbit whatsoever on the matter?

[str85]

And now the charge 5 doesn't seem to work.... screen black and not responding to touches. and the app cant communicate with it.

[Konrado]

I have the issue with battery as well
Charged yesterday - 9/30/2021, up to 100%, was about 8PM when disconnected - 100% battery charged.
Now - 10/1/2021 I have 1pm and battery is only 51% full
GPS tracking changed to Buitl-in, vibrations normal, notifications off, screen manual wakeup
I am sitting in the office, so no Mega Big GPS usage
and will be about 70% battery lost in 24h
Get it on Tuesday - very not cool
For this price - Up to 7 days - Geeeeeeee. Cannot Stay for at least 2 !
Very Disappointed 

[Izenmike]

I'll be testing the battery once it's fully charged to see if this gets better.

Every so often the Fitbit app has a problem connecting (like when doing a forced sync).  It resolves itself in a few seconds.  I wonder if this contributes to battery drain?  

UPDATE:  

After my full recharge and reboot my phone used 22% power in 48 hours (that's about 0.5% an hour) - all default setting (using SpO2, sleep mode at night, and AOD off).  

I then turned AOD on.  Batter drain was more significant - 12% in 6 hours (that's about 2% an hour.). Needless to say AOD is off again.

[MikelaS]

 I appreciate every one suggestion on how to fix this battery issue, but nothing worked for me. I left it on the nightstand overnight and it drained 23% and I have everything turned off. So I am returning it to Amazon and going to look for a different Fitbit. Good luck everyone

[Critchley124]

Hi alex how do we uninstall the SP02 app ?? 

ive no idea what that is ?? Can you send instructions please so I can give it a try thanks suze 

[Critchley124]

Thanks for this great help !! 

im giving my 5 one more chance I’ll try an uninstall the SP02 app and see if that helps if not I’ll take your advice and swop to a 4 

[OldMate]

Thought I had a dud unit until I hopped on the forums here and saw this thread.  Batteries draining faster than a beer keg on a hot day mate.  Got GPS disabled, auto on feature is off.  Still the charge only lasts a day.  I've just uninstalled the SP02 app as suggested but we shouldn't have to do that after spending all this money on a bloody premium product.

[charge_]

Having the same issue as everyone else.  I got a Charge 5 and charged it to 100% late yesterday (9/30) and it is currently at 24% less than a day later.  Same occurred 4 days ago with it holding less than a full day of charge.  I've turned off all known functionality that the watch offers (NO notifications, NO GPS, "always on" set to off, uninstalled Sp02, turned off alarms, etc.) and still no luck.

I've raised a ticket with Fitbit, but never received a confirmation of my ticket via email (I copied the case number so I at least have that to reference when I have to talk to support AGAIN on Monday -- which I'm sure will just generate more run around for me).  I've requested a return/exchange as the product is defective, but the ticket was "escalated" to stall me.  

I've used Fitbit Charge for years now, and my Charge 3 is still going strong.  Really disappointed, not only in the product itself, but the lack of support Fitbit is providing on this as well.  If I can exchange for another Fitbit Charge 5 and it works, I'd happily stay with Fitbit, otherwise, I'll be switching to Apple or another charger. The battery life of the Charge was a main selling point for me, but if it gets less life than better products, I'll just switch.  Purchased directly through Fitbit, so I'm hoping this process is seamless for me

[7538]

Same results but only after completely discharging and doing a restart twice. First 2 days went from ~7% to 5% an hour with no action on my part. After first restart went from 5% to 3%  over 24 hour period. After second restart went from 3% to 0.5% over 24 hour period. Currently holding at 0.5% last 24 hours. Display on manual, sync on manual; have not used GPS, Have Premium and same settings as my Versa Lite. Versa Lite went from 4 days to 2 days when Premium added. 

[Izenmike]

After full discharge and full recharge my Fitbit Charge 5 used 10% in the last 24 hours. AOD is off and I used Sleep Mode last night.

[str85]

I've returned my as DOA now.
first day battery drained super fast, second day the watch just died, couldnt reset it via the cable or anything.

Went back to my semi bad Sense now that at least works.

[SharleneH]

I chose to remain with Fitbit but after returning my Charge 5 purchased a Charge 4.  I had a Charge 3 for years until the screen finally died (and even then it was still collecting data so that I could monitor fitness).  I am very happy with the Charge 4, has most of the features of the 5 except for the color screen.  I charged it the day I purchased it (Monday) and the battery is still gong strong on the same charge.

[SharleneH]

Not that I know of and I haven't seen this mentioned in any tech reviews, which is odd.  I have historically found Fitbit to be the preferable device over other fitness and smart watches, but quality and customer service certainly seem like a different bear since Fitbit was purchased by Google.