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?

[AKLDave]

Great post and totally agree!

[ccarandang]

I’ve had my Charge 5 for 9 months and it’s been a great experience until a week ago when the battery started draining so fast. At first I could still track my sleep but a few days ago it died while I was sleeping even if it was fully charged before I wore it to bed. 

Is it possible that the battery has already degraded this much after 9 months? 

I tried all the suggestions from turning off settings that could possibly drain the battery to reseting it but nothing works. Now I’m only able to use my fitbit for around 4-5 hours before it drains the battery from 100% to 0%.

I’m so sad and disappointed since it was such a useful and impressive tracker until a few weeks ago.

[DJVera]

Hi all. Just a quick update from my previous post. I was finally offered 50% off the cost of another Fitbit (!) or a replacement Charge 5 (I live in the UK).  I took up the second offer of a replacement.  It worked absolutely fine for five days then - guess what - it's not charging anymore. It's a joke. 

[Lillipoo]

i had. Fitbit 3 and charged every 4-5 days. Now with Fitbit  5 I have to charge everyday!

is that normal. I took off notifications and still have to charge everyday. 

[shimsim]

Snap, my 2nd replacement worked for 2 months then died, i recommend going for the 3rd replacement, so far this one is working just fine, I guess 3rd times a charm 😛 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to contact our Support team and following their recommendations. As you know, this issue has been reported to our team and they're working on a firmware update to get this fixed. I apologize for this experience as I understand you haven't been able to use your Charge 5 to track your details. Every feedback shared by our members is always provided to our team to keep them informed, and yours won't be the exception.

While we don't have a time frame, please keep following the tips described in here as you've been doing so far to maximize your tracker's battery. Once again, your feedback is appreciated and we'll make sure to update our forums as well as our help article as soon as a firmware update is available

[Rich_Laue]

Maybe @Lillipoo 

Do you use the GPS daily? You should charge after using the GPS. 

Do you have the SpO2 enabled? This is a huge battery drain. And only needed if the user has a preset issue that requires monitoring. 

[Sarahyogi]

Totally agree but I also don’t believe I should pay £129 for a watch that’s broke after 4 months and Fitbit keep the money on a faulty product. 

[Baelix]

This is my 3rd Charge 5 (first two were replaced due to hardware issues), and it's now lasting about 6 hours on a full charge.

I've reached out to support to ask for assistance or a replacement, and have been told repeatedly to wait for a firmware update.

I really enjoyed the tracker before it started having issues (the 3rd device I received worked without issue for 3-4 months), but the fact that no one at FitBit seems to be prioritizing this as an issue is insane to me. As of now, this tracker is garbage - I can't even use it to set alarms anymore, because the battery is dying in the middle of the night before I even need to wake up.

I can't justify spending money on Fitbit anymore given just how terrible this experience has been and continues to be.

[Baelix]

Getting roughly 6 hours of use out of a full charge. Was working fine for months, and then all of a sudden it started draining like crazy.

I used to be able to get 5+ days out of a full charge, and I've done absolutely nothing different.

How can Fitbit not have an answer for this already given how severe the issue is?

-----------

There are a number of reports all over the Charge 5 forums of the exact same problem, some users reporting the battery draining in as little as an hour.

I'm personally getting about 6 hours out of a full charge now, with Fitbit support providing absolutely no help - "An upcoming firmware update will fix the issue".

Considering this is the 3rd tracker I've been sent (the first two were faulty and replaced by Fitbit), I have a hard time believing a Firmware update is going to fix the issue...

[mulva]

I tried everything they told me a million times, but I couldn't even get it to hold a charge for more than a few seconds, so I couldn't even pair it to my phone. FWIW, they finally caved and provided me a link to get a replacement for my Charge 5. I was hoping they'd offer me a Charge 4 because that never had problems. 

[KlausVanderson]

So I've just been told to essentially kick rocks by customer support for the second time about this issue. All they will give me is that they're working on a firmware update. No reason as to why it worked fine for 3 months and then just stopped holding a charge for more than a few hours, and no idea as to when this update will be available. No offer of compensation of any kind for their screw up.

[DavideFitbit]

Hey everyone, thanks for sharing the steps that have been useful for some of you and for confirming that many of you have been able to get in touch with the Customer Support team. Please know that your feedback is greatly appreciated. 

The promised firmware for the Charge 5 will be released very soon. Please keep an eye out to make sure you receive the latest updates and we'll be happy to share more information in this thread once it's been officially released. Keep in mind that firmware updates are released progressively; it starts with a small percentage and then it extends to the entire community of users. 

If you're checking out this thread for the first time, please make sure to exhaust all the troubleshooting options mentioned here earlier. If you're experiencing other issues that are not related to the problem discussed in this thread about battery draining too fast, please review this article to check what fixes are included once the firmware is officially released. 

If you already tried all the steps mentioned earlier to improve battery life, please feel free to get in touch with the Support team for further assistance as well. You can click here to see all the contact options. 

[nvfostermom]

This is happening to me too. It is only lasting about 48 hours. What good does it do to advertise a tracker with all these features and then say .. Well you have to turn them off if you dont want your battery to go dead everyday..  I switched form a charge 4 adn my battery lasted about a week or more per charge. This is ridiculous !!

[Andyhol]

Come on man . You know this isn’t acceptable , you’re peddling the same stuff as the customer support team . Some people have been waiting months ! This isn’t good enough and you know it 

[shimsim]

@DavideFitbit wanted to understand the connection between the news that Luxe is getting a firmware update and the long-awaited Charge 5 firmware update.

Is the Luxe having the same issue? Do they share the same firmware? Is the update of the Charge 5 firmware in any way reliant on the Luxe getting up update first?

[SunsetRunner]

Just finished using live chat support to resolve my Charge 5 battery life issues.  The chat person was nice but the support given was totally worthless.  The assistance given is to turn off functions that might drain the battery (i.e., the GPS).  Reading the number of comments on this chatroom on the issue, some going back almost a year, is an indication that FitBit is not addressing the issue.  Very disappointed.  I have been a FitBit customer for more than 5 years.  Any suggestions as to an alternative tracking watch?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity. 

[mike7rey]

I am having the exact same issue.   I just sent them back the following note.   It is my understanding from reviewing multiple sites on the interned what work has been goings on for this firmware fix since at least last March  and some talk as far back as last September.  Based on bulletin boards this is also only affecting a small amount of people.  After spending 37 years in I/T I know that a firmware fix only applies when large groups of people are experiencing an error.  My fully charged fit bit will only holds a charge for less than 1 hour.  It's not that I had a shorten battery life.  Currently this watch is not usable at all. At this point you cannot give me any idea on when the watch will be fixed.  That means the watch is defective and I want it replaced.  

[mike7rey]

Battery life on my Fitbit Charge 5 is only lasting less than 1 hours. Receive this message from Fitbit support this morning "We understand your concern. Since the issue is affecting some Charge 5 devices in which the built-in GPS chip may remain active after ending a GPS-enabled exercise so we can't ensure that you won't experience this issue with a replacement. The issue is being looked into by our team as of the moment and working to a resolution ASAP. We do appreciate your time and patience with this matter.

It is my understanding from reviewing multiple sites on the internet that this issue has been goings on since at least last September. Based on bulletin boards this is also only affecting a small amount of people. After spending 37 years in I/T I know that a firmware fix only applies when large groups are experiencing an error. My fully charged fit bit will only holds a charge for less than 1 hour. It's not that I had a shorten battery life. Currently this watch is not usable at all. At this point they cannot give me any idea on when the watch will be fixed. I have asked about making a warranty claim for replacement as this watch is only six months old and the have refused to honor the warranty. The watch is totally useless at this point

[jabob]

I am having the same issue. Watch only 5 months old and I went to charge and the charge only lasted a couple of hours opposed to prior times lasting 6 days. I called was told to do the same steps which did not help. I feel the same I want a replacement. This watch this way is useless to me. 

Moderator edit: format.