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?

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, I appreciate all the comments and for sharing your experience with this so far. Thank you for all your patience and feedback provided as well. 

As it was mentioned earlier in the thread, please note that these updates are released progressively. If you haven't received it yet, you should have it available soon, and I recommend that you check periodically in the Fitbit app. You can find more instructions in this article to complete it, but keep in mind that you won't be able to proceed with the update until you see the red banner available in the Fittbit app. 

In case you experience any problem during the update, you can also refer to the steps in this article. If you already completed the update and you experience any issue with the battery, make sure to follow the steps listed here. If this doesn't resolve the problem, please get in touch with the Customer Support team for further instructions. 

I'll be around. 

[Sarahyogi]

How did you know they’d been an update? I can’t see anything and am praying! 

[Sarahyogi]

Yes, I can’t see a firmware in the U.K? 

[McKayS_NF]

After having band issues with purchased Charge 4 and its warranty replacement from fitbit, I purchased a charge 5 hoping that fitbit would wake up and not release a defective device to the market. 

My wife and I have been a fitbit supporter for over 5 years starting with charge 2.  I  can't believe how bad this company has become with their quality control and continue to sell a product (charge 5) while knowing the battery issue so many of us have.

I purchased the charge 5 and received it on Friday the 15th.  On Monday the 18th, I began to have battery issues and read online all of the issues with this model.

I am still waiting for this firmware to update my fitbit. I assure you that my patience is running out with fitbit and will be returning it real soon.  

Both my wife and I will be taking our business elsewhere from now on!!

Fitbit!!!  Get your act together!!

[WaxhawWoman]

Update:  After chatting with someone at Fitbit last week, they sent me a replacement. The Fitbit guy said the replacement wasn't because of the draining battery, but because I couldn't swipe up, down, right or left. He said the battery issue would be addressed by the update, which should be complete by the end of the month. The replacement doesn't include the charger or the bands, but my fingers are crossed that all will go well.... I just charged it to 100%. Let's see how long it lasts...

[SBKaren]

I've been looking and looking at all the trackers that Fitbit offers and it
seems that each and everyone has some sort of issue. That said, they also
seem to be very popular. So, which model is the best to get and take my
chances on? Anyone have a suggestion? My Fitbit Charge 4 just died on me
yesterday. I had a feeling something was going on as the outside edge of
the clock face looked as if moisture was getting in. Everything still
worked and my battery life was good (charging every 5-6 days), then
yesterday, after I got out of the pool, capoot! It died. I plugged it in to
charge to try to reboot and the device actually got hot as it was charging,
but it did not actually charge. I could never turn it on again. So, do you
have a recommendation?

[NewSuttonGirl]

How long were you using your Charge 4 before the battery died?

[Bunchadogs]

"Oh, the irony!!

I can't find my FitBit now that they finally have an update!!! 

I had to seek an alternative since my Charge 5 was SOOOOO bad.  

To be clear, this is NOT an advertisement, just a fact: my FitBit5 was so unusable I had to find another solution.

[SBKaren]

I had my Fitbit Charge 4 for 1 1/2 years. I had a feeling it was dying because it looked as if moisture was stuck in the outside edge of the clock face. It kept growing and growing over the last 3 weeks or so, creeping around the outside edge like a frame. Up until yesterday it worked perfectly. I would charge it about every 5-6 days, wore it while swimming as well. Occasionally I would get a weird sleep score, but I think that was because of the way I was laying in bed. It didn't happen often, so I wrote it off to that. I'm going to take a chance on the Charge 5. They offered me a discount that makes it less expensive than anywhere else and I miss all the data it provides. Keeping fingers crossed the new update was the solution.

[Spstajner]

57.20001.149.11

[osiantis]

Hi Davide,

Yesterday I have updated firmware of Charge 5 to version 20001.171.50. I charged battery to 100% and today it's 56%.

I don't think it's fixing the issue.

On top of that my screen only shows the clock and I seem to cannot swipe to other menu items anymore or see any other information.

[sjtpawar8]

@osiantis that's true. I also have the issue. Along with it my screen display is distorted and it instead of black background it little bit white which tells me something has been messed with software and the watch face colors are distorted as well.  I don't know how fitbit launched this product with so many issues. I am planning to switch to other companies tracker.

[Micodude]

So not only that I didnt get the firmware update yet, now my device wont turn on at all after charging it again. Good job, really... I demand a replacement.

[sjtpawar8]

@Micodude  Fitibt won't provide replacement for battery issue. I already asked the same question demaning a replacement. 

[simpan]

My experience is that luckily I have not upgraded the firmware (142.37). I still get between seven and ten percent drop per day. Fingers crossed it stays that good. 

[Unhappy_mother]

The only thing I think this firmware update did was to add a "Find Phone" feature. I don't know if it will help with my battery drainage since I continually take and restart my now fitbit after every charge to 100%. I get 8+ days with between 6 to 10% drainage per day depending on my usage, and I still have everything I do not use turned off.

[MsDraz]

I have the correct firmware update and am still having major battery issues

[JessMeow]

As of yesterday 19 July, my device became completely unresponsive and won’t recognize a charger. I contacted support and since this is purely a hardware issue they are now sending me a new one. 
This morning I checked the app and the firmware update is available. Ironically, since my device is dead I can’t do anything with the update 😹 So now I’m contending with both hardware AND firmware issues… 🤔

To clarify for those asking, the firmware update is different than an App Store app update. If you open the fitbit app on your phone, when the firmware update is available for you you’ll see a notification in the app. 
Good luck to those of you who can update the firmware!

[GDSchulz]

@simpan The firmware update had no effect on my C5 battery usage, as far as
I can tell. Battery still working well, using about 8% of full charge per
day. Using all default settings except clock face and GPS set to PHONE.
Haven't had to recharge again since the update so I don't know if restart
is still necessary.

The only C5 difference I've noticed since update is a new setting (I think)
called AZM Notifications which is set off by default and I left it off.
Not sure what it does because I'm still getting Active Zone notifications
during my walks. Unhappily, I'm no longer able to dismiss those
notifications during my walks by simply tapping once on the screen face.
Wondering if that's a deliberate functional change or a new bug.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for keeping us posted about this situation, and your efforts while working on this matter. I'm sorry for this inconvenience. 

Please note that we’ve announced a firmware update for Charge 5 a few minutes ago. With this update we're fixing a battery drain issue some customers may have experienced with GPS-enabled exercises. See What's changed in the latest Fitbit device update? for release notes.

You can take a moment to see  How do I update my Fitbit device? for step-by-step instructions for updating your Charge 5. If you run into difficulty updating, see Why can't I update my Fitbit device?. 

Take into consideration that we release updates to customers in phases. If you don’t see it, check the Fitbit app in a few days, and you’ll see a message when you can install the update. We appreciate your patience while we get this update to all of our customers. 

Thanks again for sharing your feedback with us.