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?

[jenny05]

Which tracker did you get?

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone.

We really appreciate your comments and feedback about this inconvenience.

Please note it's important to confirm that the Fitbit app is updated, see details here. And if you already tried all these steps mentioned here, I do recommend that you contact our Customer Support team so they can let you know what are the options available for you. 

See you around. 

[rboy1]

Bloody frustrating that even after all this my brand new Charge 5 died overnight! Bought it yesterday, it prompt me to update the firmware went to bed with 100% charge and woke up with a dead watch on my wrist. What a **ahem**!! Another reason to go back to my Apple Watch. 

[WellnessMatters]

This is a note for everyone. When you get the replacement device, DO NOT do the firmware update. That's what caused the issues with my first device. When I got the replacement, I decided to ignore the firmware update and keep on declining it. It's been close to two months and my Fitbit is working perfectly.

I think Fitbit at this point should send people free replacements or a free upgrade to a newer device that was at the same price point as a C5 of they can't find a software fix for the issue.

What I will say is that, when it's finally time to move on from my C5, I don't think I will return to Fitbit. Might try a different brand.

Fitbit really dropped the ball on resolving all this. Tech issues happen with products all the time: exploding Samsungs, iPhone antennas etc. It's expected from time to time and I think customers understand this. What makes or breaks a loyal customer's trust is how the company resolves the issue: acknowledge the problem quickly without denial, find a solution to it and act fast with little to no stress to the customer whether that solution is a software update, device replacement or upgrade. Fitbit didn't do any of that. There was denial of an issue, no software solution offer, and getting replacements was/is a hassle for many. And the problem is still not resolved.

[SunsetRunner]

That truly sucks did you buy it new or was it replacement if you bought it new they will exchange it with one that will work 

They really did resolve it I got my replacement I stayed on the phone with them did the upgrade and it’s fine it’s been over a week it’s perfectly fine

[cmcg99]

Just wait, the replacement will start dying too after a few months.  That’s what happening to mine.  I

[kimmicocopuff]

I second your suggestion. After months of fighting with them. I got a replacement. Absolutely have not updated it to the new firmware. Still works. No issues, it's been at least two months now. But I completely refuse to update it. 

[SunsetRunner]

I sure hope not I will be furious! Now it is working better than my other one did. I did however shut off the GPS and it is staying charged for almost 2 weeks... I am pretty sure they will replace this one if it has the same issue. My other one started acting funky within a week of the upgrade. I took their suggestion of using a new clock face as well. We will see...

[AndreaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Thank you for sharing your experience and troubleshooting. If your Charge 5 is experiencing battery issues, let’s try some of the following steps: 

1. Confirm your Charge 5 has the latest firmware version. For more information please visit How do I update my Fitbit device? and What's changed in the latest Fitbit device update?
2. Check to see if you’re using high battery use features. For more information please visit Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?
3. Let’s try a 3 press restart with your charging cable. For more information please see How do I restart my Fitbit device?

Hope this helps!

[shimsim]

I first posted on this thread in late 2021, at the time I just got my first Charge 5 and the battery wasn't lasting more than a few days. After much troubleshooting and support chats, I was advised that a replacement would be needed to solve this issue. The original unit was made in China, the replacement unit that arrived was made in Malaysia. The replacement order was on 6th of Jan 2022 and the unit worked perfectly until it suddenly stopped working. Initially, the display would not turn on, then when connecting to the power, it would momentarily turn on, but then turn off again. This time the support troubleshooting was much easier as it was obviously faulty, but I still had to record a video to show what was happening. This was in April, so the replacement only lasted 4 months (3 months of actual use because it took 1 month to get it). I was again sent a replacement unit, this one was made in China and until 2 days ago it had been working without any issues at all. It had the latest firmware and nothing out of my usual routine had been done (same phone, same workout, same environment, etc, etc). In this case I noticed it was unresponsive and could not turn on the display but the sensor (green light) was still flashing and it was still able to communicate with my phone, so I went ahead and tried to do a restart (using the button on the cable). After trying a restart, nothing happened and it would not longer sync with my phone but the sensor light was still flashing if you got close to it. After about 30 minutes of plugging, restarting, and generally trying everything possible, it finally woke and I left it to charge fully (it was actually at around 50% but thought, best to give it a full charge). This happened in the evening, so after the full charge, I wore it as usual and went to bed. In the morning it was dead so I again have it a full charge and restarted just to make sure nothing was abnormal. During the day the battery was already draining much faster than usual and although I didn't use it (no GPS or workouts), by the evening it was already below 50% so obviously something was wrong. I decided not to charge it and went to bed and it was dead again by the morning but this time I was not able to revive it. No matter what I tried, no sign of life at all, not even the green flashing light. Got onto customer support and after a few minutes of explaining everything, was again told that I would need a replacement.

Now, this might not be the right place to raise this point (because its not really a battery draining too fast issue), but since it started here and Ive been following this and pointing out along the way that there seems to be something inherently wrong with the hardware, there is proper context to my story and I'm hoping it will reach the right people ... so .....

How am I or any customer supposed to have faith in this product when it seems to be failing so easily? If it was 1 failure, that can happen, 2 failures, not ideal, but OK, I can accept that, but 3 failures and that tells me something is wrong. At this rate I will have a 4th failure in 3-4 months and will be out of warranty, so what do i do then?

I asked the support assistant who was dealing with this current failure if this was normal and why I would have so many units die on me, this is the reply I got ....
"Note that the materials these are made off are tested and have undergone testing before it was released however, due to unforeseen events, the materials these are made of reaches it's limitation"

So either that is the standard canned response for "why has my strap worn out" or they just want to avoid giving any useful answer at all because this reply means nothing. I didn't bother asking again because I could tell they wanted to get me off the support chat ASAP.

Anyway, I am sharing this in the hope that someone from Fitbit can reach out to me and explain what is going on with the quality of the Charge 5. Am I just unlucky? am I using it wrong? What do I do if it fails again in 4 months and I'm out of warranty?

I also think it's important for others to be aware of this, it would be good to know if my situation is uncommon or if others just give up after the 1st or 2nd failure. Just trying to make some sense of this because 3 replacements in 10 months is really concerning. 

[Milo5712]

I bought a Charge 5, 3 months ago (29th June). I was so happy that the Charge 5 battery was lasting for 5 days or more as opposed to 2 days with my previous Fitbit 2! Now I am also suffering this battery draining problem all of a sudden – it only lasts about 2 days – same as a lot of people are getting all of a sudden (me - since the start of Sep)!! I followed the advice to turn things off to preserve battery – no good, still!

This morning (5th Oct – OZ time) the battery was down low again – after about 2 days – again! I put it on the charge about 09:15 (12%), took it off about 12:15 at 100%. I checked it at about 6:30pm and the step count hadn’t updated all day. I then found the battery was at 28%!!!!

Okay, so what happened at the start of September to cause this???? (the firmware update?) I have the latest version of the firmware that supposedly fixed this issue! What happened??

[Sled483]

I gave my charge 5 to my mother and got an apple watch. Fitbit has done nothing about this issue. It's the same response over and over. Follow these steps and it should work. It didn't. It's a firmware or product problem. I was a loyal Fitbit user. I tried everything to fix. It's still doing the exact same thing. Mine was out of warranty. They wouldn't send me a new one. It sounds like it doesn't matter even if they did it's still doing the same thing. I'm done. 

[SurferJack]

My experience is the same.  Three failures in 12 months.  Add to that the fact that two of the returns got lost in the mail (using their supplied return labels) .  Doing nothing wrong, not unlucky...  just inherent product failure

[shimsim]

Appreciate those who shared their similar experience. I found another board that is perhaps more appropriate for sharing experience with the charge 5, this one - https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-5/Charge-5-experiences-reliability/m-p/5252465#M27147

As the failures of this product are not just limited to the battery draining too fast ( I think that is just one of many issues or at least one manifestation of the poor reliability ) it might help if we post all the different types of failures we experienced, at least on a board that isn't marked as answered because anyone who is still invested in staying with Fitbit deserves some answers on why the charge 5 is so prone to failure and what kind of solution will be offered once we are out of warranty and it fails in exactly the same way

I know that many of you have already moved on to different products/brands and that seems to be the real 'best answer' but it would be better if we can push can on this and get a real solution from Fitbit.

[BeenFitter]

I had a perfectly functional Fitbit Charge 5 from day 1 of their release which worked perfectly until this latest software release when all of a sudden I have a completely unusable pile of junk 😞

so looking forward to a software release that might fix this - plan B is another brand - will give it 1 month for a new software update then I will be an ex-Fitbit owner as will my wife !

[bbunge]

Just spent some quality time in chat with Fitbit support. My Charge 5 battery went dead, well to 4%, today without low battery warning. Three days ago I at least got a low battery email. Support told me the device battery was at 84%. Yes it had been on charge for three hours! Told me the firmware was up to date, had me restart the device and gave me the crap about third party apps, of which I have none, and ended the chat. When it fails again in two to three days I'll call them back with the case number and demand a new device.

[jenny05]

I gave up. Support doesn't want to help. They just want to troubleshoot and
have you try things you've already done. Obviously it's a known issue. They
should recall and give everyone a new band or at least a steep discount but
instead they just wanna jerk you around. I got a Samsung watch. Screw
fitbit.

[shimsim]

I can attest to the customer support experience, every time I had an issue and the Charge 5 was either obviously behaving out of spec or had right out died, I was asked to perform a load of pointless tasks that logically had nothing to do with what was wrong even after I had already explained all the numerous steps I had already taken to troubleshoot. For example, with the last failure, the device was totally dead, would not charge, could not be reset and had no sign of life. I had already explained that I checked the cable, contact pins, that I had left it to charge for a while, that I had tried multiple resets, it could no longer communicate with my phone and that it had already exhibited strange behaviour the day before. One of the steps I was asked to do was to try changing my clock face .... so how exactly can I do that on a dead device which won't connect to my phone? 

That being said, when you do finish jumping through all the hoops, they should issue a replacement and I am not sure why some customers are not getting this. I am still trying to get an answer as to why I had 3 devices fail and how I am supposed to trust a product with that many failures.

[tharp]

 Totally  understand! My first device lasted January  to May. Customer service wasn't  so bad. The turn around time for replacement awful.I haven't had much to say about the replacement until now. June to October, I taxed it pretty heavily by having  it record full day of working outside.  The next morning it was at 25% should have been no problem  for a few hours. The battery went completely dead. I charged it to 100%; 5 hrs later it was at 42%. It is failing....I just wonder how long I have  put up with this. I want a replacement  to get me thru my 1yr warranty period.
*Tammy Harpin*

[BeenFitter]

Got to say I contacted Fitbit chat support, told them the issue, told them what I had done to try and resolve.

They sent me a link for a replacement within 5 minutes 

Ordered a replacement and it is due for delivery in next couple of days 

Kudos to them for a fast response.