Charge 5 battery life suddenly less than 24 hours

[LF2771]

Fitbit Charge 5, approx year to year & half old, which has been working normally, with normal expected battery life. 

In the past few days the battery life has changed abruptly without having made any changes to setting or use patterns.  Battery is going from full charge to depleted in most cases in less than 12 hours.

I have followed all common advice, disabled GPS, reset the device several times, both directly on the device and via the button on the charging cable but no change.

Other issue which has arisen at precisely the same time, so possibly coincidental and not related. Now repeated getting notifications to add payment information despite previously never having used the facility.

Appreciate any advice to delay having to bin it !

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

[Omniman]

You are not alone! A few days ago I also started getting prompts to add a payment card. Then my Charge 5 became unresponsive so I had to reboot it with 3 presses on the USB charging cable. And since then, battery life has degraded to around 20 hours whereas it used to be 7 to 8 days.

I'm guessing there must have been some firmware update that has caused these issues. I've just tried to contact Support via Live Chat but that seems to be as unresponsive as my Charge 5 was on Sunday! Perhaps they rebooting too......

Thanks Surfista. Managed to get through to Support earlier today. They confirmed my battery history on their logs and agreed to send a replacement since my Charge 5 was still under warranty : )

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, it's good to see you visiting the community forums for the first time, @LF2771 @Omniman. 

I appreciate all this information that you've shared about the inconvenience with your Charge 5. 

There are a few features that would make the battery drain faster than usual, even in one day. In general, it is recommended to follow the recommendations listed in this article to improve or extend battery life. 

If this doesn't apply to you, another step that has been helpful for other users having battery draining problems is the three pulse restart procedure using the charging cable: 

1. Connect your device to the charging cable. For instructions, see How do I charge my Fitbit device?
2. Press the button located on the flat end of the charger 3 times within 8 seconds, holding each press for about 1 second.
3. Wait 10 seconds or until the Fitbit logo appears.
4. If the device doesn’t restart, wait 15 seconds to try again.

@Omniman Thanks for sharing this update, it's good to know they've sent you a replacement device. 

[Jenkat979]

Are these instructions correct for the Charge 5? My charger doesn't have a button anywhere on it - only the two pins that connect to my tracker.

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@DavideFitbit please address my previous comment when possible.

[RRC12]

Mine started doing the exact same thing yesterday.  I charged yesterday and now battery is at 36%!! I will try getting through to support, as I’ve tried restarting, etc.

[BGZ58]

Me too. Screen went black. Battery was charged to 100%  1 hr later 50%.

Still records heart rate and steps but screen is black. Was able to upgrade software but screen still black. It wont let me restart ( unless its restarting and I dont realize it b/c screen is black

They agree to send me a replacement too but they are on back order until 8/4/2023

[Omniman]

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@Jenkat979 wrote:

Are these instructions correct for the Charge 5? My charger doesn't have a button anywhere on it - only the two pins that connect to my tracker.

Look at the other end of your charging cable, the bit that connects into the charging plug!

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[RiekoC]

Hi & welcome @Jenkat979 

There is a small inset button on the USB end of the charging cable that came with your Charge 5. See picture below:

[Trossteach1]

My battery drains and only charged to 33%. It’s 1 1/2 year old at the most - just started doing this for no reason . I am sick of my problems with Fitbit - the charge 5 is not waterproof at all and had to get 2 new ones from you after much hassle. I’m over it and going to an Apple Watch - horrible product that has no lasting ability 

[Hawk48]

I’m having same issue as of yesterday…

[Silvan_]

Another case here of battery life getting under 24 hours, it was working perfectly fine before this past weekend so it has to be some kind of firmware issue..  I'm trying to reboot, cross fingers.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the updates that you've shared about this inconvenience. 

If you're new to this thread, please make sure to exhaust all the troubleshooting options mentioned here previously to extend battery life. 

It seems that most of you were able to get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance and they've shared some instructions with you. Make sure to continue the communication with them so they can let you know about the options available for you. You can chat with them or call them directly here. 

@Jenkat979 Let me know if you were able to complete the restart procedure with the instructions @RiekoC mentioned here earlier. 

[twowards1]

Having this issue as well. My 14 month old device went from getting nearly a week out of a full charge to lasting barely 2 hours overnight. I contacted customer support. Was told they could see abnormal issues with my battery & they would escalate my issue to next level support. Said I would get an email from them with next steps in approx 2 hours. It has been several days, & what I've actually received is radio silence. Since this is my 2nd device in only 3 years (charge 4 also abruptly died), and customer support is apparently nonexistent, I guess I will have to call this a lesson learned & shop for a more reliable product. It's a shame, as I really liked both of my fitbit devices, however I am not willing to continue supporting a company who will not support me as well. 

[DavideFitbit]

@twowards1 Thanks for all the feedback and for confirming that you already contacted the Customer Support team.  

It seems the Support team sent you another reply some time ago. Could you please check on your spam folder to confirm if you received it? 

[Rickygilb]

Exactly the same thing with me - had Charge 5 as a Christmas present in 2021. Was working perfectly until around 2 weeks ago with charge lasting several days, then sudddenly reduced to a few hours. Since start of this week, also been getting annoying vibrating notification to add card. As with LF2771, had not made any changes to settings previously. Have tried everything that Fitbit have advised but no use. The issue with "add card" goes back over a year on the forum but still no fix. All that is offered is a lousy discount as the watch is out of guarantee - Shame on you FitBit. Will be switching to competitor and advising consumer watchdogs of total apathy of Fitbit to sort out problems purely of their making without any satisfactory explanation!!!

[rvloh]

My charge 5 does not register anything anymore. I want to try the there pulse restart, but only received the charge cable. Never the charger. So?!

[twowards1]

Have checked my email thoroughly & have not found any messages from fitbit
other than weekly stats.

[RiekoC]

Hello & welcome @rvloh 

There is a small inset button on the USB end of the charging cable that came with your Charge 5. See picture below:

This is the button that you press 3 times.