Charge 5 battery short life

[cwilt19]

I just recently got a brand new charge 5, and the battery barely makes it through the day. All notifications are off, screen is dim. Why wont the battery get even close to the advertised “up to 7 days?”

Moderator edit: subject for clarity 

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @cwilt19.

Thanks for the details shared in your post and for already trying to resolve the issue. I understand your concern and recommend restarting your tracker as some users found this helpful: How do I restart my Fitbit device? You can confirm our tips to prevent battery drain in Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?

Hope this helps. 

[Gorro52]

I had the same issue when I first got it, went from 90% to 50% in 9 hours and then dropped 30% while I was asleep. I charged it back up to 100% and it was still dropping fast (3% in an hour) so I restarted it through settings. It is now working great, has dropped 20% over two days. I can see it lasting around 6-7 days on one charge. I hope this works for you. 

[cwilt19]

Thanks, that did help

[Jon28]

Happened to me too. Tried everything. Finally went into the settings on the actual charge 5 and hit restart device (doesn’t delete anything) and now I’m on day 2 with 80% left. It used to only last a day and a half. Don’t ask me why this worked but I saw it worked for others as well. 

[Dbb99]

I noticed that also.  I was at 6% battery life in less than 24 hours.  

[LiliyaFitbit]

Hello everyone. For all of you who are new to the Fitbit community, welcome. 

Thank you for your troubleshooting efforts, sharing the solutions and tips to help other users. I am glad to hear that restarting your device helped you resolve the issue. If you're experiencing this issue and haven't tried to restart your device, please follow the steps in How do I restart my Fitbit device?

See you around.

[LedMatrix]

Mine is doing a little better than yours, but getting not even half the advertised battery life. By the end of Day 3 I usually have 10-12% charge left on my Charge 5.

This has been my experience with every Fitbit I've owned, and I've been through a lot of them. In addition to the C5 I also have a Versa 2, and again, have only gotten half the advertised battery life since Day 1.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, thank you for confirming that you've experiencing the same inconvenience with your Charge 5, @LedMatrix.  

The Charge 5 should have a battery life of 7 days, and although battery life is affected by use or other settings and actual results may vary, it shouldn't last for only 1 or 2 days. Some of the feature that can drain the battery more rapidly are: 

• Built-in GPS (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 4 day when using this feature regularly, or up to 5 hours if you use it continuously).
• Always-on display (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 3 days when using this feature). 
• Using an Sp82 clock face (Fitbit points out in this article that you may have to charge your Fitbit device more often when collecting SpO2 data).

If you already followed the recommendations mentioned here earlier to improve battery life, considering how some features affect it, and you still consider the battery is draining too fast, I recommend that you reach out to our Customer Support team for further assistance. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

Have a good day. 

[LedMatrix]

I know, I've gotten this response several times over the years. Basically, if you want your device to work for the advertised length of days, disable everything to the point it's merely a pedometer. 

Point is, when you advertise a device does X number of things and you can get up to X number of days on a charge, it's misleading at best, if not downright deceptive.

But like I said, it's been many years of this with many devices now, and I'm aware FitBit works like this. When I got the Charge 5 I went in knowing full well if they advertised up to 7 days of battery that I' get 3 days at best. 

[DavideFitbit]

@LedMatrix Thank you for your reply and for sharing all your feedback about the Charge 5. 

If you already tried all the troubleshooting steps found in the forums to resolve problems with the battery life, I recommend that you continue the communication with the Customer Support team here, so they can let you know how to proceed. 

Have a good day. 

[SoKlose]

I've found that certain clock faces drain the battery faster.  If you use the "Target" face, the battery life lasts as expected following the SPo2 and GPS recommendations above (~10% / day).  If you use most other clock faces such as "continuum" or "Slashed" it drains 40% - 50% per day.  Also, if you don't wear the device when you sleep, regardless of the clock face, I've found that the batter drains about 30% - 40% overnight.  Since there is no way to turn off the device, there isn't really a workaround.  There are obviously bugs with the firmware that need to be fixed that nobody from fitbit is willing to acknowledge.  Their only solution is to replace the device which is not really a solution, it's just wasteful.

[DavideFitbit]

Welcome to the Community forums, @SoKlose. 

Thank you for sharing this information about what you've been experiencing with your Charge 5.  

Could you please confirm if you continue to experience the same battery draining problem with these clock faces even after exhausting all the troubleshooting steps mentioned here earlier? 

I'll be around. 

[SoKlose]

Yes, I've tried all of the recommended steps.  My battery was at 75% yesterday and was dead when I woke up this morning.  I'm just going to return it for a refund and will not get a replacement, I'm done with Fitbit.  As we can see by the countless posts and ratings, this product has way too many issues and should not have been released until these bugs were properly addressed. This is unfortunate because I love Fitbit and have been a loyal customer for years, but I don't have faith that they will fix the numerous issues with their devices.

[DavideFitbit]

@SoKlose Thank you for your reply. 

I'm sorry to see that you continue to experience this inconvenience and that you've decided to return the product for a refund. The team of developers continues to work to improve the quality of products and services, and all comments and feedback is greatly appreciated.

Whether you decide to keep the device or return it for a refund, I recommend that you continue the assistance process with the Customer Support, since you already tried all the basic troubleshooting steps. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

Thanks again for taking the time to share your feedback. 

Have a good day. 

[LedMatrix]

I am using Hexa, which is my favorite. I'll try Target and see if that help. Thanks

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing this update, @LedMatrix. 

Let us know how it goes. 😁