Charge 5 goes unresponsive almost daily

[MoxRox]

Hi, I have been having this problem for awhile and am fed up. My Charge 5 is only about 2 and a half years old. It has started this annoying habit of going dead at important times - when I am out for my walk or sometime during the night. (Other times I just notice during the day that it is dead, so I don't think my activity is relevant to it happening.)

This happened today and yesterday during vigorous walks when I would have liked to have accurate tracking of my exercise. 

I know about how to restart the device and have done that most times. It usually restarts when I put it on the charger, with no need for me to do the 3-presses, but I usually do the full restart process anyway. 

This first started happening a few months ago.  The first time, I came here and found the instructions to restart it, and it didn't happen again for a while. But now it is happening several times a week, and now two days in a row.

An interesting point is that it usually has plenty of battery showing when this happens. (Or at least when I started the activity during which it died.)  But I have also noticed that when I put it on the charger after the "black screen" events, it will show some ridiculous battery level like 94%, when I know it was showing something like 57% before the event.  There have been other times when the battery reading doesn't make sense, like it will have been on the charger for 2 hours and barely moved a few per cent; then I check back fifteen minutes later and it has gone from showing 35% to showing 100% charged.

Is there any hope for this device to become reliable again?  I really love the features, when it works. 

UPDATE:  I saw on another post to try changing the clock face. I just tried that and the screen froze and failed to switch to the new clock face, until I put the device on the charger and synced from the app.

UPDATE #2: I was **SO** hoping that using a different clock face would solve the issue. NOPE. Right on schedule, it died again in the middle of my walk today. 

[hpday]

I have the same problem. You accurately describe my symptoms. It has been getting more frequent recently, so I downloaded some data and had a look.

The Physical Activity folder has "steps-... .json" files, each covering a month and giving number of steps in each minute of each day. Or it seems to intend that. So I looked at how many steps are recorded and found, over a recent 6-day period, only about 1 step in 4 was recorded. No regular drop-outs: very random, some lasting a good while, some just a few minutes.

I now know that the data I have collected is of little value, at least recently, and it is for the data that I got a fitbit. My Charge-5 is also 2 1/2 years old, and I suspect it is now junk, along with much of my data.

Anyone else noticing this problem? Has anyone else actually looked at their data? Not the totals, the individual data points?

[Senseless2]

Wish I had a solution.. I have a Sense 2 and have been having this exact issue too. Mine seems to have started with the last time upgraded the firmware. Tried changing clock faces, uninstalling apps, factory reset.... Nothing. 😞

[Senseless2]

Update - I reached out to Fitbit support and they walked me through some things to try and fix it. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work because I had already done those things lol. My Fitbit is out of warranty but they did give me a discount code to buy a new one.

[Sis-Sue]

Same problem for me, even time is sometimes wrong after reset - driving me nuts!

[NikkiGeezee]

Same exact issue.  Charge 5.  Ready to give up on Fitbits.  Shame because when it works i am happy with it.  Will start looking into alternatives.   

[carousel41]

Exactly the same as my situation, and the same as Jogger (below). Fitbit don't seem interested 😠

[RosieBs_Dad]

Not a fan of "me too" posts, but me too!

Charge 5 will randomly hang, only way to get it back is via charging cable.........no *****ing good if out and about.

What I do see is that I know when it froze because it recovers to the exact time the lockup happened.

No pattern to it, what I can say is:

Battery seems fine - holds charge, lockup doesn't seem to correlate to low battery etc.

Wondered if it was anything to do with using 3rd party charging cable but ruled that out now.

Seems more likely to lock as morning alarm time approaches.

Loved the Charge 5 while it worked but, at 2.5y old it's going in the bin and I'll never buy another Fitbit (or Google) product.

Good luck folks

[Hoult74]

Same issue here. 

Charge 5, freezes randomly during the day, sometimes when an alarm is going off, sometimes when looking to see what the time is, other times in the middle of a workout and sometimes during the night - which is great as then my alarm doesn't go off in the morning.

[Hoult74]

Also, just to add. I need to plug it into the charger to restart it (I don't need to do the charger + button press).

Sometimes using the restart option on the fitbit itself will cause it to freeze, then I have to connect it to the charger to make it become active again.

[SunsetRunner]

@MoxRox 
Sorry to say that I had the same issue. In fact, this community bursts with posts reporting the same issue, funny enough more often than not after 2 years and a couple of weeks after the purchase. Google Fitbit seems to routinely suggest the same steps to take and they seem to routinely fail. Then, to my impression, Google Fitbit often offers 35% discount if you buy a new tracker, at least they offered me, because the warranty had just ended before the issue occurred. What a coincidence. I was fed up with them and did not want to buy another Google Tracker, not even a discounted one, after four generations of faulty Charges. If you consider getting another Charge tracker, do yourself a favor and check this community on issues with Charge 6. You may be surprised about how many old issues seem to live on in the new generation. May it be hereditary? 

[SunsetRunner]

Same here. Let us know what alternatives you found, please, if you have a minute.

[Tricia58]

I am having the same problem as you describe.  I did speak to Fitbit last year who were aware of the problem.  I was given  different instructions, from resetting to disconnecting the Charge 5 from my mobile and starting as though it was a new tracker.  I was also told to ensure that the GPS was connected prior to a walk,  but alas after a short time of tracking the tracker would 'die' and the only way to bring back to life was to charge it, despite the tracker having plenty of charge.  

Just last week I went through the process of resetting, disconnecting from my mobile etc. to try and rectify this problem but nothing has worked.

Today 10th February, I set the tracker to record a 30 minute workout, after about 5 mins the tracker screen would go blank and I would have to connect to the charger,  this happened about 4 times.  As you describe the battery kept showing random amounts of charge every time it was connected to the charger.

So to conclude my Charge 5 was purchased in August 2022 approximately 2.5 years old,   is this the life span of the Fitbit trackers?  Since 2016  I have been using Fitbit trackers but am seriously considering looking for an alternative tracker which is a shame as I do like the functions of the Charge trackers.

I have today also tried to speak to their help desk but I am unable to submit my problem,  tried to get someone to phone me  but this isn't working either.

[Tricia58]

Update - I had logged into my Fitbit account which would not let me submit my contact request,  I   then logged into Google and was able to speak to someone online.  Typically my Charge 5 is out of warranty, I have been offered a 35% discount on a new tracker with the exception on a few devices that do not come under the offer.  

I was hoping that my Charge 5 would last until a new Charge device was released (Charge 7?),  I was informed by the Help Desk Assistant that they did not know or have a date when a new Charge device would be released?  I also did ask if the Charge 6 was encountering any similar problems,  the reply was rather vague, they informed me that they have a Charge 6 and that they had not had any problems with it.

So do I purchase a Charge 6 or find an alternative?  I like the style of the Charge tracker, hence I have had one since 2016 and replaced with another newer Charge device when needed.  I also did point out that the they only seem to have a shelf life of 2 to 2.5 years

[Sis-Sue]

Mine is also only a couple of years old. Had to reset twice this morning! As someone else said it's great when it works, but am so glad I didn't renew the Premium subscription

[HarkMB]

You are not alone. Identical to mine - and the other replies on this post. Seems to me the fitbit has a lifespan of little over two years.

[Sis-Sue]

Yes, so disappointing

[Tricia58]

UPDATE 2 - 22/02/2025     After posting the above, my Charge 5 died twice without me doing anything, (sitting on the sofa) and had to be connected to the charger to re set.   I decided to search for reviews on the Charge 6.  A review completed by a well known tabloid paper compared the Charge 5 and 6.  Now I am not sure how old the review was but they did mention that both 5 & 6 had the same problem with them dying and Fitbit had been aware of the problem for 6 months.   I also looked into purchasing an alternative tracker to the Fitbit Charge 6,  unfortunately nothing I looked at had all of the features the Fitbit has, but due to the fact that the Charge 6 is almost 2 years old since being released did I want to buy a tracker that could possibly die on me and is hopefully due an upgrade in the very near future???  I decided that I would go for a cheaper tracker which has quite a few of the Fitbit specs,  might not be as sophisticated but it will do  until a Charge 7 is released.  Some of the features on the replacement tracker, Steps Count, Kcal, Sport Record, Temperature, Blood Pressure (yes, it takes your BP), Blood Oxygen, Heart Rate, Sleep, Drink Water,  Body Weight, Alarms, Notifications, Tracks variety of  Sports, running, walking cycling, workout,  indoor walk, indoor cycling, pushups  plus many others, approx. 25 different sports including roller skating, HIT, Rope Skipping and the list goes on.  Overall pretty impressed, haven't been on a walk yet so I cannot report on the tracking.   I know I will be paying out again buying a Fitbit Charge 7 (if released) but I would rather use a cheaper replacement than spend out on the Charge 6.  Whether Fitbit will honour the 35% off  a new tracker remains to be seen.  Even with the discount it was a no goer for me.  

Hopefully Google will have rectified the dying problem and any other teething problems prior to a new Charge tracker being released, one can live in hope.

[Sis-Sue]

Thank you for all the info. The other tracker sounds a great substitute so i'll look into that too as it will probably be the last one i buy!