Charge 5 is not syncing my data to the Fitbit app as it should

[Oriaz]

Good morning all,

I recently got a Fitbit Charge 5 after probably 4 years or so without a Fitbit device, and it seems to be working fine so far in terms of actually tracking what I'm doing on the wristband itself. 

However, when it comes to syncing with the Fitbit app, it seems a bit sketchy. I'm not sure if it's something that I'm doing wrong, or if there's a problem with the app/wristband/servers. Here's today's example:

I took a short walk with the dog. Before setting out, I selected "Walk" on the wristband, started the activity, and off I went. After about 25 minutes, I stopped the walk and stopped the activity on the wristband. The wristband is telling me I've done 4000 steps, 8 minutes in fat burn etc etc, all sounds about right.

When I open up the Fitbit app, it says it's syncing, and shortly after the correct amount of steps, distance and calories appear. However, the main "Zone Mins" indicator at the top of the app just stays on 0, even though the wristband says I done 8. And there is nothing appearing under "Exercise" at all, it just says "Track your exercise", and lists a bunch of activities I did back in 2018 when I last had a Fitbit (which I really want to get rid of actually).

So did I do something wrong? Or is this a faut? My expectation is that I start a Walk on the wristband, when I get home, I finish the walk on my wristband, and when I sync the wristband with the app I will see the data from the walk that I just completed, with a map of my route etc etc. Right now, it knows I've done the steps, the distance and the calories, but it seems to have no idea about the walk I tracked 🙄

I am using the app on an Android phone, the GPS on the Charge 5 is set to Dynamic

Thanks for any help!
Cheers, Ori

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Oriaz. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for the details provided in your post about the inconvenience with your Charge 5. I understand where your worry comes from. 

As a first approach, I'd like to clarify what you mean by "lists a bunch of activities I did back in 2018 when I last had a Fitbit (which I really want to get rid of actually).". Do you want to get rid of the activities and start from scratch? If that is the case, I'd suggest creating a new Fitbit account as this would be the only way you can start from scratch with your Charge 5 with no past records at all. Otherwise, you'll have all your history since when you first started with your previous Fitbit device. For instructions, see How do I set up my Fitbit device?

Moving on to the issue you're experiencing with your data, please try the following steps: 

• Unpair your Charge 5 from your phone's Bluetooth and Fitbit app.
• Unpair other Bluetooth devices that you may also have paired to your phone's Bluetooth settings.
• Force quit the Fitbit app.
• Turn off other Bluetooth connections when not in use. This can help to prevent connectivity issues or Bluetooth interference.
• Shut off your phone and turn it on after 1-2 minutes.
• Turn on the Bluetooth on your phone.
• Plug it into the charging cable and open the Fitbit app.
• Set up your Charge 5.
• If there is no connection, restart your Charge 5.
• Once your Charge 5 is paired and syncing, please proceed to set up your other Bluetooth devices to your phone again. 

With the steps above, what I want you to do is to pair your Charge 5 first to your phone's Bluetooth settings before any other Bluetooth device is connected to your phone.

On a side note, I was wondering if you are using MobileTrack? If you're using MobileTrack at the same time you're using your Charge 5, this might be causing your data to be overlapped. That would also explain why you're missing some data after syncing. For more information, see How do I use Fitbit MobileTrack?

Last but not least, please see How do I use GPS on my Fitbit device? just to make sure you're using the GPS feature properly as you have 3 options with Charge 5 to track your GPS data or at least double check you're using Dynamic GPS as described in the help article. 

[Oriaz]

Hi Marre,

Thanks for your response, and sorry for my slow reply!

I can confirm that everything is now working. In the end, I removed some Bluetooth devices that were linked to my phone, but I no longer use/have them. I also had an outstanding Android update. So after unpairing those devices (but not all), installing the android update, and restarting the phone, all of the data from my Charge 5 carried over correctly, including the map of my routes etc.

And for the other question, yes, I did want to get rid of all of my past data as it's 4/5 years old now, and I just wanted to start fresh. I figured that the only way to do that might be to start a new account, but I wanted to double-check that there wasn't some simple "Clear Historical Data" option somewhere.

Thanks for the help,
Cheers, Ori