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Charge 5 is not tracking my heart rate accurately

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‎04-24-2023 13:53 - last edited on ‎04-25-2023 04:47 by Fitbit Moderator

‎04-24-2023 13:53 - last edited on ‎04-25-2023 04:47 by Fitbit Moderator

My Charge 5 has started showing high heart rate when I start an exercise, though I've not actually started exercising.  One day this week I was looking at the home screen and saw HR of 70, turned on an exercise, weights, and it jumped to 190. I restarted the device, started the exercise again and it went back to normal. Now I'm restarting pretty much every day, today twice, to get it to give an accurate number. 

 

 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

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3 REPLIES 3

‎04-25-2023 04:50 - edited ‎05-26-2023 13:01

‎04-25-2023 04:50 - edited ‎05-26-2023 13:01

Hello there, @crashtx1. Thanks for stopping by in the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for trying to troubleshoot the issue with your Charge 5 before reaching out.

In addition to the steps you've done so far, please try the following:

 

  • Switch the Heart Rate settings from On to Off and manually sync your watch. To switch the heart rate settings on your Charge 5, from the main screen of your Fitbit device, open the Settings app > Heart Rate > tap to turn the setting OFF.
  • Once it's done, manually sync your Charge 5. To do so, open the Fitbit app, tap on the Account icon, tap on your Fitbit device's image and tap on "Sync Now" 
  • Next, switch it from Off to On and manually sync your Charge 5 once again. 
  • Once it's done, restart your Charge 5.
  • Next, confirm that your tracker is snug on your wrist (the lights shouldn't be visible). We also recommend when you're not exercising, wear the tracker just above the wrist bone.

If the issue persists, please see What factors can affect my heart-rate reading on my Fitbit device?

Maria | Community Moderator, Fitbit


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Best Answer

‎04-25-2023 05:03 - last edited on ‎05-26-2023 13:02 by Fitbit Moderator

In response to MarreFitbit

‎04-25-2023 05:03 - last edited on ‎05-26-2023 13:02 by Fitbit Moderator

I've completed the steps and will update how it goes. 

 

My question, what is the technical issue? I've had Fitbits for a long, long time, and I've had the Charge 5 for a year without this problem.

Update: 

It seems this is not the solution.  Yesterday the Fitbit was showing my heartrate at 69(which I verified with a pulse ox), turned on a weight workout and without moving my heart rate jumped to 135(pulse ox still showed 69).  I checked it several times during the workout and Fitbit was showing between 10 and 50 beats per minute faster that the pulse ox. I do not have time or should I have to reboot the Fitbit multiple times prior to a workout. The incorrect rate skews my workout results(like calories burned) and makes it difficult to use the data for anything useful. 

 

Please put out a fix for this mess, or let me know if it's, after all these years, to try another vendor. 

 

Since the recommended solution did not solve this problem, what will be the next step taken by Fitbit to resolve the issue?

Best Answer

‎07-01-2023 06:09

In response to crashtx1

‎07-01-2023 06:09

This just started happening to me after using my charge 5 for years with no such issue.

I almost went to the emergency room when my charge 5 started displaying my resting pulse as 139!.

Luckily I had a pulse oximeter handy and when I compared the rate on that device was around 70.

And an internet search shows this is not an uncommon  issue. Is there any update? Is Fitbit at least registering this as a bug that needs to be fixed?

If not, it may be time to find a different brand which stinks because I love my Fitbit.

Best Answer