Charge 5 "Something went wrong. There was a problem while trying to pair your device"

[SunsetRunner]

Problem:

When triying to pair the watch to a smartphone, I receive the failure message in the title of this post that I cannot pair the watch. Hence, The watch shows only the start screens (Download the app, screen loggo, battery indicator in % with date of "1 jan" and hour wile the watch is connected to the carger). 

Steps to done before to get to the problem:

* Charge the watch to 100%. 

* Download the app, sign-in. 

* Go to account, + Set up a Device.

* Choose Charge 5, agree with privacy policy

* Connect the cable charger (also plugged to an energy source)

* After finding the watch, the watch displays a 4 digit code, I type the code in the app to pair. 

* The error window appears. The only choice is to abort the operation. 

Measures taken to solve the problem: 

- Downloaded the app in two iOS devices (iphone 8 an X) and try to pair them. 

- Reset the watch with the 3 clicks for 1 second, 10 seconds waiting procedure. 

- Turning off all surrounding devices with Bluetooth.

- Pairing the app close and 1.5 - 2 m away from the phone and the watch. 

- Pairing them with the cable charger plugged to a laptop and plugged to a normal charger.

- Pairing the watch with 100% charge, with less than 100%, with and without the cable charger. 

- Choosing another watch model of the charger family (Charger 4) and the same window error appears. 

Any ideas on what else to do? I do not find any information on how to make a hard manual reset, other than the 3 clicks, 1 second solution, which is not a real reset, because there is still data in the phone (I guess) causing the issue. 

Should I throw the watch to the garbage and tell others to think their purchase twice because of all the bugs these watches have?

Watch model: FITBIT-IP68-MN/FB421

[DavideFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @SunsetRunner. 

I appreciate all the information that you've provided about the inconvenience you're experiencing with the Charge 5 and the steps that you already tried. 

There are some general recommendations or troubleshooting steps that you can find here, and they have been useful for other users experiencing similar problems. 

However, it seems that you already tried most of the basic steps found in the forums to try to resolve this problem. If you already tried all the steps mentioned earlier, I do recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed.  

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 great day. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hello Davide, 

Thank you for your answer. I answer until now because I also tried some extra measures to setup the watch. unfortunately, none of them worked so, I will contact customer support in the coming days. 

For the sake of inform, the other measures (the first one are listed in the first post) that I also tried were:

- Drain the battery as much as I could. After waiting several days, the lowest percentage the watch had was 1%. After that, I recharged it with a certified charger for less than a couple of hours until 100%. Then I opened the app and tried to pair it. After typing the 4 digit pair code and wait almost a minute, I got the same error message: "Something went wrong. There was a problem while trying to pair your device"

- Reset the watch and the phone, open the app and add the watch (with 100% battery). I wrote a wrong 4 digit code. After waiting less than 1/2 minute, I got an error in the app saying that the code was wrong (So, the watch and the app do communicate with each other). 

- Download 2 the fitbit app for windows (I think It is no longer supported), add the watch, write the 4 digit code of the watch on the app, wait for less than 1.2 minute. I received an error on the watch that the pairing did not succeed. (So the watch is also detecting that the app does not support the watch).

I will talk to the customer support. Thanks. 

[DavideFitbit]

@SunsetRunner Thank you for sharing this update and all the extra troubleshooting steps that you've tried so far. I'm sure they will be useful for other users as well. 

I've been informed that you already contacted the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. In this case, they will let you know how to proceed. 

Have a great day. 😁

[dennisvc]

So, how to proceed? Having the same issue. Super frustrating cause there is no way to fix it cause Fitbit has **ahem**ty software and huge bugs, and I want money back.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi. First of all. I am writing with total independence from Fitbit. As a previously angry customer. 

Sorry. The corrector made bad jokes on my previous post. 

Yes, the software in my watch had issues.

Yes, as I wrote it before, I tried everything. I spent many hours trying to fix my charge 5 because in this and other sites, the troubleshooting information is too vague, uninformative, wrong, redundant, etc. That is what frustrates the most.

I even had to start a topic (like this one) because it is the last resource we have... or think we have. 

But if you have tried all or even more of the steps described here, I suggest you to start a chat. They answered me immediately. I only suggest you to reserve a time slot to chat with FitBit's customer care because you will have to answer them also immediately. And prepare your purchase ticket in advance. 

I haven't received my watch though, but even Davide (the moderator of this topic) followed my case so, I trust I will get it in a couple of working days. Human interaction will always be better than internet when solving things, I guess.

[DavideFitbit]

@dennisvc @SunsetRunner Thank you for sharing your feedback and experience with this. I'm sorry to see the troubleshooting steps available online have not been successful to resolve the problem. 

It seems that both of you have contacted the Customer Support team and your cases are still being handled. I appreciate your patience with this, as it can take some time for the team to evaluate the warranty status and options available for you, but I do recommend that you continue the communication with them. Please keep an eye on your inbox. 

See you around.