Charge 5 screen keeps turning off

[AW19_]

Hello, I have a recurring issue with my watch randomly dying, but when I charge it, it will flash the fitbit logo and fade quickly. Then it'll show its charging face, but that fades quickly as well. If I take it off the charger, sometimes I can see the clock face for a second before that fades and even swipe if I'm fast enough, but it fades to black in a second. If I plug it back into the charger, the fitbit logo will start again like it died, even though charging shows it was at 100%. My app will be able to connect and read the fitbit for sometimes an hour before it disconnects again, but the screen will be blank the whole time.

I've been able to fix this in the past with a reboot (pressing the charging cable button 3 times) and changing the clock face, but it is not a one and done. I have to do it over and over again. I'm not sure why it works sometimes and not others. It is not working now at all now. 

It started in September 2024 and has happened maybe 5 times since then, usually resolving over a day as I periodically restart and change the clock face. 

Anyone else facing this issue? 

My watch is out of warranty. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @AW19_. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for the troubleshooting steps you've tried. I'm sorry to hear that your Charge 5 is still not working properly. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

Since all the steps you tried didn't work, you have a Charge 5 and report that the screen is blank, I need additional information from you that would best be shared privately. I’m sharing a link to a form for you to fill out so we can look into this further. 

This form is only meant for you to use, so let me know once you’re done. Click here to get access to it. 

[AW19_]

Hi Marre,

I have submitted the form. 

Thank you!

[LauraE317]

I’m having the exact same issue. 

[SpringMesa]

Same issue. My Charge 5 is three years old. Thinking about purchasing a Charge 6, but heard Fitbit will not be making new devices in the future. So this will probably be my last device.

[RiekoC]

Hello @SpringMesa 

I've also seen articles that report Fitbit will not be making new devices in the future. 

FWIW, we've been told that this isn't true and that there will be new Fitbit devices in the future. I expect any new devices will be announced at the Made By Google event later this year.

[SpringMesa]

in eighth decade. Ain’t got time to wait around.

[AW19_ · Accepted solution]

I FIXED IT!

fitbit was ZERO help, but I solved it, for now. 

Basically I had to turn my screen wake settings from manual to auto or vise versa. It's a journey on how I got here, but here are the steps I took!

My screen would only stay on for about a second, but if I kept it on the charger and counter to 10, I could move around where I left off. So starting point is charging screen (the one that shows you how much battery you have). From there I swiped right to get to my clock screen. I might be able to swipe down to get to settings, but I wasn't usually fast enough so I would have to wait 10 seconds. Mind you, it's 10 seconds from when you stop touching the screen. You can wait 20, to be safe, but I'm impatient. So settings, then display settings, then screen wake. I just clicked it a few times and it worked. 

This will take about 5 minutes to get to. 

Things I did that did not fix it:

-hard restart 

-doing the 10 second trick to do a reset from my fitbit settings

-changing the clockface

-changing the brightness level

I hope this helps you. This will be my last fitbit and I really like it so I want to keep it around. 

[AW19_]

Hey, I fixed it! Hope my method above works for you.