Charge 5 stuck on reboot loop

[Denigor777]

After less than 2 weeks of use, and on the second time charging, the Fitbit Charge 5 entered an unrecoverable reboot loop (see https://youtu.be/gt9jPQJOTHg).  Whether charging or not, it cycled between Fitbit logo, black screen, a default clock face and sometimes a red-error/white cross error circle.   

Fitbit support chatted with me about it, which was a weird conversation because they instructed me to reboot in the settings menu.  I can't get to the settings menu.  They said change the clock face.  The app cannot change the clock face, because the app cannot sync, because the Charge 5 keeps rebooting.  You get the idea: they are probably following a well intended but poorly planned script.

Conclusion: It's being picked-up and I'm getting a full refund.  It was my first ever Fitbit, and I am going direct to a competitor next.

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, thank you for sharing all your feedback and that you've been experiencing this inconvenience with the new Charge 5, @Denigor777. I'm sorry to see that you're still experiencing this problem. 

I've been informed that you have indeed contacted the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. The team of developers is constantly working to improve quality of products and services and the Support team is always eager to help with any problem that may present with the device. If possible, I recommend that you continue the assistance process with them; 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. 

I'm sorry to see that you had to return your Charge 5 due to this inconvenience. Thank you again for sharing all your feedback. 

Have a great day. 

[ddunc]

Have the same issue.  Got it yesterday, charged it up, changed the clock face to the yellow data heavy face with 3 stats on it.

I noticed before bed it was discharging quickly but the battery went from 70% to  0% overnight so it was totally dead in the morning. This was before I knew that was a problem.

Connected to the charger, wouldn't charge so I did the 3 presses on the charger cable.  It started charging, got to 20% so I took it off and it started rebooting: blue Fitbit logo > clock face for 2 seconds > black screen > repeat. Eventually it restarts too many times and ends up with a red circle with a white X in the middle.

Clock face says 12:00, Jan 1, 0000 (or something like that).

I can't get to the Settings to reset because it freezes and reboots before I can tap Settings.

Finally gave up and contacted support via chat.  Walked through all the restart/reset steps again.

They gave me a case number and said 24-48 hours.

Kinda wish I woulda bought it from BestBuy instead of buying it from fitbit so I could just go get another one. 

I had a charge 2 that died and chat gave me a shipping label right then and there so having to wait for a pretty clear-cut defective unit isn't a great customer experience.

Still have my Charge 4 so I hooked it back up.

I paid the $20/year for the 2 year protection plan because it's a brand new product but not bothering with a claim until I give Fitbit a chance.

Plus side is it was really cool before it died.  Band is nice, screen is nice, thinner Fitbit is nice.

---------------------------------------

Now it's just showing the red circle surrounding a white x.  It won't restart anymore via the 3 presses on the charge cord usb plug.

Moderator edit: format

[SunsetRunner]

Same as you, arrived today, fully charged, paired with the phone, random bootloops for a couple of hours then red circle and white cross.

Now I’ve contacted the support team… not a good start for my first FitBit device…

[ddunc]

I took it off the charger and walked away for a bit and when I came back it was completely dead and now I can't get it to charge, reset, or do anything.

Just black screen.

No follow up from fitbit support yet from my chat on Saturday the 9th which is a bit more than the 24-48 hour turnaround time promised.

Not super happy.  This is my 4th fitbit and the least impressive support experience.  The Charge 2 was unreliable but at least the support you talked to were empowered to do something about it. Went through three of those in a 1.5 years.

At least my charge 4 is still working like a champ.

[Feckit]

Hi there. I am having the same problem and it's the 2nd Charge 5 I've had - Fitbit eventually replaced my first one after I had problems with it going into a reboot loop just as you described. Now the 2nd Charge 5 is doing exactly the same thing. I can setup via the iOS app but after a short while it'll go into a reboot loop. Currently it's stuck on the white cross in a red circle screen. I've followed all the advice I could find and it keeps happening.

I'm not finding support very useful, they keep coming back with the same advice or misunderstanding my problem telling me to how to fix issues with pairing the device when that's not the issue. I'm going to give them a couple of days to try and come up with a solution before asking for a refund. I'm really unhappy with the whole experience - thinking of ditching Fitbit and switching to a competitor.

[Denigor777]

I went for a Venu 2 instead now.  Very happy with it.

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for all your replies, and welcome to all the new users in the Community, @ddunc @SunsetRunner @Feckit.

In this case, if you already tried the manual restart procedure described here (using the charger) and you continue to experience the same inconvenience with the device being stuck on a reboot loop, I do recommend that you continue the assistance process with the Customer Support team  so they can provide you with further instructions. 

I've seen they have been taking a bit longer than usual to reply, since this is a new product and they often need to verify things with a higher level of Support. For a more immediate response, 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 good day. 

[ddunc]

Thanks Davide.  Tomorrow it'll be two weeks since I got a case number and was supposed to get a response in "24 to 48 hours".

So this is accurate: "I've seen they have been taking a bit longer than usual to reply" 

I'll jump on chat or a call tomorrow and try to light a fire because I ordered on the 26th so it's coming up on the 30 day window.

Not super impressed, to say the least.

------------------------------------------

Jumping on chat now to see if I can get it sorted out.  I like the product for the half day I had it.  I just want one that works.

[ddunc]

Short answer:

just return it. Just know you'll be charged shipping.  If you bought the warranty that doesn't get refunded so that should be more PITA.

Long answer:

They found my case, weren't sure why it hadn't been touched but I suspect it's due to the volume of problems seen on the forum.

Lame:

I don't think I should be charged for shipping a defective product back.  Fairly reasonable at $5.95 but unimpressed.

Now my time is wasted, money wasted, I dunno not the greatest customer experience for a problem I didn't create.

I get it if I decided I didn't like it but when the product is effectively DOA..

Maybe if you wait for the engineers to evaluate the red circle white x failure mode (which seems pretty blatantly busted to me) then maybe no shipping charge.

Customer service chat reps don't appear to be authorized to issue RMAs, at least right now.

[Wibby]

That sounds terrible.  

The impression I’m getting from people having a lot of problems is that they tended to buy them direct from Fitbit rather from a local shop or Amazon.  It seems like Fitbit can make devices but don’t have the logistics and capacity to deal with sales and aftercare for some reason.

 I’m just guessing it makes more sense now to buy from a bricks and mortar shop (or Amazon).  That way complaints and returns are dealt with promptly for the customer.   Also Fitbit probably sits up and listens more when retailers are returning large volumes of defective products.

It could free up more of their staff to start fixing software problems, if that’s what’s wrong.

[Feckit]

I found a fix. If you create a brand new Fitbit account and set up and pair the Charge 5 with it, it’ll work fine.

I read a user on Reddit describe how his friend was able to get his reboot-looping Charge 5 to work on his account and after my experience, with the issue affecting 2 different devices, it made sense. I did a bunch of experiments setting up accounts on iPhone and iPad and it’s conclusive - the Charge 5 works fine when set it up with a new account but goes back to reboot looping when set up on my old account. 

Obviously this isn’t ideal as my old account has several years of data on it and I’d like to use it. But at least I can use the Charge 5 now. I’ve informed customer services about the fix but yet to hear anything back.

[ddunc]

Thanks for the info.

I sent mine back yesterday but my reboot loop was around 10 seconds total from black screen -> fitbit logo -> clock screen -> reboot -> repeat, and the clock screen was all defaults - my info wasn't being shown. 

I couldn't even use the UI long enough to get to settings > reset, much less set it up again.

Definitely will keep this in mind for the next one though.  Hopefully it just works perfectly with no bs hoop-jumping 😉

[DavideFitbit]

@ddunc Thank you for your replies and for taking the time to share your experience and feedback. I'm sorry to see that it's been taking so long to receive a response, but it's good to know that you'll be receiving a replacement soon. 

@Feckit Thank you for sharing that you already contacted the Support team as well. Unfortunately we would not be able to advise these steps, since all the user's information would be left on the old account, as you mentioned. These are other steps that have been useful for other users experiencing this inconvenience: 

1. Remove the device in the Fitbit app.
2. Uninstall and reinstall the Fitbit app.
3. Set up the device again.

However, some users experience some problems if they can iOS devices and they uninstall the app, in this case I recommend to continue the communication with the Customer Support team so they can let you know how to proceed. 

Have a good day. 

[SunsetRunner]

Feckit has the correct and only solution to this problem.  For users upgrading from a Charge 4, a brand new Fitbit account is required.  Likely a failure to do appropriate regression and integration testing during the development process at Fitbit.  If your device is in a reboot loop after upgrading from a Charge 4, the following steps are required:

1. Remove the Charge 5 from your current Fitbit account from within the app (tap your profile icon in the upper left --> tap Charge 5 --> tap Remove This Charge 5)

2. Forget the device in the Bluetooth settings on your phone (on an iPhone this is done by going to Settings-->Bluetooth)

3. Wait approximately 30 minutes for the reboot loop to terminate.  It will eventually stop and the device will become usable again.

4. Logout of the Fitbit app

5. Create a NEW Fitbit account and select Charge 5

Hope this helps!

[Denigor777]

I can confirm that I did not upgrade from a charge 4,.  My Charge 5 fitbit was my first fitbit, and I made the fitbit account only after the purchase.   Making a new account is not a solution to the problem, it is a workaround at best.

[ddunc]

Despite the messaging in the return process I did get a full refund of both the purchase price and warranty, though I was still out the shipping cost.

[ddunc]

There's no way a new Fitbit account is "required" to upgrade from Charge 4 to Charge 5. This board would be entirely filled with pissed off people about that and there's like 4.

The "new account" workaround might work for others but mine just rebooted until it ran out of battery or ended up on the red x.

Looks like they might have sorted out the battery drain issue which preceded the reboot issue so maybe I'll jump back in for a new Charge 5.

[mvonden]

This is happening a lot and has been reported in other threads.  I just upgraded this weekend and have had the exact same issue.  Fitbit needs to address this in a more meaningful way.

[MikaelS]

Agree that this should be addressed. A new account worked for me, but dropping years of history because of this seems not the right thing.