Hello everyone,
I just contacted Fitbit regarding this issue, but I believe I worked out a short-term solution to have your Charge 5's sync!!!! I realized after 1.5 days of not syncing my Charge 5 Device, the time on my Charge 5 device lagged behind my phone's GPS time by ~42.5 seconds. That means, when I started my sync (when the times between my Charge 5 and phone matched), there wasn't enough time to sync completely, because all of the sudden my phone jumped to the future from the perspective of the Charge 5. I ultimately timed the start of my sync so that I started it 25 seconds before the times aligned, which gave ~15 seconds of matching time between my Charge 5 and my phone, and the sync completed! Also, all of my data (HR), Health stats, Readiness score, etc, all uploaded/updated in my account! After the sync, the time lag between my Charge 5 and phone reduced to an average of 2.6 seconds, so the time discrepancy was partially corrected with the sync....This explains why people who were not able to get their devices to sync for 2+ days may not ever able to get their devices to sync normally (because there is a possibility that the time lag increased to over 60 seconds between the Charge 5 device and your phone GPS). However, I saw a comment that some people were able to get the sync, but their data was gone. This would make sense if your time lag between the Charge 5 and phone remained constant ~42.5 seconds, because it would require the perfect time to start the sync of your device to get the sync to complete, but some of your data is lost/missing because the Charge 5 device can only store so much data!!!
Solution:
Short Term: Go to your GPS settings and turn your GPS settings from 'Dynamic' or 'Phone' to 'Built-in' for at least 3 minutes! Confirm the time on your Charge 5 is the same as on your phone (to the minute) and then attempt to sync! Changing my GPS settings corrected by time lag between my Charge 5 and my phone from the prior ~2.6 seconds (after the first successful sync) to only ~1.5-1.6 seconds! This would allow ~58 seconds for your phone and Charge 5 to have the same time so the algorithms can match and your data can fully sync!!! After your sync is complete, turn your GPS settings back to whatever setting you prefer.
Long-Term: I contacted Fitbit, explained that it isn't a memory storage issue, it isn't a Bluetooth issue, it isn't a phone software issue, but rather it is an issue with the Charge 5 device time settings (or seconds) being slightly too slow, which causes the discrepancy, which may worsen overtime! This is why so many people have a working and functional device for 3-4 weeks! Ultimately, Fitbit needs to release a Charge 5 Device Update that corrects for this time lag discrepancy.
By the way Fitbit: As I was originally told when I called in that Fitbit could not replace my device because 'this is an ongoing issue,' Fitbit should have halted the sale of new Charge 5 devices until this was solved (which they did not since I purchased mine ~3.5 weeks ago). I typically love Fitbit devices and products, but this was not a moral or smart business decision. I hope Fitbit will adopt better sale techniques considering honesty with customers and providing short-term solutions to those who already purchased malfunctioning devices is more important than continuing to sell more malfunctioning devices. If this change is made, it will ultimately only help keep the reputation of your company in good standing with the public (and it will ultimately increase your profitability).
Big shout out to
-Jocelyn
-Anna
-John
-Lucas
They were all very kind representatives who kept taking all my continued calls and reported information with great care/accuracy, and continued to report the findings to upper management under my case ID number.
I hope everyone's Charge 5 Devices are fixed soon (given I understand there are other difficulties), but I hope this helps some people short-term.
-Marlow
Moderator Edit: Formatting
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