Display and battery issues with Charge 5

[kathleenjames]

Suddenly many people are dealing with sudden loss of battery and black screen with no possible way to fix it. Could this have anything to do with the update? It seems not so coincidental it's all happening at the same time.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[bruno_bs9]

Hey you all.

I have a Charge 5 and it stopped working on June 6th and I thought that it had just broken. 

I contacted the Fitbit support and they guided me through the troubleshooting measures that I of course already tried after some google searches, and it did not help a bit.

My Fitbit would start charging, but after reaching the 70% level or more, it would go totally black the screen, totally dead. Connecting to the charger when it was completely dead would prompt the logo screen, and giving me the notification that the battery was low and charging. I did that a couple of times and realized that everytime I tried to charge, it'd do it, but draining the battery before the end of the day.

They offered me the 35% discount after the support couldn't help me, and I was about to pick another device.

What happens is that this morning (July 20th, 2023), I decide to try again play with it and see if I could resuscitate it and I noticed that there was an update available. I recharged up to 50% and started to update it. It ended up on the firmware 57.20001.188.58 (not sure which one was before) and, believe it or not, it's been three hours since the update and the battery hasn't died, the screen did not go black and it is working normally. 

I am planning to wait at least a week and see how it goes... Hopefully it will not go back to the broken status and save me some money!

Crossing my fingers here!

Cheers

[Netviz]

DJ_Halcon - Doing the right thing means getting in front of this major issue many of the Fitbit devices are having. It means making a statement to all of their customers that they know what the problem is and WILL resolve it.  The first part of fixing it is then fixing the firmware update that broke all the devices in the first place.  From reading recent posts, even when they replace a Charge 5, the new one gets the update and breaks as well which says they don't even know what's breaking them.  So that becomes baffling as to why they haven't reverted to the last known firmware.  I've read on some technical sites that the way Fitbit rolled this firmware update out was in a way that the phone app it pulling it and there is no way to stop it's roll out.  I can't buy that at all.  I'm in the technology business and that's simply not the way it works...or should work.  If their engineers designed the firmware rollout to work like that, with no controls over it then everyone should run from this product.  If they can't fix the Charge 5 issue that THEY caused, they should give every affected user a new device of their choice NOT affected but this firmware update.  In the end, that will cost them less money than the loss of customers AND damage to their brand name.

All Fitbit has done so far is deny they even have a problem.

DJ - don't sell yourself short.  You have a bold voice and should use it.  Posts on this forum and others not only speaks to other users OR would be Fitbit customers but eventually, the executives and Goggle/Fitbit will have to hear the outcry from their customers and as I've said a few times on this and other sites, former loyal customers.  I really liked my Fitbit charge devices.  I liked the slim profile of my first Charge 3 then 4 then 5.  The 3 and 4 lasted at least 2 years.  I think the glue gave out in year 3 of the charge 4 but I was ready to upgrade it by then anyway.  The 5 was going strong until it simply went dead last weekend.

It's this short sighted business practice and lack of customer support that sent me to the exits.

[Glitchaholic]

My Charge 5 use to go a full week one before needing to be put on a charger. After updating, I started experiencing fast battery drain (within hours) and periodic fading screen. I'd have to restart the watch to get the screen to work again. Then, the app started telling me I needed to update the watch every couple of hours. I tried updating a few times. The app said it updated, but the firmware number stayed the same after each update.

I've tried all the steps listed to correct it on my own. I called customer support and worked through all the steps with them, too. Nothing has helped. Now, the screen is completely blacked out and charging it doesn't do anything. It vibrates randomly but that's it. 

The best part is, since I bought it off Amazon, the warranty doesn't apply even though I bought it less than a year ago. So, the update Fitbit pushed out made my watch a paperweight and, apparently, there's nothing they can do about it. 

[Kerck85]

On July 1st, this exact same issue happened to me. My watch had been working completely fine up until then. It was charged up, but at 11 am, just ran out of battery and died. I charged it the next morning and it died one hour after putting it on at 100% charge.

My watch was 13 months old. Fitbit said it was out of warranty, so they offered me 35% off a new watch. Then, probably because I complained more, they offered me a free band of my choice if I ordered a new watch. They said that was all they could do. I ended up buying a new Charge 5, now I am seeing all of these posts on the forum and am getting more angry. When this watch dies, I will never buy a Fitbit again.  I can be a very loyal customer, but when a company just doesn't care about their products, they lose my loyalty. Take a lesson from Merrell, Moen, and Kitchenaid (these three companies have amazing customer service and product replacement when issues arise) Google. Fix the problem, stand behind your products and appreciate your customers or you will lose them all.

[Ceci12]

My change 5 is done! Tried to update,  died,  customer service said it's due to the upgrade and only offered a 35% off coupon.  I'm sad and I won't buy a new one

[AndyG44]

I don’t think we’ll have to think long and hard to be honest.  I won’t be buying a new Fitbit, even a discounted one, as there’s no guarantee that one won’t be rendered useless by the update. 
I’m the same as you, intermittent blank screen a couple of days ago now completely dead. Must have been an automatic update which I would have tried to turn off if Fitbit / Google had put out a media  release informing users of the issue as soon as they knew !!! 😡

[Chiguy50]

Glitchaholic,

I bought mine from Amazon (from Fitbit). Make sure it was distributed from Fitbit.

I first received an email stating they wouldn’t do anything for mine. I wrote them back and told them if that was unacceptable about a week later, I received another email from them saying they would send me a new Charge 5 because it was still in warranty. They also said it would be a one time replacement.

I just received my new replacement in the mail. It’s running 188.58 and working the way it should. Time will tell if it will continue to work.

[Crafty86]

My Charge 5 died suddenly yesterday evening. I was sitting inside watching TV and it was working fine at 8pm and had 74% battery life when I synced. At 9 pm I plugged it in and it was 1%! The dashboard shows the FW as 188.58 but it happened to me some time after turning on Bluetooth and syncing. The device is only 14 months old and had been working fine with great battery life. It would last 5 days before needing to charge. Now it only works plugged in on the cord. Pushing the reset button buzzes the device with each press of the button (not after 3) and the FB logo appears and it's back to 1%.  It will charge to 99% but immediately goes to 1% when it is unplugged, reset or the button is pressed. I got to the menu and performed a settings restart and it was back to 1%.The quality of these devices is very poor. My first Charge 5 died after being splashed with water for a few seconds now this device just up and died? Was it from an update? 

[Glitchaholic]

Yeah. Unfortunately, the link says Fitbit Store, but my receipt says something different. Soooo...they won't help me. 😞

[Katells71]

I did a chat live and told them I have done all the checks suggested, as my
device is still in warranty they are sending me a replacement.
Good luck

[SunsetRunner]

I would keep the new one off until this update is fixed because as soon as you turn on the new one and connect it the new one will break as well since it’s the same os. I let mine die before it could update so it should be safe 🤞

[SunsetRunner]

I’ve contacted customer service several times. My device is either blacked out completely or forever in logo mode. It is unusable. I bought the warranty and the device is still covered. I have asked for a new device. I am currently waiting for them to review my case and get back to me. As if this is a new problem for them. Fitbit! Take care of your customers!!!

I don’t subscribe to Premium, and mine is useless.

[bbunge]

And yet the Charge 5 is cited to be the best fitness tracker: https://www.nbcnews.com/select/shopping/best-fitness-trackers-smartwatches-ncna1306828

[Jlrieff]

Well, my replacement is on back order and should ship 9/8/23 which is a month and a half away. Surprised that they didn’t test the update before affecting so many users.

[32loulou]

Im confused on why a replacement of the same item or 35 percent off solves the problem.  Who wants another headache? 

I cant remember how long ive been a member...years.   Ive bought several fitbits.  I paid more and bought a Samsung...i love it!

[StephanJ1984]

You're just going to trash your battery that way. I disconnected mine from the app.

[Glitchaholic]

I cancelled my Premium Subscription yesterday since my watch is unusable now. 

[Frank5522]

UPDATE: I received a new replacement Charge 5 tracker from Fitbit today.  My 1-year warranty had expired in April, 2023.  The replacement tracker came installed with F/W Ver 182.26 with a pending F/W update available (the app does not tell me the F/W Ver number of the pending update, nor does my online account).  My bricked tracker (black, unresponsive screen) that this new tracker replaced had Ver 188.58 installed.  As you can read in my earlier post on 7/10/23, like many (all?) of you, my tracker was working normally for ~15 months and then it went black, unresponsive in early July, 2023 - and I never saw the screen display anything again regardless of all the "suggested fixes" that I tried.

At least on this replacement tracker the iPhone app (Ver 3.86) is giving me a choice as to accept the pending F/W upgrade or not.  So I called Customer Support and asked them to look and see what F/W version number was pending.  They said it was F/W Ver 188.58 and confirmed it was NOT 194.61.  Because of that I went ahead and upgraded the replacement tracker.  After the upgrade had installed I went into the app to confirm the installation and sure enough, F/W Ver 182.26 had been upgraded to 188.58, the same as my recently bricked tracker.  I then let the tracker charge to 100%.  It’s been ~6 hrs since the F/W upgrade and the tracker has been working perfectly with no appreciable battery drain (battery at 99%).

[Ceci12]

I did a second attempt to have this resolved with customer service chat.  Was told the same thing 35% off. I asked to talk to a supervisor.  I was told they would tell me the same thing.  I still wanted them to transfer me.  I was told I'd get an email

 So far nothing..

[clouded-eyes]

This is also affecting me too. It has only been 13 months since I bought my charge 5. I am at version 188.58.

There has been no issue until recently where battery drain is fast and the screen is completely black all the time.

I contacted customer support a day ago, Fitbit has not offered me any discount code, they've just sent me the website link and asked me to buy a new one. 

This has been extremely disheartening and frustrating 😞