Fitbit Charge 5 - Missing Sleep App on Watch (but sync works)

[Jon4728]

Hi,

I had an SD card fail in my Nokia Android phone. Annoying, but once replaced and phone factory reset I'm up and running again.

When I re-installed phone apps from backup, Fitbit kind of worked OK. It syncs, I can see all data in the app on the phone, notifications work etc, all is good, I'm happy.

Except later I notice that the sleep app on the watch doesn't update. I just restarted the watch, but that didn't work. Clearing user data on the watch resulted in the sleep app disappearing on the watch. I also did a restart using the power cable button, but that didn't fix the problem.

I removed the device from the phone app, and re-paired it. That didn't help. I then noticed I could do an EDA scan on the watch, but the result would not show in the app on the phone. Its like permissions seem missing.

Same for ECG, although that complained it couldn't see the phone.

So I'm thinking, it must be something to do with permissions. I uninstalled the EDA and ECG apps from the watch, and re-installed them. That fixed both EDA and ECG.

But there is no "sleep" watch app to uninstall/install from the phone. I can't see how I can restore it.

I have not reset the app on the phone yet (it basically is working and syncing, so why reset it ?). Its the watch that seems messed up.

How can I restore the sleep display app on the watch ? Is there a way not to just clear user data, but to completely factory reset the watch to restore it ? Would that return the sleep app on the watch ?

[Edmond]

Which clock face you're using? How about a change of clock face to see if it works as you almost tried everything.

And in the fitbit app, do you see the sleep data?

[Jon4728]

I actually tried that too. But no luck. The new clock face installed fine, all went fine. I switched to Continuum, but the sleep app didn't return. I then switched back to Target clock. Still no sleep app.

[Jon4728]

When I use the phone app, to switch clock faces, and select the "My Apps" tab, I can't see a sleep app here. What I do see though, are all the other apps, like Alarms, EDA, Notifications, Timers etc. But there is no sleep app. I assume that the sleep app is a default install, so thats why its missing in the My Apps tab. Also in the "Apps" main tab at the top, this seems to mirror "My Apps", but there is no sleep app there either.

[Edmond]

In the phone app, “today” you should see heart rates , health metrics, sleep, etc when you scroll down. If no, press the edit at top right, then scroll to the bottom to see if you can add back the sleep functions?

[Jon4728]

They only thing I haven't done is complete delete the app storage on the phone, and remove/install it. But I can't see how that would bring a missing app back on the watch. Yes ... I can try it, but if there is some way to factory reset the watch to restore all apps, I would rather wait for an answer on that topic first.

[Edmond]

If all the data is synced, then you wouldnt have to wait to try it. Nothing will lose. 

my last charge was suddenly total black screen but can still sync. End up just getting a replacement. Any weird thing could happen to fitbit products now.

[Jon4728]

In the phone app, I see everything I need, and it works. I can see last nights sleep results in the app. So sleep itself is working, its the summary app on the watch that is missing and not working.

I did have the issue that EDA wasn't syncing/working (see above), but uninstalling/installing that app fixed that issue.

[Jon4728]

I'm going to go for a phone app storage/cache reset, and remove the existing bluetooth pairing, and also a reset of user data on the watch.

I'll see what that does. I'll trigger the user data reset on the watch first, then quickly delete app storage on the phone and bluetooth, before doing setup again.

[Jon4728 · Accepted solution]

Oh ! That appears to have worked !!! Well, the app is back on the watch.

I did the following:

• I closed the Fitbit app on my phone (it will still be running in the background I guess, but at least in the foreground it was gone)
• In Android, I selected the details of the Fitbit app, and cleared all storage.
• Straight after that I cleared all user data on the watch (holding the touch screen button done for 3 secs
• I quickly then opened bluetooth on my phone, and "forgot" the existing watch connection

The watch came up, and was recognised by Fitbit. I logged in, and followed the setup. It asked me if the watch was a replacement (can't remember the exact words), I selected yes, assuming then that any other settings in the app would be replaced by the "new" watch.

I did the usual allow everything it asked for, for permissions.

I went back to the watch, scrolled, and I see sleep on the display, and it has actually updated the sleep summary and mirrors what I see on the phone.

The SpO2 is also present on the watch, but that hasn't updated yet.

I have the app on the phone to setup now, like notifications etc. So I'll do all that. I expect the SpO2 will sync at some point later.

But ... looks like this has fixed the problem.

[Jon4728]

Its interesting that not all app settings are deleted when the storage was deleted. The reminders to move are still set (I don't think that is enabled by default ?). But at least all the permissions and bluetooth are all "new" setups. It seems App Settings are are the same as before too, or it could be that the defaults for those were what I was using.

I just did an EDA, and that seems to be working. It syncs to the phone fine.

Test call works fine too.

I'm hoping my stress management score will be better tomorrow. The whole Fitbit experience has definitely knocked a few points off stress management today !