Fitbit Charge 5 battery problems since update

[DC..]

How many of you are experiencing battery problems since the update?

Could anyone who's experienced problems with the charge 5 battery please post once on this thread so it's easy to count and present to show it's not a warranty problem and is a result if the update.

I obviously have battery problems. Had to charge it twice yesterday and uninstalled the SpO2 app to try to make the battery last through the night. Managed to wake up to 50% battery instead of it being dead by morning, even though fully charged before bed.

Moderator Edit: Formatting and clarified subject

[urzz1871]

Yes, in the last 24 hours my Charge 5 has completely lost the ability to hold a charge.

Charged it to 100% at 11am, and within an hour I'm getting "low battery" warnings, and it's dead ten minutes later.  I've not done any firmware updates or app changes, etc.

A "wearable" that you can't wear is simply a piece of expensive junk - from other posts it looks like Fitbit regard their customers with a mixture of complete indifference and utter contempt!

[CEEL]

It is sad when a little company that gave it's all gets bought out by a nug company that believes it is running the world, so concern about good customer relations goes flying out the window.  SIGH.  And, since Google is so big, they likely won't care or even notice when we all buy competitors' products to replace the Fitbit product... I will even guess that the publisher will still call the others' products by this product's brand name.... but Google doesn't really care about that either, so it seems from past experience

[Victort]

They offered me a 35% discount code as well, and all of the Fitbit products are on sale (well, the sales price is the same as on Amazon).  It ended up only saving a few bucks before the sales discount couldn't be used with the 35% discount code for a Charge 6.  While I wanted to discuss this further, the reps hung up on me.  Well, time to move on and never buy any Google products again.

[Toffee7]

My charge 5 was great until yesterday. It is currently sitting at firmware version 57.20001.194.91 and is not holding a charge for more than 3 hours and getting worse. I am outwith the warranty period. I have tried all of the suggested solutions but none have worked.

My friend has just received a replacement charge 5 as she was having the same issues as me. This charge 5 firmware version is  57.20001.188.58. 

So far I have been offered a 35% discount. I have asked for an explanation regarding why I suddenly  have an issue. I have asked if the latest update can be removed. I have asked if a fix will be made available. I have asked what will happen next time my friends replacement charge 5 is updated.

I added that I was reluctant to purchase again from this company until I can see they are looking after their numerous customers with similar complaints.

I am hoping for a positive response otherwise I too will be moving on. I'm so disappointed as I loved my charge 5.

[L5kman]

Mine has been struggling to hold charge for the last couple of weeks.

Normally I would get through a whole day and take it off to charge whenever I showered or swam. I know I can take it in water. It just suits me to do it that way.

During my sleep this morning, the battery drained to 0% and shut down the device. Luckily, I wasn’t relying on it for the alarm.

I woke up and put it on the charger for about 30 minutes and checked the battery level and it was now showing 29% which seems pretty normal.

I then did the reset procedure and when the Charge 5 came to life again, it showed 80%! Something definitely amiss here. My last Charge 5 lasted only 12 months before the screen stopped working too.

Now that some Apple watches can last more than 24 hours between charges, it might be time for a change.

[MikeHunt32]

You’re all wasting your time In this forum. This will never be fixed. Google/Fitbit doesn’t give a you know what about the Charge 5. Please move on to something of your choice. At this point a sun dial is better than the Charge 5. Cut your losses and move on. I’m sure this post won’t see the light of day. I’m unsubscribing. AMF. 

[walkforhealth]

This is exactly what I’m dealing with now.  Apparently delaying updating was a very good thing.  They should roll back this update or better yet FIX it.  

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Not sure what the moderator updated as I am just having issues now, months after Fitbit was notified of an issue.  
So many people here are having battery issues only after the update?  Something about that doesn’t sound right.  Maybe look into the update?

I am one of the original Fitbit users.  Fitbit has been absolutely fantastic with issues.  What has changed that all of these customers are experiencing this issue without an apparent solution?  I could be missing something.

Anyone find a solution?  Not the reset uninstall Bluetooth off reset again …   I have reset, …, uninstalled …  so far no luck.

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I could have written your experience as mine is the same.  

[aed82]

I already asked them to roll back the update or fix and literally was told
no, that's not going to happen.

[Toffee7]

Further to my original  post I can now add the following:-

I unlinked my charge 5 from the app. I charged it to 100% yesterday. Today it still has plenty of charge left instead of rapid battery discharge. It doesn't  operate properly when unlinked to the app so is currently useless. 

So my question remains the same.... What is causing the rapid battery discharge?

[scott-z]

A simple rollback of the firmware would fix it. 

[CAMWeys]

My Charge 5 is less than 3 years old and after the most recent updates the battery stopped holding charge. I could barely get 24 hours out of the watch and after three days of this the watch is now dead. It will not come on nor will it connect to the charging cable, it is completely trashed. It is really frustrating to spend a fair amount of money on the device and have it be useless after such a short time. I am wondering if there is any indication of replacement or upgrade offers by Google since it seems their updates have destroyed my watch.

[BankHoliday]

After over 10 years as a Fitbit user I have now given up and like many others have moved to another supplier who values their customers. Such a shame.

[MusicFan99]

Mine died overnight. It had been going 5 days plus between charges. Think it was saying around 50% battery when I'd looked yesterday and no warning it was low. Once charged to 100% today it's fully drained in around half an hour (twice).

I was lucky and got a free replacement last time my Charge 5 died (just under a year ago). This time only 35% off after going through the Help steps. One was please uninstall spO2 which I did. I could try not using alarms and notifications but I doubt that will make much difference. Extremely frustrating!

[Clueitj]

I understand your frustration but you are very lucky to gave had 3 years.
The majority of us got jo more than just over a year. Mine lasted 8 months
but as it was already a replacement I had no warranty.

[heyullama]

I received a 50% discount on the charge 6 and also got the protection plan
to ensure if they did this bs again I would be covered.

[SunsetRunner]

This is clearly an old thread but the problem repeats.  My watch battery goes from 100% to zero in roughly 3 -4 hours while sat on a table measuring nothing.  It is 2yrs and 1 month old and started with the black screen and syncing problems which seem to have resolved since resetting for the thousandth time and the update 4.28.2. Something is draining the battery and fitbit must know what.  I will never buy Fitbit or Google watches and tell everyone to steer clear.

[Khanman]

Mine is also doing this exact thing

[walkerJurong]

I experienced the same thing. Two days ago I received a notification about software upgrade/update. I didn't do anything, there was no consent from my end whether I approve it or not. But after that my fitbit stopped working whenever I detached it from the charger. It's br***ing

[blueorchid62]

I've read so many posts that say this happened after the last software update. We all need to be telling Fitbit/Google that they have to find a fix and remedy the problem. I hope they are reading these posts because there is no way to contact them outside of a chat or phone call with a customer service agent. It needs to go much higher.

[L5kman]

To add further to this, my Charge 5 died yesterday. Barely 12 months after replacing the previous one that died 12 months ago.

I doubt I’ll buy a Fitbit product ever again. 

It’s time to look at alternatives. I like to wear my old analogue watches so the Charge 5 & 6 are ok for wearing on my other wrist as they aren’t too bulky. I had a Garmin once before but it couldn’t cope with me sleeping during the day as a shift worker and never recorded my day sleeps.

So something that is not bulky, does sleep and heart rate and lasts 36 or 48 hours between charges and looks like a wristband would be perfect. Otherwise, tis off to the Apple ecosystem I go. Any good suggestions?