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

[pkjohn1]

I was a loyal Fitbit customer since the Charge HR.  One of the amazing features was the 7 day battery life.   Through all the various Charge versions, up to Charge 5 had some minor issue, but the one thing you could count on was the battery life.   

Then the great battery drain that everyone suddenly experienced took away the selling point of the Charge series.   We all knew something changed, we all commented, we all pleaded with Google to fix it. 

Google stayed silent.  

Some of us were lucky that it the Charge was functional, although it was a 1 day battery life, others were bricked or the tracker just failed.  Customer support was non-existent, many of us were told just 'buy another one, with a discount'. 

Google stayed silent.

Today was a sad day, I gave up on Google and the Fitbit tracker that I had loved for so long.  Unlike Google, I will speak out.

RIP Charge 5.

[Motheryorkie]

My charge 5 has been doing this for weeks have to keep restarting it with the charger nearly every day it dies throughout the night, it’s not good enough, they are a lot of money to keep having these problems

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MusicFan99]

I would like to know the same. Let me know what you decide. I saw mostly good talk about Huawei band 8/9 (those were the budget ones, there are others closer to the charge 5 price range). But the screen is much bigger so I wondered if they'd be comfortable to wear continuously. Also feel unsure about privacy with them since a Chinese company. They need charging less frequently than Charge 5 apparently. I haven't looked into Samsung yet

Considering Fitbit Inspire 3 as well, trying to find out whether they are less likely to die within a year!

[Alisonfb]

Yes me too. 97% when I went to bed. Dead when I got up at 7am.

now can’t get it to do anything black screen but app says it’s fully charged too 100% after leaving it charging?

[christekm1]

Up until update battery lasted 5-6 days. Since update less than 6 hours. 😞 useless to me now! 

[Alisonfb]

mine is still dead as a doornail.  Green light flashing at back when you touch it, but black screen and cant get it to do anything.

[AlWu]

Yup mine dies intermittently.  This is absolutely horrible for a company.  They dont seem to care about their users.  They dont want to spend any money or resources resolving issues that brick their devices.  

There's no way that I will spend any more money on buying any fitbit products, probably will not even get a Pixel Watch.

[Hissweetgirl]

Good, because buying a Pixel means you're trading one Google owned product for a more expensive Google product, which is exactly what Google wants. 

[Alisonfb]

Same here, I’ve gone back to my real watch 😂 keep hoping my charge 5 will spring to life ……um don’t hold your breath…

[to_arch]

Same issue with mine and it was happened about two weeks ago. I did a Google search about the battery issue and lead me here... Hopefully the customer service will reply me.

[Jimmy5k]

I had my Charge 5 for _years_, and an earlier version before that. Only until one of the updates did it stop working. Seems coincidental. Only just bothered to look at the forums to check for an update/solution (I've just stopped using it, bare wristing it).

Funny how the solution from the support team seems to be 'have a discount, buy another' or 'you bought it on Amazon, it could be a knock off. no deal'.

If so many people over so many models are having an issue around the same time... I'd say this is planned obsolescence or just a really bad software bug that they've not found a fix for.

Well, I wish everyone the best of luck. 🙂

[Mookie81]

I  haven't used my fitbit 5 in a couple of months started using it again did the update Bluetooth is not stay connected I changed it the battery is dying within 10 minutes of fully charged some of the apps on the watch is unresponsive it won't let me use it. I did everything I can to get it running again and nothing is working 

[Cadenzarose]

Yes, my battery is draining quickly and my information isn't downloading properly. 

[aed82]

@SunsetRunner i think you are correct.

[SunsetRunner]

I have to stop relying on it for an alarm. A while ago I woke up to it unresponsive then it finally kicked on but missed 1/2 my sleep tracking even with battery left. Today I woke up to nothing - I dont know if it's from the update. I plugged it in and it showed only 4% but I was sure I charged it only a couple days ago. I checked the app before syncing and sure enough I had 41% last night. It's also showing yesterday's step count again today even though it's dead and I just got out of bed.

But hopefully this helps you!

Moderator Edit: Word choice

[CountingChads]

If anyone reaches this post I would not recommend purchasing fitbit.  Move on to another manufacturer.  After the fail of the charge 5 with no answers or support, these continued posts from consumers that have been trying to get a resolution, I would not chance it with any of their products.  The issue seems to have happened after Google purchased and there was a firmware update, but no fix anywhere that resolves the issue.  I've tried them all.  My C5 stopped properly working about 6 months ago after about a year's use.  

If you are curious about the said issue, just read the thread or do a web search on fitbit charge 5 issue.  

[LadyCRBM]

Here it is 12/30/24, and my fitbit still is not working since the update. Tsk, Tsk

[EHHackney]

In the last 6 months or so I have not had battery problems but my wife has. (Fitbit charge 5s bought at same time.) What I HAVE had is problems with pule rate and sleep tracking. Both of these had been pretty solid for years. Now, during walks, the heart rate reading is obviously wrong. And most night now I only get awake, asieep, and restless, rather than deep, light, and REM. I have cleaned the sensors and rebooted several times.

Something is obviously wrong.

[Pickett419]

Been like this for over a year now. Starting to believe they are doing this on purpose.

[EHHackney]

One thing I really liked about the Charge 5 was the 7-day battery life. If they fix this I may eventually get a Charge 6. I will definitely NOT be getting a Google Pixel watch.