Introducing Charge 5 Firmware Release - Version 1.171.50

[FitbitCommunity]

We’re excited to announce that a firmware update for Charge 5. Some of you might already have this update available. If you installed it, let us know what you think!

We release updates to customers in phases. If you don’t see it, check the Fitbit app in a few days, and you’ll see a message when you can install the update. We appreciate your patience while we get this update to all of our customers. 

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

See What's changed in the latest Fitbit device update? for release notes.

HOW DO I UPDATE?

See How do I update my Fitbit device? for step-by-step instructions for updating your Charge 5. If you run into difficulty updating, see Why can't I update my Fitbit device?. 

We’re interested in hearing your feedback on this update! Let us know what you like! If you encounter unexpected behavior during or after your update, please post the details below.

[MikeFarnborough]

I have version 20001.171.50 

when I updated to this firmware my battery life reduced to less than 1 hour per full charge. This has been the case for weeks now. 

I contacted Fitbit and have done every week since and am told to wait for a new firmware update. I have not been able to use my Charge 5 for around  3 weeks now.  

I keep checking for a firmware update but am told my software is up to date. I am based in the UK near London. 

any ideas gratefully received. I’ve used Fitbit trackers for a decade and never lost weeks of data due to a tracker being unusable before. 

[DougHansell]

I went through the Chat process Saturday and, this morning, received an
email telling me that FitBit has reset my device and instructions on how to
clear and reset my Charge 5. I’ll let you know if it’s successful. --
Doug Hansell
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Catwoman777]

Good. Let me know

[Sarahyogi]

I’ve contacted Fitbit again as my battery was draining 3 times a day making it unusable. I’ve been waiting for the update and it’s still draining at super speed so it’s on charge more than my wrist! It states that if you’re having problems still after the update then to contact them, I’ve been told to turn off all notifications and wait 2 days and see what happens… it’s still the same. So will contact them again tomorrow and see what they intend to do as my battery is frazzled at 5 months old! 

[BillFit9]

@DougHansell 

I sure hope the reset works for you and I think a lot of us will be wanting to know what happens.  If it works for you perhaps others who have lost the use of their devices through the update process will be able to have a second chance as well.

If the reset works and brings your device back to a normal working state many of us will be more encouraged to attempt the update since we know that there is a way to comeback from the brink if the update goes wrong.

Bill

[BillFit9]

@Sarahyogi 

Let us know what happens.

Bill

[radesix]

@Sarahyogi I don't think the battery is bad.  The firmware update has code (bugs) that is chewing through the battery though.  None of the troubleshooting steps they are recommending are going to work. I believe your unit will work again but the only fix for chewing through the battery is going to be another firmware update and who knows when they will get around to releasing that. Rebooting the device and/or resetting the device isn't going to change the bad firmware code.  

I tried all that stuff yesterday and no dice.

The real question I have is... once the new firmware update is released... will the battery have enough juice to make it through the firmware update process.   Mine is dying in a little under 30 minutes after a full charge.  Their firmware update process can be slow. If it dies during the firmware update you will have another bricked device.

[Catwoman777]

I get it. I had to keep waiting for the update. It lived in the charger
except when I did a work out. Stay in them and make be accountable

[LiJaHi]

@radesix that's really useful information - thank you. Can you explain (to a non-IT person) how code is able to run down a battery? And if people experiencing the rapid battery drain keep recharging and using their device, is its lifetime going to be shortened (assuming it ever works properly again?

[Sarahyogi]

Thanks for your reply, you’re way more clued up on IT than I am for sure. Mine worked absolutely fine till an update about 8 weeks ago which must have updated automatically and then had a very negative impact on my battery life to say the least. This new update has done absolutely nothing to resolve the issue and what I don’t understand is the inconsistency of it all, with some people stating that their watches are now fixed? Is that not an issue now with individual batteries? 

[SunsetRunner]

Lija, If there is an error in the code which institutes a looping condition it will drain the battery because the program is constantly running running running...

[Hikinglisa777]

Mine will not even update.  It says it is, but it is just updating steps from my phone, not my fitbit.  My fitbit shows so many more steps than my dashboard!

[radesix]

@Sarahyogi From what I can gather based on the forum postings and firmware release notes... some months back a number of devices were affected with some type of battery drain issue (maybe GPS related, for example).  My device was NOT one that was affected at that time as I didn't have any issues at all until this most recent update. 

When the initial reports came in this led the development team to start monkeying with the code to try to fix the drain issue for those affected devices.  They proudly released an update in late July, that I believe probably did fix that particular issue on those particularly affected devices. However, there seems to be another population of devices that were NOT affected from the initial bug - but the code put into place to fix the original bug is having the opposite effect on that population of devices.  From what I gather, the more recent battery drain issue is a bigger, faster drain than the original problem.

I have another post in which I describe how and why subtle hardware variances happen during the product lifecycle but short story is that sometimes code fixes, especially at the firmware level, are targeting specific hardware components.  If you have Product X model revision 1 that you issue a code fix for it doesn't mean you didn't break something on Product X model revision 2 because the hardware components are different. You need to fully test the code on model revision 1 AND model revision 2.

I don't think either battery drain condition is a problem with the battery itself - but a problem with the CPU/memory consumption of the code being executed. The bad code increases the CPU utilization which in turn drains the battery.  If you fix the inefficient code causing the high resource consumption you can stop unnecessarily draining the battery and return it to normal usage.

[radesix]

@LiJaHi As someone mentioned in a different post, the most likely culprit is an infinite loop of some sort that causes the CPU utilization to spike as it constantly races through the loop.  The high CPU utilization consumes more power which drains the battery at a faster rate than normal.

You've probably experienced a similar situation on a desktop or laptop with Windows or Mac.  If you have ever noticed your computer all of sudden the fans crank up to full blast, the computer gets slow and/or eventually locks up... it's because one of the processes being executed (code in a program) is stuck in some loop condition that is abnormally consuming CPU resources.  If this happens on a laptop running on battery power - your battery begins to drain really fast while this condition is occurring.  The solution is to "kill the task" consuming all the resources. On a Mac you would "Force Quit" the offending program. On Windows you would open the Task Manager and find the bad process and kill it. otherwise you will bleed your battery down until it dies - just like what is happening with the Fitbits. 

But on a Fitbit , there is no way to Force Quit and no Task Manager available to "kill the task" that is consuming all the power.

As for damage to the battery - its possible depending on the battery type. I don't know the details of the battery in the Fitbit but I suspect it will be fine once the endless loop condition no longer exists. In the scenario described above on a laptop, it doesn't damage the battery to have a process rapidly consume CPU cycles the drain the battery. It just shortens the useful life of that charge cycle. 

[Catwoman777]

I have no idea. I am not an IT person. Just a charge 5 owner who is an
exercise data freak. Whether running training weight lifting-I like my
data. I want my new C5 and I hope it works!! Consistently for a few
years!!

[Kunukuboy]

I live in the Caribbean Netherlands.  New Charge 5 update download kept aborting after 30 seconds.  Tried over a dozen times.  Then I tried the update via a USA  VPN address.  Went OK first try.  You might want to keep this in mind.  
However , update STILL does not give me SpO2 function.    When will this be resolved?

[DougHansell]

The other point is to make sure we’re using the resources we do have, CHAT
or calling. --
Doug Hansell
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Starforsaken]

After a severe lack of useful answers from FitBit, and no fix for the firmware issues in sight , I've cancelled my subscription. Congrats, you've lost a paying customer.

[MrStory]

@Starforsaken that's a good idea. I went ahead and cancelled my subscription as well. Maybe if a bunch of people do that it'll increase the chance of someone noticing.

[mmazzini1]

Thanks Davide- can we please see how the new watch faces look like?  Did actually anyone get them?