When Connected GPS loses the connection Charge 5

[alzy]

My issue relates to Connected GPS. I have a Charge 5, and my phone is Android (Google Pixel 6 Pro).

The Connected GPS feature is great when it works. I can go for a 5 hour bike ride and it will record the GPS for the whole ride with minimal battery drain on my Charge 5.

Unfortunately the Connected GPS sometimes loses the connection to the phone. When this happens, it uses far more battery and my Charge 5 often goes dead before the end of the ride, which is frustrating.

Obviously it would be great if the Connected GPS always stayed connected. But I understand that nothing is perfect and the connection will sometimes drop.

My question is - when I notice the connection has dropped, can I somehow get the Connected GPS to reconnect? When I notice that the GPS has dropped back to the watch, I can still sync my Charge 5 data to my phone using Fitbit app no problem, but the Connected GPS does not restart. If I stop the Ride activity and start a new one, it will restart the Connected GPS, but this breaks the activity into two.

So far I can't find any way to get the Connected GPS to restart without breaking the activity, so I just have to helplessly watch it drain the battery. A bug fix where Connected GPS just reconnects automatically would obviously be best. But I'd settled for a work-around where I can somehow cause it to reconnect manually when I notice the issue. Any suggestions?

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @alzy. 

Thank you for sharing this information about the trouble you've been experiencing with your Charge 5.

There is no specific way to restart the GPS connection, but it should work without getting constantly disconnected during your workout. If you haven't done so already, please make sure of the following to improve the accuracy of GPS: 

• That you are  in open sky and moderate trees
• Adjust how you wear the tracker when you want to use GPS 
• Make sure the Location in your phone settings is set to Always or All the time for the Fitbit app (if you're using connected GPS)

In addition, please make sure to follow the steps suggested in this article. 

Keep in mind that all devices with GPS sensors require a direct path to GPS satellites to calculate location. A weak GPS signal might affect the accuracy of your route and other activity data. If you continue to experience the same behavior and your GPS is getting disconnected, make sure to try following the steps listed in this article to complete a restart, as this has been useful for other users experiencing something similar. 

I'll be around. 

[alzy]

Hi Davide,

Thanks for the follow-up. I've checked all of these steps carefully, and I am correctly doing everything listed here correctly as far as I can see.

Note that connection to the GPS satellites is not a problem, that works fine.

The issue is the connection between the watch and the phone, to enable the battery-saving Connected GPS feature. That is what's unreliable, it seems not to lose the connection easily and there is no way to re-connect.

This seems like a clear bug to me, so could you file a bug report with the engineering team?

Thanks,

Mark

[DavideFitbit]

@alzy Thank you for sharing this update. 

The team is aware of an issue with the GPS taking too long to connect and the GPS and they're working on a resolution. However, if you continue to have this problem with the GPS disconnecting constantly, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed. 

Thank you for taking the time to share all your feedback and comments. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

See you around. 

[JackKinFL]

Alzy,

I have a Pixel 3XL and had a similar issue with the phone connection to the Charge 5 disconnecting and so I'd lose the connected GPS.
What I found is that my phone was going into a deep sleep mode which would cause that connection to drop.  I finally was able to get it to stay connected during long hikes by turning on the "Ambient Display" option in the Lock Screen settings.  Somehow this keeps the phone awake enough so that the connection between it and my Charge 5 doesn't cut out.
It will cause a little bit more battery drain on your phone (for me it's about 2-3% a day more of battery usage) but it's not much of an issue if you remember to charge up your phone before you start.

[DavideFitbit]

@JackKinFL Thank you for sharing your experience with the GPS connection. It's good to know that your device is working properly after the steps you shared. 

In case you're still having this problem and you already tried all the recommended troubleshooting steps, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. Click here to get connected. 

See you around.