Charge 6 - Battery short life

[Bob-P]

I have had Fitbits for 6 years. I got my 6 last October and it has been generally good, with the battery lasting 6 days.

Suddenly, this week, with no changes made to any apps or settings that I am aware of, it starting fully discharging in 16 hours. I have fully charged it a couple of times. It shows 100%, but within minutes it starts to drop and turns itself off around 16 hours. If I connect it to charge, it starts and shows 3%.

What is going on? Works fine for 5 months, then fails for no reason. I'm not even exercising - it had gone flat and had to be recharged during my exercising yesterday.

I've tried the "Check for updates" in the app Help, but that just shows the Fitbit logo repeatedly and blocks the app (another issue I have seen reported here before).

I've seen a couple of other similar posts, but no real resolution. Any ideas anyone?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Talahthas]

Welcome to the Fitbit community, @Bob-P!

Sad to hear you're having issues with your Charge 6.
As a first approach to hopefully get things fixed, I'd suggest restarting it. Before doing so you should make sure you've synced your device to not lose any data tracked so far. Also you should verify that the charging contacts on your device are clean and the charging pins on it's charging adapter are clean as well and can move flawlessly. In doubt please have a look here:

How do I clean my Fitbit device?

Next please closely follow these instructions as timing is crucial for this procedure:

1.) Connect your Charge 6 to the charging cable which has to be connected to a reliable power source.
2.) Press the button located on the flat end of the charging cable 3 times within 8 seconds(!), holding each press for about 1 second(!).
3.) Wait around 10 seconds until the Fitbit logo appears on your device's display.

I'd like to point out that it sometimes requires more than one attempt to restart Charge 6. So, before throwing the towel, please give it another try.

If that really won't work for you, please try if changing your device's clock face will get it back to working order. Here's how to do that:

How do I change the clock face on my Fitbit device? 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Bob-P]

Thanks. I had restarted it using the one watch settings menu, but I just did the charging cable version. Interestingly I noticed that the charge level went from 88% before restarting to 76% after. It then returned to 89% after a while.

Uninstalling the ECG app seems to have slowed the discharge rate. To be confirmed.

[Talahthas]

You're welcome, @Bob-P.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Bob-P]

It looks better. After uninstalling the ECG app and the restart, it is back to a more normal discharge rate. Still seems higher than usual at about 3 day discharge, not 6 as before, but perhaps it will settle after another full charge. It is possible that the repeated rapid discharge has damaged the battery. I hope not.

[Talahthas]

Thanks for reporting back, @Bob-P.

Here you might find some tips on how to further improve battery runtime for your device:

Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life? 

[Zaramoth]

Hi, Are you using NFC feature by any chance? if you do then it should be cause it. I sense that NFC is always on and its eating the battery.

[Bob-P]

I thinks I've found the answer.

Removing apps etc had no real effect and I'm not using NFC.

The problem is the Bluetooth connection. I recently stopped carrying my phone around all the time and also started leaving it downstairs to charge at night. That's when the battery discharge goes into overload. Level dropped 50% overnight with devices separate, but only 15% in the 24 hours since then, when keeping them together.

If I keep the phone and watch close to each other, the battery life goes back to what looks like being 6 days, apart it dies.

It sounds like either there is poor general BT management or an app is desperate to connect and eats battery life trying.

I haven't found any settings that might allow this to be managed better.

[Bob-P]

Further testing has confirmed that the rapid discharge is triggered by the Charge 6 not being able to connect to the phone app.

Over the last couple of days, I have tried various scenarios, with reasonably consistent results.

Connected, with the app running, discharge rate is around 0.5% per hour

Connected without the app running, discharge rate is around 3% per hour

Not connected (phone remote or switched off), discharge rate is around 6% per  hour.

It appears that something is trying to connect to the phone and the app and it tries so often that the battery is rapidly burned.

Does anyone have any clues as to which function might be doing this? I've tried removing Google Maps, EDA and ECG apps with no effect. More importantly, how do we stop this? There will be times when I won't have my phone on or nearby e.g. flight mode when travelling. I don't want my Fitbit to die as a result.

[Talahthas]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and keeping us updated on that, @Bob-P.
I'd assume that receiving lots of notifications over time may also reduce battery runtime on your device as there has to be very frequent Bluetooth polling to ensure those notifications can be forwarded to your Charge 6.

[Bob-P]

OK. I think I have finally found the cause and cured it.

I have been moving from one iPhone to another. I paired the Fitbit with the new phone and it worked. Only the new phone was used for Fitbit, but the old phone was still around and on (don't ask).

Although the Fitbit was not paired with old phone, the old phone had what it thought was a pairing and was still trying to connect. If the new phone was not in range and connected, the old phone was continually trying to connect.

I removed the pairing on the old phone and the Fitbit battery life is back to normal