Charge HR Half Bar Error FIXED (for me at least) Firmware V122

[bunker6]

TLDR: Drained battery completely, turned bluetooth off on phone, re-paired with fitbit desktop app, firmware updated and problem solved.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post my experience with the half bar error (failed firmware update) since I spent too much time looking for a fix.  These were the sympotms I experienced:

1. Screen displayed a progress bar at 50%
2. Holding the side button would do nothing other than do some sort of soft reset where the hr light flashed a couple times then the display went right back to the half bar
3. Charge HR would appear paired to my iPhone, but it was stuck in an update loop.  Would not allow me to forget the Charge HR as long as I was in bluetooth rainge because it kept trying to force the update (unsuccessfully).
4. Paired with desktop app but if I remember correctly, it directed me to have the phone try to update the firmware.
5. Attempted a reset method I saw online saying that the Charge HR should be plugged into the charger then you hold the side button for 2 seconds, then pull it off the charger and continue holding the button for 7-9 more seconds.  This did nothing in the state it was in.
6. A couple attempts of un-pairing from my iPhone and re-pairing with it made it appear that the firmware may successfully finish downloading, but it never happened.  The only other screen I saw trying this was the progress bar with the exclamation point in the middle.

At that point I was thinking I'd have to disassemble the unit and try to find a reset button or kill the unit trying.  Fortunately I didn't have a Torx bit small enough to remove the screws on the bottom of the Charge HR.  It ended up sitting on my desk and the battery drained completely (pressing/holding the side button no longer brought up the half filled progress bar).  I did a little more research the following day and some people said they had success un-pairing the Charge HR from any device they had it connected to, removing and reinstalling the Desktop App and then the firmware installation would complete.

SOLUTION:

With the battery fully drained I did the following:

1. Turned off bluetooth on my phone
2. Through the iPhone Fitbit App I went to "Account (bottom right on screen)->Clicked on the Charge HR icon-> Selected "Remove This Charge HR" (scroll down to the bottom of the screen).
3. At my computer now I opened the Fitbit Desktop App, IMPORTANT not the Fitbit iPhone APP, I went through the setup new device process.  NOTE: Bluetooth still off on my phone.  Also note that I did not have to uninstall and reinstall the Desktop App and I was running the latest version as of 3/21/2016.  Others may consider removing and reinstalling the current version of the desktop app if issues persist.
4. I made sure I had the Fitbit Sync Dongle plugged into a USB port 
5. 
6. I proceeded to the screen that says "Searching for device" and shows the person holding the side button on the Charge HR
7. I put the Charge HR charging cable into a USB port and plugged the other end into the Charge HR to give it some power.
8. I pressed and held the side button until the Fitbit Desktop App said it found the Charge HR.
9. For the first time, the display on the fitbit showed me something other than the half bar and the firmware installation finally completed successfully
10. The Charge HR showed low battery, so I allowed it to charge for a few hours.  
11. I re-enabled Bluetooth on my phone
12. When the battery was fully charged, I paired with my iPhone through the iPhone Fitbit App and everything appeared to work successfully.

I hope others can benefit from the write up.  It was a frustrating process to find a solution that worked and I'm glad my persistence paid off.  Good luck to anyone else that has a similar problem.  I knew that since the Charge HR was communicating with my phone and computer despite showing the half bar, I would be determined to get the firmware loaded.  If your Charge HR is showing the half bar but not communicating with your phone or computer, verify that you have bluetooth enabled or the Fitbit USB dongle plugged in, and if the issue persists, it may be a Bluetooth error with the Charge HR and this solution likely won't work for you.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to help.  I've seen Fitbit Customer Service reps say that you should message them or call their Customer Service if you encounter similar problems which I would also encourage.

Good luck.

[Odyssey13]

Hi @different_one

I'm using Windows 8.1 desktop computer with Internet Explorer 11. You can always get Chrome or Firefox browsers free and both work great for me.

Give it a shot and pick one: Update IE, install Chrome or install Firefox

You got this!

[MIgolfbum]

Thanks for the update. I have exactly the same problem and tried your well written 2016 solution, but like you it was only a temporary fix. Called customer service, and they asked if my device had been in water or at very high temperature, which it has not. Interestingly, this unit was a replacement for my first HR which failed in the same way within the original warranty period. Since this one is beyond the warranty, they offered only a 25% discount on a new purchase. I said I believe the problem is related to excess moisture from sweating (which they did not want to acknowledge) and that I intend to now look at other manufacturers like Garmin that may be more water resistant. My experience tells me that the Charge HR is too fragile and not worth purchasing again.

[rbarbe]

I tried everything. And my Fitbit still only shows the half bar. I attempted to charge and it will not charge.

---

@bunker6 wrote:

TLDR: Drained battery completely, turned bluetooth off on phone, re-paired with fitbit desktop app, firmware updated and problem solved.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post my experience with the half bar error (failed firmware update) since I spent too much time looking for a fix.  These were the sympotms I experienced:

1. Screen displayed a progress bar at 50%
2. Holding the side button would do nothing other than do some sort of soft reset where the hr light flashed a couple times then the display went right back to the half bar
3. Charge HR would appear paired to my iPhone, but it was stuck in an update loop.  Would not allow me to forget the Charge HR as long as I was in bluetooth rainge because it kept trying to force the update (unsuccessfully).
4. Paired with desktop app but if I remember correctly, it directed me to have the phone try to update the firmware.
5. Attempted a reset method I saw online saying that the Charge HR should be plugged into the charger then you hold the side button for 2 seconds, then pull it off the charger and continue holding the button for 7-9 more seconds.  This did nothing in the state it was in.
6. A couple attempts of un-pairing from my iPhone and re-pairing with it made it appear that the firmware may successfully finish downloading, but it never happened.  The only other screen I saw trying this was the progress bar with the exclamation point in the middle.

At that point I was thinking I'd have to disassemble the unit and try to find a reset button or kill the unit trying.  Fortunately I didn't have a Torx bit small enough to remove the screws on the bottom of the Charge HR.  It ended up sitting on my desk and the battery drained completely (pressing/holding the side button no longer brought up the half filled progress bar).  I did a little more research the following day and some people said they had success un-pairing the Charge HR from any device they had it connected to, removing and reinstalling the Desktop App and then the firmware installation would complete.

SOLUTION:

With the battery fully drained I did the following:

1. Turned off bluetooth on my phone
2. Through the iPhone Fitbit App I went to "Account (bottom right on screen)->Clicked on the Charge HR icon-> Selected "Remove This Charge HR" (scroll down to the bottom of the screen).
3. At my computer now I opened the Fitbit Desktop App, IMPORTANT not the Fitbit iPhone APP, I went through the setup new device process.  NOTE: Bluetooth still off on my phone.  Also note that I did not have to uninstall and reinstall the Desktop App and I was running the latest version as of 3/21/2016.  Others may consider removing and reinstalling the current version of the desktop app if issues persist.
4. I made sure I had the Fitbit Sync Dongle plugged into a USB port 
5. Usb Dongle
6. I proceeded to the screen that says "Searching for device" and shows the person holding the side button on the Charge HR
7. I put the Charge HR charging cable into a USB port and plugged the other end into the Charge HR to give it some power.
8. I pressed and held the side button until the Fitbit Desktop App said it found the Charge HR.
9. For the first time, the display on the fitbit showed me something other than the half bar and the firmware installation finally completed successfully
10. The Charge HR showed low battery, so I allowed it to charge for a few hours.  
11. I re-enabled Bluetooth on my phone
12. When the battery was fully charged, I paired with my iPhone through the iPhone Fitbit App and everything appeared to work successfully.

I hope others can benefit from the write up.  It was a frustrating process to find a solution that worked and I'm glad my persistence paid off.  Good luck to anyone else that has a similar problem.  I knew that since the Charge HR was communicating with my phone and computer despite showing the half bar, I would be determined to get the firmware loaded.  If your Charge HR is showing the half bar but not communicating with your phone or computer, verify that you have bluetooth enabled or the Fitbit USB dongle plugged in, and if the issue persists, it may be a Bluetooth error with the Charge HR and this solution likely won't work for you.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to help.  I've seen Fitbit Customer Service reps say that you should message them or call their Customer Service if you encounter similar problems which I would also encourage.

Good luck.

---

[aophiuchus]

My wife's charge hr showed the same symptoms with the addition of the band pulling away from the charging port. Thank you for saving a lot of time trying to get it to work. I have given up on fitbit. I now use an Apple Watch to track my exercise plus it has a lot of features that fitbit doesn't. It's to bad fitbit doesn't have a more dependable product.

[Ameliamarie272]

I was so excited to read your post until I read your update..... Mine is doing the same thing. I have this half full bar across the screen of my fitbit. I actually already had my Charge HR replaced once already for this very reason. I deleted the app, restarted my fitbit, talked with customer service and followed all their steps.... nothing worked. Its very frustrating and I can't find any suggestions that work. I had a Charge before this that had to be replaced too. Thats why I bought the Charge HR to begin with. Thinking newer product might have less issues. Seems like a lot of people have this problem with Charge HRs though. I saw other strings like this. Customer support told me to hold the button on the side to reset it. That didn't work but that was really the only suggestion they had. After that they tried to offer my 25% off a new one. I'm out warranty by 3 months I guess so no replacement. I completely agree with you. I will not be buying another Fitbit product either. Mostly just for the fact that they had no suggestions on how to trouble shoot this. Its like it just got stuck. Their most helpful suggestion was buy a new one.  They must know too that its dead after that shows up. Thank you for all of your attempts to solve this issue! Let me know if you ever found anything that worked!  

[Cynles]

I am having the same problem😡

[Lorikfit]

I couldn't delete and re-install on my computer, but the same directions worked deleted and reinstalling on my iPhone.  Thank you!

[Addemup]

Great information I was able to follow the same steps but used

 my IPad instead of a computer. 

[ACG]

When mine had the 1/2 updated bar with the warning/information sign in the center, I did the "forget this device" on step #2 in this article below. Took me an hour to do the update rather than the 10-15 minutes Fitbit quoted. 

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2047

[Wilfong]

Thank you!!! It worked. After a week of trying to get my fitbit back up, finally a solution that worked. I can't say how frustrated this made me.

[bunker6]

@Wilfong I'm glad the process got your tracker working again. Keep us posted if the fix was permanent or if it reverts back to the half bar display. In my personal experience the fix was only temporary.  I hope for a better outcome for you. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you it helped me well

[Large-Marge]

Thank you for taking the time to post the solution.

Work wonderfully!

[Nic27]

Hi There,

Do you know if you can follow this but without the dongle? Or must you have this to reset the Fitbit

[RoseBouchard]

You are so awesome! Thank you!  I have had that greenbar of death for a couple of weeks now and finally found your post and your instructions worked perfectly. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Lorikfit]

So glad it helped!

[Preeti_ahuja]

I have followed the steps provided.. Still the issue persist and the display is showing 50% progress bar

---

@rbarbewrote:

I tried everything. And my Fitbit still only shows the half bar. I attempted to charge and it will not charge.

---

@bunker6 wrote:

TLDR: Drained battery completely, turned bluetooth off on phone, re-paired with fitbit desktop app, firmware updated and problem solved.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post my experience with the half bar error (failed firmware update) since I spent too much time looking for a fix.  These were the sympotms I experienced:

1. Screen displayed a progress bar at 50%
2. Holding the side button would do nothing other than do some sort of soft reset where the hr light flashed a couple times then the display went right back to the half bar
3. Charge HR would appear paired to my iPhone, but it was stuck in an update loop.  Would not allow me to forget the Charge HR as long as I was in bluetooth rainge because it kept trying to force the update (unsuccessfully).
4. Paired with desktop app but if I remember correctly, it directed me to have the phone try to update the firmware.
5. Attempted a reset method I saw online saying that the Charge HR should be plugged into the charger then you hold the side button for 2 seconds, then pull it off the charger and continue holding the button for 7-9 more seconds.  This did nothing in the state it was in.
6. A couple attempts of un-pairing from my iPhone and re-pairing with it made it appear that the firmware may successfully finish downloading, but it never happened.  The only other screen I saw trying this was the progress bar with the exclamation point in the middle.

At that point I was thinking I'd have to disassemble the unit and try to find a reset button or kill the unit trying.  Fortunately I didn't have a Torx bit small enough to remove the screws on the bottom of the Charge HR.  It ended up sitting on my desk and the battery drained completely (pressing/holding the side button no longer brought up the half filled progress bar).  I did a little more research the following day and some people said they had success un-pairing the Charge HR from any device they had it connected to, removing and reinstalling the Desktop App and then the firmware installation would complete.

SOLUTION:

With the battery fully drained I did the following:

1. Turned off bluetooth on my phone
2. Through the iPhone Fitbit App I went to "Account (bottom right on screen)->Clicked on the Charge HR icon-> Selected "Remove This Charge HR" (scroll down to the bottom of the screen).
3. At my computer now I opened the Fitbit Desktop App, IMPORTANT not the Fitbit iPhone APP, I went through the setup new device process.  NOTE: Bluetooth still off on my phone.  Also note that I did not have to uninstall and reinstall the Desktop App and I was running the latest version as of 3/21/2016.  Others may consider removing and reinstalling the current version of the desktop app if issues persist.
4. I made sure I had the Fitbit Sync Dongle plugged into a USB port 
5. Usb Dongle
6. I proceeded to the screen that says "Searching for device" and shows the person holding the side button on the Charge HR
7. I put the Charge HR charging cable into a USB port and plugged the other end into the Charge HR to give it some power.
8. I pressed and held the side button until the Fitbit Desktop App said it found the Charge HR.
9. For the first time, the display on the fitbit showed me something other than the half bar and the firmware installation finally completed successfully
10. The Charge HR showed low battery, so I allowed it to charge for a few hours.  
11. I re-enabled Bluetooth on my phone
12. When the battery was fully charged, I paired with my iPhone through the iPhone Fitbit App and everything appeared to work successfully.

I hope others can benefit from the write up.  It was a frustrating process to find a solution that worked and I'm glad my persistence paid off.  Good luck to anyone else that has a similar problem.  I knew that since the Charge HR was communicating with my phone and computer despite showing the half bar, I would be determined to get the firmware loaded.  If your Charge HR is showing the half bar but not communicating with your phone or computer, verify that you have bluetooth enabled or the Fitbit USB dongle plugged in, and if the issue persists, it may be a Bluetooth error with the Charge HR and this solution likely won't work for you.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to help.  I've seen Fitbit Customer Service reps say that you should message them or call their Customer Service if you encounter similar problems which I would also encourage.

Good luck.

---

---

[bunker6]

@Preeti_ahuja, @Fitbit has not been able to resolve the half bar error.  There is no fix despite the instructions originally posted.  Unfortunately your device cannot be repaired and should be discarded if it is out of the warranty period.  I spent many hours attempting to uncover a fix and ultimately found that there is no practical solution.  It's an unfortunate conclusion but if even Fitbit's Engineers and Software Designers can't fix this, I have little hope that an end user will solve this one.

[Lorikfit]

The fix worked for me once and then didn't again.  I wound up calling support, they tried a few things and said it wasn't fixable.  They offered me the same model (discontinued basically) fee or some ridiculously low percentage off a different model.  I kept saying no until they offered 50% off a new model.  This may be my last Fitfit if they are going to only last two years.

[billjd]

This is rather late in the game I know, but I concur entirely with bunker6 about his frustrations with the Charge HR.  I've had exactly the same problem and have worked through all the various suggested fixes.  It all seems to stem from a Fitbit software upgrade on my new iPhone that went into some kind of endless loop.   And, I, too, will never purchase another Fitbit product.  My Charge HR has been the most erratically functioning piece of digital hardware that I've ever owned, and that's saying something.  Fitbit are you listening  .  .  .  do you care?