Fitbit Charge "com.fitbit.HTTP error 500." Error when connecting for first time

[DJRedNight]

So, heres the story. I got this Fitbit charge off a friend, and because it had steps, calories burned etc, when I synced this Fitbit the first time to my iPhone 6 it synced fine, but added steps and miles walked, etc. to my account and I had to delete my account to reset the stats.

Fast forward to midnight when the Fitbit resets the step counter, and all the other things it keeps track of. Now I'm trying to sync to the phone. I get through the process to the point of entering in the "number i see on your charge" which is the 4 digits. I enter this code and receive the following error:

Spoiler

Error

The operation couldn't be completed.

(com.fitbit.HTTP error 500.)

I'm assuming that this means that there is something wrong with the fitbit servers and not necessarily my Fitbit, or my phone.

Here's the steps I've taken so far to try and fix the issue

1. Connect via Wifi, and Cellular data to try and see if one or the other made the error go away.
2. Restart the Fitbit by connecting via USB Charging Cable, and holding the button on the side for 10-12 seconds until the Fitbit logo and firmware version number appears
3. Restart my phone using the "hard shut off" mode (hold down the power button and home button until apple logo appears) and also the "soft shut off" mode (using just the power button and swiping right)
4. Made sure that my iOS version was up to date
5. Made sure that my Fitbit App was up to date
6. Turned off bluetooth, and turned it back on
   1. "Forgot" the charge device in my bluetooth "history" so i was getting a "fresh" connect

So far, since trying to trouble shoot this issue, like i stated before I believe this is an internal server error on Fitbit's side and not my own. Going to bed for now, with the fitbit on in hopes that it will still track my sleep even though it's not connected to the app. Maybe the issue will be resolved when I awake. Will provide an update tomorrow. See you in 8+ hours.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @DJRedNight, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I appreciate you have detailed the steps you have taken in order to try to resolve this issue. Indeed, this seems to be an issue with our servers and not necessarily coming from the tracker itself. At this moment I would like to ask you to log out from the app, then log back in and try to set up your tracker once again. If this doesn't seem to work, wait from 1 to 2 hours and try again. 

To set up your tracker as a new device:

1. Open the Fitbit app and tap on the Account symbol at the top right corner of the screen, then tap on "Set up a New Device"
2. Choose your tracker and follow the onscreen instructions to continue
3. When the app asks you to replace your current tracker, please replace it and continue with the process.
4. When a pop-up appears asking you to Pair your tracker to your device, tap on Pair and continue.

I hope this can be helpful, if you're still getting the same error message after trying my suggestions, please let me know so I can check this further. 

[DJRedNight]

Good morning!

Thanks Marco for the reply! So I woke up and immediately tried to sync the device again, not even reading your reply. I got to the point where it asked me for the digits and then it gave me the same exact error. Then I decided to check the forum post, read your reply, and so, here's what I did.

1. I logged out of the app on my phone
2. then i deleted the app entirely
3. I then hard shut off and restarted my phone
4. Once my phone had powered on again I reinstalled the Fitbit Application
5. I then signed in and tried to sync the device, again with no luck. I got to the same step, and the same error.
6. I then realized I was still using my Wifi signal as data, so I deactivated my Wifi, and I tried again with just my Cellphone Data. Again, stuck on the same step, and still getting the same error.

I don't really understand why I'm getting this error as I've connected this device once before to my phone, but then I had to delete my account and start over due to the "stats" issue as previously mentioned. It seems as though there might be an issue with my account itself maybe not letting me connect to the servers? I thought that a reinstall of the Application might have reset it and "deleted the cache" of any previous attempts to connect to the Fitbit Servers.

I anxiously await your reply! I'm going to run a few errands in a little bit, and then I'll be back home and be able to reply to you. Thanks for all your help!

[DJRedNight]

Update Post

So, after seeing no reply from Marco, I decided to give Fitbit Customer Service a call. I first talked to a T1-CSR (Tier One - Customer Service Representative) who did a diligent and awesome job at walking me through some simple steps to try and fix the issue. As this Fitbit Charge was a previously owned item, and was given to me for cheap, I had to purchase a third party charging cable from amazon. I had no dongle at the time so the T1-CSR sent me out a dongle free of charge. (Thanks by the way)

Seeing how I have worked in the IT field for a while now, I know that an HTTP 500 error is a general internal server error, with no clear definition as to the root of the problem. When building a website, these HTTP 500 errors can be the death of me I swear. So, I asked the T1 CSR to transfer me to a supervisor. This Tier Two Specialist (T2S) took these issues, this forum post, and all the data collected by the T1-CSR and forward them off to the Fitbit Software Engineers. Never thought this issue would go so far as to be looked upon via the Software Engineers, but thats awesome!

So the Engineer's sent me some instructions on Factory Resetting the Fitbit Charge, and also suggested that I tried to use a different source of data/Wifi network to try and connect the Charge to the Application. I also at this time anxiously await the shipment of the dongle (5-7 Business Days).

I will be updating this thread periodically so that anyone running across the same issues will understand the processes, and steps that I have tried to fix the problem.

Thanks again Fitbit for some AWESOME customer support, and I hope that we can work together to get this Fitbit Charge to work correctly!

[DJRedNight]

Update Post

The T2-CSR called me back within about 4-5 hours and talked to me briefly. From my understanding of the call the Engineer's have no idea what's really going on at this point. The T2-CSR stated that she was going to forward me off an email with further instructions on what the Engineer's think I should do, and some work arounds.

So, I received the email from the T2-CSR which was a forward from the Fitbit Engineering team giving me instructions to do a "Factory Reset" on my Fitbit Charge. See: How do I factory reset my Charge of Charge HR? I was also told in the email to try to use a different data source while syncing up my Charge to my Phone. (i.e. Wifi & Cellular Data)

I followed these steps outlined in the article and successfully factory reset my Charge. When trying to sync the Charge to my phone I'm still getting the same error. Here are two screenshots showing that I'm using two different data sources (Wifi & Cellular Data) and still running into the same error as before. (You can tell the different in data by the little Wifi/LTE symbol in the top left hand corner of the screen shots)

Wifi Screenshot

Spoiler

Cellular Data Screenshot

Spoiler

After following the factory reset, trying the two different data sources, and everything else, I'm still figuring that it might be an issue with Fitbit's servers. I really don't understand how I was able to connect and sync my Fitbit Charge with the previous users "stats" on my account, but then after I had to go through this account deletion process and make a new account suddenly the Fitbit won't sync and I get this HTTP 500 error.

I have sent off an email to the T2-CSR with a link to this post. She is off tomorrow (Thursday) so nothing will happen at least until friday. Will update again whenever more information becomes available.

Note: I personally think that it's a super poor design that in order to remove any stat's off a users profile for any reason, that the entire account must be deleted. There should be a way on the Customer Support end that will allow for a way to delete a certain day from a user's profile. Maybe if the Software Engineer's were a little frisky, and wanted to go above and beyond with implementing this, they would make it so the CSR's could delete certain hours of the day, week, month, or just a complete wipe of all stat's on a profile withou having to delete the entire account.

Moderator Edit: Format.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @DJRedNight, I hope you're having a great day, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you have already tried the troubleshooting steps I suggested earlier and that you have contacted our Support Team. I sincerely apologize for the inconveniences you've experienced due to this issue and appreciate your patience while our team works to find a resolution for your situation. 

I also appreciate your feedback, our team is always looking to improve the Fitbit experience and I would like to encourage you to submit your insight as a suggested idea, where our members can comment and vote for it so it can be implemented in the future. This is the best way to make your voice heard and get the attention from our development team. 

Thanks again for your patience, please keep me updated and let me know the resolution from our Support team. 

[DJRedNight2]

So, here I am again. This was a stupid simple fix... Long story short, wait MINIMUM 48 hours before making a new account. That seemed to have solved the issue. 🙂

Thanks everyone for all their help!

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @DJRedNight2, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply and let me know your issue has now been resolved, I'm very glad. 

In case you have some spare time, I would like to invite you to visit our Discussions board where you will find great tips and encouragement from other members and if there's anything else I can do for you, please keep me posted!

[fairfielddude42]

Confused by your process. Are you saying to contact support, have them delete my account, and then recreate it to solve the issue?

I've created a brand new account, started fresh and still got the same 500 http error... multiple machines, phones, etc... nothing seems to work. Oddly, the flex syncs and tracks, but I want m firmware updated!

What exactly did you do then?

[DJRedNight2]

Yes, call them. Have them delete your account. Wait a MINIMUM of 48 hours. I waited 72 hours just to be on the safe side. Then recreate your account. Should solve the issue.

[fairfielddude42]

makes no sense at all given i created a new account and tried to start fresh. ok, will eventually give that a try! thanks!

[DJRedNight2]

I don't know how that wouldn't make sense...

Step 1: Call Customer Support and have them delete your account

Step 2: Wait 48-72 hours (2-3 days)

Step 3: Create a new account

Fairly straight forward... legit. lol

[jellydonut25]

Hang on, I'm confused...

I too just got a Fitbit from a friend, today.

I did a factory reset on the device, and then tried to sync it to my  phone. Getting the 500 error.

I have to delete my entire Fitbit account, losing all my previous data from my previous Fitbit, in order to sync this one to my phone?

That doesn't make any sense. Any time I want to add a new device to my account, I have to instead delete my entire account and create a new one? That's wrong. No way.

[DJRedNight2]

Idk about anytime you add a new device. But if youre getting this http 500 error the only way to fix it is either:

A) create a new account

B) have them delete the old account and follow my steps above

yes its a pain, yes this is a major bug, no idk why Fitbit refuses to fix the error, will they ever fix it? Probably not. Like i said, call them. I had to escalate my call to teir 3. Sooooo be ready for the process

[fairfielddude42]

I've created a new account, that didn't work. The good news is that my flex
syncs, I just can't update the firmware. Very, very silly that this doesn't
work.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great day. 

I understand some of you are still getting an error when trying to set up or update your Fitbit trackers. At this moment I would like to gather some information from you so I can forward it to our team. Please reply with the following:

1. Phone model you're currently using.
2. OS version running on your mobile device.
3. App version currently installed on your phone (go to Account > Help to get it)
4. Where are you getting the error, while setting up or during an update?

Thank you all for your patience and understanding, I'll be waiting for your reply. 

[fairfielddude42]

iPhone X, also tried on 6, both with latest OS versions.

Version 2.46 (744).

Only getting an error when i hit update tracker.

I've also tried on Mac OS, High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102) - latest
fitbit software too! I get the error there when I try to update tracker, I
log in, and get the same message.

have tried turning off bluetooth on my phone, isolating them from each
other as well.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @fairfielddude42, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you've replied with the information requested. At this moment I would like to ask you to try to use a different WiFi network or turn it off and use your cellular data (the data used is not significantly big) when trying to update or log in to the Fitbit app. 

I hope this can be helpful, give it a try and let me know the outcome! 

[fairfielddude42]

Thanks. I tried shutting off Bluetooth and WiFi and tested on LTE with no
luck. Same error, same thing.

Again- the flex syncs and works, the app asks me every time to update and
then fails with that same error.


--
Marc Sirkin 203-400-5859 msirkin@gmail.com

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @fairfielddude42, I hope you're having a great day. Thanks for replying to me and let me know you've already tried the troubleshooting steps provided earlier, I appreciate it. 

At this moment, I will forward the information you've provided me to our team so they can take a better look at this situation. Once I have more to share with you about this issue I'll make sure to update the thread accordingly. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding. In the meantime, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply.