How to get the Weather app to sync?

[SunsetRunner]

Ok, I have tried everything, short of totally "burning down the house" -- doing a factory reset with the Ionic, deleting it from my Fitbit account, uninstalling every instance of the Fitbit software, and then hoping that it might magically make the Weather app work if I start everything from scratch.  I have tried everything short of that, and it simply, utterly will not work when I try to input a city name, and it will not work with my phone's current location.  My Weather app is as dead as a piece of software can be dead.

So, does anyone have it working properly?  I would like to know if it actually works halfway well, before I destroy everything else that I've got working.  And could you also describe how it works?  I have the following questions:

How and when does it sync?  I presume it syncs with your phone, and presumably via Bluetooth.  Is that correct, or might it only sync with whatever Wi-Fi connection you used to set the Ionic up with, to begin with?  And if it does sync via Bluetooth on your phone, how often does it sync?  Is the frequency something you can set?

Mainly, I'm wondering if you can pop into the Weather app, and halfway reliably see what the local temperature is outdoors.  If it only syncs once per hour or less frequent, then I'm not so sure it would be worth the effort.

And so on.  Thanks in advance for letting me know how it works, because I really dread going through the factory reset routine, because I went through a nightmare to get my Ionic set up to begin with.  I really don't want to go through that, if it's not likely to work, or if the app is actually quite lame, and not worth the effort to begin with.

Thanks again!

moderator edit: title for clarity/format

[WsW60]

Where do you find the Account icon > your device image to get to the Apps?

[janlynkim]

Figured it out. Resolved.

[rhodgkin]

First post on here so probably doing it wrong!

I got a Charge 4 for Christmas. Having multitudes of issues as part of my "learning curve".

I've noticed that the weather app on the Fitbit picks up my city fine, and shows a temperature. My issue is (and I might be expecting too much) is the temp only updates when I sync the Fibit via the phone App. Example: Left home this morning at it was reading 44° which seemed about right. Two hours later when I got back from my bike ride, it is still reading 44° and has at the bottom of the screen 2hrs 32 mins ago. My phone is telling me it is now 55°.

Surely this should be the real time temperature and not an irrelevant 2 and a half hours ago?

Done a lot of Googling, which usually brings be back to these boards, but not been able to find a definitive answer. Again I fear I maybe expecting too much.

[RGrascoeur]

Hello, I have a quick question. I came upon your response while searching how to sync the weather etc. I tried to follow your instructions, but when I go to account, there is no app button, and therefore no weather button either. Any suggestions? I'm trying to sync the calendar as well

[GrandDude]

I have a Charge 3 paired with Android phone. Be sure the Fitbit app on your phone or paired device is set to allow background data usage. I don't know if that is your issue, but my own experimentation with this over the last couple of years lead me to this conclusion. I had set my older Android phone to disallow background data usage on many apps, thinking it might help battery life. When I realized that was affecting my Charge 3/Fitbit app syncing, I enabled the Fitbit app to allow background data usage, and that took care of it. I have a new Android phone now running Android 11, along with the Charge 3 with recently updated firmware, and my Charge 3 works very well.

[GrandDude]

I forgot to mention in my reply a few minutes ago that there are still occasions when my weather update lags quite a while behind real time. For example, some mornings when I wake up I see that the weather update is several hours old or even as old as when I went to sleep. But the weather app does update fairly regularly even if I have not performed a full sync with the Fitbit app on my phone. I wonder if some of that may result from other sleep settings, do not disturb settings, etc. on my phone. There are just so many settings that seem to interplay with each other.

[RGrascoeur]

Thanks for your reply. 🙂 

It is set to allow the background usage. My problem seems to be that on the app, or website for fitbit, I can't find any button to select the apps to sync. I have a fitbit charge 4 and an android phone

[rhodgkin]

Hi GrandDude, not sure if your response was to my question or the original post. Anyway I think it relates to my question either way.

I checked my iPhone settings, and I'm not finding an "allow background data usage" setting anywhere (technology eh!), all I'm seeing is the "background App refresh" setting which is on. Could this just be different terminology by Android and iPhone for the same thing?

I just did some Googling, and confused myself even more...

[GrandDude]

Not being an iPhone user, I'm not sure, but  "background App refresh" seems like the same setting I referred to with my Android. I don't know what else to suggest, but with my Charge 3 and Android phone, that was definitely the main issue.

[GrandDude]

I'm not sure I'm following your issue, but I don't access the fitbit website to sync anything. All I do is sync by opening the fitbit app on my Android phone and sync there. There are no specific apps to sync beyond the fitbit app itself. My weather, calendar, and agenda stay fairly well synced. I also receive text message notifications but have email notifications disabled. There are many twists and turns to navigate in a variety of places. I've had my charge 3 for over a year, and it took much trial and error. Mine is working very well now with a new android phone running android 11, and the charge 3 running the recent firmware update. Before I got a new phone I did fairly regularly clear the cache (not the data) through the fitbit app. I don't think that should be necessary but it often worked. I also periodically logged out and back in through the fitbit app itself.

[Heffalump_2015]

If anyone is having issues getting the weather to update my issue was when I moved the Fitbit App to the SD card on my phone to cut down on internal storage then the weather app stopped updating but everything else worked  perfect if I leave it on the internal memory the weather updates just in case anyone else had got issues with the weather App maybe it will help.

Cheers

[Blue3489]

I have the same issue. So many issues lately. My whole family is done with Fitbit and are switching to apple watched. As they are dependable and have a very good customer support. Fitbit bites!!

[fbdan]

I've had three fitbits now, all Charges, and the weather app will update itself once every 2-5 hours for each instance.  That's just unacceptable.  The app has been broken for years.  And despite everyone's effort and suggestions, there's still no "fix" from fitbit.  Garmin doesn't have this problem, nor does Apple.  I quit.  I am deleting this disappointment.  Might as well delete Spotify, too, for all the good it does at $10 a month.

[Crazyal01]

TBH, I understand your frustration.  I can't say I am happy at all with Fitbit products.  I expected better.  It has WAY too many flaws for my taste.  2 days ago I contacted them because now the HR during an exercise, uploaded during a sync, was incorrectly displayed on the android app but yesterday I discovered was CORRECTLY displayed on the Windows app.  I contacted support who emailed me the stupidest TS steps possible.  Reboot your watch, resync and clear cache on the app.  This is AFTER I specifically told them I already reboot both app and tablet , AND did like 20 syncs!!!.  I even uninstalled the app and reinstalled it.  WHAT MORE do I need to tell them in order to PAY ATTENTION??  I have been working in support for more than 15 years and honestly I find most "call center" support agents forced to follow standard boiler plate procedures rather than use their brains and logically respond to an issue.  OR, they hire any nitwit off the street to be a tech support agent and then train them to just read what is on their screen and NOT hurt themselves by doing something like....what...I dunno...THINK?

"Tech Support" is a highly used, overrated and unjustly used term today for true tech support is an art of 

1) Analysing the situation

2) Gathering data 

3) Hypothesizing on potential causes

4) testing and attempting to reproduce the problem

5) Resolving with a solution

I don't recall tech support centers going thru all that in a long time.  Best I got from Fitbit 2 days ago was up to step 2.

All I can tell ya is don't count on support to resolve much.  This company, like MOST others, are more inclined to pushing out new products with more gadgets and features (and problems) in the name of progress and telling you,"We solved your problem but you need to buy the new one to get the fix!".

Make of this what you will.  Good luck with your issues 🙂

[Rhramalla]

What solved my issue with the Fitbit Versa 2 Weather app syncing is to set the Fitbit App Location Permission to Allow all the time. 

Hope this helps someone.

[Blackout1500]

I had the same issue with my Sense and after doing some digging, I was finally able to solve the issue.  I have an Android (Galaxy S20 Plus) and the weather never worked, until I completed these steps:

1.  Open up your phone settings and go to Apps.

2.  Select the Fitbit app, and look for permissions

3. Select Location, and choose "allow all the time" for your default setting.

4. Save and close, if required

5. Open your FItbit app on your phone and sync.  You can now make changes and do whatever with the weather app.  

I had only given my Fitbit permission for location when using the app, and that blocked the weather app from working.  

Once I did this, the weather app started working perfectly and I have not had an issue since.  

Hope this helps anyone else having the same problem!

[RichWood]

I gave up. Tried everything short of a total factory reset. This has obviously been a problem for a long time, well over four years, and Fitbit hasn’t been able to, or desired to, successfully fix it. Just delete the app and save your frustration. 

[Rhramalla]

Sorry you had such a hard time Rich. The LOCATION solution provided by BlackOut1500 solved this issue for me. 

Good luck!

[Nanabev8]

I agree! Can’t fix it on mine either. Looks like if a phone can have a weather app it would sync but it doesn’t. Thanks.

Sent from my iPhone

[fxxk]

Sure it works. It gets you to go outside while the GPS gets your location. You can figure out the weather while you're standing outside. Sunny? Cloudy? Cold? Hot? Rain?..........