Charge 5 Premium Health Metrics: Erractic Performance

[EJNIV]

Earlier I post that Premium Health Metrics was not opening.  Apparently something behind the scenes at Fitbit was corrected and it was back.  Now, despite performing all known steps, most days the "Breathing Rate" is not showing and now "Heart rate variability" is not displayed (that is, no data).  Skin temp, O2 saturation, and resting heart rate are present.  I have also changed how loose or tight the band is to see if that would help (it didn't).

Again, I have:  uninstalled and reinstalled the app on my Samsung s22+, on the Charge 5 gone to "Settings" and "restarted device."  Additionally, I have added my Charge 5 as if it is a new device.

Once again, my hypothesis is that something is happening behind the "curtain" that is causing the problem(s).

I've been a big Fitbit fan going back many years to my Charge 2.  I also LOVE being a beta tester for some of the enhancements.  It has been just a tad frustrating that components of my Premium subscription appear to be falling short.

My hope is that Fitbit team members are monitoring these posts and have some input especially if there are "issues" going on.

Thanks.

Ed

[EJNIV]

Just curious if others are experiencing this with Premium Health Metrics and Charge 5?  Since the original post (24 June) there has only been two occasions (days) when "Health Metrics" captured my breathing rate.  As noted above, I have done everything imaginable included adjusting the Fitbit band (that came with the Charge 5).  Thanks.

Ed

[Cal624]

I’ve had the same thing. No O2 readings since 6/22, and only 3-4 days of breathing rate in that time frame. I’ve tried all of the stuff you have too. 

[Cal624]

I just changed my clock face to a new one, then changed it back.  Suddenly my o2 reading is showing up. 

[EJNIV]

Wow!  Going to try that now.  Thanks for the insights. 🙂  Ed

[EJNIV]

Just realized that my O2 has always been showing.  It's my Breathing Rate that only shows up on occasion (like once in about 2 weeks on 8 July 2022).  Maybe tonight will capture breathing. 😁😁  Stay tuned.

[EJNIV]

Wonder if any Fitbit IT/support people monitor these?  I'm still having the issue that breathing rate for my Premium Health Metrics only is registered once every week or so.  And, now there's something new:  Charge 5 not holding a "charge," but I'm going to post that one as well.

[RunSuzRun]

• That’s very interesting. My issue with Premium is different, but the 6/22 date caught my eye because that’s the last day the app logged any of my Mindfulness Sessions. It just stopped after that. I notified Fitbit of the issue earlier this week (after deleting an reinstalling the app, restarting my phone and restarts my device — and several combinations thereof). So far Fitbit support has not suggested any solutions except what I already tried, which has not worked. I wonder if they changed something with the Premium functionality after 6/22. 

[Milwaukee]

I'm in the same boat as you guys--new Charge 5, worn continuously since 7/10, but only O2 showing.  No HRV, no skin temp, no breathing rate, and hence no readiness score.  Sleep stats only show awake/restless/asleep, not stages of sleep.  I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the app, clearing the app cache, restarting the device, restarting the phone, all as mentioned on this forum.  Chat had me restart the device and reset the sleep sensitivity to sensitive (forum suggested the opposite), then on the second chat had me restart the heart rate monitor function.  

None of this has helped.  I bought this item specifically for the health metrics and the readiness score, am considering returning it b/c an awful lot of people here seem to be having issues and not finding solutions.

[EJNIV]

Thanks Milwaukee for your input and "feeling our pain."  While this is only a story I'm telling myself and not necessarily a "fact," my bet would be that IF Fitbit support/IT people read these they "write it off" to BDUs:  brain dead users.  And, clearly we are not. 😁  I (and I suspect we) have searched, followed all suggestions, installed/uninstalled, restarted our devices, and I even did the replacement my Charge 5 with the current Charge 5 so it was seen as a new device.  I have also (happily) done beta testing for this and earlier Charges (and love being able to do that), and believe that this is a Fitbit issues and not user issues.  Just this morning I did not my Premium Breathing Rate nor HR Variability.  (I too am a biometrics geek.)  Plus, despite having over 8 hours of sleep, my sleep score was a measly 79!  Said inadequate REM and Deep sleep and sleeping HR above resting HR.  At least my "Readiness Score" was 92. 🤔  My Premium subscription is up soon, and while I will have my "free" six month "trial" (paired with the purchases of the Charge 5), I wonder about the value of Premium.  Thanks again to all for jumping in.

[Milwaukee]

Just an update:  As of this AM, I finally DO have a sleep score, as well as a breathing rate and HRV.  However, still no skin temp, which seems weird, as that has to be one of the more basic measurements, right?  The app says "all data has not loaded today, so check back later."  I've been checking for a few hours now with no change.   And of course no readiness score.

In the past, I'd been using "begin sleep now" in the app to start my sleep.  I read in the forum that this will prevent a sleep score from showing, so didn't use it last night.  Bingo, I now have a sleep score.  So why is that feature on the app then, I ask...

So there's improvement in my Charge 5, but not total functionality.  Considering the amount of time I've spent trying to get things working correctly (and they're still not 100%) as well as the cost of the Premium subscription once my trial runs out, I'm going to return this device.  I ordered another tracker from a different company, one that does NOT cost extra for a monthly subscription.  Really wanted to like the Charge 5, but this whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth. Coupled with the fact that most sources say to only expect about a year's use out of a Fitbit, it's just not an attractive proposition for me.

[RunSuzRun]

I also have an update, and think I figured out what’s causing the issue I’m having. Premium USED to log sleep meditations as Mindfulness sessions (for which they would show your starting and ending heart rates). It appears now that they will no longer let you log any type of Mindfulness sessions except the handful that come up when you click the “Mindfulness” tile (it used to be that I would click the Premium button and go into the Mindfulness options that way, which includes the sleep meditations). I guess this makes sense, since I almost always had to wait until morning to log those sleep meditations and wasn’t quite sure if the ending heart rate reading was reflecting the rate from when the meditation ended or from when I woke up and was logging it. 

Milwaukee, I believe you don’t get some of those Health Metrics readings until you’ve been wearing the device for at least 14 days, so it can fine tune what YOUR normal  average body temp is, for comparison purposes (so variations can be detected). Hope that’s helpful. 

[Milwaukee]

Thanks for the input, RunSuzRun, appreciate the time spent to post.  I did return my Fitbit, so I don't expect to be posting here anymore.  Thanks to all who've tried to help, and best wishes going forward!