Fitbit Inspire 3 Update 210.26

[aliciag831]

There was an article saying the Inspire 3 would be getting a firmware update.  The number listed was 210.26.  Has anyone received this update yet?  I haven't and just wanted to check.  Thanks! 

[NorthGeorgiaGal]

I received the update 2 days ago. Since then, the tracker doesn't sync with the phone unless I restart the tracker and Bluetooth on my phone. Very annoying. I run android 14 on a google Pixel 8a. I rarely had a sync problem before the to update.

[corylbea]

The most recently used exercises being pushed to the top completely defeats the purpose of setting shortcuts in the app. When I was going through and turning off auto start, it kept starting exercises and now I have random ones instead of the ones I want. Plus, I set the shortcuts in order of how frequently I do them, not how recently I did them!

I've had an Inspire 3 for one month and this update is making me regret ever buying it to replace the Charge line I was with before. My display appears to be corrupted after this update and customer service initiated a return because I'm having such a hard time using it and its settings as intended. Auto Wake settings are ignored. Sleep Mode settings are ignored. The screen just wakes up all the time, though less often now that I've turned off the Auto-Start feature. The worst is the swiping and tapping are messed up. I have watched it get tapped, cycling though the clock face or turning on a 1 second timer, while I am motionless and not touching it. The only way I can get it to stay OFF is if I turn on Water Lock. What a disaster of a code this is, unless my device itself got messed up at the same time I got the update.

[AngusBeef]

Mine doesn't do any of that. Sounds like yours just broke

[corylbea]

Bodes well (sarcasm) that it breaks after literally 30 days (received it new July 30), so I'm not optimistic about a replacement or getting the replacement before the refund window closes, in case that one is acting up too and I want my 150CAD back.

I'm just disappointed because the previous Fitbits I've owned (Alta HR and Charge 4) each lasted 2+ years, and the Charge was second hand. Maybe the one I got is just a bad product, but it went so wacky so suddenly and I'm loathe to be without a sleep and heart rate tracker in the time it'll take to do a replacement shipment.

[AngusBeef]

Like any product some break. They usually last over a year tho

[corylbea]

Fingers crossed they send me a replacement. At least I held onto the original box lol

[Ksherwood]

After reading all of these, I’m a little sad. My Fitbit lux was two years old when it would randomly shut down on me during an exercise or the middle of the night. That was in June so before the update it seems. I bought the Inspire 3 on September 2 and cannot get it to track my run properly to save my life (pace and distance off). I only use this for sleep and fitness tracking. In my opinion, I should not have to set my running stride every time I want to run. I shouldn’t have to change the location on my arm to be by my elbow to get it to track the pace properly. They need to get a fix out soon. 

[Bill_209]

I thought that I read that Google-Fitbit will apply a correction to the user-entered walk and run stride length after a walk or run is logged using GPS, because the exact distance is known at that point in time.  

Can someone confirm that was actually the case before the FW upgrade and, if so, is that still the case now.

[BugoftheNorth]

I struggled with the GPS change until someone pointed out that when you manually open the exercise menu on your Inspire3 (not the app) but before you press the “start” icon, scroll down and you will see all sorts of options for that exercise. Turn the options on, like GPS tracking, etc. and save your changes (if I remember, scroll down to the very bottom to find “save.”  Once you do this, you will see the GPS icon on the inspire3 exercise routine, you will get a map of your route when you end the exercise. 

I am 76, recovering from brain surgery which affected my right side. I “walk” outside with a 4 wheeled walker and get a map now every time. I also turn on the “walk” when in a big box store and it records my exertion as well as where I went in the store. I found that I go to peak when self-checking out. LOL.

[BugoftheNorth]

This is a copy of a reply I made earlier:

I struggled with the GPS change until someone pointed out that when you manually open the exercise menu on your Inspire3 (not the app) but before you press the “start” icon, scroll down and you will see all sorts of options for that exercise. Turn the options on, like GPS tracking, etc. and save your changes (if I remember, scroll down to the very bottom to find “save.”  Once you do this, you will see the GPS icon on the inspire3 exercise routine, you will get a map of your route when you end the exercise. 

I am 76, recovering from brain surgery which affected my right side. I “walk” outside with a 4 wheeled walker and get a map now every time. I also turn on the “walk” when in a big box store and it records my exertion as well as where I went in the store. I found that I go to peak when self-checking out. LOL.

[Bill_209]

I see now that the automatic stride length is still implemented in Fitbit settings > Exercise > Stride length but, as I recall, using GPS for a walk or run that was started on the device was the default before the FW upgrade, but GPS must be explicitly turned on now, which was probably done to help conserve battery power.

[Ksherwood]

Makes sense Bill. I never used GPS before and don’t like big brother knowing where I am more than it already does. I’ll try adding that to my run next time and see what happens. 

[Bill_209]

@Ksherwood , it appears that you should only have to turn GPS on once or twice for walks and runs, so Google-Fitbit can automatically update the walk and run stride lengths to be more accurate.  Then, you can probably turn GPS back off after that and the app will still continue to use the calculated, accurate stride lengths with no GPS going forward, so the step count and distance should remain accurate.

[Ksherwood]

Thanks Bill. Let’s hope that works!

[randigoblue]

Nothing but problems now with my device!

[Bill_209]

Someone reported on another thread that Google-Fitbit managed to break GPS map generation if the excercise is started on the device, so an exercise must be started on the app If getting a map returned is important to you. However, you will still have to enable GPS on the device first, before GPS works at all.

[LizMcc66]

Same here, I am having to remove the device from my phone, reset my fitbit
and add my fitbit back to my phone almost every few days now NOT GREAT
FITBIT / GOOGLE GET IT SORTED

[Ksherwood]

Thanks Bill. Unfortunately the GPS doesn’t seam to help. When I tracked it
on my phone I had an accurate reading but the same run with my Fitbit was
inaccurate. Thinking of returning since it’s only been 3 weeks. ☹️

[Bill_209]

@Ksherwood , I'm sorry to say that returning your Inspire 3 device is probably a good call at this point in time, because the Inspire 3 product performance has become increasingly worse with every device FW and App SW update over the last several months.

It is unclear what, if anything, Google is going to do to resolve all these product performance issues that they've created either, which is a bit frustrating.

[Ksherwood]

Do you have any word if the charge six is better? I would assume not since
it’s the same operating system backbones