Apple Pencil for iPad is causing Fitbit Ionic to crash

[sfcrocker]

We have two Fitbit Ionic watches in our household and when the Apple Pencil goes anywhere near either of them they power off. Turning them back on is useless--they shut off in a minute or less. If the Apple Pencil is put in the garage, or in the car, however, the watches work fine. When the pencil is brought back in the room with the watches, the watches shut off.

My brother has an Apple Watch and--unsurprisingly--there's no trouble using the watch and the Apple Pencil at the same time.

What could be causing this? I'm a bit suspicious that perhaps Apple is trying to get people to abandon Fitbit and switch to Apple Watch?

Any ideas on how to fix it?

[bbarrera]

You realize that Apple Pencil has been shipping since November 2015, well before the Ionic was designed and manufactured? And it passed FCC testing.

Could be a problem with Ionic, or Fitbit app. Does your Ionic sync with the same iPad paired with your Apple Pencil?

[sfcrocker]

I sync the Ionic with my iPhone. I've found if I try to sync it sometimes to my iPad and sometimes to my iPhone the syncing can become unreliable. I was being facetious about Apple and Fitbit, but there is definitely some kind of Bluetooth interference going on with the Apple Pencil and/or both Ionics. 

I don't know much about Bluetooth, but is there something similar to WiFi where you can simply switch your router to a different channel if there's interference?

[bbarrera]

@sfcrocker Something is not right... if possible see if the Apple Pencil interferes with other Bluetooth devices. If it doesn't, then its likely a problem with Ionic. One thing I would try is turning off the Apple Pencil, I don't own one and not sure how to "turn it off" (stop sending BT signals). Guess the first thing I would try is turning off the iPad its paired with, and then see if Ionic shuts down when pencil is nearby. Or put iPad into airplane mode, and see if Ionic shuts down when pencil is nearby.

I wonder if typing quickly on a Bluetooth keyboard would have the same effect on your Ionic? Or streaming music from phone to Bluetooth speaker or Bluetooth audio in a car?

In any case, these devices are designed to operate in a "noisy" and should not shut down. That makes me suspicious of your Ionic, but its also possible something is wrong with the pencil (but still odd that Ionic is shutting down). I'd go to an Apple Store or Best Buy and go to the demo counter and see if the Apple Pencil at the store has the same affect on the Ionic. 

Bluetooth operates on the same frequency (2.4GHz) as WiFi and microwave ovens. Unlike WiFi, you don't have any control over channels that Bluetooth uses.

Good luck!

[CatherineMohs]

Were you ever able to fix this issue? I just got an iPad and I’m having the same problem. When I connect my Apple Pencil to my iPad, my Ionic shuts off.

[sfcrocker]

No, never heard back. Apple forums said this wasn’t possible, but it obviously is!