Battery Draining Fast

[pippin2501]

Hello, 

I have had my ionic nearing 3-4 years now, its been pretty solid since ive had it, only a few hiccups with battery drain before but the issue resolved after doing multiple resest/factory resets and uninstalling etc.

Recently its become worse. the battery runs down within a few hours from being 100% to 0% in three hours. After doing multiple resets/factory resets and app installations and turning off anything that can possibly drain it,the problem still persists.

Has anyone else with an ionic had this problem? or is it time to finally buy a new watch? which is sad because I have enjoyed the ionic and no other fitbit watch appeals to me as aesthetically they look horrible. 

[Remy77]

I'm having the same issue.  My issues started after updating to the latest version 27.71.6.19.  I've lost about 24hrs of battery life off the watch since the upgrade.  I'm going to try the standard resets and such and I'll update the post, but I'm doubting it'll make any difference.

[pippin2501]

Im sorry to hear you're having the same issue, I have just had a response from fitbit through twitter support - they responded with that its needs to be charged with a more sufficent charging device such as a pc usb port - which I have been doing and have had to charge it twice today already. 

[Remy77]

So they are saying to use something other than a USB port on a pc?  That doesn't make sense as my watch makes it to 100% but just hits 10% in 3 days instead of 4 like it used to.

[Jimmyd123b]

Same here, ever since the last firmware upgrade and my upgrade to premium. Seems like it’s collecting a lot more data hence reduced battery performance. 

[The_Furry_One]

Since the last upgrade, battery life has halved

[PaulMe]

I have had my ionic nearing 3-4 years now

Tbh, battery life has done well for 3-4 years. Look through the back catalogue of complaints from customers with near new Ionics.

Not much you can do, as the battery is non-replaceable. As mentioned, 3-4 years is good. 5 would be better, but unachievable unfortunately.

[pippin2501]

I think they where implying I'd been using a different charging method other than a pc. Sometimes I do but just for problem solving I've been using the pc to charge it and it's still draining fast.

[jy87]

I've only had mine since April and I'm finding the same thing since the firmware update, I have had to charge it every other day and it typically drains before I can get it on charge. When this happens, it wont sync with the app when I get it back charged, it continually says looking for device and I have to remove it from the bluetooth connections on my phone, hard restart the Ionic - usually about 3 times before my phone can find it - and then set it up again in the app. This morning I woke up to it completely drained despite having charged it yesterday evening.

Getting really frustrating since I've only had it less than 6 months, and this morning I get an email trying to get me to upgrade to a Sense!   

[Remy77]

Update: I did a complete factory reset on my Ionic and in the process it updated again to 27.71.6.19.  Charged up on Friday and help up ok over the weekend.  Hoping things are back to normal but I had a pretty inactive Weekend compared to the norm.  I've charged up again and we'll see how a normal week of daily activities holds up.  Should last me until Friday morning if all is truly back to normal.  

[pippin2501]

I'm glad yours is holding up, hopefully just a firmware issue in your case. Unfortunately mine is already updated to that version and barely lasts 4 hours after being charged at 100%. I've resigned to buying a second hand one which will hopefully solve my issue as I've not heard anything back from customer services.

[jy87]

I’m jealous - I tried to do a factory reset and battery dropped from being 1/4 charged to 0% and now displays a lovely red cross saying “Data not cleared Sync and try again”... if I could have done the sync in the first place I wouldn’t have needed the factory reset!! In the hands of Fitbit support now so we’ll see if anything comes of that! Wish me luck!

[Remy77]

Don't be jealous, this is actually my 4th Ionic. I had one replaced via warranty right before I hit the year mark.  Then my 2 sons each had one and we upgraded them to an Apple Watch (I'm an Android guy, so had no interest) so I took their watches as we each had a different color.  My original one started acting up, one had the touch screen stop working (which made it impossible to start a run with the previous update) and I'm down to the one I'm using now.  If this one craps out, I'm headed back to Garmin and getting a Fenix 6 or 7 if I make it that long.  Was trying to hold out when I heard Google was acquiring Fitbit in hopes for better hardware, but that may be another year or more off.  Not waiting that long and the new watches don't peak my interests.  Non are the same as what the Ionic offered.  Just wish they would move away from the square iWatch look.  A nice round watch would be nice.  So, hoping this guy makes it through the end of the year...but this product line is definitely due for a refresh.