Battery life significantly reduced since the last firmware upgrade

[JAH67]

So, always one to keep my Ionic up to date and installed the last firmware upgrade -- v2771.6.19, after they finally went public with switching the SPO2 monitor on.

Battery life has tanked. It used to go a full week between charges, now it's 4 days, and that's if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

I'm aware there's an argument to say that with the SPO2 monitor on the call on the battery will increase,  but I suspect that it's always been on so they can collect a huge 'live' data sample from their users to see how it performs in the field. If I were a tech company, I'd be harvesting valuable data like that. Speciation I know, but that said, when it first got 'officially' turned on, there was no negative impact on my battery performance at all, that came with the most recent firmware update. So answers on a postcard, please?

Planned obsolescence to push us all towards buying the new top of the line model because it can take your temperature?
Oh, and this is about the 3rd body I've had replaced due to various bricking incidents, so this particular one is probably no more than 18 months old.

[clayw]

battery went from 5-6 days to 2-3😫

[HiramJim2]

Same here.  Battery life crashed.   4ish days became 1-2 days.

[Stumacd]

Mine is exactly the same. Battery life has halved since the last update. Not happy.

[Benzin]

Same issue here. I have 1.5 day instead 4-5. 😡 

[RebekaM]

This same exact thing happened to me after the updates and as of yesterday, battery is 0% and cant get it to charge no matter what I do, several different charging cords and outlets.  Any solutions?

[Benzin]

Contact support i guess... Hopefully it’s under warranty.

[JAH67]

Tried that, just get mugged off and a flat denial that there's an issue caused by the latest firmware update, despite numerous threads reporting the same experience as my own on their own forums!

Fitbit hasn't exactly the best record in acknowledging they **ahem**ed up in the past. Were it not for the laughable battery life of the iWatch, i'd abandon Fitbit in the blink of an eye. 

[Benzin]

Pfff... That is sad. The forum is full of complains, they even had to close the firmware thread, ‘cuz they couldn’t handle it anymore. I won’t even try to contact them. I have a two years old ionic in the best case senario i would get a 25% discount, and i’m not sure i want to get another fitbit. I had no issues under these two years at least not something i couldn’t solve somehow or someway.  This latest update made it un-useable. Battery life 1 day, calories and heart rate off unable to track sleep stages. I’m pretty close to step on it with a boot, gently...

[JAH67]

Given the timing of this update, coinciding with the release of new flagship hardware, it's quite hard not to think it's a deliberate choice on their part to bring about enforced obsolescence. Expecting us all to take it in our stride and simply rush out and buy the new model like good little consumers. Sorry, but no! Unless they address what's clearly a fault introduced as a result of the last firmware update I'm done with them. I'll also become the antithesis of a brand advocate at every given opportunity. 

[JAH67]

Weird, I can see official responses all over the forums from Fitbit mods... except in the case of people who've encountered my issue.  It's as if we're all being stonewalled. Quite **ahem**ing of their attitude towards a significant number of users affected by this issue.

[JAH67]

So I'm sad/frustrated to report, that after performing the requested battery test, that my experience has effectively been dismissed.

There was zero consideration given to what my usage of the device was like, or if I'd added or removed any features, The only thing that appeared to matter to my call agent, was that the battery performed within Fitbit's acceptable parameter range. Which is a pretty bloody stupid position to take imo.

My usage experience was that my battery lasted 7 days, and I'd recharge it at around 12% which is where it got to in this time. Clearly, I'm a very light user for the battery to last this long. Nevertheless, that's my expectations of the device with my usage. When I updated it to the latest firmware, I made no other changes to the device, no extra features added or removed, no additional use. In fact, with C19 restrictions, my active use has declined even further, meaning the battery should arguably last longer too! Regardless, now the battery barely makes it to 5 days.

Because the acceptable parameter for battery life is between 4-7 days, support do nothing, despite there being an obvious correlation between overnight degradation of battery life and updating the firmware.

Not only that, but it's become quite clear looking through this forum, that anyone reporting similar battery issues have been roundly ignored by the moderators. It doesn't look good for their supposed lack of knowledge that the firmware has caused these issues.

As to a solution to the issues caused by the firmware update, none was offered and I was effectively told, tough sh7t and suck it up buttercup.

Yet again, Fitbit leading the way in how NOT to handle customer complaints.

[CCH1972]

Mine was the same, I rushed to install the new watch face which showed SPO2 levels and the battery life dropped to 2 days from 5. I changed back after a week or so to the previous watch face, battery life went back up to 5 days. 

[Armyeyeguy]

All,

Have read through the thread and find myself in the exact same position. Ionic is 18 months old and battery life went from 5 days to less than 24 hours immediately following latest update. Offered 35% off new device after failed battery test. 

I am so disappointed. Love the product and have been a loyal advocate for Fitbit products over the years.  From my perspective they are culpable for the degraded performance of my device.  But this has fallen on deaf ears. Told customer support they had an opportunity to treat me fairly and retain me as a life long customer. No response.  

At least not alone in the debacle.  Agree with original post that Fitbit will suffer from so many dissatisfied customers.

[kikon]

I had the same issue, with SpO2 watch face. But when I  switched to a standard watch face, again 4 days for ionic. I love it 🙂

[Benzin]

Yes, watch faces can reduce the battery life, that is true, but that is not the case for me. I have the adidas edition, so i use that since day one. (I changed it once maybe for a day) Simple,basic and I love it. I do have the same setup on my watch, i do work out as often as before,  yet one day from another suddenly my battery drains super quickly. I’m 99% sure it has something to do with the latest firmware update. Heart rate, calories are way off. Unable to track my sleep 9 out of 10 times. I think something happened with the sensor and that’s why the battery dies after a day. In fact I checked back on the data and around the upgrade, the watch cannot pick up my hearth rate sometimes, huge chunks are missing, and i wear my watch properly. Other times when I’m sitting  it shows 120 bpm which is ridiculous.    

[Benzin]

 

[JAH67]

So I thought I'd provide a minor update for anyone else having similar issues to myself. The one thing I forgot to include was that I'd changed my watch face to the  SPO2 one.  I switched back to my preferred face and low and behold, my battery usage has returned to normal. So in my case, that was the culprit.  Why?  Anyone's guess, the watch still gathers the same information regardless. 

[Ralfbr]

Me pasa exactamente lo mismo y eso que probaba la esfera solamente por la noche, consumo desde 23 h  a 9 h.... 25% de la bateria