Bluetooth headphones drop out after 30mins

[Matt_Skinner]

Hi Fitbit team,

Firstly I would like to say that I love my ionic and accept that being a brand new product it may come with some bugs, however is there any chance in sorting a the Bluetooth issue. Halfway through my run the headphones cut out so I have to logout of my run repair them with my headphones and start another logged run. Any chance of looking into this.

Best Regards.

Matt Skinner

[dsobie]

Errr.  I was hoping that would fix your problem.

Have you tried another set of BT earbuds?  Do you get the same result?  It might be a good test to rule out the buds as the problem.

If that doesn't work, I would suggest that you elevate this issue with Fitibit support.  Maybe you have a defective unit.

[rfjouben]

I have discovered that the solution I posted does extend the connection time beyond the 30 minutes but it is a temporary fix. After about three workouts the issue is occurring again. I will be contacting tech support and will report back my findings.

[Rauser]

Only for the protocol: I also can confirm definitely that the bluetooth headphones are disconnected after 30 minutes. Reconnecting using the player menu in the Ionic works. 

In my eyes this is a simple bug: They have implemented a 30 minutes timeout to disconnect unused BT devices, but for any reasons the detection of "unused" won't work. **ahem** happens... 😉

So let's hope that this will be fixed in the next firmware version. 

[rfjouben]

From Tech Support:

Just as you said at the beginning of our chat, the situation that your headphones have been experiencing has been brought to our attention very recently, so for that reason our engineers are aware of the situation now. 

Thanks to you and to the other customers that have reached out to let us know about this, the situation is now under the table, so thanks a lot for contacting us again with this extra information

So for now it is either reconnecting after the connection is dropped or unpairing and reconnecting after every use. Hopefully they will resolve this issue for us all soon.

[SimonRJ]

Interesting theory on the "timeout for unused devices" protocol.  Perhaps until they fix the bug, a conscious use of the headphones to play/pause the music (for Airpods, double tap the earpiece) will keep them "awake" in a sense and prevent the timeout.

[Matt_Skinner]

That would be most appreciated, look forward to hearing Fitbits
reply/solution.

Regards.
Matt Skinner.

[SimonRJ]

UPDATE:  During today's workout, which lasted over an hour, I took the time to PLAY/PAUSE my music every 15 mins or so using my headphones (in my case, Airpods by tapping on them).

I never had a dropout.

It appears that a previous comment about an inactive bluetooth device timeout after 30 mins is correct.  Until FITBIT fixes the bug, just toggle PLAY/PAUSE using your headphones, and you shouldn't have any dropouts.

[rfjouben]

Similar to @SimonRJ’s post I testing the same theory. Instead of during a workout, I actually did this at my desk and hit Play/Pause after 15 minutes but I only did this once as opposed to every 15 minutes and my headset ran for about three hours, then they died because they ran out of a charge. I was using Powerbeats 3 as opposed to Airpod and I did the actual Play/Pause on the watch as opposed to with the headset just in case that makes a difference.

Just in case one is not familiar with how to control the music on the Ionic during a workout, press and hold the upper right button until the music control appears the press Play/Pause. You need to press and hold the button as opposed to just pressing it as that will result in a manual cue not the music controls. To get back to your workout from the music control screen just press the left button.

[SunsetRunner]

I would regard pairing issues to be mainly associated with the operating system and hardware being used.

Consequently may I suggest people state their phone make, model and Android/iOS operating system version number (important you state it in full) and then say if they have a problem or not. Oh and your headphones make and model.

[Rauser]

Sorry, but there are no pairing issues. And the bluetooth headset is connected to the Ionic directly, not to the smartphone. So the smartphone isn't involved at any time here. 

[SunsetRunner]

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@Rauser wrote:

Sorry, but there are no pairing issues. And the bluetooth headset is connected to the Ionic directly, not the smartphone. 

---

Ah fair comment if the phone can be bypassed altogether (i.e. turned off).

[ErickFitbit]

Hi everyone -- If you're experiencing this issue with Bluetooth dropping out, please provide the following information:

• Make/Model of Bluetooth headphones that you're experiencing this
• Did you try it with any other Bluetooth headphones? Was that successful? Please also provide the make and model of these headphones as well.
• Have you tried pausing once as @rfjouben shared here? Did that work for you?

It sounds like this may be specific to specific 3rd party Bluetooth headphones but I am sharing all feedback from this thread to our Ionic team to further investigate these reports. Thanks to everyone who has already shared this information.

@Rauser @Matt_Skinner Did the workaround that @rfjouben shared here work for you too? Thanks for taking the time to share the make/model of your Bluetooth headphones.

In addition, have you tried any other Bluetooth headphones? I am passing the information along to our team.

@hs100789 I'm glad that you haven't experienced any Bluetooth disconnecting issues.

@SimonRJ @rfjouben Thanks for testing that theory out. I will make sure to provide that feedback to our Ionic team.

[Matt_Skinner]

Hi Erick,

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to deal with this issue of the Bluetooth headphones cutting out after 30mins.

Now this has happened to me every time not just the once and the headphones I currently use are the amazing  Powerbeats 3 and have tried everyones recommendations apart from using a different brand because I only have the Powerbeats 3 and not really looking to invest in any other at the moment, but I do know that when I use them with my phone or tablet they do not cut out so I believe the work fine.

Really looking forward to your solution as I would like to run further than 3 miles without my music cutting out and having to end my workout session.  

Kind Regards.

Matt Skinner.

[rfjouben]

I am also use Powerbeats 3 and I have not tested them with any other headset because I gave my Powerbeats 2 to my daughter. I will ask her to stop by this weekend and I will try and test them with those also. 

Hitting the pause button after 15 minutes is still working for me but this is of course a short term solution.

[dsobie]

I have completed my test. 

I, too, am using the Power Beats 3.  These headphones work perfectly (no disconnect) with my Moto G4 and Kindle Fire.

I selected a playlist that is 1 hour, six minutes long.  After 15 minutes, I pressed pause as @rfjouben shared with us.  After that, I never paused the music again.  The playlist continued without disconnecting.  When the playlist completed, it simply started again.

Lastly, I was not using this at the same time as the GPS.

[SimonRJ]

Update to my test with airpods.  I did only 1 play/pause before the first 30 mins.  No dropout for the remainder of the workout (close to 1 hour)

[Matt_Skinner]

Yes it works, paused a couple of during my run and didn't cut out after 30min. Problem solved.

So in a nutshell if you pause the music every fifteen to twenty minutes during your run it won't cut out.

Boom done happy days. 

Matt Skinner. 

[Matt_Skinner]

Hi rfjouben,

Yes it works, paused a couple of times during my run and didn't cut out after 30min. Problem solved.

So in a nutshell if you pause the music every fifteen to twenty minutes during your run it won't cut out.

Boom done happy days. 

Matt Skinner. 

[dsobie]

I went for a run this morning in excess of 30 minutes.  I did not have any interruptions!  I did not click play/pause during the run, but I did turn down the volume, once.

[rfjouben]

Now that we have a temporary fix that should help the programs find a solution, any update on when they are going to release a permanent fix?