Crashes during exercise

[BMCG]

10/3 morning run, tracking with GPS, looked at watch at mile 2,

checked a couple minutes later and it was the workout screen where you scroll to choose exercise. So I restarted “run” and went home. Synced to phone, 2+mile run is not there, was never recorded, didn’t sync. This is a MAJOR  reason for buying a gps tracker, it must work every time.  

Other problems-

finally got pandora stations to show up when I forced sync for 15th time on work WiFi, got Home put watch on charger, Home WiFi, pandora station and disappeared!!!! Fitbit Please fix software! Will Ben returning off not fixed in next couple weeks for refund. 

I was excited aboit Ionic becuase I like fitbit, battery life vs Apple Watch, and combined the function of my old gps running watch and all day tracker. But it was released with too many problems.  Please post update on firmware fixes that may be in the future. 

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity & format

[BenBenson]

Mine doesn't crash after the last update.

>From the Exercise app: Bike
Show laps Off
Auto pause On.
GPS On.
Customize Stats
Top stat Distance
Bottom stat Elapsed time
Always -on Screen Off

Android Fitbit app:
All-day Sync Enabled
Always Sync Enabled
Keep-alive Widget Disabled
Notifications All Allowed

Clock face Stats by Fitbit

Anything else I should add, please let me know.

I did not reset the Ionic before my 10 mile bike trip yesterday. I've not
had any crashes since the 27.32.10.20 update. Prior to that the Ionic
crashed on every GPS tracked trip.

I hope it gets fixed for everyone else experiencing crashes. In fact I'm
confident the Fitbit engineers will find a solution soon!

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[runnerboi418]

While I admire your optimism, I am unable to share it. Fitbit has had plenty of time to fix this and yet all they are able to do is dish out the same meaningless platitudes to every new poster to this thread. 

I understand that intermittent software bugs such as this can be notoriously difficult to diagnose and repair, but if they were truly committed to fixing it they would have done so long ago. 

[GySgt_Seidell]

Hello Folks..

If your Ionic is dropping during use of the "Exercise App", please check your Exercise App settings (Sprocket in the top left corner) and make sure your "Auto-Pause" is turned off.  Also, make sure your Ionic is not too tight (should be able to slide 1 finger between the bottom of the band and your arm, IMO) as bending the wrist with a tight band can accidentally press the left button, ending your exercise prematurally.

Hope this helps and please post back if you need further assistance.  Thanks and keep on stepping!

Moderator Edit: Format

[runnerboi418]

Gunny - first and most importantly, Semper Fi from a former Naval submarine officer whose brother served in the Corps.

Second, thank you for the practical advice regarding the "Auto-Pause" feature and tightness of the band.  I've had this issue on and off for many months (since the beginning of 2018) and in my case, Auto-Pause has always been turned off, and my band tightness is as you recommend, so those don't seem to be causing my troubles.  I also very much appreciate you not repeating the advice of other moderators to restart, upgrade firmware, and manually log our activities as other posters to this thread have continued to recommend.

In an earlier post of mine, I provided some feedback as to what I am seeing when this happens to my Ionic.  I have copied it below; if you could see to it that this gets to the team working to fix this, I'd be much obliged:

My specific symptom is that the Ionic will stop in the middle of a workout and go straight to the clock face.  When this happens, the session typically will get saved on the Ionic and sync up with my Fitbit App just fine, but it does require me to restart a new session (in the middle of my run) so that I can capture my complete workout.  Here are the conditions in which this happens:

- Tends to stop tracking and go back to the clock face (crash) at the point where I have established an "Automatic Lap Setting".  

- It is not limited to GPS workouts and my phone is nowhere near me when I am working out.

- First example: if I have it set to "Lap" at 2 minutes for a Treadmill workout, it will crash at the first 2 minute interval.

- Second example: if I have it set to "Lap" at 0.5 mile for a GPS run, it will crash at the first 0.5 mile interval.

- In either scenario, if the Ionic makes it past the first interval that I established as an Automatic Lap Setting, it continues tracking, recording and syncing my workout to the Fitbit App without issue.

- It tends to happen most frequently on the first workout where I change the "Automatic Lap Settings" for a given workout ... for example, I might change the "Automatic Lap Setting" for a Treadmill run from 2 minutes to 5 minutes to reflect what my workout would be that day.

- When I noticed this fairly consistent trend, I stopped changing "Automatic Lap Settings" for a given workout - now I don't even go to the "Settings" screen at all.  The Ionic will still crash from time to time, but not as often.

- I have never experienced a crash while doing a workout for which I have not established an Automatic Lap Setting (for example, "Hike").

I hope this is clear; let me know if any questions.

Go Navy - Beat Army.

Moderator Edit: Format

[sfringer]

@runnerboi418 I've encountered the same behavior you've described with the Exercise app crashing at the first auto-lap point during a run. What I have found to overcome this issue is to interact with the data display prior to the first lap point. I tend to swipe twice on the face to change the data displayed just after starting my run. Using this workaround, I have not experienced a crash of the Exercise app in several weeks.

[runnerboi418]

Thanks Strider - I’ll give it a shot on my next run ... appreciate the tip!

BEK

[Wizegeezer]

I have the exact same issue as @runnerboi418 .  Auto-pause also definitely causes a crash so I've had that turned off since May.  I've tried resets, factory resets, etc. without luck.  Phone support told me that; 1. this is a real issue, 2. the latest OS update didn't fix this and 3. engineers are working on a solution.  Hope the fix comes soon.

Going to give @sfringer 's tip a try.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[classg1]

I have not had a problem in my last three runs with the app crashing. I turned off all notifications, but still use the music app while running, plus still have vibrations from Cues showing every half mile turned on (set to automatic), AutoPause is set to off. This last run it worked perfectly...so maybe something to do with notifications??? I have noticed that some of you see your clock face come back on right away. In my case it was like the watch powered off, and eventually the clock face came back after a minute or two.

[MarreFitbit]

Hi everyone! I'd like to begin by saying that I understand that this is an important topic to the everyone in this thread. I thank you for the thorough feedback for the Fitbit platform and devices. 

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Rest assured that our engineers and product development team use this information to further improve our products and services which lead us to release new Fitbit trackers. 

I understand that this isn't the resolution you were hoping for, but the recommended workaround while the issue gets fixed is to manually log the activity so you all can still receive credit.

On the other hand, Auto pause should remain off. Can you check if the auto pause gets enabled again when you close the Exercise App? 

Can you also check if auto pause gets enabled again just when you do it with the Run option? Or is it happening with every type of exercise? I'd recommend following what @sfringer has advised about the Auto-Pause option. Once you've done this, please let's try another run and see if the run app keeps crashing. 

Please share with me the results so I can forward this information. Thanks! 

[sfringer]

It's actually Auto-Lap Cues - not Auto-Pause from my experience.

[classg1]

I always have AutoPause set to OFF, and it does not automatically reset itself to ON in my case. 

[BenBenson]

I just tested my ionic in the Run exercise and once Auto-Pause is turned
Off it stays off. It is off if I start a run, stop and check the status.

Same with Bike.

After the update I've not experienced any crashes in the Bike exercise and
I have Auto-Pause ON.

In the prior version of the firmware I always experienced a crash while in
the Bike exercise with or without Auto-Pause enabled.

--

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Careysmithwil]

Mine is the same.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[lachellesays]

I have experienced issues even with Auto-Pause turned off. So far I’ve had three successful runs with a hard reset to my watch right before each run, then turning the Bluetooth off on my phone.

I have an 11-mile long run planned for Sunday and that will be the true test.

[runnerboi418]

Auto Pause stays off once I turn it off.

I have experienced it with both Run and Treadmill (where Auto Pause is not an option)

BEK

[sfringer]

All;

  My experience is based on Auto-lap with cues displayed. Not Auto-pause. I've never made any change to auto-pause on my device that I can recall.

[runnerboi418]

Ditto for me: first auto lap point on “Run” and “Treadmill” workouts.

I haven’t had a chance to try out @sfringer solution to swipe twice on the watch face but I hope to be able to squeeze in a run tomorrow.

BEK

[BenBenson]

Today i chose Run instead of Bike for my bike ride. No crash. The map of my
ride was correct but the distance was about 1/2 of the real distance.

Show Laps - Off
GPS - On
Auto-Pause - Off

[Hebrews12-1]

I've had this issue intermittently for some time now.  However it has now happened to me the last 4 runs in a row and it is getting very frustrating.  I have the cue's set up for 1 mile and the running app crashes exactly at the one mile mark.

It may be worth noting that I typically run listening to music from the Ionic but on the few occasions I haven't I didn't experience the crash.  That may just be a coincidence however because it doesn't crash every time I listen to music either.

I make the following changes before every run.

1.  Go into music app and "Shuffle All"

2.  Go to Exercise > Run > Settings

3.  Show Laps > Automatically

4.  Automatic Lap Settings > Lap Every > 1.0 mi (I don't need to change this but I always confirm it)

5.  Customize Stats > Top Stat change to elapsed time, Bottom Stat changed to Distance (I have to do this because of another issue I experience where I lose GPS and the top stat gets covered with "connecting" and then I have no idea how far I have run, but that's another story)

I do this same routine prior to every run and there seems to be no pattern as to when it crashes.   Yes, I've confirmed that Auto pause is off.  Here are all my other settings:

GPS: On

Auto-Pause: Off

Run Detect: Off

Always-on Screen: Off

I'm running version 27.32.10.20 and I don't run with my phone so the only Bluetooth connection is to my headphones.

[fkimura]

I got this same issue randomly happening to me, since May, and it is very frustrating as I lose my bike and running info.

I've already tried to reset to factory settings twice, and disabled notification on exercise as well. All that and today I lost my bike ride info.

Will Fitbit fix this issue? It is frustrating for a 300 dollar smartwatch to not be able to track exercises and check notifications, the whole point I bought this watch for.

Here are my settings:

GPS: On

Auto-Pause: Off

Always-on Screen: Off

Crashed on running and bike.

I'm using version 27.32.10.20 and I use my phone with bluetooth headphones on (connected to the phone, not to Ionic), and my wristlet is not too tight.