Fitbit Ionic screen won't turn on

[Claude.Berlin]

Hi,

I have two Fitbit Ionics.  One is dead as a doornail. It does not charge, and it no longer turns on.

The other Ionic is working, however, the screen is faded and there is an orange and white halo around the perimeter of the screen. Furthermore, the display content behaves like a bunch of Mexican jumping beans on excitotoxins. In other words, time and statistics hop around all over the place.  It makes no sense for me to have to synchronize my ionic simply to be able to see the stats or the time for that matter. 

What is the point of buying an expensive watch which does not do its work reliably over extended periods of time? 

I like the ionic when it works.

If you have a solution for me, I am all ears!

Looking for some help and good news.

Claude

PS: I've tried all the tips, fixes, and ideas, but none work...

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @Claude.Berlin. 

Thank you for sharing that you've been having trouble with the display of your Ionic watch and that you already tried a few troubleshooting steps.  

In this case, if you already tried the restart procedure and you continue to experience the same inconvenience, the best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

Have a great day. 

[dcapper]

The Ionic is junk. I had 3 of them. You can try and hold all three buttons for a few minutes. Mine came to life after a while but it wouldn't recalibrate. I gave up on Fitbit. They just offered 25% for their faulty products. I have had a Garmin Style and a Luxe now. Trust me. The Garmin is much better built and nicer looking watch. Ionic always has step problems, heartbeat not working, and charging issues. Don't get me started on Fitbit killing their products with their updates. It should have never been released to the public.

[DrFWL · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately this is an all too common set of problems.  Customer service is not empowered to do anything but repeat the restart instructions available on-line.  They are polite with all the supportive words, but in the end they will not do anything to replace an out of warranty defective Fitbit even when they admit it’s the device that’s defective and the failure was not the result of anything the user did.  To be in warranty you must be the original purchaser and registered the purchase no more than a year ago.  They usually offer a discount on a new product but that just makes the original purchase more expensive.  IMO the problem is due to firmware updates that overtax the existing hardware - this most likely permanently damaged the electronics and/or battery.  Now that Google bought Fitbit, perhaps they will not make this mistake in the future.  A factory reset may cause more problems as you will have to re-pair the device to your mobile device or PC.  I recommend trying to fully charge the Fitbit so that you might be able to see the pairing code on the Fitbit display.  If you manage to successfully pair the devices, the Fitbit should continue to send data to the mobile device but the screen issues will remain.  You can try and change the watch face to get the most important data on the display.  I also have a Fitbit Surge which still displays the time and transmits data, but the screen does not respond to swipes so again you are relying on the mobile device to get the tracking data.  

[Williger]

@Claude.Berlin what do you mean by "time and statistics hop around all over the place"? Are you attempting to describe the display but this statement sounds like you're saying it's inaccurate, for instance, it's 4:13 pm then it's 1:11 am and your heart rate is 186 one second then 63 the next? As I'm unfamiliar with "a bunch of Mexican jumping beans on excitotoxins" and assume others here will likely be as well, may I suggest you please SHARE A PICTURE with us and save lots of guesswork?

You've "tried all the tips, fixes, and ideas", which is unlikely, as this forum is gigantic and some suggestions aren't applicable. Instead, perhaps you can share which ones you've performed and save several back-forth "did you try this" and we can collectively collaborate possible solutions to help. But I guess I'll start ... Did you try resetting your tracker?

I've serviced hundreds of Fitbits and have seen trackers that look like you describe with the orange halo but never have seen this in combination with numbers either flying around on the screen or changing sporadically and randomly. In the cases I've experienced, it's a hardware issue, remedied with a screen replacement, or ignored, as it's purely aesthetic. 

Regarding "What is the point of buying an expensive watch which does not do its work reliably over extended periods of time" expensive is subjective and I find the Fitbit trackers inexpensive compared to the value received. I think this perspective might help you. When I purchase a new Fitbit, I'll consider an extended warranty, and whatever the total is I divide it by the warranty period in months and that's my monthly cost to use Fitbit. Considering they're managing a ginormous infrastructure with engineers and technical staff and constantly updating the app to offer us more features, stay motivated and meet new friends with the fun challenges, etc. it's the cheapest anything I've bought for improving my health. Unless you paid thousands for this yesterday, you probably paid hundreds of years ago? If so, you've gotten your money's worth. Let's see if we can figure out what's happening so you can continue to do so 🙂 

Good news? Mobilesync! You're likely compatible: HTTP://www.fitbit.com/devices 

[Claude.Berlin]

Hi Williger,

Thanks for replying to my post.

"a bunch of Mexican jumping beans on excitotoxins" was an exotic way of describing how the text on the screen 'jitters' ( vibrates up and down and fades) so that the text is not really readable and fades in and out. The text does not change 'randomly' it simply jitters and vibrates then quickly fades.

Changing from time to heart rate, to calories, often results in unreadable text. Since my initial post, the display has become mostly unusable with only the 'orange and white halo' visible.

Text might appear now and again, but so briefly that I cannot read it completely before it disappears.

I would gladly share images of my watch, but when I 'drag and drop' the image, I get the error message: "You do not have permission to upload images.".    Which appears at the bottom of the 'Reply window'. 

With the first Ionic which is dead:

What I have tried:

1. Charging to 100% ( does not charge, can't verify because it won't turn on).

2. Turn on and off.

3. Restart.

4. Factory reset.

5. Used a different Ionic charging cable.

All these actions have no effect.

For the 2nd Ionic

1. Charging to 100% ( still works). I am also able to pair my FitBit to the mobile app and transfer data, however the watch only holds its charge for maximum 2 days or so.

2. It turns on and off.

3. It can be restarted.

4. A factory reset has no visible effect on the display.

5. Used a different Ionic charging cable. Also charges.

As DrFWL wrote, now that Google has taken over, hopefully the hardware and the firmware updates will...

By the way, when selecting the camera icon when replying, there is no 'browse' button so one can navigate to the source folder.  Also providing an image description and dimensions as information is not really necessary since it should be obvious what one is looking at.

You say that you have serviced hundreds of FitBits. What does it cost to service an out of warranty Fitbit. I know that the displays cost around 32 EUR. I don't have the tools to service the watch myself and purchasing them are just not in my own interest just to repair 2 watches. What does FitBit charge to replace the display and return it to working order?

Thanks for replying.

PS: Any idea why I am restricted from uploading images in my reply? ( I am using Firefox 89.0.2 (64-bit) on a Windows 10 Pro)).