Fitbit Ionic won't charge or turn on

[pbath]

bought my ionic on the 27th December 2017 and today it is not charging or turning on, any tips? I have tried holding down the left button and the bottom right button for 20 seconds and nothing is happing

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[YFS]

I had the same problem yesterday. I had tried to clean the contacts, changed the charger and the charging cable and it didn't work. Finally I gave up. I forgotten to turn off the charger and left the Ionic connected to the charger for more than 20 hours. I was so happy that the Ionic was fully charged about an hour ago. 

 

[Newbs73]

Hi 

Same thing Ionic turned off yesterday with a full charge and turn back on

Cleaned the charging contacts and tried all combinations of button pressing

It's just over a year old

Can someone help please

Thanks

[nanbolo]

My Ionic charged to 100% but will no longer hold the charge. I have tried everything suggested here and nothing is working. I contacted Fitbit by phone and followed all Directions. It will not stay charged. I called and updated etc. nothing is working. It’s not yet 2 years old. 

[Jebarson]

http://chng.it/NkXbNBWmxQ I don't think they are going to do anything about. They clearly know that there is a problem and they arent going to do anything. Their stock price tells the story. Sign up my petition.  I see more than 90 people in this thread alone but hardly anyone is signing

[nanbolo]

I suspect you are right. I will just have to face life sans a Fitbit I
suspect. The older ones worked for me for years without a hiccup! It
changed my life. What a disappointment!!!

[ccenobio]

Hello, 

I got my dad a fitbit ionic last year for Christmas (around November) and a few weeks ago it died. We've plugged it into the charger and at first it wasn't doing anything, well now it turns on and stays at 0% charging. We've tried cleaning it, and have even tried a different charger, as well as a different USB port but nothing seems to work. It just stays on that 0% screen. This is frustrating because it's not the first product from fitbit that we've had problems with.

Crystal 

[nanbolo]

Thank you for your email. The products were really good when they started
(i got one of. The first small ones) and I haven’t had problems until this
one. My sweet husband got them for me. I lost him not quite a year ago so
this Ionic was a precious reminder of how well he knew me and how much he
cared.

[Jlzg1982]

I dis all of the steps, several times, including buying a new fitbit charging cable. Please help! It was working fine and then one morning it just didn't work/charge again. I only bought it a year ago in July 

[Jlzg1982]

http://chng.it/79H4NdyrKX

[tillerman]

I also have the same issue. It seems like after a year or so (Warrenty has expired) you start to have difficulty charging. I have 2 in my drawer that just stopped charging. Worked fine but just won’t charge anymore. 

Fitbit will send a link for ordering a new discounted tracker, but at $149.00 every year  or so it’s starting to get expensive. 

BTW I have done all the suggestions on cleaning!

[nanbolo]

I have too. Nothing works. The battery is just gone and the Ionic is dead!!
Sounds like a bad design but what bothers me more is that FitBit can’t or
won’t stand behind this product. Customer service used to be good but at
this point I’m just done with them and looking for a better product and/or
watch. Any ideas? If they had been up front and said it would only work for
2 years I would have stuck with my original Fitbit device.

[DSmitty]

Mine has done the same. The battery was functioning normally. However, when I plugged it in to recharge, the screen stayed at 0% charge for several days until all the power was gone. Now I have a dead Ionic. I followed all the suggestions in the forum (cleaning the contacts, restarting, etc.) without success. It is obvious from the number of posts on the forum about this issue that the Ionic has a hardware or firmware fault, but good luck getting any satisfaction from customer support.. My calls to customer service (clearly a call center) were extremely frustrating and resulted in the only offer of addressing the problem being a 20% discount code for the purchase of an old or lesser model Fitbit. So, instead, of spending $250 on a new Ionic that potentially has the same hardware or firmware problem, I can spend $190. Or, I can buy a model that lacks the features I need. I even inquired about applying the credit to the purchase of a Versa 2, since that model has almost all the features of the Ionic, but was told the discount could not be used on a new product.

I stuck with Fitbit through issues with bands on previous models de-laminating and the skin rash issue, but I am now seriously questioning Fitbit's commitment to its customers. 

[Pjk1]

"but I am now seriously questioning Fitbit's commitment to its customers."

Not to put too fine a point on it, but given the 13 pages of this thread in which Fitbit's customer service has refused to acknowledge the problem and has done nothing other than the lame discount, might I suggest that you question your reluctance to come to the sensible conclusion that Fitbit does NOT have a commitment to its customers.  Why stay committed to a company that does not reciprocate? 

[nanbolo]

Absolutely right!! I’m out!! I’m
Also disappointed. They started out great but.....

[lars-atx]

I went Garmin.  Very happy so far.

Just need to finish downloading and unwinding this account. 

Overall pleased w/ my 7+ year run w/ Fitbit, but the constant issues, and lack of proactive support on this issue, other than send us more money for a 2 year old possibly faulty design, was insulting at best.

Good luck to you all w/ your fitness endeavors.

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello again! It's a pleasure to continue providing assistance with your Fitbit devices, sorry for the delayed reply.

Just as per previously mentioned on one of my previous posts, for the ones who haven't already done so, please follow the steps from our help article: Why isn't my battery charging on my Fitbit device? which also include our restart process. Then, please try our factory reset process following the next steps:

1. On the device, hold all three buttons for about 10 to 12 seconds.
2. When the Fitbit logo disappears, quickly release the bottom right button, continuing to hold down the left and top right buttons (releasing the bottom right button as soon as the logo disappears is time sensitive).
3. When the device vibrates, release all buttons.
4. Wait for approximately 1-2 minutes while the device clears all data. Eventually, the Fitbit logo appears and the device boots and displays Fitbit.com/setup.
5. When the device successfully resets, please use the normal out of the box process of updating the firmware. You can check: How do I update my Fitbit device? for more details.

I appreciate the feedback that was provided on this thread, please take in consideration that our Customer Support team refers to our warranty policies when it comes to a warranty-related process, therefore, please check our policies here for a better understanding. Thanks for taking the time share yours thoughts and personal experience with us, we are always striving to improve.

I'll be around.

[pthommo]

Thanks for the advice but the logo can't disappear if it's not there to
start with.
I've been waiting several days for direct email contact from support. Can
you tell me how that's going?

[Suskarmat83]

Don't bother, they are like the monkeys (don't see,hear,speak) wished there
was an emoji for this on my phone, they will not fix it. The product is
defective from factory and they know it. If you want to invest in another
defective Fitbit product, go ahead but I suggest to look elsewhere.
Someone here already gave the steps to transfer your history to any device,
suggest doing that, I bought a garmin and so far it has more features than
the Fitbit and has worked well, but again it is new. I bought an extended
warranty just in case.
The company is useless when it comes to try and figure out a solution,
they know it will not work.

Good luck to you, mine died 8/24/19. While on vacation in Europe.
Frustrating to say the least .

[Pjk1]

That's a BINGO!

(In response to the moderator uselessly posting how to try reset a broken for the umpteen time merely for the sake of responding occasionally to this thread)

[mcosta]

@RicardoFitbit, if I send you my $300 bricked Ionic that I've owned only for 20 months, will you post a video of you trying to revive it using the same tired techniques of holding buttons down until the device restarts/resets?

I've been a Fitbit customer since 2010. Many others on this thread have been Fitbit customers for years. If you want to keep us as customers, this Ionic situation needs to be addressed--these $300 devices are faulty, or even worse, this was planned obsolescence. The simplest way to do that is to ask us to send our bricked Ionics to Fitbit, and upon receipt and verification that they are indeed 100% dead, Fitbit sends us a brand-new Ionic. Fitibit owns up to the problem, and many of us will continue to spend money with Fitbit because of the transparency and willingness to correct a mistake.

I would also suggest Fitibit extend their base warranty to two years. Both my Ionic and Aria scale bricked just months after the one-year warranty expired. The competition for wearables is much more crowded than when I bought my first Fitibit in 2010. I'll have no problem finding a replacement brand and starting over with a company that stands behind its products if this Ionic situation isn't addressed the way a reputable company would handle it.