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

[SpheraNet]

You are a 100% correct in your comments, nice to see someone that feels
Fitbit has really dropped the ball and needs to correct this horrific
situation.

[Jgawel]

Bought the ionic on 1/25/2019. About a month ago I noticed my notifications were causing little shocks on my wrist versus vibrating. I’ve tried everything, cleaning and charger but it will charge and is dead. I paid almost $300 for this. I need to have someone look at it. 

[Jlzg1982]

I followed the steps, as I'm sure many others have, and it didn't work. Plus, step one doesn't make sense at all. How could the Fitbit logo dissapear if it isn't there in the first place? What we are all saying is that the device won't turn on or charge. 

We need someone to provide a real solution and reply back on a timely manner. I would assume it is important to the company being that there's 14 pages of people complaining about this.

[Jlmemt]

Unfortunately you assume wrong. 

They have made it clear they have no intention, beyond the one year warranty where they trick you into paying for another "better" piece of junk or sending you another piece of junk with the same problem, of doing anything. 

[DSmitty]

I figured out the problem with my Ionic and thought I would share in case it helps someone else out. My Ionic was displaying 0% charge when connected to the charging cable until it died completely. No amount of resetting or cleaning the contacts fixed the situation. Customer service was less than helpful. However, after resigning myself to having an expensive brick, I remembered that when I cleaned the contacts on the charging cable, there was a surprising amount of corrosion around the middle pin (like you might see around the terminal of a car battery). Since I had nothing left to lose, I decided to tear apart the charging cable. What I found was that the middle pin had corroded to the point that it was no longer connected to the internal wiring. The construction of the charging cable is extremely poor BTW. It is possible that when removing the watch from my wrist there was some residual moisture on the contacts that then caused corrosion of the charging cable pin. I have no idea what the pin is made of, but using a metal subject to corrosion from moisture seems short sighted at best. It is also possible that the corrosion was caused by some kind of wiring short or poor contact with the charging points on the back of the watch. Anyway, I replaced the cable and the watch is working fine. Perhaps Fitbit Customer Support could have expressed more interest in discovering the root of the problem. Based on the comment pages, a lot of customers are having the same problem I did. Is it possible that a fault in the design of the charging cable is the primary culprit? I don't know, but I bet Fitbit either knows or could have made a greater effort to figure it out.

[Jlmemt]

Many of us tried another charger. Mine did have some corrosion also though, but cleaning it did not help. 

I do wish they cared enough to investigate. 

[mcosta]

My Ionic died on my wrist after charging it overnight, so I had plenty of juice already. I wish it was a cable issue but mine is completely bricked.

It would be great to hear from Fitbit though wouldn't it? Why would they ignore so many users with the same problem? That's as deep a mystery as what happened to everyone's Ionics. Also, since the Ionic was released in October, 2017, there isn't a single unit out there that's even two years old. That's an unacceptable lifespan for a company's most expensive product.

[SpheraNet]

Glad you got recovery, but most of us had a charge on the device when it
died.

[Larrybrook]

I have had my ionic for 20 months and had a few problems in that time - the notifications stopped coming through when I received a text or call but lately has been working fine. My Fitbit had 60% charge, it synced and 2 mins later completely died. I have emailed Fitbit support but based on all the comments I won’t hold out much hope! My ionic has never really worked to it’s advertised full potential - music and weather but this is now unacceptable. This cost me more then £300. 

[Pjk1]

"Also, since the Ionic was released in October, 2017, there isn't a single unit out there that's even two years old."

Very good point.

[DSmitty]

Yeah, it seems pretty clear that the Ionic has not one, but multiple issues leading to similar outcomes.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delayed reply. 

Your feedback and comments are appreciated, these help us to continue improving our products and services provided.  It is particularly difficult when the device is no longer covered by the warranty, but even though Support is eager to help with any problem you may experience with the product, they do need to adhere to the official warranty policy, this would start counting from the original date of purchase.

Thanks for the details mentioned @pthommo, @Jgawel and @Jlzg1982. I appreciate the troubleshooting performed. I've shared your post with our Support team and they've mentioned you already have a case with them, please continue the communication through email.

If anyone else is experiencing charging issues, please make sure to follow the troubleshooting posted in this previous post. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[pthommo]

A case was generated. Yes. A week and a half ago but to date support has
failed to contact me by email as indicated. Continued support is
non-existent.

[zerodameaon]

Don't hold your breath on the replacement, they will let you die, that is how little you mean to them as a customer.

[Elcapitan221]

@SilviaFitbit That is not even close to being accurate.  My Ionic is 9 months old, purchased for Christmas 2018 and I was told they could not replace it only give me a coupon for 25% off a new device.  So the fact that Fitbit isn't even honoring the warranty is sad.

[Lirys]

Hello I am having the same exact problems with my Ionic (husband bought it for me December, 2017) as the ones reported here (no turning on; no charging; last night it charged 100%). I have tried everything that has been suggested here: rebooting it, charging it again for as long as 2 hours, using a brand new charger, and cleaning the Ionic back side. At this point I feel helpless and very disappointed. Options???? 😞

[pthommo]

Buy a Garmin. Fit won't help.

[Frogee]

Can they assist me too? Mine it stopped charging, but I got it to charge again. However I have to charge it daily or I can’t I use it. If I wanted a daily charge I would have bought an Apple Watch. 

[Jlmemt]

If you actually use your "fitness watch" for physical activity, there isn't any help. On my replacement watch, so a fairly new battery, GPS will drain about 60% in an hour run. Not to mention that even with GPS the distance I run is more accurate on my free phone app than with my $300 "fitness smart watch". 

I finally got to the point the other day where I decided I needed to write a review to let people know what a farce this thing is. Have you noticed that Fitbit doesn't have reviews available for users like us?  I guess that should have been a clue!

[MarkPet]

How many people does the troubleshooting page work for?   

Not me....