Fitbit OS 4.1 - Firmware Release (70.7.14)

[MattFitbit]

Fitbit Update: 12/5

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to announce the release of Fitbit OS 4.1 (Firmware Version: 70.7.14). 

We've begun releasing this new firmware to customers. This is a progressive rollout which means everyone will receive it at different stages until it has been completely released to all users. We roll out releases in phases as a cautionary measure so that we can monitor performance closely and make adjustments if needed. 

*Firmware releases are not distributed based on region or location and can reach anyone no matter where you reside. We do not recommend performing a factory reset to force the update to your device as your data will be lost and you may not get the update. Please be patient and wait until you see the update banner inside of the Fitbit app to begin the firmware download.

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

The update includes a variety of new features and enhancements, including: 

• Smart wake: Smart wake will gently begin to wake you with subtle vibrations during the optimal part of your sleep cycle (during light or REM) within a 30-minute window prior to your pre-set alarm. This allows you to wake up feeling refreshed. 

• Clock face switcher: You will now be able to store up to five clock faces right on your device and quickly change from one to the other using the new clock face switcher.

• On-wrist Sleep Score: The score will now be available in the on-device dashboard that can be accessed by swiping up from the clock face. You can still see it alongside your sleep data within the Fitbit app after you sync.

• Exercise app improvements: The redesigned Exercise app will now display all 20 workouts in a new streamlined list on your wrist. 

• Battery notification: When your battery is running low, a new feature will automatically disable notification vibrations

• Agenda app: A new Agenda app allows you to see your calendar right on your wrist. 

For more information on the new features included in Fitbit OS 4.1 check out this article. You can also check out our press release. 

HOW DO I UPDATE?

Step by step instructions for updating your Ionic can be found here. 

If you run into any trouble updating your Ionic, I recommend reviewing these troubleshooting tips. 

We appreciate your patience while we work to roll this out to everyone. 

[sandem916]

My ionic was purchased in the US, I have had it just at two years. I agree
that purchases of this price should be better covered, but I was told that
nothing could be done by Mario, the Fitness Service tech I spoke with.
Maybe I need to call back again and speak with someone else.

[Kellygrl73]

Been having this issue...wondering if anyone else has had it and if there is a fix:

Ionic Watch

3 days in a row, I ran 50 to 70 minutes in treadmill (nothing new there).....it registers as the appropriate active minutes, BUT suddenly isnt registering as having done any exercise.

If I go to heartrate, you can CLEARLY see the elevated heartrate during my exercise time.

Anyone know why it wouldnt show up in the exercise section, but shows up in the active minutes and hear rate?

[Sulaiman_M]

As an update to my situation with my Ionic, I received my replacement watch from Fitbit in an attempt to solve most of what has been raised in this community. Unfortunately, replacing the Ionic DID NOT solve the issues I faced previously. The below issues remain unresolved even with the replacement Ionic:

• I cannot power on the device using the left button. I have to perform a hard restart by pressing the left and bottom right buttons simultaneously for about 15 seconds for it to power on every time I shut down my Ionic!

• After performing the 15 sec button combination to turn my Ionic on, all the details on the screen (including the time & date) is not up-to-date and the readings are from when I last shut down the watch! I have to manually sync the Ionic to the app every time in order to have the details up-to-date.

• Even after shutdown, the battery continues to drain considerably. In just under 48 hours of my first use of the replacement Ionic, the watch went from 100% to 0% without even tracking a single workout! This was the main reason I was issued a replacement watch and yet the issue persists.

This seems to be a clear software issue affecting all Ionics since there doesn't seem to be any difference in either my old or newly-replaced hardware. This has affected my daily workflow drastically and has become a major hassle not being able to depend of the battery-life of my Ionic. 

I have been considering to switch to a completely different brand due to these issues.

[JulieRainey]

Yes - in the last three days suddenly my Ionic is not registering anything in activity despite showing 100+ minutes in active minutes. This is in addition to cutting out in the middle of manually recorded workouts with no warning or reason 😞

sent from Hove

[joshiankit]

I upgraded my Ionic with the latest firmware release. The watch hung during the update and the Fitbit logo kept flashing. The watch became unresponsive and I was not able to restart it either. I waited till the battery died and then recharged it back again. Post that the battery life has gone down drastically from 4-5 days to less than 20 hours. I contacted support and the answer is nothing can be done as my watch is more than 365 days old. Well its 14 months old and was working all fine before the upgrade. And had there been issues with the battery I would have seen that happening gradually. The support person even said the watch is defective and nothing can be done from their end.

I'm interested to gather people facing similar issue and see if we can collectively do something against the company. This is cheating and we can't even rollback to the previous version.

[TaccomXX]

Love to try this, but my Ionic is on 27.331.30 and not showing any updates available.

[Nickjt]

The clock faces change quickly , this update is good , all we need now is the faces to actually work eg. The photograph clock face made by fitbit doesn't work I can choose/edit my photo but it doesn't upload and customer support awnser was less than  helpful:

'Regarding your  inconvenience with the Fitbit Clock face, we do apologize for the misunderstanding, we already move forward this situation with a high level support team in order to find a properly solution.'

Bad spelling and grammar,  I'm not sure what the person meant 

Moderator edit: Format

[tonupkid]

@TaccomXX       dont update your watch if its working for you, if you do, you may regret it

[TaccomXX]

it's under warranty, I'd rather encounter problems while this is the case.

[TomDuke]

Nickjt, the photo clock face by Fitbit only seems to work with certain photos. I suspect that the size of the image file is the issue.  If it's a high resolution picture it's probably too large to be saved on the Ionic. That's what I have found through trial and error. Good luck.

[Nickjt]

Can you give some idea about what file size worked for you? Thanks

[TomDuke]

Nickjt, I'll confess that I didn't spend a lot of time trying different photos with this clock face.  The first one I tried was a cell phone photo I had taken of a pet and it was 12.2 MP and it would not work.  Then I tried a downloaded photo from the web of an astronaut on the lunar surface that was 1.1 MP and it worked just fine.  Hope that helps.

[Nickjt]

Thanks I've tried a few different sized files since your post(thanks) but no joy! I've only had the watch 3 days and this is 1 of 3 issues I've had , I have a blaze and thought this would be a big upgrade but I cant load a photo, use the wallet as I'm in the uk and one 1 high street back uses fitbit pay , and the gps didn't work at 1st though that's been resolved ,, I keep asking was it worth the £220 price tag! Just to have on board gps and music!

[TomDuke]

That's odd; I wonder why it doesn't work?  These watches are glitchy and the firmware updates are a gamble every time one comes out.  I have a Charge 2 and if you check out their community forum you'll see pages of user complaints regarding their firmware updates. 

  I got my Ionic over 2 years ago and it was seemingly bricked after an update last summer but tech support was able to help me bring it back to life. I had already bought a second Ionic on sale thinking the original was dead so never used it and just stored it.  When another problem cropped up I got the new one out and it wouldn't work- totally dead so Fitbit sent me a replacement.  Months later reading this forum I tried some of the suggested fixes and I brought the dead one back to life so now I have 3 Ionic watches!  The hardware seems to be fine and I like it when everything is working but these updates are risky and I ALWAYS log in here to see how others are doing before I accept new firmware.  The watches work fine without them it seems so why take a chance?  I ignored prompts to update the Charge 2 for many, many months with no problem. 

    If you have given up I can recommend the Garmin Vivoactive 3; it has onboard GPS and they do make a model that supports onboard music if that's important to you.  I could never get the music function to work on my Ionic and removed the app and got an inexpensive MP3 player for my running workouts with Bluetooth and it works just fine.  Hope things work out for you.

[joshiankit]

Well its just not me and there are other folks are well facing the battery drain. The support guys are not ready to take up any case against this issue.

[Nickjt]

When I got my ionic it wouldn't start then I plugged it into a power source the thing was flat 0% once I had charged it , I could then start it the update took an hour ! Initially it wouldn't connect to my wifi but once it did I was able to load music via my laptop and the windows10  fitbit app though the interface isnt that easy to use especially as the drag and drop doesnt work .

It's strange how random the different problems people are having is ! 

[Nickjt]

Sorry I haven't suffered battery drain yet but only had it 3 days so we'll see 

[akung914]

I am seeing the exact same problems as Sulaiman_M since upgrading to 70.7.14:

1) Have to hold left + bottom right buttons to power on, instead of just pressing the left button

2) Watch shows time + fitness readings from when it was last shut down

3) Battery has drained significantly while shut down (from 60% --> 40% after 8 hrs overnight).

Overall, I've had a good experience with my Ionic watch, so hoping for a fix soon!

[SunsetRunner]

Just a reminder, the shutdown and startup problems appear to be that the watch isn't actually shutting down, but going into a screen-off lockup/freeze condition. So you effectively have to reboot the watch to get it back on - and when it's "off" it's actually burning a lot of battery doing whatever it's doing while frozen. And it's so frozen that the time stops updating.

The workaround is simple: just leave it on. The battery is good for five days that way. I've never understood why people just don't leave it on at night, anyway; I like the sleep tracking.

[akung914]

That's a good workaround for saving battery life, BrandonSoMD! I've been in the habit of turning off the watch at night, as I don't like wearing it for sleep tracking. That's how I noticed the issue with the watch shutdown / not being able to power back on as usual. Again, hopefully the FitBit developers are aware of the issue.