Iconic dies during update

[GregKW]

I tried updating the firmware this morning.  The iconic was plugged in and charging with 60% battery and my phone was plugged in as well.  I was using the bluetooth update method.  After a few minutes the iconic screen went blank, is now unresponsive and can't connect to my phone. 

I tried restarting it but nothing is working.  Is this the end?

[Ethanmw]

Same thing just happened to me!

My ionic was at 90%, plugged it in to do the update, set my phone to not auto lock and left it with the watch, came back to my phone showing a screen with troubleshooting tips on connecting my ionic as it wasnt found. My ionic screen is blank, does not respond to reset commands with or without the charger connected.

This is beyond upsetting, I was just about to leave for my workout and now I'll be missing my watch, possibly permemently?!

[pzats]

Hi,

Same as you have described.

Ionic at 65% battery - Phone full - Started update via Bluetooth - came back to find Ionic dead and none responsive to any combination of button pushes. Not detectable by phone. Has never skipped a beat until this update. 

Have been putting off replacing it with a Fenix 6 pro because I had no real reason - seems I might now.

Would love to hear a considered and technical response for a FITBIT Tech that sounds like they have actually read this post and the many other post with the same complaint without sounding like a robot.

Wont hold my breath.

[GregKW]

Sad to report the Iconic is still unresponsive after troubleshooting it via Fitbit Chat.  It's out of warranty so all they'll offer is a special discount.  This is typical of other posts I've read.  A perfectly fine watch bricked by a firmware update.  We'll see what the discount is but after using Fitbit for 4 years and three of their watches this might be the last one for me.  At the very least I'm going to look around before replacing it.  Cost of a new one is $249.  You'd think it could be repaired because it's much too expensive to be disposable.

[slash24]

The same thing happened to me overnight.  When I woke up my Ionic had a blank screen and would not turn on.  I plugged it to see if it was dead and NOTHING.  Then I checked the Fitbit app and it had last synced with my Ionic at 5:19 am and it showed that the Ionic had 86% battery left.  The app also shows that there is a firmware update available.  I suspect that it tried to update the firmware while I was sleeping and the update killed the Ionic.  I'm very frustrated with this watch!!!!!!  

[njdan]

The same thing has happened to me...after the screen turned green with the logo it turned off and now won't power on. 

[pzats]

This is not a warranty issue in my opinion.

It is a corporate/ technical mistake with the update causing widespread failure of the Ionic. Given my devices perfect track history I now wonder if the issue is being caused by an accidental programming error or a deliberate imbedded failure to cause replacement of the device.

With no solutions being posted I suspect it is the latter.

The amount of competition in this market is deep. You would think Fitbit would want to get on the front foot with this. In these situations the companies do 1 of three things

Acknowledge - Deny - Ignor

looks like it’s ignor for fitbit

[Chadillac42]

they offered me a 25% off discount. Absolutely ridiculous 

[d_k]

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Fitbit-OS-4-0-2-Firmware-Release-27-68-9-15/m-p/3825644/highli...

Try that, seems to have resolved the issue for at least two other users.

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@JoeNic wrote:

The update also made my Ionic "unresponsive." 

After spending 45 minutes on the phone with a customer service representative, I was offered a discount to purchase a new device, since mine was out of warranty. I was not satisfied with this, and I asked to speak to a supervisor.

The supervisor eventually told me to hold down all three buttons, wait for the logo to disappear, and release just the bottom button to do a factory reset. I didn't even have to do the full reset. I just held down the three buttons and it woke up. It lost the time it was dead, but it was fine after a sync.

I was very unsatisfied after the call because I was on the phone for nearly an hour before I got a very simple fix. But at least my Ionic works... 

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[njdan]

Didn't work for mine. 

[pzats]

Hi,

Thanks for posting your suggestion. It didn't work for me.

As I suspected no formal response from any Fitbit Tech.

Wounder if the media would be interested in this crap - they seemed to go pretty hard at Apply for their phone battery issue where the slowed the phone to extend the poor battery life.

Fitbit basically have terminated the Ionic with this poorly researched/tested update in an attempt to have people spend more money on a new watch which is really 2 years old.

Pathetic.

[slash24]

It did not work for me either. I still have a black screen. I've only had this watch for 14 months! This is ridiculous! 

[LwrHrtRt]

Yeah, contact the media.  My post about contacting a SF Based media company was taken down as "legal action" by LizzyFitbit. Which just means, they didn't like my message enough. If they would worry more about making this right with the customers, they wouldn't have this issue to begin with. 

[Derekw69]

Same happened to my ionic. Battery on 78%, using Wi-Fi. I was watching the update progress when watch went blank and turned off. Nothing I’ve tried will get it started. No tech support in South Africa and so I can’t even ask about a discount.

[GregKW]

I’ve posted 2 replies that don’t appear in the thread both which concerned my displeasure with this situation. Perhaps they weren’t posted for the same reason.

[Bobbyboy42]

My ionic died while I was downloading the firmware .

[Bobbyboy42]

Didn't  work for me either

[Bobbyboy42]

Google would give a more favourable response when they take over fitbit