Inconveniences and experiences with Ionic

[Yakumo01]

I've had this ionic for about a week now. I really wanted to like it and I chose it over several alternatives from Garmin, Samsung and so on... but I find the following. Is it just my unit? Or is it a general ionic problem:

(1) Notifications are a bust. Not only do they sometimes come, sometimes not but when they do come they are hard to work with and basically useless. I just disabled them

(2) Battery life closer to 2.5->3 days. Could be the watch face I am using

(3) Watch faces by-and-large rubbish (matter of taste I guess)

(4) Sync is terrible. It syncs very infrequently or not at all. Sometimes it gets stuck in a state where it can't sync. I need to go into bluetooth, forget the device, re-pair it, and then it will sync again

(5) Horribly uncomfortable to sleep with rendering the sleep info (which is actually quite helpful) principally useless.

The workout modes are quite good but the above are deal-breakers for me. Not sure if I should swap for another ionic or just get a refund.

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity 

[Giampi71]

My opinions on your complains

(1) Notifications are working perfectly for me (Google Pixel)

(2) Battery life 4-5 days (depending if I run or not). What watchface are you using?

(3) There are clock faces that are very professional. My favorites are Foto, CDF Digital Classic, Binary, Minimal Fitness, ASK Weather. Frankly speaking they are so many that I can't believe you can't find something suitable to your needs and tastes

(4) Sync is perfect (see point 1)

(5) I find it very comfortable at the point that I always forget I'm wearing it but I admit I'm using since day 1 the sport band (rather than the original one) since I like it more.

Still it's far to be perfect. My main complains:

a) on Android you cannot answer to phone calls (as opposed to iOS)

b) being out of US Spotify is not supported and the procedure to load music is the most cumbersome I could imagine

c) lack of promised apps (GOLF, Tripadvisor, Uber...) and generally lack of big names in the Fitbit App Store

d) Fitbit Coach limited to 3 workouts and not integrated with the app as advertised

e) Lack of Adidas app for the normal Ionic users

f) App Store difficult to navigate and lacking in many aspects (no search, no comments, no rating, no sharing)

[Yakumo01]

Thanks for the reply.

(1) I am using Google Pixel 2. I find the notifications work for a while, then they just stop for an extended period of time. Then they start again some time randomly. Also, the notifications aren't very well implemented making them not so useful anyhow. The one I miss is to show incoming calls which works only sometimes.

(2) I'm using Heartrate Watch watch face. I thought maybe that is impacting battery life but I do like it

(3) Honestly I spent a lot of time going through the watch faces and I find that 90% are just bad and the few remaining ones that look nice just don't fit my needs. I think I'll make my own

(4) I have seen multiple people on this forum report really bad sync issues where sync just dies after a few days requiring bluetooth disconnect/reconnect. Could it be my particular watch? Maybe I should get a replacement? It really is hopelessly annoying. Once it fails to sync it will never come back unless you do the unpair/repair cycle

(5) I have ordered a new band maybe that will help?

Man I can't support you enough on (f), the app store is so badly designed. I'm hoping they will completely redesign it.

[Crazy-Fritter]

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@Giampi71wrote: My main complaints:

a) on Android you cannot answer to phone calls (as opposed to iOS)

b) being out of US Spotify is not supported and the procedure to load music is the most cumbersome I could imagine

c) lack of promised apps (GOLF, Tripadvisor, Uber...) and generally lack of big names in the Fitbit App Store

d) Fitbit Coach limited to 3 workouts and not integrated with the app as advertised

e) Lack of Adidas app for the normal Ionic users

f) App Store difficult to navigate and lacking in many aspects (no search, no comments, no rating, no sharing)

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Sounds a lot like the windows phone app store issues..... that's what killed windows phone 😱😨

[NellyG]

@Yakumo01 yoir phone is unfortunately not on the Supported Devices List which is probably why your notifications are troublesome. Phone problem rather than Ionic problem.

[Yakumo01]

Hi @NellyG,

No I don't think that's it for a number of reasons:

(1) The Pixel OG is supported so there isn't a logical reason for the Pixel 2 to not be supported

(2) I imagine this list is simply not kept up to date

(3) The device connects and syncs. There is therefore no technical reason for it to not continue to sync (I'm an electronic engineer and professional app developer so trust me!)

Rather it seems it is possible for the ionic to get into a "stuck" state. I will admit that the Pixel 2 does not have the best Bluetooth around BUT remember this isn't intermittent failure... this is a complete loss of connection that perpetuates indefinitely.

[NellyG]

@Yakumo01 I am not a technical person at all, but I DO know the Supported Devices list is kept up to date and if the Pixel 2 is not on the list it is not supported. This may not mean it doesnt work, but it does mean if a problem occurs no one is working to fix it.

[Kierownik]

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@Yakumo01wrote:

I've had this ionic for about a week now. I really wanted to like it and I chose it over several alternatives from Garmin, Samsung and so on... but I find the following. Is it just my unit? Or is it a general ionic problem:

(1) Notifications are a bust. Not only do they sometimes come, sometimes not but when they do come they are hard to work with and basically useless. I just disabled them

(2) Battery life closer to 2.5->3 days. Could be the watch face I am using

(3) Watch faces by-and-large rubbish (matter of taste I guess)

(4) Sync is terrible. It syncs very infrequently or not at all. Sometimes it gets stuck in a state where it can't sync. I need to go into bluetooth, forget the device, re-pair it, and then it will sync again

(5) Horribly uncomfortable to sleep with rendering the sleep info (which is actually quite helpful) principally useless.

The workout modes are quite good but the above are deal-breakers for me. Not sure if I should swap for another ionic or just get a refund.

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1) Using Galaxy S8 - Notifications work fine most of the time. But my ionic tends to miss some of them now and then. The main problem is call notification where my watch won't let me know about incoming call.

2)My battery life is at least 4 days, however my phone's battery life dropped a lot since pairing it with ionic.

3)Watch faces are mostly ugly. Out of all available ones I found 3 that I really like and I keep switching between them.

4)I have all day sync disabled and only manually sync my watch and it work fine every time.

5)Sleeping with it is something I got used to and I woudn't say it's uncomfortable. 

[Yakumo01]

Ok so I managed to fix the syncing. It seems the principle thing that helped was removing my old fitbit (Flex 2) from the app. After that it never got stuck again. Just goes to prove my position that this is a Fitbit bug though. I will reiterate: if it can sync at all, it can sync indefinitely this is NOT a phone issue.

I also managed to improve power efficiency a lot by using a different watch face. And I ordered a new strap (the strap it ships with is pretty bad).

So all-in-all I hate this device a lot less 🙂 It does the job. Could use a lot of improvements though. I hope that it gets Fibit OS 2.0

[SunsetRunner]

im not being funny but i have had to go with fitbit  bececause the awesome ms band  didnt go any further, far superior to any of these products.

None the less i find it excrutiating poor that they release products that have really only 2 market places  android and iphone. is it it really that difficult to get the android calling option working  when its automatic on ios? and  the  transfer of music to the ionic, why not  transfer music from your phone, i have had untold problems  with the  pc  side of things, pairing failed, bond failed the list is endless(and fitbit  do not  comment here on instructions as i tried and tested almost everything)

I think they should be made to make sure that all functions  work out of the box and  anything not working  the user can get a full refund if promises  that os enhancements  do not  materialise.

Cmon fitbit  sort your act out as i and  other freinds will no longer to wish to invest in your  company and its  products.

The mis selling act should come into play here.

clearly defined update schedules and  a roadmap of  when options will be aailable  not just empty comments.

You could have had really  good products here  but im afraid  its the same old same old again  BORING!

[Yakumo01]

I have to say for the amount of time and money they put into this, purchasing the whole pebble team etc. I did surely expect a more refined product. As it is, I still think it's a very good fitness tracker, just useless as a smartwatch...

[SunsetRunner]

Agreed


Get Outlook for Android

[LaDale1966]

 I have always stood behind fit bit but the purchase of this Ionic two weeks ago has ruined me I am ready to throw in the trash and go to the Apple Store. There is no putting music on it I do not care what you do and how many forms you read

[Ericws]

Music sync is a bit hit-or-miss, but I do get the sync done and my music is in (including Pandora).  Kind of strange how it syncs sometimes and not other times, but that is ok as long as I have it in the end.  Otherwise all good.

For battery life, you can turn off gps unless you specifically use it, or turn the watch lit screen to a lower power.