Ionic- Fitbit OS 4.2 Firmware Update (71.6.19)

[KateFitbit]

Update 9/3/2020: This update should now be available to all customers. If you have any difficulty updating, make sure you are following the directions in this article, and then provide as many specific details as possible in your post so that we can assist.

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We've started rolling out Fitbit OS 4.2 Firmware Update (71.6.19) for Ionic. 

We release firmware updates to all customers in phases. The update will be available to everyone soon, and a banner will appear in the app when you can install the update. If you don’t see the banner yet, check the app again later.

*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

Release notes can be found here.

HOW DO I UPDATE?

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

We recommend updating your Ionic over a home Wi-Fi network as this can greatly reduce the time it can take to get set up. For more information on connecting your Ionic to Wi-Fi, check out this article. 

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

[WalkingSanity]

Just updated the firmware and now my active minutes is gone and replaced with Active Zone minutes.  How do I get just the plain old active minutes back?   

[YojanaFitbit]

@askasa sorry to hear about your active minutes. Thank you for the piece of advice, other user might find this information helpful. This feedback si really helpful for us. 

@Dinzarelli we appreciate your help. We recommend posts stay relevant to the thread's subject, be productive, and follow our Community Guidelines.

@sarnott153 thank you for reporting the battery issues that you're having with your Ionic. Our team will be getting back to you via email shortly. Thank you for your feedback.

@jkimi welcome to the Community Forums. Thank you for reporting this information. Have you checked this information? Why don't I see sleep stages today? You can also try to restart your Ionic.

@WalkingSanity nice to see you here, welcome. You can now earn Active Zone Minutes and use personalized heart-rate zones when you track activity with your smartwatch. For more information, see What are Active Zone Minutes or active minutes on my Fitbit device? and How do I track my heart rate with my Fitbit device? At this moment, there is no option to change this information but you can post your suggestion here. 

[Beachbum2D]

@YojanaFitbit  Clicking on the link you direct me to by clicking here  is the very link that also says to: Leave on all-day sync and let the Fitbit app run in the background on your phone, which allows a small portion of the firmware update to download to your Fitbit device each time you sync. To check that all-day sync is turned on: In the Fitbit app, tap the Today tab

From what I have read elsewhere "All-Day-Sync" is no longer an option, so how do I, and I assume others, manage to get the update downloaded ?

[robbijay]

To any one with GPS issues, try my steps:

1) Turn off GPS on all activities on your watch.

2) Turn off automatic exercise tracking.

3) Sync.

4) Reboot watch and phone.

5) Manually record an activity.

6) Turn GPS back on and hope for the best.

This worked for me with walking. I’ll be cycling later tonight so I’ll check then too, the only thing is it doesn’t seem to sync the GPS data to Strava now (for walking at least).

Reposting my edited findings to be helpful??

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[Dpenn20]

I just did a firmware update this morning and now my Fitbit will not charge . I have the ionic

as well

.

[DanPamperin]

I am curious when the update is going to be pushed through on mine also.  I'm on 27.70.8.0, and in just the past week my Ionic will only hold a charge for a little over 24 hours.  I did not use all day sync since Fitbit said that would drain battery faster, but now that looks to be the default.  I've reviewed the other "tips" for improving battery life, so that link isn't helpful.  My hope is the update helps (but probably at the risk of other issues apparently.)

[robbijay]

So, to follow up from my last post, I have been for a 21 mile bike ride running my Fitbit in parallel with my Wahoo. GPS seems to have worked fine and synced it all to Strava so it’s worth trying my steps above.

i did note as I checked it during the ride that the screen was blank in the middle sometimes, so I was expecting the HpS to have dropped out, but the map after the ride seems to have proved otherwise.

[YojanaFitbit]

@Beachbum2D Thank you for the feedback about this help article. All Day sync is now automatic for a majority of users, if you don’t have the option to turn off it should be enabled. This should be affecting the battery life of your phone or Fitbit device. We release firmware updates to all customers in phases. The update will be available to everyone soon. Thank you for your patience. 

@robbijay We've passed this information to our team and at this moment we're reviewing each case individually depending of the issue that you're having with GPS tracking. Thank you very much for sharing those steps.

@DanPamperin Sorry to hear about the battery issues that your Ionic is having. Thank you for trying the steps of the help site. I've requested a case on your behalf, our team sent you some information via email.

[robbijay]

So, I have a new complimentary ionic in the post (well, in the DPD actually). Should arrive in the next few days.

[Dinzarelli]

Was you within your warranty period  @robbijay ?

[robbijay]

I was about 2 weeks outside of the 2 years, So they decided to honour it anyway. Not that pushing out  (What many people suspect is ) firmware (but have no proof) is a warranty issue. I’m guessing now it’s been dispatched they can’t take it back....

Moderator Edit: word choice

[Dinzarelli]

Strange that the firmware bricks mine, and that my device now doesn’t track any stats at all... So my Ionic which is marketed as a smart watch fitness tracker, is now simply a watch with no other features. 

Yet, support say it’s just one of those things and that sometimes the devices just stop working. Yet, here is a discount and not a replacement. 

It’s sad how support depends on what mood the member of staff is in. 

[robbijay]

I’d recommend staying with it and complaining more. Still I doubt many people will being buying the product again

[YojanaFitbit]

@robbijay thank you for sharing this information. We're glad to see that you get a respond from our team.

@Dinzarelli sorry for the issues with your Ionic. Thank you for the feedback, it's very important to us to have your thoughts in regards our product and your customer support interactions. Each scenario is different, but I think that you can use the option available according to your warranty information, as it was mentioned by our support team. If you have more questions about these details, please keep communication open with our team. 

[robbijay]

@YojanaFitbit Thanks for your support over the past few weeks.

[Dinzarelli]

What do you suggest I do in regards to my warranty issue please @YojanaFitbit  My device is out of warranty like @robbijay but support will not replace mine, yet they’ve replaced his? Im unsure as to why?

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[sarnott153]

Thank You very much!
Scott
Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[Eagle1]

@YojanaFitbit  I'm not even getting the option to update to the new firmware. It has never pushed out to my app. My app is currently up-to-date and everything is syncing with my Iconic as per normal based upon the link you provided.

[tvos]

I am having issues to update my version. As most of the people here, my version still on 27.70.8.0. I have already contacted the support team and they said that there is nothing that they can do. To be honest, I don't think this is the best answer as loads of people are having the same issue.

My GPS is not working and the update does not work

[Paul46123]

Thanks for the quick replacement of my Ionic!  I was doing some research for work today regarding hardware / software compatibility with Windows 10 2004.  It seems that other hardware vendors are struggling as well.  Just wondering, any Mac users that got bricked?  How many of you are running Windows 10 version 2004?  If you don't know how to tell, put the cursor in the search box at the bottom left of your screen (or press WindowsKey + R) and type in "Winver" without the quotes and hit enter.  Hope this helps others.

Paul