Ionic: Replaced: Two Odd Things...

[David1961a]

I originally got an Ionic about 3 years ago. The first Ionic "bricked" after about a year, without notice. I replaced it with a new one, out-of-pocket (Amazon), but I bought the "extended warranty" separately from Asurion. Last month, my second Ionic lost it's left-button, so through Asurion it was replaced with a like-new or refurbished Ionic. No complaints there.

What's weird, is when setting up the replacement Ionic everything went well, but even after setup and update, the Android phone app for Fitbit keeps telling me the "tracker needs an update". I did research, and the Ionic is on 27.72.1.15, which is apparently the latest, but the warning won't go away on the app. I tried to apply the update that the in-app warning was telling me about four times, but after the initial setup and what ostensibly was the update already being applied successfully, the next several manual updates "failed". That's when in a roundabout way I found that my Ionic is already on the latest revision. So Weird.

I went to Google Play, in case my Fitbit phone app needed updating, but I could not find the Fitbit app, at all. After some searching I found it, but it said "This Fitbit App is no longer compatible with your device".

As things seem to be working normally, and my Ionic is on the latest rev, the most that comes of this is the annoying warning that my Ionic needs an update, which apparently isn't the case, but it won't update further and the warning won't go away.

The only other thing I'd mention, is that previous to the left button falling off, my previous Ionic would not sync when I opened the app, but I usually had to either reset Bluetooth on my phone, or reset the Ionic itself, and sometimes a combination of the two, before it would sync. Who knows, maybe that's what contributed to the button falling off: over-use. I was resetting it several times a day. Any amatuer would tell you none of this is good or right, for a high-dollar quality product.

Having only had the 2nd replacement Ionic for a day, (3rd Ionic, total) I can't say whether or not it will sync properly each time I open the app, or when I ask it to sync manually through the app, without a bunch of annoying resets. As yet TBD.

I like the Ionic for it's built-in GPS, which I believe is more accurate than the GPS on my phone. However, I went through much T&E to get the Fitbit App, Strava, and the Ionic to agree most closely on the stats. The numbers never lined up 100%, but I was able to get them very close. Probably mostly due to how the Fitbit App and Strava interpret GPS data differently, however, when it's a straight upload from the device to the Fitbit app, then ported to the Strava app, it was frustrating that the numbers never agreed 100%. That's really another post.

Is there any comment or guidance on these issues? The "ghost" update the app says I need to apply, and the "Fitbit app is no longer compatible with my device"?

(I think) Products like this should be more reliable, and the product life cycle should be longer than a few years. I don't like being funneled into an unnecessary update of my device, when I like my original device and it (for the most part) works well.

Thank you.

[JohnnyRow]

If you are on Android less than 8.0 (or some other # for IOS), do not delete the Fitbit app from phone.  You will not be able to add it back.  Android 8.0 is the minimum required now; older versions might still work, though perhaps with some newer options missing.  But if you delete the app, you will not be able to re-add it to your phone.

As for "tracker needs an update", I vaguely remember getting that, then it going away after a few days.

[David1961a]

Thank you, very much!

My LG Aristo is at least 5 years old, and it's running Android 7.0. I'll look to see if my phone will update the Android OS any further. I guess that's what "Fitbit App no longer compatible with your device" was saying,... my Android phone device will not support the new Fitbit app. (Not referring to the app no longer supporting the Ionic). Good to know!! I had no plans to replace or upgrade my phone, but you never know.

I hope the "Ionic needs update" warning goes away, because it's inconsequential and just an annoyance. I won't delete the Fitbit app, unless I have all my ducks in a row. I hope my replacement Ionic will sync better with the Fitbit app, than the previous one did. TBD.

Appreciate the help Cheers.