Ionic Setup Checklist

[CarlosCFitbit]

Everyone -- I really appreciate your candid feedback on your setup experience. 

After reviewing this discussion, I want to provide tips to help you setup your shiny, new Ionic successfully. Please understand that during this process there are certain steps that can take longer, especially the Firmware update, so patience is key. This is the largest firmware we've ever released and contains more data than any of our past Firmware update releases.

During setup, I recommend connecting to a strong personal or work Wi-Fi network that requires a password (public networks like coffee shops or bookstores should be avoided). If you're not connected to strong Wi-Fi connection or using Bluetooth, the process can take as long as 2 hours or more. So please make sure your Wi-Fi connection is strong. 

With that being said, let's get you setup!

Setup checklist

1. Start by making sure your device meets the requirements
2. Un-pair all Fitbit trackers in Bluetooth settings (if any are listed under devices in BT settings)   
3. Remove all Fitbit trackers from your Fitbit account (If any other Fitbit trackers are setup to your account already)
4. Turn Bluetooth off/on
5. Perform a factory reset on Ionic (tap on Settings/ tap on About/ tap on Factory Reset)
6. Restart your device (phone or computer)
7. Plug-in Ionic to charge somewhere close to your internet router
8. Go through the setup process (instructions start on page 9 of the manual) 

What if setup still doesn't work? 

Try giving it another shot. Follow the instructions above and if you get stuck, please tell me where in the process Ionic stalled.

I want to acknowledge everyone's contribution to this discussion and express appreciation for bearing with us through some of the hiccups. We're always striving to improve our product and observe user sentiment and feedback to make improvements where necessary. Rest assured that future firmware and app updates will be released incrementally to address issues experienced by users.   

Lastly, I welcome you to continue sharing your experiences here and provide as much insight as you can. My hope for all of you is a successful setup so you can start reaching your health and fitness goals with help from Ionic!  

[averym]

Been there,
do a hard reset on the watch, make sure you have a good Wifi connection
(you might have to reset your router first.) Try and use the wifi from your
home or office where you are most of the time. It doesnt switch from one
wifi to another. (big flaw) and one of the reasons why it has issues
setting up.

Start all over. It shouldnt take more than 20 minutes to setup.

Once you get setup, occasionally it doesn't sync either. shut down the ap
on your iphone and sometimes, go to the gear in the ionic watch app and do
a shutdown and restart it. (don't do RESET, just shut it down.) make sure
your battery is charged


Moderator edit: removed personal information

[DINATALE145]

To much drama for the amount I paid. Best solution, return it. I bought
the blaze, set up was not hard and its been working like a charm.

[NeilSKN]

I moved the other way from a Blaze to an Ionic when my Blaze battery stopped holding its charge and the supplier offered me an exchange. I traded "up" to an Ionic - rather Ironic wasn't it?

[DINATALE145]

OK, you went the other way, how was the set up? My last Blaze had the same
problem after just two years of wear. This Blaze I bought on e-bay for
less and if it last two years, I'm ok with it.

[NeilSKN]

The set up for the Ionic was remarkably smoothe, none of the problems others have encountered. The only issue that I have had with it was the lengthy time to change a watch face, which did require a re-boot, other than that it was fine. It sincs with my IPhone 7 like a dream. The Blaze wouldn't last 30 mins after a recharge and I only had it 11 months. This occurred immediately after an update and I suspected it was a cynical way Fitbit were getting me to upgrade from the Blaze (similar to that other large electronic firm which has a similar name to a fruit).

[DINATALE145]

I noticed that there were fewer problems with the Ionic when paired with an
iPhone. I did not have a iPhone and thus maybe why the problems.

[averym]

No issues with ionic and iPhone X
Just the typical can’t ever find Wi-Fi, gave up on that a long time ago, not important.

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[GrahamdK]

Probably you at right. From my own experience and owning an iPhone, I don’t have connectivity or download problems. If I do have connectivity issues, I re-boot the Ionic by pressing all three buttons at the same time until the watch powers down. I then connect it to the power supply and it reboots and the firmware upgrade happens. It takes about 10 minutes.

Sent from my iPhone

[TeraBella]

I've been trying to get it to connect to Bluetooth for 3 hours! My phone finds the watch, but the watch will not find my phone. I've restarted phone, watch, turned Bluetooth on/off  tried putting watch Bluetooth in the on, pair and off modes, disconnected EVERY paired device from my phone, and still will not connect. This thing cost $300+ and I can't even complete the first step of the set up?! If it doesn't work when I try again tomorrow, I am returning it. 

[renosue]

I found you must have a dedicated wifi. I cannot do it at my house with
six devices, etc on the wifi so I went to my next door neighbor. I sure
wish is wasn't so sensitive. But once you get it to work it is really cool!

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[averym]

New IOS 2 came in yesterday for IONIC, hopefully fixes many of our woes.

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[DINATALE145]

That is what I did, I sent it back and they refunded right away. With the
refund, I bought the Blaze which was easy to set up and is working fine on
both the computer and the SS8+.

[averym]

Still have my Blaze guess I should sell it

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[DINATALE145]

Keep the blaze for a back up. The Ionic may not last

[Kennedy318]

Stuck on data not cleared sync and try again but my device is not in my app to sync to anymore and it won't add it.

[prost22]

can't go through the steps. You say "do factory reset on the Ionic"...then tap on Settings, then About. How do you 'tap on Settings"? there are 3 buttons and a screen. Is pushing or tapping one of those supposed to be "Tap on settings"? Also, there were NO instructions that tell me what the 3 buttons do. Why are there 3 buttons? what are they used for?

[prost22]

Almost nothing in the Checklist worked for me..Mostly couldn't find the settings or buttons in the Checklist. But we got it to work anyway. Go ahead and download the Ionic users manual. You will need that later.

Here's what we were trying to do. Had a Charge HR, bought a new Ionic to replace it. Log in to the Fitbit account, go to Dashboard, small icon upper right "View Profile" when your mouse button hovers over it. Select it. Upper right is Account Settings, go there. Upper left is a list of devices, click on the device you to remove, go to the bottom of the settings for this device, select "remove this Charge HR from your account." Now you have no devices synced to your account. I must mention that we had a Fitbit software installed on our PC, removed that (Control Panel/Programs/remove Fitbit), AND (very important) we were using the Fitbit dongle to communicate with the Charge HR.

Now to set up the Ionic. go to www.fitbit.com/setup. We wanted to do this through a PC, so we went below the 3 cell phones shown to download the "Fitbit app" to my computer. Takes you to the Windows store to download and install the app. After installing it, in the Windows store with the Fitbit app, a new button appears, "Launch". So we did that. You get some screens, go through those, then it attempts to setup the Ionic. Didn't work, tried this several times. We tried to setup through phone by turning on its Bluetooth. That didn't work. Then I ripped out the Fitbit dongle, that didn't work.

 Something I noticed after trying this a few times is this---when it tries to setup, and fails, a new window appears suggesting a bunch of things. None of them made sense (kept turning off and on the phone's Bluetooth, that didn't work either way), but down at the bottom I selected the Settings button, and it took me to my LAPTOP'S Bluetooth settings. Remember my dongle is out of the computer yet. I TURNED OFF the Laptop's Bluetooth, then tried to go through the setup again. A window pops up asking if I want to do the setup through the dongle since no Bluetooth devices were detected. I put the dongle back in. The setup continued, looked for a 4 digit code (which I had seen before), couple more windows, then we see that the setup is proceeding and that the estimate is over 180 minutes. 3 hours is a long time, but it appeared to be working, so we let it go. 3 hours later, the setup was completed SUCCESSFULLY.

 So here's what I believe the problem was---the Laptop Bluetooth was enabled, and that was conflicting with both the dongle and the cell phone's Bluetooth. It was only after I turned off the Laptop Bluetooth, turned OFF the cell phone's Bluetooth, and reinserted the dongle, that the setup could proceed. (BTW-I had no idea even that my laptop has Bluetooth access; I thought that was a cell phone thing, not a laptop thing).

[DINATALE145]

Been there, done that, called tech support, over an hour and no real help.
Have you called tech. I sent it back and bought the blaze. Working well.

[prost22]

Actually got it to work. Tried a bunch of things, always the same result--no setup. Finally I guessed that the Bluetooth on my Laptop was conflicting with the dongle--I needed the dongle with the previous Fitbit (a Charge HR, which I was replacing with an Ionic). Once I disabled the Bluetooth on the Laptop and made sure it was disabled on cell phone, the setup windows asked me if I wanted to use the Dongle, which I still had. So I plugged it back in, and 3 hours of setup later, the Ionic is now working.

I am pretty sure the problem was the conflicts between the Bluetooth on the phone and on my laptop were the problem. Once I removed those two obstacles, everything worked in the Setup.

[TeraBella]

Yeah, my laptop and smart TVs were off and my husband wasn't home, so the only thing on the wifi or things that have Bluetooth that were on was my cell phone.