Ionic battery and syncing issues after the latest update

[Echo5Zulu]

After reading on this forum looks like there are a lot of issues after this latest update.  After I updated mine I noticed poor battery life.  Then things failing to sync.  I did standard trouble shooting and restarting even did uninstall and reinstall of ap on phone as well as factory reset on watch.  Now watch turns on but will not sync.  I can get it to pop up the code to set up with the phone but every time I enter the code it says did not work try again.  Is this place the only place to get help now?  I cannot find the old email for customer service that I have used in years past.  Thank you.

Moderator edit: subject for clarity 

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @Echo5Zulu.

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and sharing that your Ionic stopped syncing after the latest update and its battery is draining faster than expected. Thanks for trying to resolve this, I appreciate the additional details and I am here to help. Upon checking with our Support team, I was told that you have already contacted them. I know they will be glad to help you out and provide a solution. I recommend to continue working with them since they have already all the details and special tools to continue assisting you. 

Have a great day!

[Echo5Zulu]

I did try to make contact through Twitter and they made a suggestion which I tried and it did not work and now I have no way to contact that person again.  Is there a person with an actual email I can work with or can you help me through here please?

[LiliyaFitbit]

Thank you for your reply, @Echo5Zulu.

I am sorry to hear the issue persists. I've sent these details to our Support team and they will be contacting you soon. I know they will be glad to help you out and provide a solution, please keep an eye on your inbox. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Echo5Zulu]

Sounds like a common problem.  I think they messed up in the update and may have ruined a lot of ionics.  I am having a hard time reaching someone in customer service though as they have changed how they communicate now.  Or maybe they know they have a huge problem on their hands???

[LiliyaFitbit]

Thank you for your response, @Echo5Zulu.

I appreciate your feedback, we're constantly working on improving our devices and user experiences, and your comments are always welcome. While you can check the Support contact options here, I was informed that they have reviewed your case and provided a response recently. For more information, please check your inbox. 

I'll be around. 

[EdwardLowy]

I too have battery issues with my Ionic since the last firmware update. The watch is working fine but the battery life has gone from 4/5 days to about 1.5. This happened directly from installing firmware update 27.71.6.19.

I have tried all the obvious resets. I would appreciate some guidance please? It is clear from multiple user experiences that this firmware update has severely impacted Ionic devices specifically in terms of battery life. I hope this is not an Apple type scam by Fitbit. I thoroughly enjoy my Ionic and have equipped all my family with Fitbit devices, but this firmware upgrade is a an issue that requires resolution by Fitbit.

Thanks in advance

Edward

[Echo5Zulu]

Yeah I ended up burning hours of time trying factory resets and everything and couldn't get it to go.  I ended up grabbing an old one I had laying around charging and rebooting that one to use for now.  This sounds like a very common issue.  Hopefully fitbit is scrambling to try to come out w a fix but I don't know as the Ionic seems to be getting phased out.  U could deal w the poor battery and wait for an update to fix it or do a hard factory reset on it and take your chances but there is a good chance it will brick the watch.  Another option is to get rid of the new oxygen level estimating watch face as I believe that may have been burning battery life.  The one I am using now I didn't load that on and battery is fine.  Knock on wood.

[Juantwothree80]

What’s the fix here this is effin ridiculous 

[Echo5Zulu]

I don't think they have one developed yet.  They haven't come out and said it but is what I gather from reading on this forum and online.

[Juantwothree80]

I can’t even use my ionic. I literally bought it two days ago worked absolutely perfectly. Then I noticed my battery die completely in 2-4 hours then bam. I took it for a run just now. It wouldn’t log my distance. It won’t sync right. It won’t calibrate. WTH I’m kinda livid. 

[Echo5Zulu]

I would try a standard restart first.  Then maybe a factory reboot.  Youtube has some good tutorials.

[Juantwothree80]

Have tried it all. Call customer service. They cannot fix it. They want me to send in a 6 day old ionic. Yes just found one in store and activated 6 days ago my 3rd ionic.  But anyway since when do they want you to send it back? They verified it won’t sync or update it’s basically a brick after their stupid update.  Never ever again will I buy anything fitbit. Unreal. 

[LeahMM23]

I have the same connection issues with my ionic. This is super frustrating. Did anyone get a "fix"?

This is too expensive to last a year or 2!

[EdwardLowy]

I wondered if it was to do with the SpO2 clock face. It isn't. Battery life is terrible whether you are using that or not. I suspect it may be to do with activating the SpO2 monitor through the new firmware, but without response from Fitbit that is just my guess. I also find the SpO2 to be pretty inaccurate - or I'm really not well! It doesn't correlate well with readings from an actual SpO2 monitor that you put on the end of your finger.

Come on Fitbit - most people understand things don't always go right with tech. What they don't like is silence from you, we would just like to know that you hear what people are saying, you take our real world findings seriously, and that you are investigating. At worst give us the option not to use SpO2 on Ionic if that is causing the problem - we can then make our own decisions about staying with Ionic with good battery life or upgrading to a newer model.   

[Juantwothree80]

Their recommendation was its a defective watch for me. It’s a week old. Just activated. Ridiculous. But worked perfectly until this update. Smh

[Abbygaile]

Same problem. Been using Fitbit gear for years. All of a sudden my Ionic, which I love btw, has to be charged every night!! What!! It ran for a good 5 days and that was when I was allowed to go to the gym and log exercise 3-4 of those days. Now I can’t wear it at night for sleep issues because it’s dead by morning. Like 0% dead. Not amused.