Ionic battery short life

[SunsetRunner]

I bought my Ionic during the first week it has been available, and up until now, it has been working just fine.  I have been taking it off and charging it when I have gone into the bathroom to take a shower, every morning before I head out for the day and every evening before I head to bed.  Usually, after a charge to 100% in the evening, it has been down to the mid-90's in the morning -- 94 or so.  During the day, after a charge to 100% in the morning, it may be down to around 90% or so in the evening.  Bottom line, it was always quick and easy to get it back to 100% while I was in the shower.

But just a few days ago, I started seeing the battery percentages in the low 80's.  Then the low 70's.  Yesterday, after a 100% charge in the morning, the battery was DOWN TO 51%.  If this keeps it up, my Ionic will not last a full day without needing to be charged.  At which time I might as well toss it in the trash and move on to some other company's technology.  I am NOT happy to see this three-hundred-dollar purchase utterly die as I watch it over the course of one week.

I have NOT been doing anything strange that seemingly made this happen.  It didn't happen "right after a firmware update" or anything like that -- I have been updating things as they have happened, but the last one was months ago.  I did NOT install any new apps or anything like that.  It was just functioning normally, and then it went to hell in a handbasket one day, and it just keeps on getting worse, every day.

I have been doing daily "reboots" with the Ionic.  I have uninstalled every app that I could uninstall.  I am using a very simple watch face.  I have fully uninstalled the Fitbit app on my phone, and reinstalled that.  Nothing has helped.  It simply appears that my Ionic's battery is going to die within the next week or so.  By all means, if you can suggest anything else I could do, I would appreciate it, but I think I've gone through the gamut of what can be done with the thing, already.  I can tell you one thing, though -- if this thing dies on me, I sure won't be buying a new Ionic, given how this thing hasn't lasted much more than about six months.

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[SantiR]

@Colinm39 @driver111 Thanks for your replies and for sharing your experience with your new units.

I'm glad to hear that the battery is now working better on the new Ionics. I hope they will continue to perform like that. If you need anything else please let me know. 

@Tony.r Thanks for your reply! Thanks for sharing your experience and feedback on this thread regarding the battery on Ionic. 

So, turning off "All day sync" has worked to get more out of the battery? Thanks for sharing that thread in which we can find other similar reports. 

Please let me know if you would like me to bring this up to customer support in your behalf. They can check deeper in the battery functionality of your Ionic.

Keep me posted! 

[driver111]

Not looking good, down to 21%.. it wont make it to the end of day 3.

I was hoping to load music and use GPS tonight but that will just kill the battery.

[Colinm39]

@driver111 My old Ionic has got to 27% after 4 days and that was achieved after the triple restart. The replacement Ionic is at 71% at 2.75 days on the first full charge..

---

@driver111 wrote:

Not looking good, down to 21%.. it wont make it to day 3.

I was hoping to load music and use GPS tonight but that will just kill the battery.

---

[driver111]

Yep, me too.. now the battery life has halved.

[DeeK2b]

They have me testing mine at the minute I’ve just took it off a full charge so we will see

They have already said it doesn’t seem right from the data they have collected

Sent from my iPhone

[Tony.r]

Hi @SantiR I have contacted Fitbit Support via Twitter as you suggested and they are currently running some diagnostics on my Ionic. Many thanks.

[Hugor83]

My battery works fine in general (5-6 days). Since about 2-3 weeks I noticed something strange though. The first 5% are used up quickly (down to 95% within 1 hour). From the moment it’s at 95% battery life is great again. 

[fgr62]

hi,

 my beloved Ionic started losing battery life recently, after the OS2 upgrade but not immediately after. Gone from lasting 3-4 days with regular runs to barely a day, and losing half of its charge overnight when I don't even wear it.

Now it got to the point where it's refusing to charge altogether, so it may be a bona-fide battery fault issue. Fitbit Support is helping me. But it's sooo frustrating.

[Colinm39]

I have turned off the "old ionic" at 27%, 5 days after the triple restart.. The replacement Ionic, because of no GPS, is now at 30% at the end of 6 days with it's first initial charge and OS2 update..  A sleep tonight so I will at least get 6.5 days..wearing it 24/7. Similar to day 1 of my firat Ionic last October.

There is an improved gradient on the replacement Ionic

[driver111]

Now on to my second round test.. as requested by support.

Mine didn't last the night of day 3, with all app notifications off, no music, gps and all day sync off.

If i'm asked to test anymore I will get annoyed.

[SunsetRunner]

I had the same issue with my Iconic and did EVERYTHING you listed. I contacted HSN (purchased from their website) and they sent me a new replacement.

For some reason, this battery is draining very fast as well. 100% at 600 am, 75% 900 am, 51% by 1000 pm. I do not know how other users can go more than a full day w/o charging while others have shared that they can go five days w/o charging. 

I have turned off all apps and set my Iconic to manual sync as opposed to all-day sync

I have been using a Fitbit product since 2015 but this Iconic is turning out to be the most expensive and most disappointing of all. What a shame bcos I really want to like this product but I have been very disappointed to date

[Colinm39]

This is my 2nd Full charge on my replacement Ionic.. I got 6.5 days from the first charge and recharged at 24%.. He is the charge timing and %/minute average of capacity over the charging time to 100% from my USB port on the PC.  The last 25% took 60 minutes or 55% of the charging time.

Since that charge, in 6 hours including a 32 minute workout, the Ionic is down to 97% which is my typical battery use 0.5%/hour during daylight with 5.6k steps and 57 Active Minutes...

[Tony.r]

Hi @SantiR I am now back to in excess of 4 days battery life.

Tech support saw something that was not quite right and managed to sort it with their back end tools.

Many thanks for your suggestion.

[driver111]

Mine has been deemed faulty, finally being replaced.

[Colinm39]

@driver111That's positive news from Fitbit. On my replacement, the 2nd Full charge, the the battery indicator is now 79% wearing it 24/7 for 52 hours. No GPS in that.

---

@driver111 wrote:

Mine has been deemed faulty, finally being replaced.

---

[driver111]

My replacement arrived.

-It doesn't make an loud unwanted buzzing/rattle sound when vibrating

-Bluetooth music works with no cutting out

-So far no calibration error messages

We'll see how the battery goes.

The build quality is better, i'm starting to think the early adopters ended up with the prototype units.

[Colinm39]

@driver111Your on the way.. My replacement Ionic on it's 2nd charge via the PC USB was at 24% when I put it on charge again, that was 7 days of domestics and a GPS, ..

Loses about 0.5%/hour 24/7.. I did a GPS yesterday, 25 minutes and it consumed about 1/2%/minute..

[g066558]

I've had a similar problem, I cant say I've noticed a slow decline in battery life, however, the first time it has completely run out of battery it can't even survive a full day and I've tried putting it back to factory settings but that didn't make a difference. I've only had it since January it now being may I have to think it is the battery that's at fault please help

[Kazimmer]

I’m having the same issue - my story is basically exactly the same ... what do I do?

[SantiR]

@g066558 @Kazimmer Welcome to the Fitbit family! Thanks for reporting the situation you are experiencing with Ionic's battery. 

That may be happening as a result of different factors. App usage is the most critical one. I'd recommend checking this helpful article that has some tips to maximize the battery on Ionic. This should certainly help you out with this.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!