Ionic not working

[UH60guy]

So this morning I got up and everything was working fine with the watch, went downstairs to watch some TV. At some point I checked it, and the screen would not come on. It continues to be unresponsive to any button press and the screen was black (off). Resets do not work, neither the two or three button press combos even get the logo to appear. I put it on the charger all morning but still no response on the button press. 

This is happened as far as I can tell not related to any use, it just died. Any troubleshooting ideas? I’ve had it 13 months so of course the warranty just expired. 

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[Flo4]

So supportive!  Thank you Frostman13!

[Flo4]

Thank you AJ, just seems too much of a coincidence that we’re all having the same problem after an app update doesn’t it.  Hope you get on ok, thank you for your message.

[JCM801]

Fitbit continues to hold their line against replacing devices damaged as a
result of the 3.1 update. I can understand the one year limit on the device
warranty, but damage was done by an external factor. Namely a bug in the
communication with the app that connects the device to the internet. I
suppose I'll have to read the actual legalese of the warranty to see how
they think this precludes them from making reparations for their error.

[Frostman13]

@Flo4 That sounds sarcastic. I truly am being supportive spreading the word about how bad this product is and the lack of acknowledgement on FitBit support. I have had two Ionics fail in a year and a half. 

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[Farm-acist]

I am having the same problem today. Yesterday I clicked on settings on my watch and unclicked something. It was working fine. Today it was working fine this morning then it started vibrating randomly. I looked and the screen was "on" but blank. It was a real dark black-blue color. I put it on the charger and the screen flashed then blank again. I manually synced it on the app and it was keeping track of my steps but screen was blank still. A couple of hours later it was still blank and I tried to sync it and it won't. It died. So I put it on the charger and no response. I tried to reset it and nothing. I have never downloaded any external apps, everything is fitbit. There are so many people having the same problem all within a short time. There has to be something on the OS causing a problem. Please find a solution. I don't have $$$ to waste on another one.

[SunsetRunner]

The same thing happened to me on 24/07. I usually get 5 days between charges, it went from 100% to 0% on 24/07. I successfully recharged it that night back to 100%. Then by mid afternoon on the 25/07 it was dead. I put it on charge again that night but nothing happened. Now it won't charge and is completely dead. The watch is 18months old.

[Carllai611519]

The only support I received from the Fitbit support team is advice to perform factory reset which totally made my tracker dead and then told me to go down to the local Fitbit dealer to buy a new tracker. What a joke my tracker only started to have problem when I performed the app update in mid July and then follow their advice to do factory’ reset which clear did not revive my ionic. They have the cheek to tell me because my warranty has expired( 14 months old ionic) there is nothing they can do. If the problem is caused my missed use then obviously I will accept but this is caused by Fitbit upgrading the system so it is a software problem which Fitbit must be responsible and help all the customers affected. Like car manufacturers would call back return of cars due to safety fault caused by them  repair it st their expense which is exactly what Fitbit needs to do and announce a recall of all the ionic affected by the software upgrade. I look forward to your responsible response.

[Carllai611519]

Totally agree, Fitbit must do a recalll and fix all our ioniic affected my their software upgrade. This problem is not our making and we should not pay for their mistake. 

[Carllai611519]

Good on you mate. Let’s know how you got on.

[Carllai611519]

Yes the the update in July must have been programmed to destroy all ionic over 12 months old

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you bmwz3_diane.  Please keep us updated.

I purchased my Ionic in November of 2017.  I agree with other posters that Fitbit has a responsibility to recall all watches that have stopped working and fix or replace them at no charge to us.  We should not have to buy a new one because of a problem on their end because we did not damage or cause the watch to stop working.  We paid good money for something that hasn't even lasted for two years, and that is not right.  I am hoping that I can simply send my Ionic back to Fitbit and have them repair it and then send it back to me.  That would be the responsible and right thing to do.

[GeoJet]

Mine was also bricked by the update. My app displays 11:26 PM last synched, battery full, version 33.1.30. Since Fitbit is not inclined to replace the units they bricked, I am leaving negative reviews on every e-tailer site I can find to warn off prospective purchasers. Hiding behind "we can't change our warranties" and other corporate-speak is totally irresponsible when the company is now fully aware of their negligence.

At least 6 months have past and a lame discount off a new Ionic isn't going to cut it. I urge everyone else who is similarly frustrated to post in as many social and e-tailer sites to virtually boycott Fitbit until they own up and replace the affected owners' Ionic. Consumer affairs and other watchdog institutions won't probably be of much help due to the nature of the complaint and the relatively small number of consumers affected. I am copying this text as I have noticed that the moderators are prone to "editing" posts in this forum.

[bmwz3_diane]

I just called Fitbit, 877-623-4997 and spoke with them. They tried to go through the reset with me which did not work. They determined it was my "display" that had gone bad and that because the IOS was on the phone app that it would not have affected the Ionic itself. They claim to not be aware of the forum issues and promised to escalate this to higher management. They then verbally offered a 40% discount with an on line or verified retailer purchase and sent me the link. Upon opening the link it read "25% discount", another misleading fault of Fitbit. I have responded to their email asking for clarification. Also I informed them that several hundred people have posted on the forum about this same issue occurring almost simultaneously. At this point be sure to document all the information you can. Date of purchase, date of update, problems encountered after IOS update and date of failure. Also document the calls, emails, etc. that you receive in response to your contact with Fitbit. All of this information may be necessary for future reference should this situation develop. 

[michellular]

I am having the same issue with my Ionic.  It died for no reason at all yesterday afternoon. I've tried everything that has been suggested on this thread to no avail. Not sure how long I've had this device, I believe it's been around a year.  Now what??

[SunsetRunner]

Similar problems with my Ionic - its bluetooth stopped working and after several attempts of restoring the connection using the standard operation procedure (restarting Ionic, restarting phone, restarting bluetooth and so on) nothing worked. Decided to do a factory reset and now it is stuck in an infinite boot loop which I can't break it out of. 

Reading these forums I realize that fitbit screwed up their latest update royally and I'm never buying another product from them again. 

[michellular]

I just contacted customer support and after a factory reset didn't work, they offered me a replacement Ionic or 50% off a different model.

Evidently, I was within the 365 day period.

[GeoJet]

When you click the link and choose Ionic from the web store, it takes the 40% off. Because of the volume of defective units, the Ionic is now backordered until the middle of next month. 

I reported my issue through chat and they have obviously been instructed not to admit that others are having the problem. They even have some robotext that appears faster than any human could type when you ask the question. "I'm unable to pinpoint just what factors might have caused it to end as there are some several reports with different life span, but I can guarantee you that our engineers are hard at work to ensure that we come up with a more durable and quality products every time."

When I asked what assurance I would have that the replacement Ionic I purchased wouldn't have the same problem, I got a very interesting answer. " Features are the same. But most of the ongoing issue before with the Ionic has been resolved."

I suggest using the chat feature when reporting your problem. That way you can download a transcript and then you can also add comments directly to FitBit about their irresponsibility. But please be nice to your chat agent, mine was super polite and helpful.

I've copied the text of this post as the moderators have a history of "editing" the text.

[Farm-acist]

Referring to the error bluetooth not connecting: This happened a couple months back after the update. Delete the ionic from app then uninstall app. Reinstall app then add ionic back on. And it updated with
no problems. But with all the problems they are having I would wait before
doing anything to ionic if it is working. You maybe lucky.

[bmwz3_diane]

If your Fitbit has no signal it will not reinstall as it is not recognized in WiFi or Bluetooth to connect to the app.

[bmwz3_diane]

If you were within warranty, why would you have to pay anything at all? Even if you were out of warranty, why would you have to pay anything at all for something they caused to malfunction? This isn't an end user error.