Ionic's GPS signal not working

[AfricaRunner]

My Fitbit Ionic does not acquire a GPS signal when I start an activity, generally cycling or walking / hiking. Does anyone have advice on how to rectify this?

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[IH8Usernames]

I've done more testing with my brand new Ionic. Turning the Ionic off and then back on again seems to get the GPS working reliably for me. I power cycled my watch before I took a 5.8 mile bike ride today, and had no problems with GPS signal, even though I paused my workout and went into a store halfway through (I lost GPS signal in the store of course, but it quickly reacquired signal once I was back outside). When I got home I ended my workout, put away my things, and went outside to do some yardwork, tracking it as a hike. GPS signal was found quickly, and worked reliably for the entire time (45 minutes). I've gotten better accuracy out of the GPS on other occasions, but it did work reliably. Tomorrow I will take another ride, without rebooting the Ionic, and will see if I run into any connectivity problems. As an aside, It's almost impossible for users to help troubleshoot these sorts of problems when the product does not give any sort of diagnostic feedback to the user. If I could download app for the watch that could gather diagnostic data that the devs could look at, would be super handy for capturing and reproducing various issues....

[Smiffyblackpool]

Sounds like you are on it. But it shouldn't be up to us to solve their problems. They should be all over it and keeping us up dates. If your ionic is less than 45 days old you can get a full refund. That's what I would so and go for a more reliable product from a better company  Unfortunately I haven't got that option as I have has mine for a while. Fitbit should be hanging their heads in shame for their poor response to this issue.!!Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[IH8Usernames]

I don't want a refund. I don't want to change ecosystems. If I have to reboot my ionic before exercising, It's annoying but not the end of the world. I want to solve the problem, and inform others how to mitigate the issue, not tell people they should be ashamed. Solving problems is worth spending time on. Shaming people is not.

[Iwan]

Hi all. Well we have a temporary fix of sorts, though unfortunately not for everyone. I expect (hope) behind the scenes Fitbit software techs are busy trying to fix this. I agree with IH8Usernames in as much as not wanting to change brands. There was a time that I was so frustrated by the "Fitbit phone compatibility list" that I seriously thought about Garmin as a direction to go in, but their watches aren't as attractive to me. Can we have some advice or a "proper" reply to this thread from Fitbit?

[Smiffyblackpool]

I think you are missunderstanding me. My comment about being ashamed was directed at fitbit not you. They should be ashamed with fobbing people off and not doing more to reassure the fitbit community that they will solve the problem or offer an alternative solutionSent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[IH8Usernames]

Did my testing today. Without rebooting, I took a 15 minute "hike" with no issues. then stopped and immediately switched to a "run" and did a 10 minute mile with no loss of connectivity. Tomorrow I will try again, and see if I begin to encounter problems. I will continue to test without rebooting until the errors crop up.

[rozscott]

I tried your fix and it's not doing anything for me unfortunately.

Not a bit of GPS connectivity over the 1 hour and 40 minutes that I was out in the countryside, where I've never previously had any problems.

I don't want to leave Fitbit, but this is going to be a game changer if I can't actually get anything... I'm not even able to log exercise with Strava as none of my exercise logs have any GPS.

Bah!

[DonaldMReif]

UPDATE: Seems to me like the Ionic has a mind of its own. Sometimes, it'll connect within five minutes of starting an exercise, sometimes it takes 30 minutes. I've had to start using the MobileRun on my phone to ensure my exercises are fully mapped, and I've also begun to notice that the distance traveled according to MobileRun is much shorter than my Ionic's idea of distance traveled.

[Smiffyblackpool]

Not good is it? Fitbit need to get their act together!Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Iwan]

Hi all. I went on a bike ride to the shops today. I haven't tried the GPS on the Ionic for a while because I currently can't run, anyway, I thought I'd try it on the bike ride. A total of 5 miles over about an hour and a half. The Ionic worked perfectly, without a prior reset or on/off. It paused automatically when I stopped and went indoors, like it's supposed to. What can I say, I have no ideas or theories.

[rozscott]

That's great news!!

Unfortunately I haven't managed to share in your good fortune... despite an update yesterday I'm still in a GPS free zone!

I do hope that this is a sign that Fitbit are actually trying to get this problem fixed... I just wish that someone would be a little more forthcoming on what they're aware of and what they're trying to do about it!

[Smiffyblackpool]

I agree. I haven't had anything else from the fitbit team. Non updated nothing and my ionic is still plying up. Not  picking up GPS until the end 9f the run if at all and then not measure g the run properly Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[DonaldMReif]

That would explain the discrepancies in distance traveled between what my watch and my phone say.

[DonaldMReif]

UPDATE: It's still being finicky, taking anywhere from 4 to 18 minutes to GPS lock.

[BradyLight]

That happened to me too.  GPS worked great until the last firmware update and then fizzled.  I’ve had some luck getting it to work after doing a reboot, but for the past few weeks, even a reboot doesn’t work.  It’s very frustrating, because the whole reason I got an Ionic instead of a Versa was for the GPS.  Had I known this would be an issue, I would have gotten the Versa, which would use my phone’s GPS.  I’m also annoyed that Fitbit tech support chooses to put their heads in the sand rather than acknowledging the issue with the firmware update and fixing it in a timely manner.  Unless I see an improvement in their product support, this will be the last Fitbit I buy.

[Kyle_w_h]

I'm with you @BradyLight , I have been a Fitbit user for several years now, and have encouraged others to buy the Ionic as well as the Surge before. That said, the GPS was the reason that I have used both of those products. It is sad that they haven't acknowledged the problem. I understand that updates take time to develop, but a hot patch on this issue should have been in the works because it was reported early after the update, and several users have shared the same problem. Fitbit also could have a way to revert back to a previous version as well, since there are errors with this, but that also isn't an option. I am disappointed that this has been a problem for several months and it hasn't even been acknowledged as something they plan on fixing. There are other watches out there that are starting to have similar features, including built in GPS that are more affordable at this point so a switch may be in order for me as well. 

[rozscott]

Well, I've taken the plunge...

I bought a Garmin Vivoactive 3. It's not the newest model, or the most expensive - in fact, it was released at about the time that the Ionic was and does very similar things. I thought it only fair to match like with like. I wore both watches for a week and then made my choice.

It has taken me very little time to transfer most of my data across to Garmin and it's such a relief to have my GPS tracking my activities... I've still got all of the other things that we learn to take for granted - heart rate, sleep, relative fitness as well as steps, and it's nice to have a tracker that includes a few more of the sports that I do without having to use expensive add-ons or just substitute...

I can only assume that Fitbit are more interested these days in the wearable and smart watch market, so for those of us that valued their products as proper sport trackers it's time to jump ship...

Quietly gutted as a Fitbit advocate for the past seven years, but they haven't really offered any other choice...

[DonaldMReif]

I'm definitely considering taking the same plunge, given that when my Ionic does eventually GPS lock, the line looks very jagged. And I don't like using the Mobile Run because Ionic can't GPS lock quickly.

With MobileRun:

Mapped walk with Fitbit MobileRun

With Ionic:Mapped walk with Fitbit Ionic

[DonaldMReif]

The real conundrum will be whether I'd like to spring for Fitbit's Charge 4 (which will have onboard GPS) or go for something like Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2. I want onboard GPS, but the Charge 4 is more a fitness tracker than a smartwatch, and I don't know if the Ionic's GPS issues will follow to the Charge 4. And the Charge 4 will retail for $110 less than any of Samsung's Galaxy Watch line.

Plus I already have trackers from both the Samsung and Fitbit brands, since I got a free Galaxy Fit with the new phone I got back in January.

[samsunite00]

I too have switched over to the Garmin Vivoactive 3 like @rozscott after Fitbit released the firmware in December. The final straw was when I noticed the pace wasn't moving as I turned on a run. Yup, even though the Ionic has GPS, the pace was calculated based on your steps. If you don't believe me, start a run, stand still and start shaking the watch and you'll see the pace start moving.

This was among the other reasons I switched over to the vivoactive 3. Apparently, I was the lucky one compared to what I've seen on the forum. Even though I'm happy with the Garmin, I continue to come back so I can inform others of my experience. It's hard because I've been a loyal Fitibit user since the Charge HR, then Charge 2. Here's the list of the Ionic's shortcoming that I experienced. 

- GPS took forever to get a signal (Looks like it's gotten worse). Garmin takes 5-15 seconds

- Notifications randomly stops working to the Ionic

- Lap internal notifications. I could never get the Ionic to remember my vibration setting for 1 mile intervals

-  the double drag down window after the firmware update. Drag down once, but have to drag back up to what's underneath