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 

[SilviaFitbit]

@AfricaRunner It's nice to see you on the Community. Thanks for letting me know that you're having this issue with cycling, walking or hiking. 

Environmental factors, including tall buildings, dense forest, steep hills, and even thick cloud cover, can interfere with your device’s ability to connect to GPS satellites. If the signal is blocked—either because you're underground or due to another reason—GPS won't work. Learn more about it by checking this article: How do I use GPS on my Fitbit device? 

I'll be around if you have any additional questions. 

[DonaldMReif]

I think the issue is more likely something at Fitbit's end, since I'm having similar issues with the watch taking forever to find GPS, even in areas where it's connected instantly in the past without a problem.

[Jabteeth]

I’m having similar issues too. I’ve had my Ionic for almost a year and in the past two weeks it doesn’t pick up the GPS. I’ve run the same course in the past and had no issues. Now it shows on the watch “searching...” and never picks up the connection the entire run. I’m curious as to what’s happening and what to do with it? 

[Smiffyblackpool]

Why are fitbit sending this response when your technical team are fully aware there is  a fault with no fix w/o the GPS function and fitbit are refusing to take responsibility for it. My GPS doesn't work at all. No refund no replacement offered. No nothing. Basically just tough!

[Iwan]

I'm sorry I have to say I've had the same problem. My Ionic used to connect in an impressively short space of time and worked brilliantly throughout my runs. In the last couple of weeks it's been taking much, much longer to connect, but then after a few yards it drops the whole running exercise and reverts back to a watch, which then takes typing in the PIN, while running, to unsuccessfully try and reinstate the whole enterprise, so I give up on it. Just to spice it up a bit, it's not every run. I've succeeded in having a couple of full GPS tracked runs in between, just to mess me about. Is this an update thing or have the GPS satellites moved?

[Smiffyblackpool]

Apparently it's a technical problem which fitbit has advised they are working on it but have no timeframe at all. I will definitely not purchase another as I feel like I have been miss sold. I will  go back to Garmin which I used for years with no problems. My GPS doesn't work at all.Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[SilviaFitbit]

@Smiffyblackpool @Iwan @Jabteeth and @DonaldMReif It's nice to see you on the Community. Thanks for the details mentioned and the troubleshooting tried. 

I appreciate the time you took to share your reports. I've shared this with my team and they will investigate it. Your patience and understanding is appreciated. 

I'll be around if you have any additional questions. 

[Iwan]

Hi SilviaFitbit. Just an update for you. On my last 2 runs the GPS did not connect at all, despite waiting for a very long time for it to do so. No GPS connection sort of defeats the object of owning a Fitbit Ionic and makes it "ironic."

[rozscott]

I have exactly the same issue. I've had my Ionic for a couple of years now, used it all over the world and never had a problem with it. All of a sudden it simply doesn't connect... I recorded half an activity last week and today's just didn't achieve any connection at all over the 40 minutes that I was out for. This is a route that I have run many, many times over (with no problems).

I'd appreciate some insight into the fix as this will become a major issue in a few weeks time when I will simply have to replace it if it isn't working. 

[Smiffyblackpool]

I have contacted fitbit by email There is no timescale for the fix. They have no idea and are not offering a solution. I wouldnt get another fitbit. AndreaSent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[JLnk]

I have the same issue too. My Iconic hasn't synched to GPS in about 3 weeks.  I'm running in the same places I've run for the past year with no troubles syncing to GPS so it is not an issue with tall buildings or other interference. I've reset my Iconic, even done a factory reset with no success.  Very frustrating because this is the main reason I bought the Ionic. 

[Trev5055]

I’ve had no issues connecting until the last month or so. I live in the countryside with no large buildings or other objects to interfere with the signal. My issue started with losing the GPS signal while running on a route I’ve used for years with no issues. Now the GPS won’t connect at all regardless of how long I wait.

[Kyle_w_h]

So there was another thread dedicated to this. I think that the firmware update in December broke the GPS on the Ionic - many users were working fine until that update and following that, GPS has been pretty bad. Hoping that the next update fixes it, but no word so far on when that may be.

[Smiffyblackpool]

That's what I thought. When I suggested it to the team they ignored me! So frustrating!!Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[IH8Usernames]

I've seen this happening on my brand new Ionic as well. If the watch has been running for a couple of days, GPS becomes unreliable. It will search and connect relatively quickly, but the connection is unstable and inaccurate. It will frequently loose connection and go back to "searching" for short or long periods of time, causing significant gaps during exercises. If I reboot my Ionic, the problem goes away and GPS works properly, for a day or two, whereupon the problem crops up again. I measured the time it took to acquire a lock today after a reboot, and it took just about 5 minutes to get a lock, and then worked fine for my entire workout. Lacking any ability to see whats going on behind the scenes (and thus speaking from ignorance), it would seem to me that the GPS Almanac data is getting corrupted after a couple days, and that restarting the watch resets it. Full transmission of the GPS Almanac takes 12.5 minutes, but a fix can be acquired faster than that... Can anyone else confirm that a reboot of their ionic gets it working again for a couple of days?

[Iwan]

Hi IH8Usernames. The two occasions recently when it did briefly track my complete runs, was, after I turned the Ionic off then on again just for something to try. I didn't want to risk losing the data and settings on the watch so I didn't do a full reboot. Perhaps you're onto something. I've injured my foot so won't be able to run for a while, but could someone else test out the current theory by turning their faulty Ionic off then on again to see if it starts to work properly, or, try a reboot if it doesn't as IH8Usernames suggests?

[Smiffyblackpool]

HiTried turning it off and on as suggested  by the fitbit team but still didn't work for me. This week after weeks of picking up nothing it has picked up a signal. It tracked my  run but the rate per mile and the distance seemed to be well out. I am just not running that well! SmiffyblackpoolSent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[popchrist]

Mine has stopped working, it connects intermitently when I'm running andit's measuring all my runs long making it look like I'm speeding along! This morning I ran a 5.41km parkrun apparently. It's very frustrating as i thought I was on for a PB. This is the 5th fitbit I've had (they've all been replaced or upgraded by fitbit) and everyone of them has crashed at some point. 

[Kyle_w_h]

yes, @Smiffyblackpool if you zoom in closely, you'll see that it is tracking a jagged line, rather than a straight line, so it adds distance. Not at all accurate.