Ionic's battery life decreases

[JenR7128]

Hi

ive had my Ionic since September 2017 and it’s been amazing. However, in the last 4 days I’ve needed to charge it every 24hrs and on one day it didn’t last 20hrs. Normally it lasts 3 days! I’ve not made any changes or added any apps, the last update I had via iOS was 18April and my activity levels are no different to normal.

I’ve trying running the battery right down and recharging, I’ve done a few hard resets (holding left and bottom right buttons down for 15secs) and still have he same problem. 

I’ve also noticed that it took hours to sync my active minutes yesterday and it hasn’t given me a sleep analysis this morning. 

Feels like it’s failing! Help please!

Thanks!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @JenR7128! Thanks for already troubleshooting this inconvenience, nice way to go! 

As per the description, it seems that it has insufficient power source. Where do you charge your tracker? Have you checked if by any chance the USB port or outlet is faulty? If you haven't done so, try a different port. A UL-certified wall charger will also work. Don't use a USB hub.

Also, make sure the pins on the charging cable lock securely with the port. The connection is secure when the watch vibrates and the battery icon or percentage appears on the screen. 

If after following those tips and recommendations you keep having difficulty when charging your tracker, try restarting your Fitbit Ionic once again by following these steps. 

Keep in mind that the length of time your Fitbit device operates on a full charge depends on how frequently you use it and various settings. 

Consider these tips when you want to conserve battery life:

• Make sure you're charging Ionic fully each time. It can take up to 2 hours to charge your watch. 
• Turn off All-Day Sync in the Fitbit app because it increases battery drain on both your watch and phone. Note that if you turn off All-Day Sync, certain apps including Weather won't work since data isn't being sent from the Fitbit app to your watch:
  
  1. From the Fitbit app dashboard, tap or click the Account icon > your device image.
  2. Find the option to turn off All-Day Sync.
• Turn off the option to wake the screen when you turn your wrist; instead, tap the screen to turn it on:
  • On your watch, swipe right to the shortcuts screen > Screen Wake > Manual.
• If you don't need heart rate data, change the Heart Rate setting to Off. Note that the green LED continues to flash even if Heart Rate is turned off.
• Turn off call, text, calendar, and app notifications if you know you're going to receive many hundreds of notifications. A large volume reduces battery life:
  • On your watch, swipe right to the shortcuts screen > Notifications > Off.
• Charge your watch more often if you play music, exercise with GPS, complete Fitbit Coach workouts, or use the music controls frequently.
• Don't receive reminders to move every hour. To get fewer reminders, make sure you walk 250 steps each hour, change the number of hours you want your stationary time monitored, or turn off the feature on days you don't need it.
• If you have many silent alarms set, consider deleting some. Each alarm you add up to the maximum of 8 reduces battery life by a small percentage. 
• Shut down Ionic when it's not in use. 

In regards to the syncing issue, I'd recommend checking this article and follow the tips and recommendations. 

Give this a go and let me know the outcome! 

[SunsetRunner]

I’ve got the same problem. Before update it was going four days on a charge. Now it doesn’t even make 9 hrs. 

I have ave changed no settings yet but would be tremendously disappointed if the latest update now requires turning everything off to regain the battery life. Very poor quality control. Is there a method to roll back the update. 

Troy

[JenR7128]

I contacted Fitbit and they sent a replacement in the end. 

Unfortunately, I now how issues with the calibration due to the latest update so will see how it goes. Battery life now much better though. Jen

[SunsetRunner]

Ok after the third recharge it seems to be back to lasting four days or so as before. The only thing I can attribute the problem to was the last update. I did get a red cross mark on the ionic at the end of the update but it seemed to be working ok although the communication between ionic and smart phone was flaky and the charge lasting less than a day. Now however it is holding the charge and the link between the ionic and smart phone is back to being excellent. So I have no idea what the problem was or why it sorted itself out.