Ionic touch screen not working

[KajMikael]

My Fitbit Ionic touch screen stopped working this week. I have made factory reset but it still do not react to finger touch? Happy for hints solving this.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello @KajMikael it's nice to see you again participating here in the Community Forums, welcome back.

First, thanks for troubleshooting this situation prior to posting. If you haven't already done so, please restart your Fitbit Ionic following the next steps:

1. Press and hold the back and bottom buttons until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen. 
2. Let go of the buttons.
3. If you still have issues with your device, turn it off and turn it back on. For more information, see How do I turn off my Fitbit device? 

Keep me posted.

[Peacubhue]

I am all of sudden having the same issue. Screen has gone 98% black there is colored vertical line you can see when you turn it off and on again .. please tell me this is fixable. I am missing out on valuable steppage for challenges.

[eduardovk]

Dear KajMikael,

The same behavior/problem occured with my Ionic some weeks ago and I also made the factory reset. However, after some more days of use, It stopped responding the touch screen and, next, died suddenly (it is not working anymore). Although I have tried everything (factory reset, charging a day long, and other procedures), nothing worked and the support team said that my device is out of warranty (only by 3 months); in other words, Fitbit has a frustration guarantee policy.

Regards,

[RMarkH]

Touchscreen not responding to touch...  How do you reset if you can't open the settings app?

[eduardovk]

I tried several times holding the left and lower right buttons. One of these times I luckely reached the settings and proceeded a factory reset. However, unfortunately, one or two days later, I started haveing the same awkward behavior and, suddenly, it stopped working forever (it is dead and there is nothing that we can do).

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello guys! I'm happy to continue providing assistance, sorry for the delay in responding. Welcome to the Community Forums @Peacubhue @RMarkH, thanks for your post @eduardovk.  

@Peacubhue Thanks for bringing this to my attention. To move forward with this, can you please let me know if the restart process that was shared on my previous post already tried? Keep me posted.

@eduardovk Thanks for sharing your personal experience, sorry for the inconvenience experienced with your device. Please contact our Customer Support team if you want more information and details about the outcome of your case with them. Also, please check or warranty policies here. 

@RMarkH To restart your device you need to press and hold the back and bottom buttons until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen, then you let go of the buttons and the restart process will be done. Let me know how it goes.

I'll be around.

[RMarkH]

Still nothing working. Charges to 100% then very quickly looses its charge
without being worn or used. Still can't get the logo by repeatedly pushing
back and bottom buttons... 😢

[eduardovk]

As I said @RMarkH , this is a very common symptom of a dead ionic.

[RMarkH]

😥 iOne... FitBit lost...

[Peacubhue]

@RicardoFitbit No, none of the options offered by yourself or Fitbit has worked.. and to be honest I'm am beyond livid! Your Company believes these things are $400.00 Disposable watches. There is no tech support, no repair centers (even for minor fixes) and NO extended warranty -- (sorry unless you live in the United States) While maybe people who work in your company can afford to just throw away $400.00 a year on these devices. I personally am not one of those people!

[eduardovk]

@Peacubhue, I totally agree with your comments on the @RicardoFitbit post.

[Peacubhue]

It's ridiculous! They are the ones who do the service updates and then next thing you know 100's of people's fitbits die .. like brick dead.. and all they have to say for themselves "Oh well your warranty is done..  is here is 25% off your next purchase of your Fitbit device!".. screw that it's your tech guys that messed up our devices.. Fix IT!! Mine was working perfectly fine till that update.. you can even see it in my stats how it went from working to brick.. and the funny thing is they are can see all this information on their computer screens! 

I contacted the news department here in Canada and I know many others here have too. I'm done with these super giants taking advantage of us consumers. Just so they can say your warranty is up for a problem they created!

@RicardoFitbit 

[Vinnair]

Hi there, was this issue ever resolved? I am facing the same problem with my Fitbit Ionic screen not responding all of a sudden.

[RMarkH]

Watch died. Planned obsolescence. Gave up. Bought a new, much less expensive workout watch.

[CorbinB]

So I can't say for certain this will work for you, but this is what I did to get it to work. 

I synced my watch to my phone, then switched background screens on my watch, i was then able to use the touchscreen once, and then it went back to stuck, after a few times of going back and forth between different background screens, I was able to consistently use my touchscreen again. For safe measures, I then took advantage of me being able to use my touch screen to go and shut down my watch, restarted it and no more further issues. I hope this helps

[mountainlupine]

replies?

[MrAmbition]

This happened to me too on 3/25/20.  It's funny how so many different people are having the same issue around the same time.  Anyway, Fitbit was nice enough to offer me a whopping 25% discount off the purchase of my next Fitbit product, as long as I purchased directly from them😠  Considering the large amount of Fitbit products I've purchased over the years (watches, bands, headphones, scale, etc.), I thought that was really low down of them to only be able to offer me 25% off just because my watch is more than 1 year old.  It's not even 2 years old yet!  And while we're on the subject, I think for the cost of their higher end watches, the warranty should be longer than 1 year anyway.  It's almost as if they expect them to fail after the 1st year.  I would've been fine paying for a repair as long as it was priced reasonably.  Anyway, I ended up getting a much better deal on a brand new Ionic on eBay.  With all the discounts I received (I purchase a lot on eBay), I only paid $118.  It should be here next Monday.  Honestly, I almost walked away and switched to another brand.  Were it not for all the Fitbit friends I've made, I certainly would have!

Lmbo.  How are you supposed to turn it off, if the touchscreen doesn't work?  Turning the Ionic off requres you to go to the settings screen to shut it down.  Unbelievable!!

Moderator edit: merged reply

[mountainlupine]

Thank you for the heads up, I have not contacted fit bit yetmy watch is about the same age, between 1-2 years.and I feel the same. As I look at the extra band, scale etc.I have always purchased an extended warranty on the advise of the Best Buy sales person that sold me my first Iconic in ?2014? I think.  I live and do a lot off the grid and he said that is hard on the GPS. I have used the warranty to replace one that just completely died within the year.With my last purchase neither Best Buy nor FitBit offered anything longer than 1 year.
Glad you were able to purchase oneand again thank you for the heads up, this way I won't blow up at the poor customer service person who has no control over the policy.Maybe I will try a Garmin?
mountainlupine.

My question !

Moderator edit: merged reply

[MrAmbition]

You’re welcome mountainlupine!  Glad I could help. Due to the large number of complaints I’m seeing, I’m going to talk to my boss about the possibility of us repairing Fitbit watches in the future. They’re very similar inside to smart phones and tablets which we already do repair. I’ve found a parts source in China, so I’m definitely going to look into this further. If you’re curious as to whether or not we’ve decided to start repairing them, feel free to check back with me in the next 3 to 4 months. I’ll know by then, and may have even repaired some by that time! 😊