Ionic won't turn on

[AaronColby]

A few months ago I'd occasionally not be able to charge or turn-on my Ionic after it had run all the way down.  The 2 button reset while plugged in worked to get it going again.  Then it started just dying in the middle of the day while it was charged.  I've been able to get it to come back with the same reset as before.

It's finally died and nothing I'm doing is bringing it back to life.  I bought this in June last year so less than a year of life, about a third of that time it was buggy.  

What are you going to do to honor your warranty Fitbit?

[YojanaFitbit]

Nice to see that you're digging into the Forums @AaronColby, let me give you a warm welcome to our Community.

Thanks for posting the steps that you've tried with your Ionic. We really appreciate your feedback and all the details that you've shared with us about how it was working a while ago and what happened recently. You did an excellent job troubleshooting your Fitbit.

In this case, I'd suggest to clean the contacts of your Ionic. These contacts can become obstructed by microscopic dirt or debris that prevents them from making a good connection to the charger. Use a toothpick or toothbrush to clean the charging contacts; do not scrape them with anything metal because this may damage the plating and result in corrosion. 

Please try to restart your Ionic once again. How are you changing your Fitbit? We recommend plugging your charging cable into a USB port on your computer or other low-energy device. If necessary, you can use a UL-certified USB wall charger. Don't use a USB hub or battery pack to charge, and only use the charging cable that came with your tracker. Did you have issues before with the charging cable?

Please take a look of these recommendations to charge your Fitbit too. And in case this doesn't work I can keep assisting you requesting a case for you.

Let's give it a try and please keep me posted. 

[hades666]

Hi All,

Exact same symptoms as the others. Mine out of the blue stopped responding at 8 PM ET last night.  The Fitbit App shows a full battery and the watch is unresponsive.

 My $300 ionic is a brick now. Only used it for 15.5 months. 

This thread was marked Solved

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Ionic-screen-won-t-turn-on/td-p/2939167/page/4

FitBit Details:

Model : Ionic 

Firmware: 27.33.1.30

Age:  476 Days (15.6 Months)

1) we all bought our ionics in the same 90 day or so window

2) all of them have the same problem (working perfectly one day and suddenly not)

3) we all go through same troubleshooting steps as outlined in these forums

4) we all connect with customer service at some point and are offered somewhere in the 25-40% ratio of a discount since our warranties have all expired recently (I activated mine 12/27/17)

What Support Said:

"I've carefully checked your account and I've seen that you are eligible for a 25% discount towards the purchase of any tracker on https://www.fitbit.com/store"

Factory Reset (not responsive)

Hold the 3 buttons for 12 seconds.
When the Fitbit logo disappears, quickly release the bottom right button, continuing to hold down the left and top right buttons (releasing the bottom right button as soon as the logo disappears is time sensitive).
When the device vibrates, release all buttons.
The wait a minute and try the set up.

[Irishwolf66]

Same here, fully charged this morning now it just keeps flashing the reboot Fitbit Icon screen continuously and won't start, 300 dollars spent on junk to add to the landfill.

[hades666]

@Irishwolf66  when was your watch purchased?

Last week I had that flashing firmware issue and ended up getting it to work by doing factory reset a couple times, removing it from the Fitbit app, removing a device from my account and redoing it all.

After about an hour or two on the chat support, it finally formatted and started sinking time correct

[Irishwolf66]

Received it from Amazon on January 4th, so within warranty and they are sending me a replacement after I had a brief live chat with support. So very pleased at that, I do hate the fact that all of these shoddy ones are just ending up as more toxic waste in our landfills. You would think that a company who encourages people to live healthy lives would have more concern for the environment and not create so much junk. For $300 these things should be issue free and last for 10 years at the least.

[Irishwolf66]

I previously had a Fitbit Blaze that suddenly stopped reading pulse, the light just burned out, I had that for less than 2 years so it was out of Warranty and I replaced it with the Ionic. Done with these after this replacement I think, can't in good conscience keep adding more cadmium, mercury, lead, etc to the environment. It's the batteries and the components that are terribly toxic to the environment.

[themarshal99]

Just had this happen to me as well. My Ionic had 60%+ battery life and then suddenly shut off. It had happened to me before, so I thought if I let it run the battery out and then recharge it it might get back up and running. No luck this time. I tried cleaning both the back of the watch as well as the charger per the instructions here, but after a day of charging in various outlets it's still not turning on. It was given to me as a gift Christmas 2016, so I'm obviously bummed that it's pooped out.

[hades666]

I did the same as well. I can say I am well-versed in the ways of making a
FitBit work.

Just disappointed in hearing so many people with issues all of a sudden
after a new release of the firmware.

Still waiting for support to send me my 40% off code. Still haven't
received anyting.

[jhellinger]

Add another owner to the list of Fitbit Ionics that died last night.  Woke up this morning and went to check my sleep patterns.  Nothing.  Thought maybe the battery died so I left it on the charger all day today and tried the restart tonight with no luck.  I've owned this thing since December 2017 and prefer it to my Apple Watch 3.  It is curious that so many seemed to have failed so recently and decisively within a day or two of each other.

Any help or updates would be appreciated.  What would it cost to have Fitbit repair it?  It is even worth it or possible?

[hades666]

The best i got from fitbit is 25%. Even though they promised 40%.

40% still means a 200$ watch...

[chache35]

I am having the same issue and will try these steps to correct my fitbit 

[Coreyjon15]

I purchased my now dead Ionic on Decemer 15, 2017.

[caffinated1]

same boat here. 50% charge, shut it self off. won't charge.  About 18 months into usage, and best fitbit can offer is a 40% discount on a new one.  

I noticed my Android device received a brand new FitBit app a few days ago.  Is it possible something in the app caused the Ionic to brick?

[cybix]

Same situation, about 50% charge and it just died. Cant restart, cant charge. Mine are 17 months old.

I am located in Sweden and I read in the warrany that its 12 months warranty in US but 24 in Europe. So after a short mail conversation with support a replacement watch are on the way.

Still disappointed with the short life.

/Peter

[CarlosATX1]

I'm having the same issue today. Won't turn on. Hard reset using the steps provided does nothing. My watch is just over a year old... so I have $300 brick.

[kevininva]

I have done all of that and still nothing.. no chargenig that I know of and no turn on.. just a boack screen.