No notifications after 31.1.16 upgrade

[jfgarciamex]

Hi, just updated to the new firmware release, but app notifications stopped working. Call notifications is working, but apps, texts and calendar notifications are not working. I already tried rebooting my phone (it is an iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11.2), rebooting my ionic and forgetting and pairing again my ionic, and can not get notifications working again. Thanks!

[ruriimasu]

@MattFitbit Can you at least let us know whether anything was done to fix sync and notification problems in this update? I'd asked umpteen times, it's frustrating talking to a wall!

After 2 days of sync and notifications after the firmware upgrade, the same problems returned. Stop asking us to follow the troubleshooting guide, obviously we tried and they don't work. All we ask for is a fix, and acknowledgement of these problems and that your team is working on fixing them. Is it so hard?

I can ignore these problems and throw away this watch if it were  $50 crap smartwatch. BUT, this is a $300 smartwatch which does everything except the most basic yet essential stuffs that smartwatches should perform. I can guarantee this is my first fitbit and my last. Very disappointed at the way fitbit handles things! Very, very disappointed!

[LwrHrtRt]

@ruriimasu

I totally understand where you're at.  I'm still having to use my work around to get a manual sync most of the time.  So far it's the only reliable way I can get it to sync.  It doesn't fix what Fitbit has to fix, but at least hopefully it can get you buy until they get their act together.

1. On Ionic, got to Settings, Bluetooth, +New Device.

2. As it's Searching, on Fitbit App, start a sync.  Usually by 2nd attempt at Sync, as long as Ionic is still searching, it will sync successfully.

Has saved me a lot of time going through exercises of  unpairing, factory reset, etc.

[Kael]

---

@ruriimasu wrote:

@MattFitbit Can you at least let us know whether anything was done to fix sync and notification problems in this update? I'd asked umpteen times, it's frustrating talking to a wall!

After 2 days of sync and notifications after the firmware upgrade, the same problems returned. Stop asking us to follow the troubleshooting guide, obviously we tried and they don't work. All we ask for is a fix, and acknowledgement of these problems and that your team is working on fixing them. Is it so hard?

I can ignore these problems and throw away this watch if it were  $50 crap smartwatch. BUT, this is a $300 smartwatch which does everything except the most basic yet essential stuffs that smartwatches should perform. I can guarantee this is my first fitbit and my last. Very disappointed at the way fitbit handles things! Very, very disappointed!

---

So far, I'd say no.

Before the update I didn't have very many notification issues. Since the update, I don't get any notifications.

I've attempted:

- Removed bluetooth link, unlinked from account, and factory reset.

- Completely reinstalled the firmware update.

No luck so far. Might have to roll back and ignore the update if it's possible.

*edit*

Just attempted completely blowing out the Android app and reinstalling. Was finally able to see the extended Notification settings (post update, I couldn't get past the "enable notifications" portion). I reconfigured everything and ... no luck. Even the menu > Send Test Notification doesn't work. Watch just says "You're all caught up."

[jfgarciamex · Accepted solution]

Guys, after expending the weekend checking all the solutions proposed (and confirming that all basic settings were OK, I  mean, notifications on in the ionic where in, show in history in iOS was in, no do not disturb mode not enabled, etc.), and confirming that after reinstalling the fitbit app, I got a blank screen in app notifications configuration (I mean, no app were showing), I decided to start over, so I did a iTunes backup restore my iPhone and recover from the backup. A few minutes later, notifications began to show up, so problem solved!!!... and has been so far with no problems what so ever...

Now, digging a little bit, I noticed that my problems began not only after the ionic upgrade, but also after iOS 11.2 upgrade and when I turned on my Pebble Time Round (which was off for a while). I was not able to confirm the problem but I'm guessing it may have something to do with the pebble app running along with the fitbit app. Before doing the backup I deleted the pebble app, so it was not on my iPhone when I recovered the backup. I hope this could help other ionic users having problems.

[elot]

I just got my Ionic today and had done some research.

Found a lot of possible solutions, so i thought i could get the notifications to work with one of the solutions. So i ordered one.

After connecting i installed the update directly and only started setting up after a reboot.

But untill now (almost 6 hours later) i can get only a few things working.

1) Phone notifications always work, also if the phone is in Do-Not-Disturb mode.

    Other notifications do not work if the phone is in DND mode.

2) Phone and all notifications do work if the phone is NOT in DND mode.

3) Test message always work, but it says it is a test Call, so it uses the same settings as a phone notification.

4) My Pebbe Time AND a tested Samsung Gear Fit2 did NOT have any problems with DND mode of my phone. They always worked with notification, with and without DND.

5) My phone is a Xiaomi Mi5, with LinearOS 14.1 (formerly known as CyanogenMod) with Android 7.1 and since the phone notification is no problem, it should not be a phone problem.

6) i checked all the settings (including the rights), rebooted phone and watch, removed the app and reinstalled etc.

7) Tried all options on this page: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1610 and a lot of other pages.

😎 Found that almost ALL fitbit watches have these problems already a long time, but are still not solved definitly.

I still have it not working. I will keep the watch a few days in the hope it will start working, but if it stays this way, i can better go back to the Samsung Gear Fit2, although that only works for about 24 hours.

[RealSting]

New Update has broken Notifications! Tried all that I can but still broken. Nice one FitBit!

[SantiR]

@ruriimasu @RealSting I hope you're doing well! I moved your posts to this thread which is about notifications to keep the Community organized. @LwrHrtRt @Kael @elot There is more help here.

Please check this post and try the workaround posted there. If you already try those specific steps, please feel free to check the entire thread for more details shared by users.

See you around! 

[ruriimasu]

@SantiR I don't want workarounds that are unreliable. I do not know when notifications will decide to stop working. I am spending lots of time checking, rebooting, pairing/unpairing my ionic and my phone daily.

Due to the nature of my job, I have hundreds of messages and many calls everyday. I turn my phone to vibrate but I will always miss calls/messages, that is why I turned to smartwatches and upgraded to ionic. But ionic is not reliable and fitbit has refused to acknowledge there are sync and notification issues. This is enough to drive me away from fitbit products in the future. Because of the lack of accountability, I will never purchase another fitbit product ever even if the problems of this ionic are fixed. Reason is because fitbit's poor CS has caused irreparable grief to its customers! All it takes is to acknowledge the problems and that they will be addressed.. but I don't see that. Instead, everyone is asked to follow a series of troubleshooting guide which they have tried and did not work. See the grief point?

[shetheri]

Swiping right and turning notifications back ON worked! thanks 

[SunsetRunner]

THANK YOU!  It worked for me!  I was getting so frustrated...trying everything to get it to work.  I didn't realize that screen was there!

[bkonichiwa]

I sympathize, I am in the same boat as you are. I did a hard reset the other day because my Pandora suddenly stopped functioning. 15 hours later Pandora works but not my notifications and no amount of reinstalling the app works. I have not tried a complete phone wipe and reinstall but that is next on my list. I keep chalking it up to the “excitement” of being basically a new product tester as Fitbit works out all the kinks that show up in the wild. I try for a zen attitude but it gets really frustrating when it is am feature you really counted on. Fingers crossed the next update fixes it!

[bkonichiwa]

Thanks! I think you just fixed me! 

[jaygibbo]

Hi, set my New Ionic up and got it connected to my iPhone 7. There was a firmware update on the ionic. Ever since this update I cannot get the notifications through to the ionic from my phone. Any advice ? 

The notifications are on in settings on phone, and on in app. Tried turning notifications of and back on again and not worked. I'm totally stuck! 

[SantiR]

@jaygibbo Welcome to the Fitbit family! I moved your post to this thread about notifications as you will find more help in here.

I recommend trying the workaround on this post! It seems it has helped a lot of users who are experiencing the same as you! That should certainly help you out with this.

Try that out and let me know how it goes! 

[DIKKE]

Ok, got the update for android. Notifications worked for a few hours, and now it is random again. Also, i'm a bit surprised about the ( now added AFTER release ) list of compatible phones. Mine ( CAT 60 android 6.1 ) is not on that list, but the CAT60  does work ( notifications ) with about 5 smartwatches, from the pebble to some very dubious Chinese models. All brands who do not have phone models, but phone OS as a reference.  So, i can conclude that all this is basically crappy App software. The current fitbit app ( android ) is not working correctly for the ionic.  So, still this Ionic is a no go if you want notifications working for 300 € ( ! ).

[Nobblytanner]

Yep - and iOS is no better. I'm having constant problems getting notifications to work (sync is more reliable now). SMS messages come thru' for a day and then it goes blank. Calls hardly ever register. I'm amazed that the Ionic is just SO unreliable. I expected teething problems, but frankly the software is so bad, it's unfit for purpose - just rubbish.

[DIKKE]

My guess is that the app is basically optimised for datamining and older models, otherwise i can't find a reason to enable the location on a phone for syncing. This is the first smartwatch app that needs a location for syncing data, even the Chinese do not do this. On android enabling location is a true horror, since google is constantly leeching your data and bombard you with advertisements.

If fitbit wants to compete with apple/pebble/samsung smartwatches, they lost the game with this one.