Not Able to Sync Ionic

[tppt]

I have had my ionic for a week tomorrow. Still have not been able to sync it properly and use it. I have talked  to the customer service team multiple times and spent hours trying to trouble shoot with them.

It takes about 2 hours to get it set up. It syncs for about 5 minutes and then disconnects. It then goes back and forth from looking and syncing but never connects.

How long do we need to wait before this gets fixed or they can give some update. I have tried all the trouble shooting including factory reset, etc. Very frustraing.

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[Colinm39]

@PeteG-1This Mirror link has been used by others in the forum to roll back.. Give it ago...

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@PeteG-1 wrote:

Is there any way to "roll back" to 2.28?

I've been searching the Fitbit site (the Windows Store doesn't officially support this), hoping to find a 2.28 install package, since that seems to be the most coincidental with my failure profile.

I'm not as thrilled about pulling them from some random file mirror, but I might sandbox the install if I found this, just to be on the cautious side...

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[PeteG-1]

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@Colinm39 wrote:

@PeteG-1This Mirror link has been used by others in the forum to roll back.. Give it ago...

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@PeteG-1 wrote:

Is there any way to "roll back" to 2.28?

I've been searching the Fitbit site (the Windows Store doesn't officially support this), hoping to find a 2.28 install package, since that seems to be the most coincidental with my failure profile.

I'm not as thrilled about pulling them from some random file mirror, but I might sandbox the install if I found this, just to be on the cautious side...

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@Colinm39 Hmm, thanks, except that I'm running the Windows app, v.2.29 now, and want to rollback to 2.28.

I know in the "Windows Store SDK forums" there was chatter about implementing this, but I don't think it's ever come to fruition (it's easy for an app like FB, but not so much say a music app, where you upgrade an entire DB format).  Of course it would've been versioned, with majors/minors, to limit this, but I personally think the Store team did some research, and figured out what they were about to walk into.

Any ideas, on mirrors for the Win versions? 

I did some quick searches, and came up with some very, very sketchy looking mirrors, which I'm not in any hurry to download ANYTHING from, unless I really do due-diligence and determine they're "safe".

[MShane]

Realized that the only way I can sync is actually plug Fitbit ionic in to charge, forget on blue tooth, repair and do the thing with the left button and bottom right button with the phone near by. How can I start getting my notifications again?!? It worked great for the first month I had it. Thank you!

[MShane]

@Colinm39 I am using a Motorola Z. I realized that the only way I can sync is actually plug Fitbit ionic in to charge, forget on blue tooth, repair and do the thing with the left button and bottom right button with the phone near by. I haven't had time to look into trying it with the computer. (I've never done that before.)How can I start getting my notifications again?!? It worked great for the first month I had it. Thank you!

[GekkoZZZ]

I had the same issue with the notification when I was doing as you are doing. When you do the forget BT the phone do not do a proper connection next time. On my IPhone  I can see that when there is no option to forget the Ionic the the BT menu. The best was of fixing this is to turn of BT, restart phone, remove Ionic from the Fitbit app, turn on BT, add Ionic to Fitbit app. Then finally it should work again.

I am only able to sync my Ionic after I have synced it to my Mac. I have tried several times the recommendations from Fitbit but it only generate problems (problem with notifications and deleted exercise shortcuts on the Ionic)

[GekkoZZZ]

Mariam,

I understand that you have to support Ionic but what we really need to know is when there will be a new software that will fix the sync issues or if it a HW error so we go and get a new watch. 

Yes, the Ionic will sync one time after you delete and add it to the app but you can not do that every time you want to sync....and you also lose the changes in the Exercise Shortcuts on the Ionic.

Please tell us when this will be fixed. How can this be so difficult? 

[DIKKE]

I think the problem might be the fact that the app is written for all types of fitbit gear. Otherwise i cannot understand why fitbit is not solving this problem now for 3+ months. So, that means that this ''connection'' issue might be a lot more problematic than expected.  It can also mean it will be solved in a new model.

Since that is what i think will happen. This ionic is not worth the money. It lacks support. It's my first and last fitbit, that lesson is learned.

[catherinekirby]

I VERY sadly switched back to my Blaze. I ALSO want to know when, if and how they will fix the syncing issue with Ionic. Marian, your reply on the work arounds is NOT what we are REPEATEDLY asking for so we can return or keep our 300.00 table decoration. Is FITBIT working on the issue AND what are they doing for those whose product doesn’t work as advertised.   

Ive spent HOURS on this only to be disappointed, again, with it only syncing that one time. I will DEMAND Macy’s return this product but Fitbit is being irresponsible to its customers! 

[Tommyrazzle]

Agreed. Fitbit don’t seem to be doing anything. I’ve had 4 different fitbits over the years; and I’ve loved them all.
After the ionic, I will probably never go back.
I reckon this has taken fitbit back 5 years.

Absolutely no excuse.

I suspect a moderator will delete this, but I’ll keep a copy.

They don’t like bad reviews.



Sent from my iPhone

[fluxx]

Hello Sync-Issue-Club, count me in! 

Got a Charge 2 for over a year and had zero problems. 

Now got a new Ionic and it won't sync more than once after setup on the same phone + app version.

(Removing the Ionic from the app and add it again helps one time only.)

Fitbit denies any support because my phone (Oneplus 3) is not on the compatibility list, which is a joke as most phones from 2016 and 2017 are not on that list. 

If a big company like Fitbit can't implement a simple sync service between a modern phone and their own device, somethings' really wrong. 

Someone at Fitbit needs to take note of this and react asap, because they will lose a lot of both new and long term customers.

[Joes1962]

Joining this thread since it’s bigger than the Ionic Sync thread I’m currently subscribed to. 🙂

i can get my Ionic to Sync most times if I go to setting on the Ionic and have it search for new Bluetooth devices. Other than that it’s intermittent and syncs maybe 20% of the time on its own. 

Sure hope Fitbit gets this issue resolved. Customer Support won’t help me any more because they say they can see on their site that my Ionic does sync. I guess it doesn’t matter that I have to go through hoops to make it sync. I never had these issues with my old Blaze. 😕

[PeteG-1]

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@fluxx wrote:

Hello Sync-Issue-Club, count me in! 

Got a Charge 2 for over a year and had zero problems. 

Now got a new Ionic and it won't sync more than once after setup on the same phone + app version.

(Removing the Ionic from the app and add it again helps one time only.)

Fitbit denies any support because my phone (Oneplus 3) is not on the compatibility list, which is a joke as most phones from 2016 and 2017 are not on that list. 

If a big company like Fitbit can't implement a simple sync service between a modern phone and their own device, somethings' really wrong. 

Someone at Fitbit needs to take note of this and react asap, because they will lose a lot of both new and long term customers.

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Yeah @fluxx, this.

Having BT connections be edgy on a 7.99 flea-bay speaker is one thing, but having them basically all-out fail, for a LOT of users (I'd really love to see the FB stats, I'm sure they have a pretty good idea of failure rates), for a $300 watch, is nuts, IMO.

I'm searching all over, for a mirror for the Windows apps, as my failure started right after the app updated, on 1/10, I want to rollback, but the WinStore doesn't support that (and Fitbit doesn't seem to supply downloads via their site anymore).  I get why you don't want someone going 10 versions back, but at least have 1-2, for rollback, if something goes wrong, it's almost like they're trying to "paint themselves into a corner".

I'm starting to wonder if they're considering the Ionic a "write off", and if they'll just move on with a new Charge, Blaze, whatever, and sunset it earlier.  Their "fix rate" seems to be indicative of this anyway.

I contacted them yesterday, went through a few of their scripted actions, before I showed all my sync results (I have a table now, where I'm tracking things), and the guy decided that I was way past their support, and basically "threw up his hands".  This, while I was sync'ing my old Charge "in the background", while I was doing all the Bluetooth work, the Charge just "kept working"...

I pulled it from my OP 5T, because having it installed kept hosing my other BT devices (mostly audio), big-time, which wasn't workable, I use my car hands-free a lot, it has to "just work".

I think they have a huge BT mutlipoint bug.  While these tended to confound early-on BT devices, I sure haven't heard of anything this bad, in a looong time...

[PeteG-1]

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@catherinekirby wrote:

I VERY sadly switched back to my Blaze. I ALSO want to know when, if and how they will fix the syncing issue with Ionic. Marian, your reply on the work arounds is NOT what we are REPEATEDLY asking for so we can return or keep our 300.00 table decoration. Is FITBIT working on the issue AND what are they doing for those whose product doesn’t work as advertised.   

Ive spent HOURS on this only to be disappointed, again, with it only syncing that one time. I will DEMAND Macy’s return this product but Fitbit is being irresponsible to its customers! 

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@MariamV Can you please comment, on all of us who can get 1 (one) connection, and then it fails again?
Since the "fix" or "wokrarounds" posted simply go through reset, this means it's NEVER possible to actually get exercise data, in this modality, since the reset deletes all that data.

Mine was my XMas gift, and my wife was so excited, when she saw I was too.  It came from REI though, fortunately (finally got her to agree that maybe I should be returning it), who have a very generous return policy, particularly for "defective" items.

Since my conversation with support was a no-go, I'm really hoping that the FB rep, or a moderator, will respond with some sort of update, and NOT a pointer to another way to reset the device, this simply isn't useful, to just keep resetting it, over-and-over...

[Tommyrazzle]

They’ve lost me. I took mine back. I got it from launch and it never worked.
Got an Apple Watch. Works every time.
Won’t go back to fitbit now.

Sent from my iPhone

[fluxx]

Anybody with similar issues, please check out this thread and see if you can help. I have a strong guess about what could be the problem in ONE case (even if it proves to be right, it will for sure not help everyone, sorry):

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Ionic-Sync-Issue-Solution-Please-help-testing/m-p/2428322#M269...

[PeteG-1]

@fluxx Interesting issue, but this shouldn't have anything to do with sync'ing, unless we're talking about music, or the weather (or other app that uses WiFi to obtain a data stream).

My Ionic will no longer even pair, with the 22.9 Windows app, so I'm stuck, it's sitting at the setup screen, indefinitely.

Does anyone have a 22.8 version of the app, maybe they don't have the Windows Store on "auto update"?  

I had no luck getting this from FB support, no way, no how, the agent basically told me I was out of luck to sync, I could wait a few months to see if >22.9 builds fix it, maybe, or not.  I have trouble figuring out in what world that makes sense exactly.

[chrisionic1]

About 1 week of perfect syncs on my second ionic (haven't missed one!). I have done nothing different except for keeping all day sync turned off. I would encourage people to just try exchanging it for a new one and see if it solves anything. This product is great when it syncs reliably! I know some out there have really said evidence points to something other than a hardware issue. The reality is we are all having similar symptoms but the causes may be different. 

[PeteG-1]

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@chrisionic1 wrote:

About 1 week of perfect syncs on my second ionic (haven't missed one!). I have done nothing different except for keeping all day sync turned off. I would encourage people to just try exchanging it for a new one and see if it solves anything. This product is great when it syncs reliably! I know some out there have really said evidence points to something other than a hardware issue. The reality is we are all having similar symptoms but the causes may be different. 

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Sure, this is likely the case, the majority of the issues are software, part the app(s), and the other the firmware/OS on the device.

But, if you don't have a really solid Bluetooth firmware, to start with, and then you somehow tweak the app, so it's got a problem connecting, the issues tend to compound one another.

You might get one working, at a time, but really you need 3 things to line up, the OS/Bluetooth communication on the Ionic, the Bluetooth on the device being sync'd to(PC, phone, whatever), and finally the protocol in the app, that connects and pulls the data.  

On my previous two FBs (a charge and charge2), this was pretty solid, occasionally I'd see one of the three parts throw an error, but they'd recover readily, because most of all three parts were stable.

On the Ionic, I started having a couple of issues, and now it's to the point where I can still connect it to my PC, but the app fails on its' side, I'm pretty sure the 22.9 build is the likely culprit, mine started to fail within about an hour of this update (from v.22.8), it's a bit "coincidental".

Now, since CS had me reset my Ionic to factory, I can't even get it past the setup screen, I can "partially pair" it, or paired-without-security essentially, but it readily connects to my Charge2, and will sync just fine.

I'm sure, given that the Ionic is a brand-new OS, or close, they're having to use a new protocol to talk to the Ionic, and someone made a bad check-in (code change) to the app (IMHO).  Normally, if it were a problem say with error-handling, but if the Bluetooth on the watch-side-OS were really solid (which it's NOT, it fails like crazy adding headphones and such), things might "recover" and continue on.

In  my case, it's just sitting there now.

I agree, it's sweet setup, when it works.  When it's not working, it's just a giant headache.  

Given the "speed" at which they seem to be addressing these issues (look back over time, compared to say another of their watch forums), I'm not comfortable with something they don't seem very interested in fixing, if not later, maybe never...

Edit: @chrisionic1 I should mention, my Ionic had perfect syncs, via my PC, for 16 days, before it fell apart completely (about an hour after the 22.9 update got pushed to my PC, I have my Windows Store on auto-update, interestingly enough), and I've not gotten it to sync again, in two days, and countless resets of my Bluetooth driver stack, all my BT registry keys storing VLAN IDs, the whole works, I scoured a LOT of stuff (from a previous s/w and h/w engineer perspective), to no avail.

[chrisionic1]

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@PeteG-1 wrote:

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@chrisionic1 wrote:

About 1 week of perfect syncs on my second ionic (haven't missed one!). I have done nothing different except for keeping all day sync turned off. I would encourage people to just try exchanging it for a new one and see if it solves anything. This product is great when it syncs reliably! I know some out there have really said evidence points to something other than a hardware issue. The reality is we are all having similar symptoms but the causes may be different. 

---

Sure, this is likely the case, the majority of the issues are software, part the app(s), and the other the firmware/OS on the device.

But, if you don't have a really solid Bluetooth firmware, to start with, and then you somehow tweak the app, so it's got a problem connecting, the issues tend to compound one another.

You might get one working, at a time, but really you need 3 things to line up, the OS/Bluetooth communication on the Ionic, the Bluetooth on the device being sync'd to(PC, phone, whatever), and finally the protocol in the app, that connects and pulls the data.  

On my previous two FBs (a charge and charge2), this was pretty solid, occasionally I'd see one of the three parts throw an error, but they'd recover readily, because most of all three parts were stable.

On the Ionic, I started having a couple of issues, and now it's to the point where I can still connect it to my PC, but the app fails on its' side, I'm pretty sure the 22.9 build is the likely culprit, mine started to fail within about an hour of this update (from v.22.8), it's a bit "coincidental".

Now, since CS had me reset my Ionic to factory, I can't even get it past the setup screen, I can "partially pair" it, or paired-without-security essentially, but it readily connects to my Charge2, and will sync just fine.

I'm sure, given that the Ionic is a brand-new OS, or close, they're having to use a new protocol to talk to the Ionic, and someone made a bad check-in (code change) to the app (IMHO).  Normally, if it were a problem say with error-handling, but if the Bluetooth on the watch-side-OS were really solid (which it's NOT, it fails like crazy adding headphones and such), things might "recover" and continue on.

In  my case, it's just sitting there now.

I agree, it's sweet setup, when it works.  When it's not working, it's just a giant headache.  

Given the "speed" at which they seem to be addressing these issues (look back over time, compared to say another of their watch forums), I'm not comfortable with something they don't seem very interested in fixing, if not later, maybe never...

Edit: @chrisionic1 I should mention, my Ionic had perfect syncs, via my PC, for 16 days, before it fell apart completely (about an hour after the 22.9 update got pushed to my PC, I have my Windows Store on auto-update, interestingly enough), and I've not gotten it to sync again, in two days, and countless resets of my Bluetooth driver stack, all my BT registry keys storing VLAN IDs, the whole works, I scoured a LOT of stuff (from a previous s/w and h/w engineer perspective), to no avail.

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Good points. I can't remember how many days my first ionic worked before it just refused to connect to bluetooth (always did the connect for 1-2 seconds then lost in the "looking" cycle). Anyway, I wonder why my new one is currently working flawlessly? I have the watch syncing to an iPhone 5s. 

[Clewis714]

I have had my ionic since Christmas and have never been able to get it to connect to my phone.  I have now performed a factory reset and my phone can't find it now to even get it set back up.