Problems making my Ionic work with phone and laptop

[Keithcfc]

I have had a Fitbit Blaze for about 18 months, it is not perfect as I have issues syncing it with my phone but I have persevered with it. It is getting a bit battered now so my children treated me to a new Ionic. Given my experience with the Blaze the Ionic would not have been my new watch of choice but as it was a generous gift I accepted it with due gratitude. Unfortunately I so wish I had not! I have spent a total of three whole days trying to get it to work with my phone and also tried my laptop this included two very long calls to customer support, who I must say were extremely patient and tried their very best to make it work - without success! Apparently my phone is not supported yet works (sort of) with my Blaze. I was informed that although it is not completely compatible it should work intermittently - for a watch that cost well over £200.00  I find this incredible. If I accept that it does not work with my Phone (Oppo F5) which although not a brand that is common in the UK is very common around many parts of the rest of the world. I cannot believe that a brand as well known as Fitbit would produce a watch that would not be compatible with a phone using the Android operating system. Even accepting this issue the fact that the watch will not work with my laptop which is a modern Lenovo computer running the latest edition of Windows 10 is beyond belief. I have tried every single suggestion on the Fitbit forums as well as the suggestions made by the customer support team. I am confident that the watch is not faulty as it is brand new. I am lost for words in terms of this company and will never buy a Fitbit again. Just had to post this to get all of the frustrations of the last 3 days off my chest. Fitbit sort yourselves out and produce and product that can work with modern phones and laptops!!!!!

[Rich_Laue]

If the laptop has built in WiFi I think it should work. 

When Fitbit states a device isn't supported, it simply means that it has not been fully rested yet. Maybe they haven't started testing. 

With the many types of hardware in android sometimes the app needs to have custom written drivers for a phone model. Then again since sometimes hardware is found in more than one model it is possible that an untested phone does work. 

Since you have been trying to setup through multiple devices. Let's turn Bluetooth off on the device not being currently tried. 

Another thought would be to borrow a phone known to work with Fitbit and setup to your Fitbit account with this borrowed phone. 

There are several phones to work pretty good but are unable to setup a tracker. 

Once the tracker is setup it does not need to be setup again. But you need to remove the ionic from the borrowed phones Bluetooth. 

[Keithcfc]

Thank you for trying to sort out my issue with syncing my ionic watch with my phone and laptop but your suggestion unfortunately did not work. I have scoured the internet for solutions to my dilemma but without luck. I like both my Blaze (which does work most of the time!) and my ionic but they are not much use if they do not pair consistently with my phone or laptop. The ionic is the only bluetooth device that does not pair with my phone or my laptop and it is simply not good enough. I understand that different phones will have different set ups and hardware but all use a common bluetooth protocol so why fitbit cannot do a much better job in terms of their software I have no idea.

Another issue is that fitbit refuse or are just to arrogant to respond to the requests to add rowing to the list of exercises on the app. Rowing is a very common exercise so why it is missed off I do not understand!

Fitbit you need to improve your products if you wish to conitnue to produce fitness tracker/smart watches.

[Rich_Laue]

Have you added a vote for rowing? 

Add rowingmachine to Fitbit Coach 4 votes

Elliptical, bike and rowingworkouts on Fitbit coa...78 votes 1.5 years

Rowing as a specific exercise for the surge 2 votes in a year

Rowing app or adding rowingto exercise list 190 votes in 5 months

SmartTrack -Rowing 143 votes in 2.5 years

StationaryRowingMachine Exercise 1557 votes over 4.5 years

Track rowingdata - Strokes, SPM, Time 20 votes in 3 years 

Rowing and conversion to equivalent "steps" 29 votes in 2 years

None of these seem active, and having duplicate suggestions water down the request. 

I remember the request for a game with on the Charge 2 was having 3-5 new requests a day, and all getting votes. At one point I made a list of over a 150 identical suggestions to be merged. And these where all within 2 months. 

FYI: 

Important Links

Feature Suggestion FAQsFeature Suggestions PolicyHow does Feature Suggestions work?

Nobody has said that Fitbit will add every suggestion. 

Considering that your phone hasn't been tested, I assume a search of your phone model has been made on these boards? 

All I have done is relay info that other android users have found helpfull and I'm still unsure of who's OS the laptop runs.

As for pairing, your phone does not need to be paired to the tracker to sync. As mentioned above, unpairing often is enough to fix a non sync issue.