Run exercise stops after one mile

[SunsetRunner]

After the latest Ionic update my watch now stops the run exercise after one mile quite often. I connect to GPS and begin my run. I get the vibration for one mile. Some time later I am approaching what I know to be two miles and I get no alert. I look down and my watch is just showing the clock. My run has stopped. The mile a ran is recorded but nothing more.

I am attempting a factory reset right now (such a pain. bluetooth setup never works). Anyway, another fitbit fail. Anyone wanna chime in with a resolution or to vent please feel free.

[SunsetRunner]

@PaulinaEmCee I agree with "laughing-stock". I ran the first half of a marathon with a couple guys. When my GPS was always 100s of feet off the mile markers, and their watches (Garmin) were spot on, I was told to "throw that watch away", lol.

I have yet to do this but I can say that I cannot recommend this watch to an avid runner.

[PaulinaEmCee]

I'd like to take a moment and reply to myself in order to paint a picture for Fitbit and their customer support team of why this problem should have their full attention.

I went to bed last night with this morning's workout looming ahead... A one-mile time trial with my USATF-certified run club. I honestly cannot remember the last time I ran just one mile and timed it. My freshman or sophomore year of high school? I only started running in earnest in 2015, so I was a very different athlete in high school. 

Anywho, I woke up this morning, headed to the track, and throughout our warm-ups grew increasingly anxious about the mile ahead. At least I was cognizant enough to stop my Fitbit Ionic after the warm-up and strides so I could have a blank slate on my wrist for the time trial. 

I guess that's where I went wrong. 

I seeded myself in a slower pace group, hoping my usual M.O. of gradually getting faster would work out better in the end compared to playing catch-up with a speedier pace group. This seemed to work, as while my group's pacer led us on the first lap, my legs were ready to push faster. When we hit the second lap, I continued to pull away with another guy. 

When we hit the third lap, I felt my Fitbit Ionic pulse against my wrist. "Okay," I thought. "The GPS is working correctly—I have automatic cues set for every half mile." I made the decision to not look at my watch and rely on my pacer to call out the splits; after the second lap, I hit 2:55. I was ahead of the projected pace by 13 seconds. (I'm doing this math retroactively; at the time, I just thought "I think this is good?")

After the third lap, it was time to push. I had been going a bit of back-and-forth catch-up with the guy I had originally pulled away with after the first lap. As we both closed in on the final straight, I kicked it up a notch and hustled to the finish. I think I remember passing him; it was a bit of a mob mile with various people at various paces so I can't quite recall. At the very least, I likely finished at the same time. 

When I hit "pause" on my Fitbit Ionic, I looked down to see—my lockscreen?! Frantically typing in my password, my Fitbit Ionic unlocked to show—that is was 07:13?! The TIME of DAY?!?!

I was so. mad. When my Fitbit Ionic pulsed after the second lap, it wasn't alerting me to my half mile split—it was quitting out of my run. My TIME TRIAL run.

Frustrated at myself (but MOSTLY at my Fitbit Ionic), I walked over to the guy who I'd been playing catch-up with. After introducing myself, I asked Connor (guessing at the spelling) what his time was, embarrassingly admitting my watch had stopped midway.

"5:55," he said. Now it was my turn to be (mostly) pleasantly surprised. 5:55? Did I really run a sub-6 mile? I tried to remember if I had passed him or not. How long does a second take? What about two seconds? Could I have shaved off enough to have been with the faster 5:53 pace group?

Unfortunately, those will have to remain as "might-have-beens," as I was let down once again by the unreliable and unforgiving OS of Fitbit and my Fitbit Ionic.

I am done with Fitbit and while I did not buy my Fitnit Ionic (it was a gift after I completed the 2017 Marine Corps Marathon) I did choose Fitbit over a more renowned brand—Garmin. I know my gifted Fitbit Ionic is still under warranty but I am not asking anymore—I am demanding a full refund on my Fitbit Ionic and I am demanding Fitbit direct their attention to this long-ongoing issue. It is not fair to Fitbit users to ignore their needs when your product and OS is at fault. 

As soon as I get my Garmin, I will no longer be a Fitbit user. And I will be happy to direct those interested away from the Fitbit brand. 

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you. If you didn't, that's fine too. I'm still proud of my sub-6 mile. I think that milestone (pun 100% intended) warrants new hardware on my wrist. And this time, a reliable one. 

Moderator edit: Updated title for clarity

[SunsetRunner]

@PaulinaEmCee I totally understand! Allow me to also vent!

I ran a 5k on Sunday. My fastest since owning the Ionic and also since signing up for Strava. I was excited to have a new PR within Strava (Best 5k Effort). However, my watch GPS/Run Exercise crapped out after 1mi.

I ran a 5k a couple weeks ago and I remembered to wake the watch at about .5 miles so it actually didn't crash (that's the work around) but that 5k didn't go so well. Sunday's 5k went great but I will not have the results, or splits, to show for it. Of course the race posted results so I know my overall time that way.

To the Fitbit customer service team: This is not a hardware issue. This did not start happening until the update around March. That update fixed the split alerts from reverting back to .5 each day but it caused this new issue (GPS/Run Exercise crashing after one mile). Please advise.

[bmw54]

@PaulinaEmCee: you've discovered the secret of Fitbit - it is not designed for competitive athletes. And it won't be upgraded to that level. Period.

It took me months to arrive at that realization. For months I blindly assumed that Fitbit must want to be the gold standard for competitive athletes. But with every race & every critical training run the Ionic manages to fail (fail miserably). I've spent months on these message boards showing evidence of how its software is substandard for competitive running. That enterprise is over.

Six months in, I'm on my second Ionic and plan to start surfing with it in the ocean. When it dies I'll replace it with a tracker I see on all the other contestants at races I compete in. Not Fitbit.

[sueflad]

This has been happening to me for months. At least since March. It happens every 2-3 weeks. Twice it stopped during a race though both races were chipped so I still got my actual time. As it happened again this morning, I thought I’d search the help forums for advice, but I see there is still no resolution. Once I get the vibration for mile one I double check to see if the gps is still working & restart if needed. Anyone have any new insight? It’s driving me crazy. 

[staceylizabeth]

Lift your wrist or press a button to light up the watch before you hit the first mile mark. I usually do it right after I start so I don’t forget. Then you will be set. It will continue working from there. You don’t have to do it every mile, just the first one. Annoying, and you would think they would have it fixed by now, but it does work that way. Good luck. 

[excaliber88]

I have tried every single thing to prevent this and have come to the conclusion that it happens regardless of what you do to try and prevent it.  This is a flawed product and really disheartening especially considering the cost.  I no longer use this as a GPS watch, instead I use my phone to track my run (like the old days before I had a GPS watch).    

[PaulinaEmCee]

An update—I received a Garmin as a gift and I've been over the moon. Reliable GPS connects in seconds from my usual running spots (takes an extra couple seconds when I'm in a brand new area). No issues with workouts exiting before I've told it to stop. Way more exercises to choose from, and I get a ton of complements on the watch itself. Plus, many training insights in the watch and app.

I returned my Fitbit to my father (who originally gifted it to me) and I believe he sold it on eBay—good riddance. While I occasionally miss the camraderie of multiple friends on Fitbit, most of them have transitioned to Strava now, anyway. Between the Garmin Connect app, Strava, and MyFitnessPal, I don't miss the Fitbit OS at all anymore. 

Frankly, it's embarassing to see Fitbit continue to stumble over an issue that seems straightforward to resolve. It's been a year since the Ionic launched. And it doesn't seem like the issues end with the Ionic either—a running friend recently updated to the Charge 2 (I think) while training for her second marathon; I tried my best to dissuade her, and now she continues to have her Fitbit fail to connect to her phone's GPS for runs. In good faith, I can only recommend Fitbit products to hobbists only. And even then, might as well opt for something that can handle more tasks (like an Apple Watch).

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there everyone! Good to see you in the Fitbit Community Forums! 🙂

I'm sorry to hear that some of you are still having problems with your runs crashing after one mile. Thanks a lot for everyone who has tried different things and thanks a lot for the workaround of lifting your wrist to wake up the tracker prior to reaching the first mile to prevent the tracker from quitting recording the activity before the first mile. Hopefully many users can use this as a workaround in the meantime.

If you need help with anything else, le us know!

[sfringer]

@FerdinandFitbit to clarify on your comment...

At least in my experience, the run is not "paused". The Exercise app crashes and the run is "completed". It in no way pauses and allows you to "continue" the run.

Please ensure the proper message is being provided to the development team so they correctly understand the behavior and can effectively debug and fix the issue.

[FerdinandFitbit]

Thanks a lot for the correction @sfringer! I just edited my last post and will be sure to convey the right information.

[Maplepancakes]

I recently started having this same problem with my Versa. The tip about checking your watch before the first mile is ok as a temporary fix but not a permanent solution. I don’t want to have to think about looking at my watch in the first mile, I want to concentrate on my run and get into a good rhythm. Since this is an old post, have there been any other fixes?

[sueflad]

Not that I know about. I still have to at least look at my watch once before Mile one or it will shut the GPS off. Inconvenient especially during a race when you’re just finding your stride. But, if you don’t do it, odds are it will shut off.

Good luck.

Sue F

[caralily]

It did this to me today. I kind of want to return my watch now because it’s happened a couple of times and it’s obvious from this thread Fitbit’s dev team either isn’t being given the time or resources to care or is wholly incompetent since it’s been a problem for years. It would probably take me a single day to fix it...