Synchronisation issues with Android 'phone

[PaulAvo]

I have found that some synchronisation issues are not to do with the Ionic itself. where I have found the synchronisation fails, Is when you are away from your ‘phone, when you are back in range of the ‘phone again you find at times it seems not to synchronise.

The Ionic is possibly still connected with Bluetooth because of the evidence of my messages coming through from ‘WhatsAp’ - this rules out the problem with the Ionic device. So it points to your software having a temporary glitch.  Those with synchronisation issues might like to try this.

1. Go to settings
2. Applications
3. application manager
4. Scroll down to ‘Fitbit’ and force close it.

Go back to the Desktop and open Fitbit. You will probably find the Fitbit software will ask you to restart your ‘phone so as to allow ‘Notifications’

Restart your ‘phone, hopefully this might get things ‘Synching’ again as it has done for me. I have found ‘Force closing’ an App with problems has often kick started it into action again. If you still have the problem you can try restarting your Ionic. ( a lot of the time this is unnecessary)

I reiterate, I have found at times, synching problems have been with the ‘Fitbit’ software via your Wi-fi / Bluetooth connection with your ‘phone – it isn’t Usually with the Ionic itself.  I hope this might help some of you that have had the same issues as me.  Regards, Paul

[Colinm39]

@PaulAvoMy findings are following a different tack would agree with you.. In this link. The link also then links into another forum here which shows the images of my earlier testing.

It's showing to me that the syncing is working to the PC Dashboard, but can take a few minutes delay in getting ALL of the results back to the phone..typically the sleep record and while the Syncing is wheeling/spinning... That has to confuse most Fitbitters..

And, even in this link, where I upgraded to Android 2.73, on a new phone and did the Ionic Firmware upgrade in under an hour.. No issues..

I have contributed in these Forums for years, and now finding it difficult to help because I can't offer solutions. I rarely have a problem and always on "non-listed" phones...

The one big issue I had after 6 months using the Ionic. It refused to Connect to the GPS.. I documented that with the help of Mobile Track and my Surge, submitted the results and on a Thursday I received an email that a replacement Ionic was on the way. With a weekend in the way I was up and running on the next Tuesday. I couldn't wish for better Support.. From OS to Australia in 3 working days..

[PaulAvo]

Thanks for all your information. I am glad everything has worked out for you. I'm starting to believe the actual 'Fitbit' servers are causing all the lags/problems ? From my observations often P.C./'phone connections are slow to connect/respond with 'Fitbit' If this is the case the whole 'Synching' process breaks down and your 'phone doesn't have a chance because it then has to deal with bluetooth connection/relay of 'Fitbit' data. if one fails they all fail. There is an incredible amount of traffic the servers have to deal with, there is an overload, if everyone is like me, I like to see performance results regularly. 'Fitbit' may have to upgrade their servers eventually to cope. I have seen this degrading of server performance with an App I am regularly connected to - with huge increase in users something had to give. The team of the App were very transparent, and said servers needed to be upgraded, eventually problem solved. As you say, it is very difficult to help others who have a different set of problems, similar to our own but our solutions do not work for them. To reiterate, I am almost sure it's lag from the servers that interup a delicate balance. I am one of the lucky ones, had all the synch problems but everything else has worked fine gps etc. A lot of frustrated customers are trying to uninstall/reinstall the software on their 'phones. I have mentioned elsewhere, that in the first instance - go to settings - Applications - Application manager - scroll down to 'Fitbit' - Force stop the app. Restart the Fitbit App. There may be a message appear to restart your 'phone so as to allow notifications. Restart the 'phone anyway. I have found in my case this has 'kickstarted' the App into life again (service resumed as normal) It won't hurt to try this before reinstalling the app. 

[Colinm39]

@PaulAvoThanks for responding... I started this investigation because I found I was getting  notifications on the Ionic when I was many metres away.. With the phone in the house, and me outside, even in the street..From those incidences I presume Bluetooth isn't the issue with syncing it had to be something else..

I even experimented checking the Global time maps to attempt to pick a time when I thought Sync traffic could be lower.. Then when I had the Cloud server issue in Australia, I gave that away then started examining everything on the basis of server overloads, even if Fitbit are using third party servers..

This link to a topic about Wi-Fi etc started in late 2016 and I accept the reasons for going direct to the servers for Challenges etc.. I have started the link on the last page.. I hadn't come across this link especially the posts by @SunsetRunner  Thanks Mike for the detail.....

[PaulAvo]

Hi Colin,

Only problem I get sometimes with bluetooth is if I shut everything down, best not to turn bluetooth off at all. Regarding packet losses ie. data from Fitbit serverst to 'phone/computer this can be disasterous when downloading updates. Even if 'Fitbit' servers are highly efficient, it's the bottlenecks on the Internet. I can understand packet losses playing havoc with the Ionic trying to do it's job. The 'Fitbit' company have very tight control of the programme, they see every keyclick the cutomer makes, when the 'Fitbit' site is down we notice of course you cannot use the software on your 'phone/computer. A better way to deal with these firmware updates would be to let the customer download them direct to the computer, then there would be a verification that the software download had succeded, then it could be transfered via bluetooth to tracker, this should hopefully make the update hassle free. 

Back to packet loss via the Internet, you have probably heard of the utility called 'Pingplotter' (free) to ping the 'Fitbit' servers. This would show a trace of the data's journey, and indicate where the bottlenecks are, plus the i.p./domains causing the delays and losses. With future updates I think I will ping the servers before risking installation to ensure there is a clear path.

[Colinm39]

@PaulAvoWhen I Tracert on Windows 7 from here it traces 12 points before it even thinks of going outside to Fitbit.com and Ping time is 171ms...

But the other day when I updated the firmware on the Ionic it was seamless and less than 30 minutes, probably closer to 20 minutes. I had walked away and let it happen and when I came back the Ionic  had already rebooted.. That was on my Wi-Fi..