Transferring Personal Music to Ionic

[ErickFitbit]

Update 10/6/17 -- Thanks for sharing your experiences with attempting to transfer your playlists onto Ionic. After reading through the discussions in this thread, I noticed some users where successful and others not so much.

Users are running into various blockers that are preventing a successful transfer. I've compiled the complications into the following categories:

• Stuck on "Looking for Ionic" message on Fitbit connect even though Ionic/Fitbit App/Computer on same Network) 

Cannot connect unless a force manual IP address for Ionic is done(entering IP address manually)

• Frozen at "Determining Transfer Time" (check out @xTommyG's workaround here)
• Stuck on "Transfer in progress" (try restarting your Ionic and then reestablish Wi-Fi connection on Ionic)
• Ionic won't connect to Wi-Fi (see Why won't my Fitbit watch connect to Wi-Fi? for tips)

I've created a guide to help anyone that's having issues with this. So, without further ado, let's start transferring some music!  

Requirements

• Windows 10 (PC) or Mac computer 
• Wi-Fi capable computer: Must be able to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi (direct ethernet connections will not work)
• Must connect to a 2.4GHz frequency network (5 GHz frequency is not supported)
• Fitbit Connect Software (Win10/Mac) must be installed
• Ionic battery life must be above 40% to transfer music (Keeping Ionic charging during this process is recommended)
• Create at least 1 playlist of songs or podcasts in iTunes or Windows Media Player to download to your watch. You can also create playlists in the Fitbit Music app using the drag-and-drop feature to add individual tracks. 
• To download music files, they must fall under one of the following audio file types: 
  • Windows 10
    • MP3 files
    • MP4 files with AAC audio
    • WMA files
  • Mac
    • MP3 files
    • AIFF
    • MP4 files with AAC audio

• If you use iTunes, make sure you approve the app to share playlists with your watch: Open iTunes on your computer > Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Share iTunes Library XML with other applications > OK.

 

• For best results, perform this process as close to your router as possible to reduce any interference 

Transfer Music Checklist

1. Restart computer
2. Make sure your computer is connected to a strong Wi-Fi network (note: personal or work network that requires a password to connect is recommended - 2.4 GHz) 
3. Restart phone
4. Restart Ionic
5. In the Fitbit app go to Account/Media/Manage Wi-fi Networks and remove all saved networks
6. Connect back to your Wi-Fi network 
7. Plug-in your watch to charge
8. On your Ionic, tap Music app and then Transfer Music: 
9. Ionic will show this screen when connection is established: 
10. Open Fitbit Connect and click on Manage My Music 
11. When prompted, follow the on-screen instructions on your Mac/PC to choose the playlists you want to download to your watch. After you choose a playlist, the download starts automatically. Download/transfer times vary based on how large your playlist is (was able to download 1 hours worth of music in about 6-8 minutes).

Note: For faster download times, you might want to avoid large playlists. The more songs you transfer under one playlist the longer download times you will experience. Should you run into an issue please let us know where in the process you get stuck.

Thanks everyone for your continued insight and feedback in this thread. I hope all of you Ionic users get transferred, drop your phones on your dressers and start working out to the music you most enjoy, phone free!

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Update 9/28/17 -- The latest version of Fitbit Connect for Mac is now live! The update can now be found on the setup page. Please update if you haven't already so you can start transferring your favorite tunes to your Ionic!

• Download Fitbit Connect for Mac: www.fitbit.com/setup

• Download Fitbit Connect for PC: http://cache.fitbit.com/FitbitConnect/FitbitConnect-v2.0.2.6954-2017-09-28.exe 

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Everyone -- To transfer music with Fitbit Connect, please click the applicable link below to download and install the Fitbit Connect software:

• Download Fitbit Connect for Mac: www.fitbit.com/setup

• Download Fitbit Connect for PC: http://cache.fitbit.com/FitbitConnect/FitbitConnect-v2.0.2.6954-2017-09-28.exe

With the Music app on Fitbit Ionic, you can store and play several hours worth of your favorite songs and podcasts right on your wrist. After you download playlists to your watch, connect Bluetooth headphones or another audio device to listen to your tracks.

You need a Windows 10 PC or a Mac connected to Wi-Fi to download music and podcasts to your watch. Keep in mind you can only transfer files that you own or don’t require a license. 

If you live in the United States, you can also use the Pandora app to download stations to your watch. 

For full instructions, I recommend checking out "How do I listen to music and podcasts on my Fitbit watch?"

[xTommyG]

not impressive at all. no real status on progress, ionic keeps saying "transferred" half the music is grayed out on device and the Windows app basically sits and spins. Occasional red x next to playlist. Overall, in comparison to other tools, this needs some serious help.

Trying to transfer 2 playlists of 100 songs each. 

[SunsetRunner]

No Android, iOS app for it 😞

No FLAC support :(.

[SunsetRunner]

Will this feature ever come to the Android app? Requiring a PC is a PITA. Especially for those of us not using Windows or OSX.

[SunsetRunner]

I transferred music to my Ionic via a Win10 PC(using the Windows Store Fitbit App)yesterday! Fantastic!

Today(after the latest firmware update) it is not working! On the Win10 pc the Fitbit app never finds the Ionic even though I have selected transfer music on the Ionic. I have ran a network sweep and the Ionic can be seen on the Wifi in my home, I can ping it and I know its IP address. For some reason the watch isn't showing as available to the the Fitbit Connect App for a music transfer.

Update: I downloaded the app listed above for windows(not the windows store FitBit App) and installed and managed to transfer music across to my Ionic. If you are on Windows 10(possibly 8/8.1 too), when you first open the app it will tell you to use the Windows Store app. My advice is to ignore this, as the Windows Store app does not seem to be working.

Another thing to add. I have used both an LAN connected PC and Wifi connected PC to transfer music successfully via the non-Windows Store app. As long as they are both on the same subnet both will work. Therefore if your PC IP address format is 192.168.0.XXX and the Fitbit Ionic IP is  the same format 192.168.0.XXX, and the subnet mask is the same(rarely changes for home networks), LAN or WiFi will work.

Hope this helps anyone struggling with this feature at the minute. I am sure Fitbit are working on making this process much better though!

[eadams76]

This trick worked; thanks!

[Beamish]

I don't have Windows 10 -- what are my options? (Besides sending it back?)

[Beamish]

What if I don't have Windows 10? am I out of luck?

[gibbyhome]

wow I've been trying with the app from the app store for about 2 days now, I had no Idea there was some special software to transfer the music.they need to merge this with the app software

thanks 

[Cldittus]

Can the music only be from Itunes.  I can't seem to get the app to add a folder from my computer music file.  

[SunsetRunner]

@Cldittus

No can be from a Windows Media Player Playlist or iTunes Playlist. You need to create either one of these. The Fitbit Connect software will find and sync the "playlist" (i.e. the mp3s you want on your Ionic.)

[SunsetRunner]

@gibbyhome

I don't think they are supposed to be separate apps. The Windows Store app did work once for me but has since stopped working. Hopefully this issue will be sorted soon. 

For those not on Windows 10 I haven't heard of a workaround yet but I'm sure it won't be long! I'll try a few things tomorrow and will post my findings here.

[ratcityrain]

This is how I was able to transfer music to mine

1) used laptop with win 10 (honestly not sure this matters, but the wifi part does)

2) opened up windows media, created playlists and placed songs into playlists

3) opened up fitbit connect and selected manage music

4) clicked the setting wheel, chose the + sign and navigated to C:\Users\yourname\Music\Playlists and add that folder to fitbit connect

5) fitbit connect will now see your playlists, check the circle next to playlist and songs will begin to transfer

[gibbyhome]

My computer did not have WiFi it was on the same ip range, or same network and it was fine

[gladtobe]

Can we have Google play music and a modern process not something from the 1980s. Love the watch but come on guys this is embarrassing. 

1. We don't want to have to use a desktop and we shouldn't have to.

2. The process is too cluncky and slow. 3. And at least offer the most popular music sources like Spotify and Google play music not Pandora that you can't get in europe/Australia. Please get this  sorted!!

[SunsetRunner]

I don't own a computer, nothing else I do requires one. Please allow us to transfer music via an app!!

[Gavark]

Downloaded from link multiple times. Media Player list shows up but doesn't download properly. 24 songs 0m. This is frustrating! 

[SunsetRunner]

You’ll want to put that in as a feature request: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features

In the meantime you could do a trial of Pandora Pro then you could potentially create Pandora Playlists and stations to sync via an app (I think).

[SunsetRunner]

There is a feature request to transfer music from phone to Ionic:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/IONIC-Music-transfer-from-phone/idi-p/2218594

[mlindgren]

I am also unable to get music transfer working using the Windows Store app. Does the PC actually have to be connected to WiFi, or is a wired connection to the same network acceptable? I can't think of a reason why a wired connection wouldn't work, unless the app actually makes an ad-hoc connection to the FitBit itself, but I doubt that.