Unable to sustain Wifi Connection on Fitbit Ionic

[hanty]

So I just received the Fitbit Ionic on October 6th, and I've been trying to configure the Wifi connection for the entire weekend without success. I believe I manage to do the firmware update and sync through the Bluetooth connection first time through phone (android app) and second time after factory reset through PC (windows 10 fitbit app) and both have problems sustaining the wifi connection. I've attempted in 3 locations with wifi. Firmware version: 27.25.16.7.

When I click the Ionic device icon on the Fitbit app (phone app/pc app both behave same in the following steps),  I go to "Wifi Setup". I've already added the router credentials and the app sees it with a lock, so I click "Add Network", it shows IP with "Not Connected":

• so at this point, I click the "Connect" button from the Fitbit App.
  • from Fitbit App shows attempts to connect it
  • from Fitbit Ionic Watch's Settings> About> IP address shows: "Connecting to Wifi"
• at this point after a few seconds
  • from Fitbit App shows the ionic device with "Success: Ionic is now connected to [name of connection]" with a check and Next button.
  • Fitbit Ionic Watch's Settings> About> IP address shows an actual IP address: "###.###.#.#"
• The problem is the IP address on the Fitbit Ionic Watch's Setting only sustain's for like a second or two then goes to "Wifi off".

I've read some articles already where some people needed to turn off bluetooth sync while doing the wifi connection. So i attempted that, didn't help. I've read about the router frequency for 5GHz having issues also, and Fitbit Support Chat also suggested that. But I'm not sure about how to change my router to use 802.11b. 

There's a lot of good people and moderators contributing to the forums, so first off thanks to you all. If someone provide some suggestions that would be greatly appreciated. I hope I don't have a faulty Ionic device? Getting the Wifi connection stable is key to transfering music to listen to on the go for a fitness tracker, one of the main new features that tempted me to buy the Ionic, and I'm probably sure for most of the Ionic users also.

[SunsetRunner]

@hanty You’re not alone. I gave up trying to maintain a WiFi connection to transfer music. Actually tbh, I never succeeded in actually getting a WiFi connection to my Ionic. However, I then decided a didn’t need music on my watch, as using drains battery pretty fast and I tend to have my phone with me most times anyway, so if I want music I’ll stream from that.

But getting back to your problem, you don’t need 802.11b specifically. I think that was just for the original Aria scales. The Ionic can work with 802.11 b/g/n, which basically means if you have a dual band router, you’re fine. Just make sure your computer and Ionic are on the same 2.4GHz network, and near the router to ensure optimal signal. Feedback seems to indicate weaker signal causes dropout.

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

I'm still getting used to the Ionic so this may be a red herring....

I noticed that in the "about" section of the settings mine always shows "wifi off" but my ionic seems to be working ok. Given that the documentation says that it only turns wifi on when needed to save battery, I was wondering whether "wifi off" simply means it is not in use rather than it is not configured.

[hanty]

I think you're right. Seems like I tried it the first time it always failed to transfer.

But somehow it started working this time, it found my playlist and started transferring. Hmmm... Maybe there's a bug that's happens intermittently.

I'm a software test engineer so yeah, I'm used to running issues and troubleshooting.

Thanks SteveH for pushing me to try again.

[Hatman41]

I just got mine today and have the same issue. I am trying to transfer the apps and it never completes. When I go to the wifi it shows disconnected. I connect and it will only stay connected for a couple of seconds. I go to the apps menu and it says that not all apps have been installed and do you want to complete. I say yes and it shows the red lines as if if it is installing but it never completes. 

[TGREEN13]

I understand the frustration.  I have been trying to transfer music to my ionic all day.  I get my music to download to computer but when it comes to transfering to ionic i cannot access wifi.  No networks even appear for me connect to but when i try it on my mobile phone i can connect to our wifi.  I am so annoyed and angry that this is not a simple task.  I have followed all the troubleshooting fitbit have on their website but tonight i have shut down my computer in disgust.   Come on fitbit at this price we should not be having all this trouble !!!

[hanty]

I was able to get to work.

Just remember the status of the network from the fitbit itself under settings is misleading.

[TGREEN13]

After spending some incredible man hours on my laptop trying to transfer my music to my Ionic I can finally say I have 2 playlists and they work with my beats headphones.  If I was not a persistent and determined person i would have given up defeatist.  It is achievable but not easy.   Maybe this has to be further investigated to make it easier for us laymans.

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@TGREEN13 wrote:

I understand the frustration.  I have been trying to transfer music to my ionic all day.  I get my music to download to computer but when it comes to transfering to ionic i cannot access wifi.  No networks even appear for me connect to but when i try it on my mobile phone i can connect to our wifi.  I am so annoyed and angry that this is not a simple task.  I have followed all the troubleshooting fitbit have on their website but tonight i have shut down my computer in disgust.   Come on fitbit at this price we should not be having all this trouble !!!

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[moggy1957]

Fitbit you do have an ISSUE with Wifi not holding a connection..you get an IP address then on holds a connection for 10secs...same problem android and Windows 10 app... 

[alangater]

Having all the discussed problems with wifi not staying connected.  Agree that the 'About' info on wifi under settings can be misleading, but I am finding that the wifi settings on the fitbit phone app is also reporting 'Network out of reach' at the same time (even when the device is sitting on the router and everything else is hapily streaming netflix..) . Have tried a few music syncs with deezer and all failed with loss of connection and the phone app messsage appears to accuratly reflect the outage - doesn't solve the problem though.

[MichaelKnows]

Ok. The about section in the settings does not display if you are connected to wifi or not. The only sure way to find out if you are connected to wifi or not is to try to download a face clock for example to your watch. If you can then you wif connection is fine and the problem is finding songs library. 

[Fittycents]

This has turned out to be garbage for me. Wifi does not hold. I've factory reset this thing over 20 times, and it works that first time and only the first time I transfer music. I monitor the wifi, it's definitely dropping after 5 seconds, all symptoms people mentioned earlier. 

I'll delete the wifi entirely, reboot the watch, try again and no change. I can only get a change if I factory default. It's not Bluetooth, it's for sure Wifi because I can see all the stats of the watch, which comes through bluetooth. If you look in your network list, you'll see the watch is not really connected because there is no checkmark next to the WIFI SSID in the application as well. I ping it from the router and from the computer, it's spotty in reception of packets so the Watch is the problem. Lost confidence in this company. This shouldn't be this difficult.