Battery charge on my One is lasting about three days

[SunsetRunner]

Since the app update that removed the all day sync on/off option, my Fitbit One has been draining the battery faster every recharge cycle. It used to last about a week, it now lasts about half that long. How can this be fixed?

[DonnerGo]

Kim J...the app update I installed 2 days ago has fixed the app from crashing. However, my One still says it’s “looking”, which is just draining the battery. I had a full charge yesterday morning, and it is now at 45%. So frustrating!

[Kim-J]

How frustrating! I did the update too and so far so good. My one is no longer looking and seems to be holding it’s charge, even with Bluetooth always on.

I wish I could think of something you could try to fix it.

Kim

[DonnerGo]

Kim-J...I just deleted my One from my app and then added it back. It doesn’t show “looking....” now. So, I’ll charge it back to 100% tonight and keep my fingers crossed that this is the fix to get the battery life back to 5-7 days, instead of 2 days! 

[Kim-J]

Duh! My bad. I forgot that I removed and added my One back to my account too. So sorry. 😞
I’m glad you thought to do it.

[Baltoscott]

@Kim-J @DonnerGo — following your lead and removed and added the One back to my account.  That seems to have removed the ‘looking’ message.  I’m skeptical (but still hopeful) that it will improve the battery life which has recently been about two days.  We’ll see.

[Kim-J]

It’s been 3 days since I removed/added back and my One is still holding it’s charge. So far so good.

[SunsetRunner]

My thanks to all who have replied to this topic. I purchased a Charge 3 limited edition to replace my One. When I was adding my Charge to my account, I had to remove my One in order to get it added. Many people told me that wasn’t necessary, but the problem I had went away when I did remove the One. Having fully charged the One the day before I added the Charge, I monitored it after removing it from my account. It lasted more than a week on the charge, so between not using and it not continually looking for the One, battery life was pretty much normal. Having read all the posts from folks who removed and re-added the One to their accounts, I recharged my One and I am testing it out. It synced right away, and I will let you know what results I get. I had resigned myself to losing my old friend the One. Thanks to all for a second chance with my One!

[MPB-1]

Thank you for raising this issue.  I have experienced exactly the same problem.  My Fitbit One was performing well - almost a week on one charge - and then all of a sudden the battery is draining after two days.  This has happened before and the problem was with the software.  On those occasions the software was fixed and the problem went away.  This latest problem (February/March 2021) coincides with Google's takeover of Fitbit.  Is it possible that Google is using the Fitbit to track us so that they can use the information for commercial gain?  For example, the app on my smart phone has been 'welcoming me home' after a walk.  How does it know where I am?  I have never had this before and I have not asked for this functionality so something has changed.  I do not want Google checking on my location all the time.  So, come on Google/Fitbit and restore the software of the Fitbit One and its apps to 'normal' and give us a decent period of charge.  Might I also ask some of the responders to stop telling us that we cannot expect a battery to last for ever.  We know that but this is different.  We have been in this situation before and it was a Fitbit software issue.  Let's tackle the software issue first before suggesting that we buy a newer Fitbit product.

[Kim-J]

Sorry, but this isn’t an issue I can really help with as my Fitbit app isn’t installed on my phone and I haven’t had this issue occur with my Fitbit One or Charge 4.

It sounds like it might have to do with your location settings on your phone and/or Fitbit app. Fitbit One doesn’t use GPS but it does use location services for tracking some exercise. Try checking the location settings on both your phone and the app.

[SunsetRunner]

Yesterday I tried the remove and re-add my One. It synced normally for a few hours, then rapid battery drain because of continuous “looking”. There is no way in the FitBit IOS app to turn off location. There used to be a toggle switch on/off for all day sync. The last update removed this option. I have locations turned off from both my phone and anywhere google tries to track me, and it still drains my battery on my One. So, I regretfully removed the One from my account again.

[Kim-J]

Hi Curlyanne12.

Last evening both my One and Charge 4 started “looking” again. I deleted the Fitbit app from my iPad and reinstalled it and both my devices went back to normal. No more looking since then.

[Baltoscott]

@SunsetRunner — I don’t think GPS has anything to do with the drain on your One, but if you want to turn off location in iOS, go to settings on the iPhone, scroll down the list of apps until you get to Fitbit, and Location is at the top of the list of settings that you can adjust.  Mine is set to ‘always.’ The options are Never, Ask Next Time, While Using the App, and Always.

@Kim-J @DonnerGo — It has only been two days, but so far removing the One from the Fitbit App and adding it back seems to make a difference.  The constant “Looking” message hasn’t come back — other than for a short period of time if the One happens to be out of Bluetooth range, and the batter is still full.  Before I was losing about 1/2 the charge in one day.

[DonnerGo]

Kim-J - I am starting day 3, after having removed/added and fully charged my One. The battery charge is at 95%. Fingers crossed that the rapid battery drain issue has been resolved! I don’t want to replace my One...loving it again!

[Kim-J]

DonnerGo,

My One is still going strong too. I don’t want to jinx it but maybe Fitbit finally got their act together and fixed the problem?

They’ve also got a lot of ticked off Charge 4 users too so there’s still more for them to fix.

Kim

Sent from my iPad

[Apolloj]

My One battery only lasts 1 day now.  I took a new One out of a box and cannot get the screen to display unless it is on the charger.  I did get the numbers to appear as I tried to add it, but nothing when it is off the charger.  And, on the charger it only shows the full indicator or FITBIT 6.46.  Do you think this new one is DOA?

[DonnerGo]

Apolloj - Last I knew, FitBit discontinued the One. If you indeed purchased a new One, hopefully you can exchange it. But first I’d try a factory reset. Good Luck!

1. Plug your charging cable into your computer.
2. Plug your Fitbit One tracker into the charging cable, making sure that the gold contacts on your tracker align with the gold contacts in the inside of the charger.
3. Hold down your tracker's button for 10-12 seconds.
4. Remove your tracker from the charging cable and press its button until the screen turns on.

[Apolloj]

Thank you for your reply. The new ONE was purchased many years ago, just
never opened or used. The factory reset does not seem to fix it. The
screen never lights up when off the charger.

[Kim-J]

@apolloj—I think your battery is toast. Sorry.

[Apolloj]

Interestingly, my company back in 2015 purchased a One for any employee who
wanted to join an internal fitness program. Over the years the program
faded out and only a few of us kept on with our Ones. When my battery
started getting weak I found some unused never opened boxes. I tried two
of them, but they will not work. It does appear as Williger
as
pointed out that too long without a charge kills the batteries. I
appreciate the forums help.

[Baltoscott]

Checking in with an update — Wound up with 8 days after I removed the One from the app and then added it back.  Yesterday, day 7, it was showing a bit under 1/2 full when I briefly plugged in to get the battery icon to show on the device but it starred the ‘looking’ behavior again and dropped to 1/4 charge by the time I noticed. Reset the One and it seemed to go back to normal- ie, syncing when I opened the app.