Fitbit One -how long do they last?

[MicheleLee]

Hi, I'm new here, but have had a Fitbit One for just over 4 yrs.

In the last couple of months I've had to start charging my One every other day or so.  It used to be 2+ wks, then a week and now a couple of days.  Is my Fitbit at the end of it's life?  Can you replace the battery?  It's getting to the point where I charge it before I work out because it has often gone dead during my work out. I'm also not getting notification that my battery is low. It almost always shows as 'medium' on my app.

I have it set so that it doesn't sync unless I go in and manually sync it (all day sync and always connected are turned off).

I was thinking of getting the Alta, then I read the Alta forum here and decided it wasn't for me since I want my steps to count if I have my hand on the treadmill, shopping cart, etc.

I would appreciate any insight.  Thanks.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @MicheleLee, all rechargeable batteries have a limited life and gradually the battery will last less and less long.  It sounds like this is what is happening to yours.  The battery for the One is not replaceable, so once the battery level gets so low that it isn't really useable, you will need a new Fitbit.  The One is a great device and you might want to just buy another one -- hopefully that will get you another 4 years!  

However, if you want the extra features of the Alta one solution when on a treadmill if you like to hold on would be to put it in your pocket or tuck it into your bra.  It will still count steps, though may not be as accurate as your One.  Fitbit have a 45 day return policy, so if you buy it from them you could try it out and return it if it doesn't work for you.

Welcome to the forums!

[RobertoME]

Hi there @MicheleLee, I'm totally agree with @Julia_G, as any other battery has a life span and since the battery of the One is built in to the tracker, is not an option to change it unfortunately. 

As additional information some factors that can reduce the battery charge are:

• To maximize battery life, consider setting fewer alarms.
• Frequently pressing the button to check your statistics or the time may reduce the battery life.
• If you’re syncing with an Android device, the Always Connected option may reduce battery life.
• If you're syncing with any Fitbit app, the All-Day sync option may reduce battery life.
• Charging your tracker in extreme heat or cold may reduce battery life.

I wish you the best and see you around.

[Simone75]

I fear that my FitBit One is also dying a slow death. Seeing the same symptoms... needing to charge almost nightly, not being able to sync unless I do a reset of the device, battery life never showing as critically low but the device dying on me. Sadly I have only had this device since Feb. 2016 so just about 16 months. I never had All Day Sync or Always Connected enabled, nor did I use the sleep tracker so I'm not sure why mine has gotten run down so fast. 

[joanheminway]

Not that I have any super knowledge on this, but you should contact customer service on this.  It's not normal for a Fitbit One to have these issues after such a short life.  I have found the folks at Fitbit very helpful with the issues I have had over the years.  I have had mine for 4.5 years, and this is the first time I have had an issue with charging/Fitbit 6.60 messages, and the like . . . .

[joshhuntnm]

My wife and I both have a one an noticed the battery life suddenly not working as well.  We thought there might Have been some firmware update with crappy battery life or something   

[edsaunders]

Josh, my wife and I have had the exact same experience. It started a few weeks ago, and I wondered if a firmware upgrade caused it, because it was sudden and happened at the same time for both of us. My One is only 1 years old (its a replacement) and hers is more like 3 years old.  Very odd for the same provable to appear so suddenly on 2 devices of differing ages.

They are draining to completely dead in about 4 days, and we no longer get notices it has happened.

[joshhuntnm]

Strange

Josh Hunt

Moderator Edit: Removed Personal Information

[DavGo258]

My fitbit one of approx. 1.5 years old also recently started having battery issues.  Used to go 2 weeks btwn charges - now suddenly lasting only 5-10 days.

[edsaunders]

Yeah, FitBit changed *something* recently that is draining the battery.

Instantly a few weeks ago, my One dropped from ~2-weeks battery life to 4-5 days.  My wife's One (quite a bit older than mine) did the same thing!

Does the company monitor this site for issues like this?

[JenMN]

I am having the same problem. It is about four years old and the battery used to last a week. About a month ago it started needing to be charged every other day. Now it won't charge it all. Is that how long they last? Do I just need to trash it?

[RobertoME]

Hello @joshhuntnm, @JenMN and welcome aboard to the Fitbit Community @edsaunders, @DavGo258.

I was reading your posts and I saw you are experiencing issues with the battery on your Fitbit One after a recent update as it is mentioned. 

Which mobile phone brand are you using? Is it iOS or Android! There are report of this issue with iOS users, so if you phone is running this platform please make sure to update to the most recent version 2.40.

1. From the Fitbit app dashboard, tap or click the Account icon
2. Tap or click Help. You'll see the app version at the top of the screen.

The other suggestions is to restart the Fitbit One, for more details please take a look at this post.

Consider these tips when you want to conserve battery life:

• If you use the Fitbit app, make sure All-Day Sync is turned off. All-Day Sync increases battery drain on both your tracker and mobile device. To find the setting, open the app and tap or click the Account iconAt the top of the screen tap or click One to see your settings, then scroll down. 
• If you have many silent alarms set, consider deleting some. Each alarm you add up to the maximum of 8 reduces battery life by a small percentage. 

See you around and hope you may found useful these tips.

[Kats21]

I am having the exact same problem over the last two weeks so definitely some change by fitbit.  Has anyone messaged customer service about this and if so what was the response?

Thanks,

[DavGo258]

Thanks Roberto.

In my situation I have an iPhone which is running the latest iOS software v10.3.3.

I have All Day Sync turned off on both my phone and also on my iPad.

Per the Dashboard my Fitbit One is running firmware v6.60, but under Help it does seem to still be on platform v2.39.  So how do I get this updated to v2.40?

I did do a restart about 3 or 4 days ago and then fully charged my FitBit overnight, and happy to say that so far it is still showing almost a full charge, so maybe that solved the issue.  We will see if it continues to hold a decent charge this week.

Thanks.

[edsaunders]

Thanks, Roberto.

I do have iOS and the FitBit app was 2.39.  For some reason it did not automatically update, as my other apps do, but I just did it manually to v2.40.  Hopefully that will solve the issue.

Thanks so much.  --e.

[UpstateJan]

I've been having this issue on/off for the last couple of months.  My One is almost 4 years old, running app on Android, no alarms, all day sync off.  Guess between firmware issues, and the little guy getting "tired"?

Jan

[JenMN]

I am using ios 10.3.3.  Fitbit v6.60.  I thought I had all day sync off but I will check that again. I mainly need to know how long I can expect this four year old One to last before I give up on it. It was totally dead the other day but after the last charge and sync it seems to have come back to life. It needs to be charged every other day now instead of once a week. I am guessing it only can be charged for so many years. What is the average life before I discard it?

[pwong88]

@RobertoME

I have been having the same issues with my Fitbit One. I've had this unit for 1.5 years and within the last month have noticed the battery life is 2 days. Also, the accuracy of the tracking is off. One day last week, it completely neglected 50 minutes of aerobic activity. It reset to zero 1/2 way through my workout.

All my apps are updated and I switched off all day sync. Although, I had it on all day sync before and had a battery life of 2 weeks. Do i need to trash this piece? At $100, that seems like a high price to pay for something that doesn't last.

[Jazzerjan]

My husband and I have had the same experience recently.  My Fitbit One used to need charging once a week, now it's at least twice a week.  

[Doug]

Based on other forum threads, this is an unintentional issue introduced in the iOS 2.39 update (about a month ago).  The recent 2.40 upgrade does NOT fix it, and they know that.  They report they continue to try to resolve it.  It affects more than just the model One.

In the meantime, most people including myself are getting better battery life by temporarily turning OFF the All-Day Sync feature until this is resolved.

It does not seem to be an ulterior motive to push folks toward a new model.  Especially since there is no new model that is designed for torso mount instead of wrist mount.

There is no device I am aware of that I prefer to my One -- so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and wait for a real fix.  I'm a developer too, and I know that you can't always fix these things as fast as users like.