No low battery warning

[CharlieATL]

This has been reported for several years, and the only solution I've seen is to go into your settings, disable email/mobile notification for the low battery warning, save it, and then go back in and re-enable the warning and save that.  I did that, and still do not get a low battery warning. 

Does anyone else have a solution?  I have a Fitbit Ultra for 5 years and it worked perfectly in this regard.

[MaginB]

It's great to see you around @CharlieATL! 

I'm sorry to hear that you're still experiencing this inconvenience, let me help you. As you already know the troubleshoot is to disable the notifications and then turn it on again, try to disable all the notifications sync your tracker and then select the notifications that you want to turn on and make sure to sync your tracker.

Thanks for your patience to this matter, keep me posted! 

[CharlieATL]

Thank you. I'll report back in about 8 days.

[MaginB]

You're more than welcome @CharlieATL! 

In the meantime you can take a look at the  Discussions board There you can share your story, find some fitness tips, recipes and more! Give it a look!

See you around! 

[PureEvil]

@CharlieATL,

Also note that the One can only fire notifications if it is syncing regularly.  I know that some folks may put off syncing for days to be hidden during a challenge OR may simply turn off bluetooth on their phone to save on battery.

If by chance you're not syncing consistently, you may not get a low battery notification.

I hope this helps.

[CharlieATL]

Thanks PureEvil, and you raise another issue, syncing.

I have the dongle inserted into a USB port on my PC, and have an iPhone and an iPad, both with Bluetooth continually on.  And, the iPhone is frequently within a few feet of the PC.

I haven't documented this, but it seems that they don't sync simultaneously, meaning my phone may be synced more or less every few minutes, and the PC less frequently, which all makes sense because the One and the iPhone are always together.  However, when I am in front of the PC, it will sometimes take 15 minutes to sync on its own accord.  My old Ultra (RIP) would always sync within a minute or so when I was around the PC.  This is not a big deal, but I wonder if I shouldn't stop using the dongle, especially if it's not going to sync immediately when I come into range.

Back to the battery notification.  On the Fitbit app on the iPhone, it is showing a yellow indicator, about 1/3 left; there is no indicator on the Fitbit dashboard on the PC.  And that's fine...what I want is an email with a low battery warning sent to me when there is only a day or two left.  I'm experimenting with it now, meaning I'm not charging the One until I either get the email or it becomes critical.

[CharlieATL]

Magin, I'm still waiting a few more days to see if I get an email, and will update then.

[PureEvil]

@CharlieATL,

You only need one device to sync.  It can be your computer, your phone, or your tablet; it doesn't really matter.

If you have multiple users in your home with Fitbits, there are subtle advantages to syncing with your computer.  Let me know if you want me to elaborate.

I found that Fitbit Connect (with the USB dongle) scans and syncs Fitbits every 20 minutes or so.  The Fitbit Connect for the Ultra may be different (it's actually a different program entirely).  As long as you sync consistently, you should get a low battery notification.

That said, Fitbits communicate in a Bluetooth mode called "promiscuous" which basically means that it'll talk to any device that will try to talk to it...  hence the reason why your neighbor's computer may be able to sync your Fitbit.  However, Fitbits are like humans in that if they carry too many conversations at once, they may be confused.  So having too many devices (PC, phone, and tablet) that can sync with it, may get it to a state where it doesn't sync.  This may happen to me every few months and a device restart will clear it up.

So basically, if you find that it syncs well with just your phone, I'd just remove the USB dongle.

I hope this helps.

[CharlieATL · Accepted solution]

Issue resolved.

I got a low battery email this afternoon, so unchecking and rechecking notifications seems to have address the issue.

Thanks.

[CharlieATL]

OK, I've waited a few days to reply PureEvil,  I've left the dongle in and experience immediate syncing with my iPhone but less than immediate, i.e. 15 minutes to several hours, syncing to my PC and in some cases a delay to fitbit.com.

I'm going to be traveling and will only have my iPhone/iPad with me.  If anything strange occurs, I'll report back, but I suspect all will be well and work as you have explained, so thanks for the insight.

[CharlieATL]

I am not getting the low battery warning email again.  I got two emails, about 5-6 days apart after unchecking and rechecking all notifications as previously advised.  Since I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary, I have to think something is going on with the software on Fitbit's servers.  Does anyone have further insight?

[alexod]

Is it possible that an end of life battery can fall below the low battery level so swiftly that it's not reported before the tracker shuts down?

I get no warnings, and have about 36 hours charge capacity in my tracker.

[PureEvil]

@alexod,

Yes, it's possible.  The way the low battery indicator works is that it detects when your charge crosses below a certain threshold when it syncs and alerts you when that occurs.  Naturally, two things may affect if the low battery notification occurs:

• The frequency of syncing:  Unless you've done something like turned off all day syncing, this will normally be around 20 minutes.  Note: Turning off location services in Android may affect your ability to sync.
• The rate of discharge: I believe that the low battery indicator will fire around 20%.  So if you have managed to go from 21% to 0% between syncs, you may not get a notification.

From your description, 36 hours sounds like unusually short charge capacity on your One.  Even after four years of use, my One will last for 4-5 days.  I'd contact support.

I hope this helps.

[Mrzocor]

That wont last long. Worked for me for a while to, but it started doing it again.