Charge 2 coming up with message 'Check Fitbit App'

[gex26]

On my charge 2 when I go to use it for walking or running, it comes up with message 'Check Fitbit App'. It also shows the picture with the phone and a line through it. It appears to be recording the data to the app on my IPhone but not showing the map route that I took. I have checked and tried everything regarding settings within the app and within the IPhone settings as per the forums,  have tried re setting the charge 2 and phone and having no joy. Have owned the charge 2 since June and has been working fine until over the last week or so. I have the latest firmware on the charge 2 and the latest IOS 11.1 on the phone. It maybe a small issue but its blooming annoying. Also if I go out running or walking using the app, it appears to all work fine, including map of route, so GPS on phone must be working. Bluetooth is on and showing connected, can anyone help please. Thank you.

[HeydyF]

Hey @gex26, it is cool to see new faces around!  Are you getting this error message: 

Check Fitbit app. This message means you may need to grant location permissions on your phone. If you have an iOS device, please open the Fitbit app and verify the GPS-related settings on your phone:

1. 1. Make sure Cellular Data is turned on.
2. Next, ensure that your GPS can continue tracking when your phone is locked:
   1. Open Settings and tap General.
   2. Tap Background App Refresh, find the Fitbit app, and make sure it is turned on.
3. Lastly, make sure your phone can identify your location:
   1. Open Settings and tap Privacy.
   2. Tap Location Services and make sure it’s turned on.
   3. Find Fitbit in the app list and make sure it's set to While Using the App or Always.

Give a try to those steps and let me know how it goes! 

[gex26]

Hi, thank you for your reply, firstly, yes that's the message I'm getting on my tracker(Charge 2). I had already checked what you recommended doing, with no joy. What I will say, I was trying to resolve the issue last night and found that, if I open the Fitbit app on my I phone first, then turn my tracker on so to record my walk or run maps, the location arrow came up on my phone screen and it started working OK. I then closed the app/locked the phone and it still remained working. Strange, never had to do this before till now. Just tried it again whilst typing this, now, message coming up again and not working. Also my wife's is doing the same. Also It also does not matter if its in doors or out. Also just updated phones today to IOS 11.2. We get the line through the phone icon on the tracker screen so we know that its not going to work. Have been doing phone restarts and tracker restarts too????? Any other ideas. Thank you.

[Wolvotim]

I appear to be having the same “check Fitbit app” issue.

I can not start a run from the charge2. I have checked all the settings listed above and all are as they should be. I have restarted my Fitbit, iPhone and Fitbit app to no avail.

This problem does seem to have came about since ios11 update, don’t know if there’s any connection??

[TomM23]

I've had this message before. Try turning Bluetooth off and back on again and see if that helps.

Also it could be a possibility that a sync might be required. 

[niconyc]

I'm having this regularly.  I have an iphone 6s with ios 11.0.2 and the latest updated firmware for my fitbit charge 2 as of 10/7/2017.  Today I did a 7+ mile hike and it stopped recording my steps and track a bit more than halfway through--- because this has been an ongoing problem since the ios 11 update I simultaneously recorded this activity in Strava and it worked perfectly. Interestingly enough  during the activity the steps were accurately counting - i looked at the screen and saw 20k+ steps at one point.  But when I sync'd it, the steps went down to 13K (my iphone shows 20k+).  this is really getting annoying.  I've force-quit and re-started the app, restarted my phone, cleared network settings, deleted and re-paired the bluetooth connection, and even wiped & restored factory settings on my iphone.  This was happening both previous and prior to the latest firmware update on the fitbit charge 2 (but only since ios 11). I started tracking the activity from the fitbit.  

[niconyc]

How is this possible??  I knew I wasn't crazy - https://www.fitbit.com/activities/exercise/10293376257

[Rich_Laue]

Sorry @niconyc, you will need to be more descriptive or post a screen shot since we do not have access to your Fitbit account 

[niconyc]

Hi Rich- I did post a screen shot showing my activity added 20k steps out of 14k total for this day. Not sure why the screenshot isn't appearing! Sorry! 

[dravennyl]

I have the same issue too

[SunsetRunner]

 It looks like the issue was fixed in the latest update to FitBit 2.41.  Once it was installed, the error message when away. Now my phone and fit pit communicate and my wall’s are properly tracked. 

[Vibeke]

Thanks, that worked for me.

Vibeke

[shandrananette]

I've had the same issue since I updated my Charge 2.  Connected GPS no longer connects - I've restarted the phone, hard rebooted my Charge 2.  I got a connection once in the last week but not since then.  I have updated to 2.41.1 and it still is not working.

[gex26]

Having tried ideas posted recently, the fault remains but I have found a way to get it to work and show the mapping

1. Go to settings in the IPhone 

2. Select Fitbit down the list

3. Turn Bluetooth sharing off for a few seconds then turn it back on

4. Then open the Fitbit app

5. Then on the charge 2 select walk/run etc, start the Fitbit. This now will connect with your phone by also showing the GPS arrow at the top of the phone screen, you now know this will show your mapping.

Now it will connect and work every time also showing the GPS arrow, but if you then go out of range from your phone/tracker you have to run through the above process again. Very fustrating Fitbit/Apple. Any other ideas/knowledge peoples? Also as I’ve already said, my wife’s is doing the same and she gets round it in the same way.

[shandrananette]

@gex26  You're the best!  That works - it reminds me of what I had to do to get my bluetooth headphones to connect after the last major Apple update.  A headache, but I will take it.  They'll likely fix it eventually (and I may or may not have an Ionic on my way for my birthday...)

Thank so much!

[ryespy]

I have the same exact problem, so yes this must be an iOS 11 problem. Your instructions do not resolve the problem. When will there big a fix for this???

[ryespy]

Thanks for sharing this, but it does not work for me.

[gex26]

I’ve updated my IPhone to the latest IOS 11.3 and it appears that the phone is connecting correctly with the Fitbit so I’m getting the mapping route what ever I’m doing ie walking/running using the tracker without having to go through the procedure in my previous post.

[zadok7]

I have been dealing with the same issue using iPhone and Charge 2 combination. Have spent a lot of time talking to FitBit help desk repeating same trouble shooting procedures over and over. 

They have sent me a replacement and of course I tried out. Still getting app error message. 

So I now have two Charge 2’ that do the same thing. Progress?

[esardeee]

It is so frustrating that this garbage is still happening and no-one from Fitbit seems to care. These temporary hacks aren't a long-term solution. 

Either fix the problem, or tell us that you can't fix it so I can decide what other activity tracker I'm going to buy. Just tell us something.