Charge 3 Bluetooth connection keeps dropping

[PaulG66]

Hey! Well, searching through the forums it appears like I’m not the only one with this issue.

I have just got a Charge 3 for Xmas, replacing a Surge, paired with an iPhone 6s. Everything seems to be working ok apart from the Bluetooth connection. When the watch is initially set up it works fine, I get notifications.

However, after a few hours or after I have connected to my in car kit, the Bluetooth connection between phone & watch appears to be lost, i no longer receive notifications & I can no longer access the notification menu on the app or select all day sync. When I try to access it I am told I need to pair my phone to the watch before I can use this feature! When I try to set it up I will receive a warning after 5ish minutes informing me the Bluetooth set up has failed! If I go into my phone Bluetooth settings it tells me I have a connection to the watch, but the app disagrees! 

The only way way I can get the notifications working again is if I forget the Bluetooth connection on my phone, forget the Charge 3, uninstall the app & start all over again! This will make the notifications work again, but only for a few hours or until it receives another Bluetooth connection.

To say it’s a pain is an understatement, I have seen people saying it could be down to multiple Bluetooth connections, which strikes me as odd, why can’t this watch & phone handle multiple connections? I only have the one Fitbit synced to the one phone.

I’m not an expert in Bluetooth or Fitbit technology but it seems like the Bluetooth is turning off, for some reason, & the only way to turn it back on is to put  the watch back into set up mode! Is there a menu on the Fitbit to physically turn Bluetooth off & on or put it into pair mode? 

Come on Fitbit, I want to keep & use the Charge 3, but this issue is frustrating, my Surge worked a lot better than this! Is it time to return the Charge 3 & return to the Surge?

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[Troyo]

I am having the exact same issues.  Charge 3, iPhone, have to forget the connection and re-install at least once a day to get the connection to work!  Worked great back in the fall...

[npodyssey]

My charge 3 also continues to drop the bluetooth connection every few weeks or so. It is only connected to my phone, no other device. Very annoying.

[MustangX]

Good Afternoon,

I am also experiencing the same problem I used to have a HR Charge with no issues and I upgraded to the Charge 3 and now Bluetooth keeps getting dropped.

I just received my Charge 3 over the weekend and it's having the same issues as described as others.

It was says synced but then when I look at my dashboard on my iPhone not new data would populate, it appears that the charge 3 is not paired with my iPhone  

The only way I can seem to resolve the problem is if I log out of the App on my iPhone, log back in but the problem is the dashboard seems to overwrite what is on my Charge 3 for example this morning I had 7700 some steps after a run and when I went to try to sync, I lost about 400 steps, now it's not syncing at all, I don't want to log out and loose any more data. 

I have an iPhone 8 Plus 256GB with iOS version 12.1.4

Charge 3 firmware is 20001.49.45

When I go to look at the Charge 3 in in the dashboard when trying to sync it keep showing "Looking..." underneath the Charge 3 Icon. 

Please help!

G

[PaulG66]

Hey MustangX!

What version of the app are you running? I’ve found the latest app seems to be very stable with my Charge 3.

Also, do you still have your old Charge attached in the app? I found when I had two Fitbit’s linked to the app it kind of confused it when trying to sync & usually took longer! If you still have it connected try deleting the old one & see if that makes a difference.

[tpreston]

I found that I could re-pair without losing data by first going to
settings/Bluetooth/charge 3/ forget device. Once I’m sure it’s
“forgotten,” I go to the Fitbit app, select notifications and it asks to
connect, usually after a few minutes, I get the option to pair. I hope
this works for you.

I’ll admit I’ve had too much aggravation, and bought an Apple Watch Series
4 yesterday. It doesn’t track sleep, so I’ll continue to sleep in the
Charge 3, but the Apple has fall detection, and that’s a good thing. I’be
had some bad falls over the years. I’m sad though because I have been a
loyal Fitbit consumer and user for more than 6 years and am sorry I was no
longer enjoying the experience.

Good luck!
--
Terry

[SunsetRunner]

You've not had your C3 very long. If it were me, I would return it for a
full refund.

[BaunsgardM]

I so agree!! When I bought my Charge 3 it paired fine with my Moto G6. It worked for a few months, now it won't synch!! I called in and spoke to someone they tell me my Fitbit won't pair with my phone .I just bought BOTH!! I can't afford to change phones to one that will pair, Nor do I want to change Fitbit!! Please help!! Add Moto G6 to pair with Fitbit. Thank you. 

[JEG62]

Try this https://youtu.be/a91CDZh3LlQ

[MustangX]

Thanks everyone,

I think the issue resolved itself, I power cycled my iPhone and also re-connected the Charge 3,

And all seems to be fine, I think it got confused when I ran outside yesterday, I tracked my run through the "track" feature and then when I started to run about .4 klicks into my run the charge 3 detected I was running and asked if I wanted to track and I hit yes thinking that I must have stopped the tracking... I ended up having two runs logged in my dashboard one with 3.55 Klicks and the other one with 2.32 Klicks with them overlapping the route I ran,  Everything appears to be fine today, I will have to wait to see what happens when I run outside again using the "track" feature.

[GraceGFitbit]

Hey there @SunsetRunner and @npodyssey a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community! @tpreston, @PaulG66, @SunsetRunner, @Dees1234, @Troyo, @MustangX, @BaunsgardM and @JEG62, thanks for taking the time to update this thread sharing your experiences with your Fitbit Charge 3.

@tpreston, I just confirmed with our Support Team that you have been in touch. If you have any other questions or concerns you can contact them again for further assistance. 

@Dees1234 I would like to know if did you try to sync with a different compatible device?

@SunsetRunner and @npodyssey, you can try removing the tracker from your phone's Bluetooth settings with all devices listed there too. Restart your phone and your tracker. Now add the tracker to the Bluetooth list and reopen the app to start a sync. If those steps don't help, I would like to know what phone are you using to try to synchronize. This to check the compatibility with the Fitbit app. 

@BaunsgardM, I confirm this phone is not a 100% compatible device. You can keep checking the official list to see if there are any updates to it. 

The developer team is aware of the need to add new devices to the list of compatible devices. There are some users who can synchronize with non-compatible devices (me included). So I recommend you to check if your phone meets the requirements listed on this helpful article about syncing.

Note that we can't guarantee that the synchronization will be successful as we are still testing on this phone model.  

@MustangX, I'm glad to learn your Fitbit it's working better. About those the track of your activities I would like to know how it goes? I recommend you restart your Charge 3. 

Thanks you all for your efforts and for sharing your experience. If there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply.

[ROMomof7]

I have a new Charge 3 (got it for Christmas) and it paired just fine with my Samsung S8 Active for the first month or so.  Now it drops the connection after just a few minutes.  We have unpaired bluetooth, unpaired device from the app, rebooted both items and to no avail...one or two notifications later it can't find the Bluetooth connection and it stops notifying.  I see that basically ALL of the Samsung S-series have been placed on the supported devices list EXCEPT for the S8 Active.  Why is that?  And when can I expect it to be fixed?  If it isn't soon, I will be taking this back and buying another device as I gave my old Alta to my son to monitor his sleep and make sure he got my text messages whenever he didn't feel his phone vibrate.  I am running all of the most up-to-date software as well.  Thank you.

[npodyssey]

I am finding that restarting my phone (Samsung J3) is more successful than
turning the Bluetooth on and off as instructed by the Fitbit app. However,
it is still very annoying to have to do that every few weeks.

Update 

‎03-25-2019 05:27

Sorry to hear you are having these issues ROMomof7. I share your
frustration. Mine also worked fine for several months and then stopped
syncing. Restarting the phone is working, but having to restart my phone
every few weeks is a pain. Mine is the Samsung J3. I'm not a Fitbit
representative, so I can't answer your question about why particular phones
are not on the list. Hope you find a resolution that works!

[npodyssey]

Sorry to hear you are having these issues ROMomof7. I share your
frustration. Mine also worked fine for several months and then stopped
syncing. Restarting the phone is working, but having to restart my phone
every few weeks is a pain. Mine is the Samsung J3. I'm not a Fitbit
representative, so I can't answer your question about why particular phones
are not on the list. Hope you find a resolution that works!

[GraceGFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi @ROMomof7, thanks for joining the Fitbit Forums! 

Our team is always working on making our app compatible with as many devices as possible. As this process takes quite some time for testing, we don't have any set time frame for when certain devices with be fully supported. I recommend keeping an eye on this page as this is what we will be updating when devices become fully supported. 

Thanks for troubleshooting with us @npodyssey. If you haven't already done so I would like to suggest you to check the following requirements :

• Make sure the latest version of the Fitbit app is installed on your phone.

1. Tap the Play Store app.
2. Tap or click the menu icon in the top left corner.
3. Tap My apps & games. If the Fitbit app has an update, you’ll see it in the Updates list.
4. Tap Update.

If your apps update automatically, check the Recently updated or Up to date list to see if the Fitbit app was updated.

• The software on your mobile device is up to date. To check, tap Settings > General > Software Update.
• Make sure there are no other Bluetooth devices around as they might interfere with the syncing process.
• The Fitbit app is allowed to run in the background on your phone. For more information, see Why is the Fitbit app sending a notification to my Android phone?

Hope that helps, let me know how it goes.

[BaunsgardM]

Please make Moto G6 compatible with Fitbit Charge 3. Thank you

[GraceGFitbit]

Thank you very much for your response @BaunsgardM.

Please note that many Android phones, like the Moto G6 have all the hardware requirements to be a supported device but are currently not on our list of supported devices. This means that we have not tested it for compatibility and added it to the list yet. 

While these devices have all the specifications to be compatible and are currently working with the Fitbit app, it's possible to come across some bad experiences along the way. I appreciate your understanding while we work to improve this experience, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

I appreciate your patience and understanding, please keep an eye on future announcements.

[BaunsgardM]

Thank you for your response. I hope Fitbit synchs with my Moto6 soon. I'd
like to be able to use my Fitbit for MORE than the time and steps. Thank
you.

[rompelstompel]

My wife has a charge 3 with a Samsung Galaxy S9+ (on the compatibility list). This started happening to her too since about two weeks ago 

Have to reboot and repair every time  And it takes long to pair too... 

[GraceGFitbit]

Many thanks for getting back @BaunsgardM. 

You can sync your device with any compatible phone, tablet, or computer that meets syncing requirements. I’d like to mention that I have a Moto G6 too and I'm very careful with all the requirements mentioned before, I can tell you that having the latest version of the Fitbit app normally fix the synchronization.

We really appreciate your feedback. Our team is always looking to improve the Fitbit experience and is always working towards including new phones on the list of compatible devices.

Welcome aboard @rompelstompel ! Many thanks for share those details and for restart the Fitbit device. If you already checked all the information above this thread I will suggest you to try the synchronization with another compatible device. This can help to identify why you're experiencing this situation.  

I'll be around if you need anything else. Have a nice weekend! 

[bd74]

It is not the iPhone!  My iPhone works with EVERYTHING else.  The Bluetooth just keeps dropping from the Fitbit Charge 3. I can reconnect and it will disconnect - sometimes within 2 minutes.

[BaunsgardM]

Yes I gave up trying to repair/reboot uninstall Bluetooth/reinstall.
Unpair/Pair.. I'm just using for watch and step counter.