Charge 3 Issues

[Rcturk262]

Have had a Charge 3 for about 2 months and have already had more issues with it than the entire time I used my Charge 2. What is Fitbit doing to address the ongoing issues we all seem to be having. Definitely wouldn't recommend that anyone purchase a Charge 3.

[ShadowHunter547]

I don’t have help but want to see what others say. I am going to purchase a charge 3 tomarrow, what kind of issues are you having? I’m mainly buying it in the hope that a few months from now all these issues people are talking about are fixed. 

[AlejandraFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @Rcturk262 and @ShadowHunter547 thanks for the input.

Could you please provide me with more information about the issues you are experiencing with your Charge 3 so I can better assist you?

Hope to hear from you soon. 

[ShadowHunter547]

A majority of the issues I’ve been reading about are the charge 3 has a lot of syncing issues, the screen dies, or they have to constantly reset the device. I don’t want to completely loose my ability to use the device, but if I can get basic features to work without it having issues until Fitbit can fix it that would be nice. I’m going to Best Buy today to pick up one. 

[Rcturk262]

The Charge 3 gets this "sad face" and stops working.  Have to put it on the charger to reset it.  Has been happening 2-3 times each week, very frustrating. 
It has also "gone dark" a few times for no known reason.  Same thing, have to put on the charger to get it to wake up.
Never, ever had these issues with the Charge 2.


Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S9, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

[AlejandraFitbit]

Thanks for the update @Rcturk262 and for the participation @ShadowHunter547.

I appreciate all the efforts in trying to fix these issues. About the sad face and the tracker going black, I recommend restarting the device. If after this you keep having problems, perform a long restart by doing the following:

• Plug the device into the charging cable.
• While the device is plugged into the charging cable, hold the button down for 15 seconds.
• Remove your finger from button. Note: Device won't have a smiley face icon and should be off with a black screen.
• Remove the device from the charging cable.
• Plug the device into the charging cable again.
• The smiley face icon appears on the screen.

Hope this helps, see you around. 

[rongotti]

While we appreciate you guys trying to help Alejandra, we have been following these "fixes" non-stop, losing out on the enjoyment of our device and our experience. It is obviously a technical flaw with the device, hopefully this can be remedied with an update, but for us to keep trying these "solutions" time and time again just to keep having the same issues is a quite a bit annoying as a consumer if I am being honest.

[Rcturk262]

Completely agree with your comments....I feel the same way, very annoyed.  Fitbit should go back to the Charge 2... kinda like Old Coke vs New Coke.

[Deanna5776]

So glad I’m not alone. My charge 3 has yet to work correctly. It says 0 active minutes but yet says I met my goal for active minutes. It doesn’t track sleep correctly. And it is constantly needing to be restarted. I’ve been going back and forth via email with support and it’s not getting resolved at all. I even signed in with a different email and wear my charge 2 to prove the difference between the 2 charges. It’s crazy. I’m sad It’s not working at all.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Thanks for your participation in the Community @Rcturk262, @Deanna5776 and @rongotti.

I appreciate all the efforts in trying to fix the issues you are experiencing with your trackers. @Deanna5776, it's great to know that you have already contacted support, I know they will be glad to help you out and provide you a solution.

@Rcturk262 and @rongotti, I've gone ahead and escalated your cases to our support team, for them to take a deeper look at this. Please keep an eye on your inbox for further instructions.

See you around. 

[Jimeelee]

My  Charge 3 doesn't always give me credit for the steps I take when i sync it up.  Yesterday I walked somewhere in the range of 8900 steps and today when I synced it up it showed only about half of yesterdays steps and none of todays (1686).  My patience with this device is at its end.  

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hey @Jimeelee, it's great to see you around.

Thanks for letting us know about the issue you are experiencing with your steps going away when you sync. We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible, sorry for any inconvenience it's caused and appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track.

Please let me know if there's anything I may do to assist you in the meantime. 

[Meez2]

Same here, they have sent me another one I should be receiving soon, but I am afraid I am going to have the same problem in another 2 months...I just got mine at xmas and already the battery life has degraded so much that I don't even get 2hrs on it now.

[Rcturk262]

Fitbit sent me a 2nd Charge 3 unit and it didn't work any better.  I've stopped using it.  It's too bad, really liked my Charge 2.  Charge 3 was a waste of money.

As far as your battery life is concerned, I had the same problem until I disabled the continuous sync.  Once I did that, the battery life was much better.

[Robmcmah]

This did not work. Smiley face never appeared other than at the conclusion of the 8 second reset. The long reset plus disconnect/reconnect did not produce the suggested results. The watch shows the wrong time, does not track sleep, will not connect to Bluetooth other than for a few seconds when performing a set up on the iPhone. Said set up never completes and the only way to restore the Fitbit app on the phone is to switch it off and then back on. These issues seem unique to the Charge 3 as I never experienced any issues with my original Charge during two years of ownership.

[Skbyers]

After not syncing for 2 weeks and the distance being way off, I contacted support.  After nearly a hour of restarting, etc, still doesn't work.  Basically told we know this is a problem and we have no idea when it will be fixed.  I've only had this a few month, and now I'm stuck with a broken device and no solution 

[Rcturk262]

Same here, wonder if Fitbit did any testing before they released Charge 3??  They should refund everyone's $$.

[Roadrunner90]

I've only had my charge 3 for 2 days. Initially it set up really easily, but now it constantly wants to restart my phone's bluetooth and is saying tracker not found. I might have to go back to the charge 2. I never had so many issues.

The sleep tracker is actually hilarious.  My first day of wearing it, it marked sleep during my first hour at work, with the irony being I am a sleep physiologist and I was analysing someone's PSG (sleep study) at the time my Fitbit said I was sleeping. 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[LittleJay]

Same for me. Mine works fine to wear but will not sync unless I delete and re-install to app....therefore losing all my previous data. Then it takes days to reconnect to Bluetooth.  So I haven't synced now since 14 March. Tech support advised my sync issue is because I have Samsung A5 which is not on the list of "tested devices" and they say it will be fixed as soon as possible.... but I suspect all you other folks with similar issues probably have compatible devices so I don't really believe it. 

[JackNg]

Same issues as yours but I have an iPhone XS and iPhone 7. So looks like fitbit is not compatible to most of the phones out there then. I only have to reset once on my Charge 2 but on the current Charge 3.......I'm losing patience. Fitbit, please fix the issue quick.