Charge 3 Won't Sync

[CM57]

Yesterday afternoon I tried to get notifications to work again - the tracker had stopped notifying me when I only had 10 mins left to get required steps before the next hour.   What a mistake - now the app can't sync and the link 'Fix It' is no help at all.

Following various bits of advice on this forum, I ended up having to reinstall everything - I have deleted the app, restarted my mobile, reinstalled the app, reset the tracker to factory default, deleted user data etc.  I am on Android 9 on a Moto G6 (a bit old I know but it was perfectly OK yesterday).  I'm guessing that the reinstall updated the firmware (now on 1.88.11) and has introduced a bug.  The tracker still updates the app but it won't sync.  I tried a Live Chat but the customer service advisor pointed me at what looked like an old list of supported devices and said Fitbit were working on adding new phones to the list - that clearly doesn't make sense when the sync worked fine until yesterday.  

Any ideas please?

[AlvaroFitbit]

@CM57 Thanks for joining us! 

Sorry to hear that your Charge 3 isn't syncing and thank you for troubleshooting this issue. I suggest you try the following steps (some you may have already tried but I ask you to retry them again in the following order):

1. Go to your phone's bluetooth settings and remove all devices listed there.
2. Restart your phone and restart your device. 
3. Check that no battery saving app/feature on your phone is affecting your Fitbit app.
4. Also, on an Android device, check that your app has the necessary permissions (settings > apps > Fitbit > permissions) and make sure bluetooth and location services (GPS) are on. 
5. You can find troubleshooting instructions here.

Let me know how it goes.

[CM57]

Hi Alvaro

Thanks for getting back to me.  I'm afraid I've been through the list and nothing has fixed the problem.  I've now restarted my phone and rebooted my tracker multiple times in various sequences without effect.   The battery saving feature is turned off and Fitbit has location permission.  Fitbit Battery optimization  is set to Not optimized.  My phone isn't currently connected to any other bluetooth devices.   It doesn't appear to be a bluetooth issue since the tracker does eventually link to the app and update the values there - though that can be a bit flakey and take a couple of attempts for some reason.  I'm on the latest version of Android 9 and my tracker is up-to-date on 1.88.11.  When I try to sync, I get the message 'Sync is taking a while. Sit tight ....' before it eventually gives up trying.   Don't know what to do next.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@CM57 thank you for the update. 

Since the issue persists I suggest you let our Support team know so they can assist you. I noticed that you already have a ticket with them so keep working with the team to find a solution.

Let me know how it goes.

[CM57]

Hi Alvaro

I didn't realise I had a ticket open with the support team.  I did have the live chat with someone called Julian but it didn't help at all - he suggested the problem was that my phone wasn't supported and that I should try a different phone - that was clearly ridiculous since the application was syncing perfectly until yesterday afternoon.  I guess he was just first level support and the problem needs to go to the technical support team.  
Thank you for trying to provide a solution.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@CM57 thank you for the reply.

Sorry to hear that you issue wasn't resolved by our Support team. I suggest you reply to the email you should have got from them letting them know that the issue is still unresolved to see what options they may have for you or create a new contact with them by going here.

Keep me posted.

[CM57]

Hi Alvaro

I didn't receive an email (I checked Spam folder as well) so unable to respond and will have to open a new contact - perhaps a direct message rather than a live chat will get an issue logged.

I notice that there have been quite a few requests for help from Fitbit users over the last few days about being unable to sync and not being able to reconnect the tracker via bluetooth.  It does seem like a bug has been introduced very recently.  I struggled myself last night to reconnect my tracker and eventually succeeded after many frustrating attempts.  I'm not sure what worked in the end but as well as reinstalling the app, rebooting the tracker and switching bluetooth off/on, I also cleared the cache and storage from the Fitbit App (I believe this wouldn't normally be removed with a delete/reinstall).  You can believe that I won't be disconnecting my Charge 3 again from bluetooth anytime soon!

I did notice something possibly interesting this morning.  My tracker uploaded about 3000 steps to the app on my mobile yesterday (once I'd got the connection up and running again).  This morning there are no steps recorded for yesterday on the app.  This implies to me that historical data is retrieved from the Fitbit database when I log in to the app and that the app only picks up today's data from the tracker - even though the tracker still has the historical data stored.   Do you know if this is how it works?  So for my current problem, this would mean that the app is able to read the Fitbit database and a record of 0 steps for yesterday (since sync isn't working) but that it is unable to write to the database.  I don't know if this makes sense.

I also saw that someone has reported that a customer support advisor told them yesterday that their phone had been disconnected and that by setting it up as a new device to Fitbit (not on bluetooth), they got it syncing again.  Are you able to check if a phone has been disconnected?  Don't worry if it isn't, I'll raise another support issue and probably just cut and paste messages from this chat with you to describe the problem.

Best regards

[CM57]

Hi Alvaro

Me again!  Since updating this issue this morning, the tracker stopped updating the app as well, even though the tracker was still connected to bluetooth.  As the tracker was now just a timekeeper, I decided to bite the bullet and delete the tracker from the app and then set it up as a new device - that seems to have done the trick and sync is now working again.  Things are looking good and all I seem to be missing is some of the data between the last effective sync and now but I can live with that if it works OK from now on.  Thank you for your advice during this issue.  

Regards

Carole

[AlvaroFitbit]

@CM57 happy to hear that your tracker is syncing again. Also thank you for letting me know about what you did to correct the issue as this may help other members in the same situation. Hopefully you can now concentrate in getting all your daily steps and reaching your fitness goals.

Happy stepping and stay safe.