Charge 3 alarms not working

[RRobbo]

Nearly missed a flight today. Using the watch to turn an alarm on is not working again. This watch is is incredibly unreliable.

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[AlejandraFitbit]

It's great to see you around @RRobbo.

I am sorry to hear about your alarm issue and would like to know if you have tried to restart your tracker? If you haven't, I recommend restarting it by doing the following:

1. Plug the charging cable into the USB port on your computer or any UL-certified USB wall charger.
2. Clip the other end of the charging cable to the port on the back of the tracker. The pins on the charging cable must lock securely with the port.
3. Make sure the button on your tracker is aligned with the button opening on the charging cable. You’ll know the connection is secure when the tracker vibrates and you see a battery icon on your tracker’s display. 
4. Press and hold the button to restart your tracker:
   • Press and hold the button on your tracker for 8 seconds. Release the button. When you see a smile icon and the tracker vibrates, the tracker restarted.
5. Unplug your tracker from the charging cable.

Let me know the outcome. 

[RRobbo]

Hi. Have reset, synced many times. Nothing is working.

Very frustrating.

Renée

Moderator edit: removed personal info

[RiseAndShine]

@RRobbo, with so little information provided it makes it almost impossible to troubleshoot... I use alarm on Charge 3 almost daily and do not experience any issues. Watch functionality depends on syncing - if syncing is working well and alarm is set up in the app - could it be that your alarm is turned off on a tracker? (You can check it by swiping to the left from your clock face 2 times, tap  on Alarms and you should see the same alarms you set in Fitbit app, they also can be turned on or off right from the tracker - need to make sure they're on). You mentioned that nothing is working - what other issues are you experiencing? Just wonder if this could be connected.

Have a great day.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Thanks for the information @RRobbo and @RiseAndShine for stopping by.

I would like to know if the instructions provided by our friend worked? Is your tracker syncing properly? Have you tried to set a new alarm?

Hope to hear from you soon. 

[RRobbo]

Hello. 

Firstly I am an experienced technology user and have opened all Fitbit Charge Versions so am familiar with the operating stystem.

I have several alarms on my Fitbit that work. The issue is that at the moment, changing or setting a new alarm is not working. I know how to turn them on an off on the watch and how to sync via the app. In this case, I synced several times, deleted and re created the alarms, synced again - nothing worked. I reset the watch - this didn’t work. I gave up and used the alarm on my phone to set a 4.00am alarm which then also woke my partner.  I tried again two days later, again to no avail. 

[Julielooley]

I am experiencing the same.  I can’t do anything alarm related on my phone as it will not sync

[curiosa77]

I'm experiencing the same thing.  It's definitely syncing up but refuses to sync the alarms.  I've deleted them and tried recreating but nothing.  Such a waste of money and so unreliable.

[Julielooley]

I managed to get mine working again by resetting it so don’t give up. Put it on charge and then press the side button until it restarts, it should be fine then 🤞

[NorthlandBob]

I am also having problems with my Charge 3 alarms not going off.  After several failures with my previous device, I opened a support ticket and was issued a new Charge 3 device.  This morning, it also failed to fire off the alarm even though the same alarm has worked perfectly for the past few weeks.  I'm extremely disappointed.

I've reset the device (and rebooted it) -- we'll see if/when it stops working again, but if I cannot rely on the alarm, then it makes the device much less useful.

I previously had a Charge 2 and never once had the alarm fail to fire (except when I ran it out of battery, which is on me).  🙂

For the record, I'm running firmware version 20001.63.5 and battery is at 51%.

[Fairynuff827]

This same issue is occurring with my Charge 3. I have no problems syncing until I do anything alarm-related. If I change a time, add, or delete alarms- any of those changes will not sync. I have tried resetting the fitbit, turning bluetooth on and off, deleting the app and reinstalling, removing the fitbit charge 3 from my fitbit account and reconnecting it.... nothing works. After resetting it like 3 times and having to rely on my phone alarm (which wakes my toddler!), it somehow synced overnight the next night. 

I go through this entire process every time I need to change an alarm time. Whatever previously successfully synced alarm I had before, I can still use and turn on/off via the watch itself.. but any time changes on the app do not sync to the charge 3.

[belifant]

Same here, re-occurring alarms just don't go off, even though they are active on the Charge 3 and in the app.

[NorthlandBob]

After almost five years of using Fitbit products (over 18M steps), I've given up on the Charge 3 (and Fitbit as a whole) after having the replacement device continue to miss alarms.  I've disabled the alarms and let the battery run out before dropping it off at our local community electronics recycling center.  I've purchased a new smartwatch from a different manufacturer, and have found the experience so much better and more reliable.  It's disappointing to have been a Fitbit customer for so long only to have our issues largely ignored. 

So long and thanks for all the steps. 

[CecileB]

Same here... My morning alarm (recurring alarm on week days) most of the time works, but doesn't buzz some random mornings. That's unacceptable: we need reliable instruments!

I have reset it, deleted the alarm and created a new alarm, sync with my phone and computer... But now I'm not sure I can trust this watch again.

Seeing all the complains on this forum, it's not an isolated issue and I hope FitBit is going to take it seriously and do something about it.

[Prplpwr25]

I noticed Mine recently stopped working too and saw someone’s said if the app was running in the background open that it worked, tried that last night and alarm went off this morning.... a pain to remember to keep the app open though! 😕 

[BeccaRae]

Once again today, I was nearly late for work because my Fitbit Charge 3 alarm did not go off!! This has become a very frustrating issue with this Fitbit, and has caused me to oversleep 3 times in the past several months. I don't understand why this just suddenly happens. I cannot rely on this Fitbit in any way and it's very frustrating. Guess I'm going back to my regular alarm clock and my Fitbit Charge 3 is going on eBay. VERY disappointed!!!!

[BeccaRae]

This has also happened to me a number of times. They say to "try re-starting" it, which is standard speak for "we have no idea why this happens". By the time I know I need to re-start, I've already had another terrible morning of not being woken on time, or worse, being late for work. VERY unreliable!!

[Julielooley]

I absolutely hate that now you have to set the alarms on your actual watch rather than being able to set it via the app on your phone. Is this maybe what’s causing your failed alarms?

[Fairynuff827]

I can set the alarms on both my watch and on the app. Both worked. I only got problems when I tried to change the time and it wouldn’t sync. But then it stopped syncing altogether 🤷🏻‍:female_sign:

Sent from my iPhone

[Julielooley]

Have you tried re setting it?