Charge 3 doesn't show real time stats while biking

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone,

My charge 3 won't show my speed or distance while using the exercise app. When I put it in 'bike' mode, it does connect with my phone. The time starts running, but my speed remains 0,0 and so does the distance. Sometimes when I ride the bike for like 30 minutes or so, it sais I drove 0,5 km. But usually it doesn't show anything. My fitbit does count steps while riding the bike. 

When I go to the fitbit app, it does show as an exercise and my gps did track my route, so I don't know what's wrong. Can anyone help me? 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[iainwest]

Yep, I had the same. Checked Power Saving Mode and it is definitely not on (and wasn’t during the bike ride). So there has to be another reason, apart from Power Saving Mode on Phone, that this happens.

[iainwest]

I feel your pain ! There must be an answer for this bug, but I haven’t seen it, reading through above.

[iainwest]

Thanks Brad. I’m sure that is the solution in some cases, and that’s great that it solved your problem. But for those whose issue isn’t solved by that, I definitely don’t have power save mode on with my iPhone (double- checked). Have tried several other different solutions, including turning WiFi off (which was also suggested). No change - very low distance, and no speed being tracked while cycling, just the time ticking along. My iPhone Run Keeper app which I tried running in parallel tracks perfectly. So it’s not a GPS signal issue either.

[iainwest]

Apologies, just a quick summary of my findings, as I was mostly replying and adding to the comments of previous posts and other disgruntled Fitbit owners above !
1. disabling WiFi is worth checking, but it didn’t help in my case.

2. Power Save Mode clearly creates a problem, and making sure it is turned off seems to work for some above. But I definitely haven’t got Power Save Mode on. Interestingly, though, my Fitbit seemed to track my bike rides well for the first week or two, then over the last week it has developed the issue that all above here have described. That cutover/ loss of functionality (just for  bike rides) POSSIBLY coincided with one day when Power Save had (temporarily) kicked in. But it’s definitely not on now. So maybe that brief period (one half day with Power Save on)  has upset something in the background and the whole thing needs a reboot (which I will try (ie reboot iPhone, restart/totally reset Fitbit, disconnect the tracker and reconnect it again. Let’s see.)

Otherwise though, I think other customers’ complaints, frustrations and upset, clearly apparent above, are justified.

One way or another, this isn’t very satisfactory for customers, since no real solution has been provided by Fitbit support.

[CityLion]

I see t🙆🏼‍:male_sign:e 0s reported, don't you know?  Your moderation missed the point of the reported issue @MarreFitbit . 17 people have this problem and you only explained how others can go get the problem the same way that we all did.  Thank you @iainwest @jkm49 @MarcoM4127 @SunsetRunner  

[iainwest]

You may have misunderstood. I’m not a moderator, I’m also a ‘disgruntled user’, trying to work out our own fix (coz it doesn’t look like there’s one coming from Fitbit ! :-o).

Further to my summary above though, I did indeed do a complete shutdown and restart of all connections and my Fitbit now tracks my cycle rides accurately. So hopefully this may work for some users with this problem.

1. Disconnect your Charge 3 from your iPhone: tap top left main screen, tap “Charge 3 connected”, scroll down to Remove this Charge 3 and execute.

2. On your Fitbit, swipe across to Settings, scroll down to “About”, tap and scroll down to Reset, execute.

3. Shut down and restart your iPhone.

4. Reconnect your Charge 3 with your iPhone.

This worked for me, and I had exactly the symptoms described above (but I appreciate it may not be the solution in all cases).
(My guess is that it is indeed a leftover from when my phone went into Low Power Mode at one stage, as others mentioned above, and even when your phone goes back to normal power usage, the Fitbit malfunction somehow persists.)

I hope this fix works for others encountering this problem 🙂

[-Sandra-]

I have the same issues as everybody else. In my case walks and runs are tracked perfectly, not sure if that is the same for you guys.

I will trying the power saving and reboot solution, hope it works.

[Vittal1217]

Fitbit Customer care responded that my Device is out of warranty.! I just followed the instructions provided by the fitbit app and upgraded to the latest firmware version. I did not throw the tracker under the bus or smash it with a hammer. The damage is not due to usage rather due to faulty patch provided by fitbit Charge 3 firmware team. Why should I be held responsible and pay for the mess created by the SW development team? I think, fitbit should take complete responsibility for this mess and clean it before it loses its customers!! Pls provide a better solution to my concern than these automated responses.

[Nerry]

Hey. I have solution, which has worked: Allow location all the time for fitbit app.

[-Sandra-]

@iainwest solution worked for me. Thanks!

[Pma1218]

I have the same problem. I’ve called customer service and they said to keep my location on all the time, not just while using APP. DIDNT FIX THE PROBLEM???!!!! Anyone? Thx! 

[MikeMillan]

I have the same issue as everyone else here when cycling. Interestingly my band broke a couple of months ago and as I still wanted to track my rides, I put it in my back pocket next to my phone - no issues with tracking. As soon as I replaced the band and had it on my wrist again it stopped working. If I wear mountain biking shorts and carry the phone in a pocket near my knee it seem to work.  I think that there is an issue about the distance from the phone. For what ever reason it doesn’t seem to cope with being more than 30cm or so away.