Charge 3 not tracking sleep accurately

[Cene]

My Charge 3 TYPICALLY  logs my sleep as follows: the log begins 2 or 2+ hours after I lie down to go to sleep, then logs maybe and hour and a half in the middle of the night, and another hour or so in the 5AM area. My fitbit is on "sensitive set". I am restless usually for the first hour before I get to sleep. 

My Fitbit is of no use to me if it doesn't accurately log my sleep, and log it in the sleep stages mode. 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[LoraBerg]

Hi, I'm going to contact them. I'll let you know it they have any tips that
work. Thanks

[Kalasmom3]

Hi. I bought my charge 3 about 3 weeks ago. I'm now having a strange issue with sleep tracking. For example yesterday morning I looked at the app and it says I went to sleep at 10:08 PM and woke up at 6:27 which was true for Monday night. (Today is Wednesday) Now this morning I look and it says I went to sleep at 2:25 a.m. and woke at 7:04 am. The wake part is accurate but I went to bed around 10 pm and don't remember getting up until this morning. At the 2:25 a.m. point it says I was sleeping light for 3 minutes then in a deep sleep for awhile. (Don't recall exactly). At no point during the 4 hours and 26 minutes it says I slept does it say I was awake but for very brief moments. I thought who knows, maybe I was sleep walking or something but my husband went to bed around 2 something and said I didn't get up. Every day my log is off by a day as well. I just rebooted my device and it's been synced. So what on earth is going on? Thanks in advance!

[Cene]

I'm the last person who can tell you. My Charge 3 often has my night
getting of at 3 or 4, with no record for 11 to 3 or 4. I believe that some
of this is due to the fact that I suffer from insomnia and have trouble
falling asleep. But I can assure you that I am not awake from 11 to 4! I
don't know what to do about it. Very annoying.

CENE

[Winter-]

Just got a charge 3. I wake up once per night around 3 to go pee.  It does not track sleep after I get up and then go back to sleep.  Does Fitbit monitor this community or do they simply say that there is a solution when there is none.  I feel ripped off because sleep tracking is what I wanted the most.   A bit of a scam I think.  

[Billygoat]

This is an ongoing problem that many people have complained about. Fitbit won’t or can’t address the issue to anyones satisfaction. Check box says issue is “solved”, it most definitely is not. If the sleep monitoring feature is your main focus with this product, I would suggest you return it for a refund.

[Kalasmom3]

Thank you for letting me know. Fortunately it's not my main focus but it is rather annoying because it is part of why I purchased it. Sounds like a problem that would require a recall that they don't want to do. 
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Winter-]

Thank you Billygoat.

I will likely return the product.  It is not working as advertised.  I guess any amount of notifying them is not useful seeing as you have pointed out that they will not fix it....yet they keep advertising it as something the device can do.....and from reading the posts it appears as if prior versions of the S/W did in fact work.  Now it doesn't.  Things should work as advertised...it's not much to ask.   It's an advertised product function that does not work and has nothing to do with my personal preference...excepting I expect this to work as advertised.

[irsandy]

Solution does not work..  I've used fitbits for the last 3 years, currently with a charge 3.  Unfortunately, I now have to get up twice a night to go to the bathroom and my fitbit loses track of the sleep I've already had.  I do think that the algorithm should include 2 or 3 minutes of movement such as going to the bathroom as restless time.  Especially during nighttime.  Some nights it doesn't even show me as having slept at all - and I've done all the tweaks/resets recommended..

[Kateh25]

I think I’ve figured out the issue with the gaps in my sleep. When I lie on my left side, it’s fine but when I rollover to my right, it doesn’t register. Don’t know how to fix it though.

[Waynetoo]

I've been using my Charge 3 for 9 months now. Like far too many others, I'm very dissatisfied with the sleep tracking functions. My first disappointment was the inconsistent analysis of sleep stages, but the fact that it does not accurately track my total time in bed is totally unacceptable, especially when I manually tell it to "Begin Sleep Now" and "I'm Awake." As others have mentioned, it often cuts off my sleep when I need to get up briefly during the night, a few minutes to use the bathroom or let the dog out.

Last night I went to bed close to 10pm and got up at 6am, about 8 hours total time. When I first got up and looked at the app on my iPhone, it showed I had slept for 7 hours and 55 minutes, which sounded correct. Later, after sleep stages had been analyzed, it showed only 5 hours and 29 minutes of sleep. Apparently the sleep analysis software could not deal with the fact that my sleep was interrupted at midnight to let the dog out, and just dropped the first 2 hours of data.

[Billygoat]

The bottom line is that the Charge 3 does not do as advertised regarding sleep tracking and Fitbit won’t admit it.

Sent from my iPad

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Fern_Nicety]

I have read this whole thread and am still none the wiser as to how to rectify my FitbitHR not recording a full nights sleep. I don’t wake and sleep between 7-8 hours but according to my Fitbit I only sleep between 4-2hr. 
Could someone from Fitbit please respond?

[Cene]

Agreed. My Fitbit Charge 3 records so little sleep time that we’re it
accurate I’d be a zombie—-believe me, I’m not, I have plenty of energy.
Fitbit records my sleep as 3, maybe 4 hours. It’s infuriating and I can’t
see any way to communicate with customer service, if they have such a thing.

[Kalasmom3]

Hi. You are able to reach customer service however they are of no help regarding this issue. Buying this watch was a huge mistake. I got it in May and not only doesn't it track much if anything correctly but my screen is going out. To make things worse because of the inaccuracies with steps and calories, I've gained 10lbs! They determined there was a problem with my watch and said I could send it back for replacement I just haven't had time. Go to the website online and look for the contact us. You can call them or email them. Unfortunately I don't think it'll do much good. Best wishes. 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[LYB]

Same exact problem. What’s the fix?

[jayge]

I have* come to believe* that those of us that could most use good sleep
information will be the last to get good info from our Fitbit. The reason
for this perhaps lies in an excess of caution by Fitbit programmers, such
that our not so perfect sleep is not recognized by the Fitbit algorithm.
I do not know if my speculation is close to the truth, but if it is, then
more research would help.
Perhaps a second option could be designed for those of us with fitful
sleep, & who do not currently get good information from our Fitbits.
We might also take action ourselves that would help us to more restful
sleep, such as getting more exercise, eating well, losing weight, &
practicing better sleep habits.

*Curing our various health problems would also help & would be a great
service to others.*

[Kelsie___]

Hey everyone! This started happening to me about a week ago after having the charge 3 for a while. I realized that I needed to update the Fitbit app in the App Store. Maybe this would fix the issue? I’ll have to see when I sleep tonight. 

[Kaedibyrd]

This is helpful, because it explains why Fitbit tracking does not work for mature women, and I'm guessing pregnant women as well. We simply tend not to sleep like the logs men and younger women do. 

I have a chronic genetic condition within neurological effects that amplifies this common quality of being a woman out of or moving out of her reproductive years. So it's staring me in the face why my Fitbit doesn't help with sleep. But the same will be true of other women in my general age bracket. 

I'd love it if Fitbit would nod to this, so people's expectations aren't disappointed, and add another, lower level of sensitivity so those of us in that demographic can track our sleep and also feel that we're considered persons who deserve to take care of their health, too.

[Lbee3]

I have had the same problem since I purchased my Charge 3 over a year ago, but I think I may have figured it out. I may also have an idea why older women have more of an issue with sleep tracking, as well as people who have recently upgraded to the charge 3 model.

The fitbit representative mentioned making sure the watch was tight enough and suggested pushing it up higher on your wrist.I have recently been working on losing weight and my watch got looser, but felt too tight on the next notch. As a result it was losing contact with my wrist during the night. If you push up on the bottom of your strap and let your arm relax with it’s weight in your hand, you can look sideways and see if the watch is losing contact with your wrist. Mine had a big gap where there was no contact. 

As I get older, my muscle tone is not what it used to be and my arms tend to be a little more, shall we say, “floppy“ than they used to be. Even my wrist area tends to be a little looser and spreads out more when I lie it on a surface. The Charge 3 strap is pretty stiff, especially when new, and this contributes even more to it losing contact.

When I read the comment from the writer about the watch only registering when she was lying on a certain side I had an ah-ha moment. I also noticed the contributors on this thread seemed to be mostly more mature women. Another clue. I believe for most of us it’s an issue of our arms not being as toned as they used to be, and for the people who recently upgraded, the difference in fit of the new strap. 

I’m disappointed the fitbit reps abandoned this thread and didn’t figure this out. 

So try tightening your watch strap or getting a different kind of strap which will allow you to alter the way it fits. Hope this helps!

[LoraBerg]

Thanks for your response. I have my watch strapped on very tightly. When I
take it off, there are indentions in my skin. I really wish that was the
issue. But it doesn't look like that is it, in my case. I just looked at my
sleep tracker last night and it says that I woke up at 5. I slept till 8
this morning. Because it doesn't work well, I honestly stopped even
checking it regularly. Very disappointing because it would be a cool
feature. Also disappointing that FitBit doesn't care that people are having
this issue.