Charge 3 stopped tracking workouts and GPS is not working properly

[Medic3554]

Hi all.. so I’ve read and re-read forum after forum on this issue.. my charge 3 worked great and then all of a sudden stopped tracking my workouts appropriately. i.e. the GPS is waay off, won’t calculate calories burned, doesn’t log my heart rate, and for whatever reason it never logs the correct time! What the heck fitbit? Get your s**t together please. 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Granmah]

When you say that your Fitbit "will not sync my heartbeat (which it does record at this time) to my workout)" are you referring to the screen on your phone app, where it shows the average heart rate and the max heart rate for that specific activity?

If so, (as a brand new user) I just discovered that when I start the exercise from my phone app, the heart rate data does not get associated with the other details of that exercise session.

But, if I start the exercise from my Charge 3 device on my arm (a pain to do compared to doing it from my phone) the heart rate data (including average heart rate and max heart rate) is included in the data for that exercise session, in the app on my phone.

[j3frost]

I have the same issue.  The last time my Charge3 worked properly was Feb 25.  Since then my exercises, particularly walking, is split into two entries and my distance is no longer calculated. I have re-synced, reset, and all of the usual tricks.  What is going on FitBit?  

[SarahRy]

I’ve had the charge for less than a week and I’m frustrated to say the least. I’m not sure how an acceptable answer to the concern of the charge 3 not tracking correctly is to screenshot the screen before and after exercise and figure it out myself. This defeats the purpose of my purchase. 
I went on my 2nd indoor track run today and I was hopeful that if I started the run  by launching it on the app instead of the charge than it would correctly track the pace and distance. It’s always worked 100% of the time doing it this way on my previous Alta so I know that my phone could correctly correlate the GPS on the track. I stopped and restarted quite a few times by trying it on the tracker and the phone. Nothing worked. Then later in my exercise on the app it had heart rate but no map, or map and no heart rate and calories. (Which subsequently lowered my cardio score by 10 points because it wasn’t tracking correctly) I even took an outdoor walk for 30 minutes and had no heart rate data after. I have gone through every troubleshooting step to no avail. I thought maybe I got a lemon but it sounds like this is a charge issue. Is this actually a problem that is being addressed? 

[Meibom]

This is from a recent hike. Not impressive! So we are all very frustrated, but who is listening?! Is anyone from fitbit or representing the company reading these community blogs?

[SunsetRunner]

Same issue. Anyone found resolution. I do have 3.16.

[j3frost]

I have to follow-up on my last post.  After rebooting my Charge3 device today, it is now magically tracking my exercise correctly again. I have a single entry with an accurate map, time, mileage, pace, calories burned and impact on my day.  

[Granmah]

@j3frost 
Good to hear that a reboot resolved your issues.

Don't you find it odd that they can incorporate calories burned, which is partially derived from activity data, that also can include heart rate data ... but they can't seem to pull the heart rate data, from the Fitbit device, upon syncing,  into the data for a specific exercise?  I can only get the heart rate data incorporated, if I start the exercise from my Fitbit device instead of starting the exercise from my phone app.  😞

[TeckLee]

Finally, my Charge 3 is working fine after the replacement last week. I am now able to connect Charge 3 to my android phone Galaxy S9 Android version 10 without having to reboot my S9. 

Current Charge 3 firmware version is still 28.20001.63.5 but with Fitbit app version at 3.17.

Hope this information comes in useful.

[ScotAlan]

Should have updated this earlier. Charge 3 been working properly again for last couple of weeks. Thank you Fitbit for sorting this out.

[Knoxette127]

My charge 3 has occasionally not used GPS during exercise tracking in past months, and I assumed it was my error. But now on running and other exercises, there is a greyed out banner on exercise tracking stating expressly that it will not track GPS data. Yet fitbit charge 3 is supposed to have this functionality. I cannot switch this back on, rendering this device useless for my purposes unless there is something else I can try. When will this be switched back on? All other settings are correct as per the troubleshooting section and I have changed nothing. When buying the charge 3 with the ability to track GPS it appears Fitbit have changed the functionality of the device. I was considering purchasing for my son, however, if the goalposts change this much after 6 months of ownership then the Apple Watch is far cheaper on an annualised basis, and probably more trustworthy. 

[Knoxette127]

Are Fitbit just hoping the community will provide them with a free Helpdesk?

[steve2104]

Let's hope they do, because I have had enough of this poor performance.  It used to be reliable, but every software update that comes out now seems to yield further problems.  I'm sure part of this is the leaning towards paying for your data that the fitbit harvested.  FFS it's a HR monitor, so I should get the HR graph associated with my auto exercise.  That's why I bought it.