Charge 3 won't stay connected to phone for GPS

[spencerj]

Well Fitbit it's been quite a ride, I've been with you guys since the original Fitbit.  This problem of not being able to sync the GPS to my phone is the straw that broke the camel's back. I was trying to talk to customer service through text forever and nothing got resolved then I kept getting cut off.  I've tried every single troubleshooting technique I could find and still this problem persists.  no not being able to email someone or even talk to anyone directly is extremely frustrating and very poor customer service.  Seems I'm not the only one with this problem and nothing seems to get resolved.  Fitbit my tracking days are numbered with you.  It was a slice much love ✌️

[daleylife]

Yep, me too. I've had a charge 3 since early 2019 and GPS connectivity never worked.

Last week I went for a walk and it did work, maybe the 3rd time it did overall. Thought they had finally fixed it but nope, the next day it didn't work on my walk.

Pretty bad if you ask me.

[jayteeshaw]

Having the same issue currently. It's extremely frustrating. Only started happening since the firmware update. Either it stops tracking altogether or it cuts the GPS off and doesn't track my route. I'm sure this is all being done purposely to get us to buy the Charge 4, however I am considering switching away from Fitbit brand altogether. 

[spencerj]

I hear you man, I dealt with customer service for almost two months back and forth of them giving me troubleshooting tips to fix my watch.  Nothing worked and they wouldn't meet me halfway on buying the Fitbit 4.  It's absolutely atrocious customer service. It was actually a blessing in disguise because I switched to Garmin and I can't be more happy with the switch.  Shame on you fitbit.  All the best amigo

[Stratman-]

Same for me - stopped using gps correctly since firmware update. Had one good session with support but none of the suggested actions worked, second session was useless “well, gps is affected by trees, tall buildings, cloud cover...” I asked them not to go there, gps is fine starting exercise directly from the app or using other apps. Not going to stay with Fitbit if they can’t make this right. 

[ZMK]

Same exact issue. I’ve had mine since end of 2018 and it was working fine. After last update few weeks ago, it stopped tracking my runs accurately. It used to notify me whether I’d want to start tracking my run automatically shortly after I start. It doesn’t anymore, and when I start it manually it seems it keeps disconnecting from GPS throughout the run. For a 5k run it’s only recording 3.5.. and it shows on the map how the GPS disappears several times. And I’m running the same exact route as before. Tried restarting it and everything else, not working. Not sure what the issue is. 

[azwxguy]

I noticed the same after the update. But I also recently replaced my phone, and it seems like the GPS disconnecting started maybe yesterday or the day before (21 or 22 September). Anyway, it was an exercise with GPS that I selected, walking. When I click Start, the Charge 3 searches for the GPS connection and then connects. Maybe 30-40 seconds later, about the time it takes me to walk to the front door, it will have disconnected. It will signal this with a quick short vibrate. It won't connect again until the app is closed and restarted, and then it will disconnect again a short while later. I fixed it tonight on my Android device by going to Settings, then Apps & notifications, then find the app for Fitbit and open it, go to Permissions and then Location, pick the radio button for "Allow all the time". I did this and immediately took a 1 1/4 mile walk and it stayed connected the whole route. The Location access was previously set to "Allow only while using the app". So, if you already have it set to "allow all the time" and are having connection problems, it must be something else. I'll keep testing with more GPS walks, make sure it continues to work for me. Cheers.

[ZMK]

Thanks for that. But I actually checked, and it is set to allow all the time. I tried a long restart, which is apparently different than the regular one. Will see if that works. Thanks again. 

[Stratman-]

The problem I was having seems to have resolved itself (I suspect that Fitbit did one of their silent updates) as of last week, with one caveat: before the firmware update I never worried about turning off WiFi before starting exercise from the tracker, but now I have to turn off WiFi or it will still lose gps. I can deal with that since the gps tracking seems spot-on; now if elevation tracking was more consistent I’d be a happy camper. 

did your gps tracking get better?

Edit: 22 October 2020 - Worst.Tracking.Ever. Went for a 3+ mile interval run this morning, shut off WiFi, started exercise from tracker, connected. It buzzed a couple times when I started - no big deal, done it before - but when I finished it had captured maybe the first .4 mile with the blocky “I’m not connected” lines on the map. There is no rhyme or reason to it. I noticed an update to the app, no sense contacting support (“please update to the current app version and try again”). Aargh!!