Charge 4 Battery drains in minutes

[DevonnW]

I can see posts about battery life not lasting a day but mine is literally lasting minutes. I took it off charge at 100% an hour ago and it’s already shut down saying low battery and now it’s off. It’s been doing this for two days now.

My charge 4 is about 2-3 years old so is this just what happens?! I’ve not seen Apple or Garmin just giving up after 24 months so if I’m a little miffed if this is not fixable and will try AppleWatch. Really love the Fitbit though so please hoping you can help.

[desteenburgh]

This just started happening with my charge 4 as well.

It was working normally yesterday morning. I went for a bike ride at midday (less than one hour) with the GPS enabled. I put it on the charger afterward. This problem started after I took it off the charger. Now it seems to both charge and discharge faster than it did before.

I have tried rebooting it, leaving it on the charger overnight, and leaving it on my wrist until it shuts itself off. I am currently recharging it after it shut itself off. Based on how quickly it seems to be recharging, I do not expect an improvement.

I am not a battery expert, but it seems strange for this problem to develop suddenly. Before yesterday, I could go for a few days without charging if I wanted (but I rarely did that). Now it lasts only a couple hours at the most.

[DevonnW]

Yes! Exactly this! I spoke to them on chat earlier and they said they can see it went from 100% to 5% in a matter of minutes… so they can confirm the device is faulty. Someone is going to send me an email apparently, but it’s just over 2 years old (March 2021) so I’m not sure where I’ll get with them.

[DevonnW]

Just an update - they came back to me and in short said there’s nothing they can do, it’s out of warranty but they’ll offer 35% off a new one. Time to try another brand I think.

[desteenburgh]

In my last message, I mentioned charging after the tracker shut itself off. The results were a fast discharge again.

After that, I let the tracker sit without charging overnight. Total off time was probably more than 12 hours, but I did not record the times. In the morning, I put it on the charger. It stayed on the charger for a few hours. I have now been wearing it for around 2 hours, and the app reports the battery level is 72%. That is the best result since the problem began, but still discharging faster than before the problem began.

[Crazygamer53]

Hi, Just curious, did either of you just install an update on your Charge4?  If so, that is probably the reason for the sudden battery issue. And yes, it’s definitely time for a brand change. Good luck!

[desteenburgh]

I did wonder if if the device could have updated itself. As far as I know, updates still need to be started manually via the app. I have not done that in a long time, as the app has not told me an update is available.

My routine changed just before this problem started. My previous routine typically had me using the GPS feature 2-3 times a day and only charging the tracker in the evenings, always with the same power source. For a week, I did not use the GPS feature at all and I was using a different power source for charging.

I wouldn't expect that to cause this problem, but as far as I know, nothing else has changed.

Now my usage is very different, since battery life is measured in hours instead of days. After my last message, I think the battery lasted nearly 8 hours. I am now letting it sit for a longer time before I charge it again.

[Datljf4]

The same exact thing happen to me yesterday after a 4 mile walk everything was fine. I just charged the battery the day before and my charge usually last about 6-7 days. My charge was 93% and and down to 0 in minutes. I thought this was strange and recharged to 100% put it on and went to dinner during the time I was at dinner the battery icon with the explanation mark came up and the app showed 0% I recharged to 100% and it went to 0% in about 40 minutes.
Is my battery dead or was there a software upgrade that is causing this.

[DevonnW]

I hate to be a conspiracy theorist but honestly I think they’re just doing what Apple got in trouble for. They no longer sell Charge 4s so they’re rolling out updates that just ruin them to force people to buy newer models. It’s no coincidence that this is suddenly happening to so many of us!

Mine won’t charge at all now, won’t turn on or anything. Occasionally I get a smiley face but then it just goes black and does an angry vibrate every time I press it. I think I’m more annoyed because I only just bought a really nice new leather strap for it last week!

[Datljf4]

I spoke to support and of course they can see over the past two days my battery is lasting two days. They will open a case for me to support. They went through the usual script. I told them I had not changed anything on my device for years. We will keep you posted.

[desteenburgh]

After the last time my battery ran itself out, I let the tracker sit for over 24 hours, until I woke up this morning.

I put it on the charger for a few hours. I put it on my wrist before 11:00. It is now about 17:30. The app tells me two different things:

1. On the home screen, where you can see it syncing, the battery indicator says 82%.
2. In the device-specific screens, it claims the battery is full.

I am not sure what to make of this, but it seems promising. In any case, I will not be relying on it to wake me up in time for work tomorrow...

[desteenburgh]

At around 19:00 Monday, I put the tracker on the charger and it said the battery was at 53%. The previous charging session was Sunday morning. I did not use the GPS feature during that time.

It was in the mid 80%s when I took it off the charger before 20:00. Now at 05:30 the next day it is at 82%.

I wonder if I could make it last even longer by extending the same experiment, but I am probably going to leave it here for now. I will go back to my previous routine (charging daily, but not caring whether  it gets to 100%), but I will probably skip the GPS data. If anything changes, I'll be back.

[Istanjules]

They had to have killed them with the last update. Mine was charging just fine and lasting a few days until the new update. It immediately stopped working for more than a few hours, and now will not charge at all. 
I won’t be getting a new one.

[DevonnW]

This is exactly what happened with me. I’m not getting another one either out of principle because I fully believe this has been done on purpose to make more sales.

Think I’m just going to get an Apple Watch on contract.

[desteenburgh]

I kept up my old charging routine for a week, and the battery life seemed roughly equal to how it used to be.

Yesterday I took a chance on the GPS feature again, and now my battery life is shorter again.

One of the reasons I chose this tracker was for the built-in GPS and the battery life. Between this new development and some problems with the wristbands, I think it is time to look for a new tracker.