Charge 4 - Yesterday's update is draining my battery

[Katbs54]

After my Charge 4 was updates yesterday it is draining the battery in just hours where previously it would take days to drain.

I have turned off all that I can but it is still draining fast.

I just rebooted but not sure what that will accomplish.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Kathy 

Moderator edit:  updated subject for clarity 

removed personal information

[Aroyal]

You can replace it within the one year warranty time frame... Just contact their support and they'll get back to anyone that is within the one year warranty period

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We do get it but it's a poor business model in my opinion

[CoreyMac]

I and many others here completely agree with you.

[dpvball]

Worked great for 2 years. Updated to firmware 48.20001.100.76 and my fitbit goes from 100% to 0% battery in under 3 hours. Tried removing all optional apps including sp02. Also did a hard reset. I'm pretty sure their firmware is messed up. Just leaving the fitbit at home for now since it can't even serve as a watch let along a tracker with the battery life like this. 

[JW120]

I agree.  I bought my original Charge 4 fitbit on June 27, 2021.  That particular one just up and died within 4 or 5  months, so they sent me a new one.  Now this one only keeps a charge for about 3 hours since I did their update on Friday.  After having a fitbit for almost 10 years, I think I am done.  I am currently looking at other options....Seems like after Google bought Fitbit, it went to heck in a handbasket!  

[ragtopmom]

So, here's my question. I finally got an email offering me a 35% discount (since mine is out of warranty - put into service in November of 2020) on another FitBit but excluding Ace 2, Ace 3, Versa 4, Sense 2 and Inspire 3. I haven't even looked at pricing on the different models and am really leaning towards just leaving FitBit altogether. I'm so "into" the FitBit "way" using the app and how they record sleep, etc. and the obvious alternative is very high-priced. Hence, despite my frustration, I'm having a hard time making the decision.

Has anyone else here been made this same offer and went for it? And what did you choose (I've been a Charge 3/4 user for the last several years)?

I pulled out my old Garmin from many years ago, sync'd it up to the satellites, and it was ready to go before the band broke! (Yes, it's been stored away and was used a lot back in the day.) Too bad I my Charge 4, despite still charging up for a few hours, can't even serve me a whole day as a watch! Sure doesn't track steps or anything else!

[Lexy3]

I was in the same predicament as you in making a decision to seek an alternative smart watch.  It isn't even about the pricing of other smart watches because I've already spent more on four Fitbits, beginning with Charge 2; it is about the features as you indicated.  I like the recording of sleep; the slimmer design (I don't care for the large-face watches, as the Fitbit slimmer designs blend better (aesthetically) with your outfits), its compatibility with all smartphones, and the battery life (well that has become debatable recently).  While on the verge of giving up, I purchased another charge 4 a couple of years ago (a while ago, I posted about this in a previous post). I'm hoping that things will get better!

[CoreyMac]

I agree on the overall design choices, and I hope as well that things will get better, but I have seen nothing in their forums or support behavior in the last few years that indicate there is much chance of that. 

[CoreyMac]

I measured the power consumption of two fully charged Charge4 units (the power requirements do fluctuate a bit while they are idle I suspect as various sensors and software wakes up to check on things or update status.).

Pre update 48.20001.100.43 Charge4     ~0.25 milliamps of power

Post update 48.20001.100.76 Charge4   ~4.5 milliamps of power

The difference is pretty huge and obvious. 

After the update on these two Charge4 units, it uses 15-20 times the power as before at 4-5 milliamps drawn constantly.

If you are curious....

Turning on the OLED just to show the charge level image adds about 10-11 milliamps of power consumption while the display is active.  Charging the battery takes up to ~80 milliamps tapering down to the base shown above while charging, based on the current battery charge level.

Listening to the constant scripted disingenuous explanations about how all batteries fade over time, and certain services cause the battery to drain faster, etc... is pretty maddening to put up with every time there is a problem. 

Obviously to everyone those are true statements, but they have no part in solving these problems as we have been over countless times.

[Lexy3]

I agree, notwithstanding, it will be quite sad if these recent complaints don't propel them to do the right thing!  Does not bode well for future customer relations!  

[JW120]

My charge 4 is now dead.  It won't charge anymore, screen is black....Grrrr.Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy tablet

[CoreyMac]

I have never noticed that they pay attention to what is posted here.  Some bugs have been known for years and posted/discussed here with no results.  None of the issues that I know were fixed and discussed here were resolved in less than a year.  I am not saying it has never happened, just that I have not seen it here. 

They do not act in a way that indicates they care much at all with current products, much less "legacy" products like the Charge4/5 that are being replaced by the Charge6 in just few months.

For $30-40 extra you can buy a FitBit from Amazon and add Asurion insurance coverage for 3 or 4 years.  When it fails you can return it and they will credit you back the original price in Amazon credit you can spend on whatever Amazon sells.  It is about the same as getting the 35% discount on stale FitBit products from FitBit...  It rewards FitBit to some extent as they get paid more or less full price for their often unreliable products and lack of quality software endeavors or any meaningful customer support.  Ultimately it give you a choice though.

FitBit is not going to learn any lessons from us here.    It has been over a month since they were made aware that they are destroying customer devices with the buggy firmware on 5 different device types.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." 

They are not ready and/or not interested....

[CoreyMac]

You might try the Twitter support area.  They respond better there to public messages...

[Lexy3]

Wow!  Didn't know that a new Fitbit Charge 6 is on the way!  Rather than perfect the existing products, they're manufacturing more sub-standard ones.  Sad!  

[CoreyMac]

They replace the products every couple of years, so it seems they only need them to last until the next product is available.  Since they apparently bricked 5 models of devices this time with their firmware update and they respond as if they see zero responsibility on their part for causing it, I do not see things getting better in any meaningful way.

They surely know how to make more reliable software and devices, but they seem pretty uninterested.  Very disappointing.  They don't engage with their customers, they do not publish meaningful release notes when they update software or the firmware, they do not publish specifications for performance for the sensors like the HRM, GPS, spO2, etc.. that I have ever seen.  They do not seem to improve the reliability of their devices from our experiences with about a dozen or so over the years.

The bands are now considered wear items, but they are priced at a minimum of $30 but generally $35+ for a simple injection molded resin band they fully expect to wear out in less than the normal warranty.  That is apparently why they have had shorter and special warranty terms on the bands versus the trackers.

In summary, this looks like the best they are willing to do, so we just have to decide is it enough to stay on their platform.  You are not buying a product, but buying access to an ecosystem as is apparently the intention. When I forget that part, it stops making sense.

If they really had other intentions, they certainly are capable of succeeding in making them happen.

[ragtopmom]

@CoreyMac, what do you intend to do about the issues with your FitBit? You've really posted some great information. I just think this is so wrong and I think the BBB or some such organization should be made aware of it! I'm still charging mine two or three times a day in hopes that it will actually begin to track my steps one day and maybe get better? I actually had it record 220 steps yesterday but last week, all it recorded was 20 steps!

[CoreyMac]

@ragtopmomThat is a good question. 

We have one Charge4 that was killed by the update already.  We have another couple more that haven't been updated once we trashed the first Charge (both Charge and Versa units).  One of those loses its pairing multiple time per day and has to be reconnected to BT.  Another one does not count steps even close to agreeing with the others on the same walk with similar strides.  We wanted to update the firmware to possibly resolve the issues, but it is better with broken bluetooth than bricked as could happen. If it bricks it I would end up with a Charge5 for now if I stayed with Fitbit, but it has the same issue and they do not ship new with working updated firmware.  They also EndOfLife'ed the Charge5 (hence the current sale price on the Charge5) and they are purging inventory getting ready for the Charge6.  You still have to update the Charge5 when you get it and take your chances again...  FitBit slot machine...  Your replacement for that new Charge5 that gets bricked by the firmware would not likely be new either.  New Charge5 units are being bricked and taking a week to ship out refurbished replacements according to others in that forum.

The BBB already knows of thousands of reports and they have about as low of a rating as I have seen ever for a company this size.  Tied with CATV companies in their race to the bottom of customer satisfaction it appears.

We will probably talk about it as a group and decide what platform we would like to use.  We have a couple of others in our group with trackers killed by the Fitbit update who are pretty hacked off as well and especially at their attitude about causing it.

[Ch0ngma]

Exactly the same thing happened to me more than that 2 yrs ago... https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Other-Charge-Trackers/Charge-3-Battery-Life/m-p/4368577#M172744

Ever since then i never upgrade firmware.. and havent had an issue!

[AndrewParsons]

I'll add a data point. I updated in early September 2022. Suddenly my device cannot hold a charge. I've had to charge my device multiple times over the last few days.

• Device: Charge 4

• Updated: Early September 2022

• Activation date: 2020.07.11

• Version: 48.20001.100.76

I've used the watch for more than two years now and haven't replaced the battery. I'm assuming the device has a lithium-ion battery inside, and those typically have a half life of... two years? (though I am aware that there are many factors at play) I expect diminished battery performance as the device ages -- within reason -- but not such an extreme change like I've observed over the last week.

The battery now lasts no more than five hours. Previously I could wear it for about three days without needing to charge, provided I didn't activate an exercise tracking mode.

Last night I went to bed with a full charge (or so the device told me), but woke up to a dead watch. Based on the sleep tracking graph, it appears that it died four hours after I took it off the charger. Today it dropped from 99% to 11% in about 280 minutes of passive usage (just wearing it, nothing more).

I work in software. Though I don't work for a hardware/consumer goods company, nor do I work in QA, I feel like I can confidently declare this as unacceptable. At best, this was incompetence in testing procedure. At worst, this is forced obsolescence. For the latter pessimistic case (forced obsolescence), I'm curious if activation dates play a role.

I am very interested in @CoreyMac's milliamp testing technique. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any kind of electrical measuring equipment.

In the course of writing the above, the watch battery (as reported by the UI; I'm assuming the value displayed by the UI is accurate) has plummeted from 99% to 87%. -12% in... ten minutes? Surely I don't type so vigorously to cause that much drain...

I'm usually skeptical of people who throw their hands up in rage and declare that they'll never be a customer of a company again, as such drama strikes me as the game some folks play whereby they blame their problems on others. And, after all, I understand that a few lemons slip through QA.

But it sounds like:

1. customer support is useless
2. there is a pretty obvious firmware-related before/after cause and effect

and that really rubs me the wrong way. I'm very confident I'll never again purchase a Fitbit device (the 35% discount on a new device as a remedy to my previously-working Charge 4 is extremely insulting).

[JustListen]

I am another previously satisfied Charge 4 user who applied the firmware update a few days ago (in early September) and now have a device that burns through the battery in mere hours rather than several days as before.  The firmware on my device is Version 48.20001.100.76.  

I have always been pretty trusting when it comes to applying firmware and software updates to my tech products.  To its credit, Fitbit has added several useful new features to the Charge 4 since I first activated my device in December 2020.  It is abundantly clear, however, that this latest firmware update has destroyed the usability of my device. 

I also am questioning the wisdom of purchasing a new Fitbit device knowing that this same thing could happen at any time with no appropriate response from the company.

[Crazygamer53]

Hi @JustListen, Sorry to hear that your Charge 4 was affected by the update. I absolutely agree that it will happen again since it has happened before with the Charge 4 and this time the firmware updates for the Charge 5, Inspire 2, Versa 3 and Luxe affected them all with the same problems as the Charge 4. I didn’t update my Charge 4 because I knew what might possibly happen, I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t somehow  force the update through.