Charge 4 battery life severely decreased after move to new app

[Banshee1013]

My Charge 4 has always had excellent battery life - until sometime last week. I was away for the weekend and didn't charge my Fitbit but it was still around 80% even after 3 days with no charging. I charged it the next day and then every day after that, it's battery life has gone downhill, often being less than 50% by the next morning even after a full charge.

This seems to have coincided with the Android app updating to the (sorry, god-awful colorless and boring) new version. Were any settings changed and pushed to the devices with this app update that could explain this sudden shortening of battery life?

[johnel1]

Overall operations have become erratic since the app update.

[ManuFitbit]

Welcome to the forums @Banshee1013 @johnel1

Thank you for sharing the inquiry regarding Charge 3. I'm sorry to know the issues.

Before considering other options, I'd suggest you see the steps listed in this article: Can I extend my Fitbit device's battery life?

[Cyd1971]

I have the same issue.  Have charged my phone every day (which I didn't have to do before) and it drains by the end of the day.  Today, 5 hours.  That's all I got...5 hours.  We need a fix to this.

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Nothing changed in my lifestyle.  I have a charge 4 that now won't hold a charge more than 5 hours...and that's not even with exercise or anything.  It used to last days with activity.  What's going on and how do we fix it?

[johnel1]

Spoke with a Fitbit rep. She said she will get back to me with a fix.
I'll check it out and let you know what I find out.

[Banshee1013]

I believe I've solved the problem - which I also believe had something to do with the app update.

After reviewing the "Can I extend my FitBIt battery" information provided, I noticed my GPS Setting had been changed to "Dynamic" vs "Phone GPS" and this was the cause of my excessive battery drain. I set it back to "Phone GPS" and now it's back to its usual battery drainage (about 15% per day).

[ManuFitbit]

Welcome back to the community @Banshee1013.

Thank you for letting us know that. I really appreciate it. 

Sure, following the article step by step you found it out. Thanks again for sharing. 

[Jpt999]

I too have noticed that the battery barely lasts more than 24 hours, from around 7 days. This has hapoened kver the oast week or so. Thought gps setting was the cause and changed it to phone, but that doesn't seem to have cured it, but I'll check again after moving to google.

[ManuFitbit]

Welcome to the forums @Jpt999.

Thank you for letting us know the feedback regarding your battery. Letting us know please how is it going after the migration. Please, make sure to follow all the steps listed in the article.

[Carla5691]

I also have the same problem with my charge 4.
Since the new update, my battery only lasts half a day.
That's why I dynamically checked GPS, turned it off to phone.
After that, i fully charged it again last night, and now after a night's sleep it's back to 70%.
That doesn't bode well. I would like to see a solution.

[hyybid]

Where do you change the GPS setting for the Charge 4?

Not seeing it in the iOS app, which they re-designed so they may have removed that setting.

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I'm seeing my Charge 4 battery levels decline in the last week or two.

I thought I've had this for several years but in fact it's only been about 2.5 years.

I would be happy to buy a newer updated model but the Charge 5 and Charge 6 doesn't track floors climbed.

Weird that they drop the feature, when people are specifically going on hikes up mountains.

I guess they want you to buy the more expensive Fitbit smartwatch models, some of which still have floor tracking.

But my experience is that wearing the tracker on your wrist is NOT the same as wearing it at your waist as far as accuracy.

I have a third-party holder for my Charge 4 which lets me clip it to my waist.

BTW, I just Googled Charge 4 and they're like $150 or more probably because there's some kind of demand for features that newer devices no longer offer.

I've seen that in the past with certain models of iPods and other devices too, they become more expensive than when they were new.

[Carla5691]

you can find GPS options on the charge 4 watch. And then under settings.

[hyybid]

Thank you, found it.

[llarn]

Where do you find the GPS??

[Jpt999]

Having also found that the gps setting had been set to dynamic (it's in "aettings" on the charge 4) changing it to use the phone, and also turning GLONASS (wahatever thst is!) off, the battery life is back to lasting over 7 days or so.

Changing at least the gps aetting seems to be the answer. Why default can't be to use one's phone is beyind me.

[Carla5691]

It went well for exactly 1 week, without extreme loss of battery usage. Yesterday the battery was fully charged, and today it was completely empty again. After charging today, we already lost 50%, so after a few hours! I would like to see a solution to this problem.

[ChrisV141]

GLONASS is the Russian version of GPS - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/glonass#:~:text=GLONASS%20is%20the....

[Jpt999]

Thanks for that Chris. By a process of extrapolation then, since there is only the option of turning GLONASS off, turning it off presumably has the same effect as setting GPS to phone rather than dynamic in extending battery life between charges. Since making the changes my battery now lasts around a week, as it did at first. The bunny is happy again!