Charge 4 not registering my sleep

[AZJoel]

Hello from a longtime Fitbit user. Last week I finally persuaded my father to buy a Fitbit. He had been complaining of sleep issues and I thought some data might help. He bought a Fitbit Charge 4 and I helped him with setup. It all looked good as far as I could tell. The next day he reported that it did not track his sleep. I did some troubleshooting but have failed to solve the problem. It's only tracking a portion of his night's sleep. It's failed the last four nights.

You can see from the attached screenshot that it's only tracking two or three hours a night, even though he typically goes to bed around 10pm and wakes at 7am.

Here is what I've done so far:

1. Downloaded firmware update - no change
2. Rebooted device - no change
3. Changed sleep sensitivity setting - no change

This bothers me because I'm the tech support for my family and I'm pretty good at troubleshooting. I'm also the one who encouraged him to buy a Fitbit, so I feel a sense of responsibility here. I've never had a problem with my Inspire HR and I'm very surprised that a new tracker would fail to function properly. I hope for a good reply and a quick solution because he is the kind of person that will decide it's broken and move on. He will likely get a different brand and never try Fitbit again. 

Thanks for your help.

Joel

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[AlejandraFitbit]

It's great to see you around, @AZJoel.

I understand how are you feeling and appreciate all the efforts in trying to fix this sleep issue. Also, thanks for the attachment.

If this information isn't being accurate or isn't being tracked, I recommend trying the following:

1. Make sure to not take off your tracker during the night.
2. Do you remember being awake during the night? If yes, that solves it! Keep in mind that your tracker will detect if you are awake and will stop the sleep tracking process. If no, proceed to step three.
3. Restart the tracker. See instructions in the help article: How do I restart my Fitbit device?.
4. Confirm that the tracker is snug on your wrist (with an HR tracker, the lights shouldn't be visible).
5. Try sleeping with the tracker on your non-dominant hand.
6. If the setting was set to sensitive, please switch it to normal. 
7. If steps 1-6 do not solve the issue, I suggest manually editing the sleep log to reflect the time slept. See instructions in the article: How do I edit my sleep history in the Fitbit app?.​

Let me know the outcome.

[AZJoel]

Alejandra,

Thank you for your reply. The only step we have not tried is #7, will try that tonight and let you know how it goes.

Is there anything about editing the sleep log that we should know? For example, the help guidance says, "Note that for devices that receive sleep stages, if you extend your time asleep, you may notice gaps at the beginning or end of your sleep stages" but this is confusing, because gaps at the beginning of sleep stages IS the problem. 

Thanks,

Joel

[AZJoel]

Alejandra,

My father reported the #7 step did not work. It again recorded a partial night of sleep. He has returned the device. 

Thanks gain for your help, I know it's not your fault and I'm not sure what went wrong. 

Joel

[AlejandraFitbit]

Thanks for getting back, @AZJoel. I am sorry to hear that your father returned the unit. If in the future there is anything else we can help you with, do not hesitate to post it.

Keep the stepping up!

[rollerotr]

Your number 2 answer can't be correct as awake time is part of the sleep cycle. So, please explain what you mean. Like how much time has to elapse before my fitbit sense will stop recording sleep time and cycles. I have a similar problem in that about half the time, my Sense will start recording hours after I have gone to bed or stop recording hours before I awake. 

[janesdtr]

@rollerotr I agree with you. My Fitbit tracks my awake time overnight. On rare nights I awaken for an hour or two before falling asleep again and Fitbit reports both the waking period and continuation of sleep.

[FruitCakebatter]

I have had a fitbit for the past 2.5 years.

Charge 3 for 13 months got replaced with a new after screen failed.

Charge 3 screen failed again  13/14months later and warrantee was up so fitbit gave me a discount on a new device. 

So I decided to get a Charge 4.

Now I've had this device for around 6/8 weeks and I have the same issues as azjoel

Explains.

I actually got a fitbit to track my sleep originally as I have parasomnia and wanted to record whatever I could to show my doctor.

Anyway Charge 3 seemed to work brilliantly it detected extra light sleep drifting in and out naps exactly when woke etc.

Charge 4 on the other hand like azjoel described..I have exactly the same issues.

I've never had to force my Charge 3 to go to sleep mode or tell it I'm in bed now..

I did try that one time and the data recorded in the sleep zones wasn't correct so I don't know how accurate that would be..

Also why should i have to? It should be sensitive enough to be better than a Charge 3?

All the steps you described to follow.

Another you need to try is wearing the band 3 finger widths apart up the wrist.

Is this issue of recording sleep a known fault of charge 4?