Issue with Connected GPS & Linking with Fitbit App message

[kal25]

I have couple of issues with connected GPS. 

1. Whenever I start a walk or running activity, my Pixel 3 phone starts showing the 'Connected GPS' notification, which is fine. However, when I tap on it, it opens the app with message as screenshot here. It shows the loading screen for few seconds and then disappears. After that, nothing happens until I click on the Okay button. I am not sure what exactly the app needs to do, but my charge 3 syncs correctly with my phone. 
2. The connected GPS seems to work fine only when the app is open in foreground on my phone. If I switch to some other app, my Charge 3 shows a boxed cross sign on left top side and it does not go away until I open the app again, at this point it starts recording GPS again. 

I am not sure if above two issues are connected to each other. I am using Pixel 3 (supported device) on latest stable Android 10 version. I do not have any other bluetooth device connected. The Battery Optimization is set to "Not Optimized" on my phone, which is same as Google Play services. There is no background restriction on the app. 

I am not able to add images to the post, hence added links for the screenshots. 

[Rich_Laue]

Hi @kal25 the user is unable to connect a Fitbit tracker to their phones bluetooth. 

They use the Fitbit app to setup their tracker to their fitbit account. Once setup the fitbit app gives this notification to link the tracker to their phone and app. This link is not needed for syncing, but is needed for the other services like GPS and notifications. 

I've also noticed that when logging out / in on the Fitbit app I'm promoted to link again.

As for the GPS only working with the app open in the fore ground.

2 things to look at.

Power management for the Fitbit app. If GPS fails when the Fitbit app gets pushed to the background,  this is the problem. You will need to disable power management for the Fitbit app.

Now if the GPS fails as soon as the phone's screen locks up, please move the fitbit app to the background before the phone's screen goes dark.

This has more to do with how Android manages the running of apps.

Please see the Fitbit help docs

What should I know about using the Fitbit app on my Android phone?

[HB007]

Time by time I also get "connected GPS is running"

The solution is always delete device (I have a charge 3) from fitbit app,  then pair again and link to the app again... for me delete the application cache didn't help 

I really hope somehow fitbit solve this issue in the near future because it's very very annoying....

[kal25]

I re-verified settings for the Fitbit App on my phone. The app can run in background and has same battery optimization settings as Android core app Google Play services. When I go to App settings, it shows the app was active for few mins in background. In my opinion, the Fitbit App itself needs fixing.

I am fine with the notification showing up when Connected GPS is required. Once I start the exercise the notification shows up, specially when I don't have app in foreground, which seems correct (probably it started a background service to track location). However after few seconds, I get a cross mark on my charge 3 screen and I believe at that moment the Fitbit App stops tracking GPS. It starts tracking only when I open the app in foreground. 

I also tried clearing data, cache for the App. Unpairing and re-pairing the Charge 3, but still the same issue. 

[kal25]

Another update on this. 

So I tried following steps

1. Unpaired the charge 3

2. Uninstalled the app

3. Installed the app and restarted my phone. 

4. Paired the device. This time after pairing it showed me same screen about "Linking with FItbit App" but with a new popup as in this screenshot . I clicked on OK in that popup. 

With all this I still have the same issue I mentioned in my original post. GPS tracking works ONLY when the Fitbit app is in foreground. Here is the Google Drive folder with screenshots for Fitbit app's access levels. 

It is just frustrating to see specially when you invest around $100 in such a tracker. 

[TrishFL]

I'm not sure if this is the same issue, I have the GPS turned off on my dashboard settings, because if it's on, when my Walk is completed, it's a red line that wanders all over my neighborhood that looks nothing like the walk I took.  I live on a Circle, and depending on how I feel, what the weather is like, or time of day, I may walk once around the circle, or twice, or more. When the GPS is off, the tracker simply tracks steps, miles and sometimes laps, as well as heart rate, calories, etc.  Now yesterday - even with the GPS off - I got the wandering lines again.  What gives?  Haven't walked today, and checked the dashboard, the GPS was off.  Did it turn itself on again??  

[kal25 · Accepted solution]

I have found a workaround for the Connected GPS issue. I have Pixel 3 on Android 10, with Android 10 version, the location access settings were updated to make them same as iPhones. See the first screenshot on page here. I had set it to "Allow only when App is in use", hence it was tracking the location only when App was open in foreground. I updated it to "Allow all the time" and now it works because Fitbit app can request location any time, even when in background. 

I am not an Android Developer, but I still think there might be a way to initiate a background service and start tracking location on demand. This will let us set location access as "Allow only when App is in use". 

@TrishFL I am not sure what device you have, but if you don't need GPS tracking, may be check the App permission on your phone. Removing location access completely on App permissions might help. 

[TrishFL]

@kal25 

I have Android 7.1.1, and an old (2018) Motorola smartphone.  I did manage to find the app and have turned off the Location permission for Fitbit.  Plan to have a Walk today, and hope it works.  Thanks!  😎