Inspire HR on Windows 10 - Not connecting

[SunsetRunner]

- I am running the latest version of the Fitbit App on both my Windows Surface Pro 3 and my Windows Phone.

- I have a Fitbit Alta that works as it should with my Windows Phone.

I purchased the Inspire HR (yay waterproof!). I went to sync it with my Surface, but it could not find it. When I went to my Bluetooth settings and attempted to "Add a device" the Inspire (and my Alta) were there. I was able to add the Alta manually but not the Inspire.

Thinking it had something to do with my Surface, I tried to add the Inspire to my Windows Phone, but it was doing the exact something as on the Surface.

I have reset the Inspire (saw the smiley face everytime), uninstalled and reinstalled the app on both my Surface and Windows Phone, deleted the Alta from my account, sacrificed two days to the Technology deities, and danced naked in the moonlight (but that was mainly for cardio... 😁).

I'm thinking the unit I have is a dud so I will be returning it to the store. Since Microsoft is nixing support for the Windows Phone at the end of the year, I expect this won't be high on the list of priorities but it should still be looked into since it was a problem on my Surface as well.

Cheers!

[Julia_G]

Hi, @SunsetRunner , I am not at all sure ai can help, but I will give it a try.

So, you mention that when you go to your phone's Bluetooth settings you can see your Inspire HR there, but you cannot add it.  That does suggest that the Inspire HR is indeed sending out Bluetooth signals (otherwise your phone wouldn't detect it).  However, as you are probably aware, you can only set up your Fitbit Bluetooth connections via the Fitbit app, and not directly through your phone's Bluetooth settings.

Since it sounds like BT on the Inspire HR is working, it may be that there is a device conflict.  Fitbits, like other Bluetooth devices, can only "pair" with one device at a time, and if it is trying to pair with two devices at the same time, it won't work with either.

So I would recommend that if you want to set it up on your Surface Pro, make sure that Bluetooth is turned OFF on your phone (and Bluetooth is ON on the Surface Pro).  It also might help to put the Alta HR out of Bluetooth range -- about 30 feet away, or perhaps pop it into your car outside, if that is possible for you.  Sometimes Bluetooth signals can interfere with each other.

Once the Alta HR is out of range and Bluetooth is turned off on the phone, try the set up again.  Giving Bluetooth a restart on your Surface may help, as well as logging out of the Fitbit app and logging back in again.  I know many people swear by dancing naked under moonlight, but I have heard that hopping on one foot while wearing a silly hat can also help.

Let us know whether having BT turned on on only one device, and keeping other Bluetooth conflicts to a minimum helps.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums!

[MattFitbit]

@SunsetRunner Welcome to the forums! Sorry to see that you haven't been able to set up and sync. 

If you haven't done so already, I recommend following each of the steps detailed in this article for set-up issues. I would also try forgetting the Bluetooth pairing to your Alta when attempting to pair your Inspire. 

Once it is set-up, if you continue to experience syncing issues I would follow the troubleshooting steps detailed here. 

Hope this helps get you back on track. Feel free to let me know how it goes. 

[SunsetRunner]

 
Thanks for the reply, @Julia_G ! Your suggestion was one of the many configurations I tried and I still wasn't able to get my device and the Inspire to talk. The message I get in the FitBit App is something has gone wrong and a list of steps to try (which I did). In my devices Bluetooth settings, it just keeps asking if i want to try and connect again but to no avail. Great suggestion though. I appreciate you!

[SunsetRunner]

@MattFitbitIn my research, I found the page you sent the link to and followed the instructions there and it was still a no-go. I also "forgot" all my Bluetooth connects while trying to get the Inspire to connect, being sure to restart my Windows devices to make sure the changes took. 

🤷🏾

Just wasn't in the cards for me. I appreciate your assistance!

[RainbowDragon]

@SunsetRunnerdid you ever succeed in getting an Inspire HR to connect to your Surface? 

I am having the same issue as you.  I purchased a new Inspire HR, but it would not connect to my Surface Pro 4.

I tried all of the recommended trouble shooting procedures.  (Turned Bluetooth off and on again, ensured I had the latest OS updates installed, restarted my Surface, restarted the Fitbit, uninstalled and reinstalled the Fitbit app.)  Nothing worked.  I contacted customer support, who were no help and eventually suggested returning the defective unit to them.  I did this (and suffered significant hassle with Fitbit's delays in shipping a replacement device to me). 

The replacement device finally arrived today, but it won't connect either.  I tried all of the troubleshooting procedures once again.  Then I disconnected my pen from the Surface and re-paired it, just to make sure the Surface wasn't having issues with Bluetooth in general.  The pen reconnected just fine.  But the Inspire HR still will not.

At this point I am more than ready to throw in the towel and just return the device for a refund, but I found your post and thought I'd see if there's anyone out there who's actually had success with one of the devices with a Windows 10 computer.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @RainbowDragon. Unfortunately I never did get the Inspire HR to connect to *any* of my devices. I have all three "compatible" platforms and none of them would connect so I figured it was a faulty device and returned it to the store. I normally don't buy electronics when they first launch for this reason, but I figured since Fitbit has been doing this for a while and I haven't had any issues with my Alta HR connecting to my Windows 10 devices it would be okay. If you are having the same issues, there must still be some kinks. Perhaps we will have better luck in the next manufactured bunch. Best of luck on your fitness and health endeavors 👍🏾  

[RainbowDragon]

Thank you for your quick reply @SunsetRunner .  You've confirmed my decision to return my device for a refund and just be done with it.

Best wishes for you on your own endeavours.

[Dan32169]

Fitbit's new devices are not compatible with Windows 10 devices.  Period.  Don't waste hours of your life with the nonsense trouble shooting suggestions and the notion offered by Fitbit customer service reps. that your particular device is defective, as I did.  It is a design defect.  They market their new products as being compatible with Windows 10 (they assert this connectivity on the packaging of the products themselves), while being fully aware that these new products are not.  It's a lie.  There are thousands of posts and replies in this forum addressing this issue with no successful solutions.  Fitbit doesn't care. They've known about this problem since as early as early last year (2018), yet they continue to falsely advertise and market the connectivity capability of these products.  One rep. as much as admitted to me that they don't care because it only affects a small percentage of their customer base.  At least he was honest . . . If only the company as a whole would be as honest and stop advertising and marketing these new products as compatible with devices running Windows 10.       

[SunsetRunner]

@Dan32169As a fellow user of Windows 10 products I can appreciate your frustration as most of the new tech seems to specifically leave us users out of their development plans. I agree that if, as you say, Fitbit no longer supports Windows devices, they should say so. At least I haven't had any problems getting my Alta HR to work with my Windows 10 devices, and there isn't much difference between it and the Inspire HR. In any case, I was fortunate I was able to return the device (which I'm positive was defected because it didn't work with my IPad or my Android tablet) and I wasn't doing anything particularly valuable with my time anyway 😉 

Don't let the "man" get you down, Dan! Continue looking through Windows!!😁 

[RainbowDragon]

@Dan32169I'm sorry you too experienced frustration with the latest generation of Fitbits.

In my case, the damage is already done.  The time was wasted.  The product did not work.  And I've returned it.  (Thank goodness I ordered the original product via Amazon and not directly from Fitbit.  Fitbit's so-called customer support was appallingly bad, but Amazon's return process was fast and hassle-free.  My money was credited back to me less than 24 hours after I requested the refund.)

Since my only experience with Fitbit products and staff was uniformly negative, I will never again purchase a Fitbit product.  So the company cannot waste any more of my time.  (Fitness trackers are a solution in need of a problem in any case.  I completed the project for which I had originally ordered the Fitbit without ever receiving a functional device, and I certainly have no need of one now.)

Perhaps Fitbit does not care that I left their product a one-star review (which I explained in my comments should really be zero stars) on Amazon or that I've written publicly on social media about my thoroughly negative "Failbit" experience.  That's not my concern.  My Windows 10 computer serves me well.  Fitbit did not.  So I'm done with them.

[PippinthePug]

Thanks for you post Dan, it corroborates my conclusion.  My Inspire HR will not connect to my Windows 10 desktop no matter what I try.

[Momster22]

I'm 2 weeks into my 1st Fitbit ever, the Inspire HR, and frustrated by similar connectivity issues.  I'm posting here just to relay my experience in hopes it helps Fitbit or others work out the problem.   I'm about 2 days away from deciding to return my device to Amazon.   Here's what I experienced:

1.   Windows 10 PC desktop with Bluetooth built into network card.  Intel i7 processor.  Approx 4yrs old.  Windows 10 Pro N version 1709....   Installs the Win10 app fine, cannot connect to Inspire HR.  Bluetooth sees it, app cannot connect.   Bluetooth drivers are up to date etc and it communicates with other devices.  Went thru many rounds of installing/uninstalling the app, turning BT on/off, rebooting PC, rebooting Inspire, etc etc.  

1a.  Purchased an external Bluetooth dongle for my Windows 10 desktop.  It works nicely, but doesn't use the built in windows drivers.  So the Fitbit App thinks my Bluetooth is off and doesn't even try to connect even though the BT dongle is on and discoverable.

2.  Windows 10 Laptop with Bluetooth built in, Intel network/BT card.  About 3yrs old.   Same results at #1.  Inspire does not connect.

3.  Windows 10 Laptop with bluetooth built in.  Dell.  Less than 3mo old.  Inspire DOES connect to this!   Great!!   Too bad this is my son's laptop to head off to college with.

4.   Android 8.1.0 Phone (Moto G 5 +) - connects pretty easily.  Had a couple of snags at first with GPS tracking not working, but I uninstalled the app, restarted InspireHR device, reinstalled the app and it worked.   

I called tech support twice in the early setup stages.   They recommended things like others have said here:  make sure Inspire isn't connected to any other devices at the same time.  "Forget" Inspire on other devices to get it to start clean with setting up on new device.  Ultimately the rep said, get a tablet if I don't want to use my phone for syncing.

At this point, I'm back to using my phone for sync-ing.   But I refuse to keep my BT and GPS on all the time - it is draining my battery to have Fitbit constantly checking and I don't need Google to be tracking my location.   So I have to manually remember to turn on the connectivity, sync once/twice a day.   Then I can use the Windows 10 app to record food or other stuff if I decide to do that.

Disappointed and debating other brands of activity bands, if any.

[Dan32169]

Give it up. Fitbit has no intention of solving this long-standing problem. They'll tell you otherwise, but they've been saying that they're "working on" a fix that is imminent since late 2017‎. It's just disingenuous corporate double talk. I returned my Versa to Best Buy after 2 weeks of the run around from the Fitbit customer service tools.

Dan Creedon, Esq | Creedon & Early | 1436 Iyannough Rd, Ste 1, Hyannis, MA 02601 | 508-221-8877

[PippinthePug]

The Inspire HR is my 3rd fitbit... and my last. Will not connect to
Windows 10, my 2 previous ones did. The magnetic dongle is terrible, keeps
falling off and the short little cord on it makes me wonder if they ever
tested this in a customer's real life situation. In all the marvelous
blurbs Fitbit puts out about the Inspire HR they never mention it doesn't
work with Windows 10. That would have been a deal breaker for me.

[Dan32169]

Exactly. Not only do they not mention the lack of connectivity with Windows 10, they specifically market the second generation products as being compatible with Windows 10 when they know that they aren't. If you examine the product packaging it states clearly that these products are compatible with Windows 10. If they would just come clean and stop misrepresenting the functionality of their newer products, they might restore the credibility and trustworthiness of their brand. Without that, they continue to fraudulently induce people to purchase these products based on their misrepresentation that they can connect with Windows 10. I brought this to their attention months ago, but they have done nothing, other than remove my posts from this forum from time to time as: "inappropriate". Ha ha. I guess the truth is now "inappropriate" if it exposes a company's duplicity and has the potential to negatively impact its sales revenue.




‎[Fitbit]

[Fitbit]
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[merlinfact]

I have done all the reset bits on my inspire hr and my windows pc dozens of times and still I cant get my pc to find inspire hr on a permanent basis. Although my Bluetooth says it is connected when I boot up Inspire it says looking for tracker and 5 mins later shuts off because it has not found it. If I delete tracker download fitbit app and start loading tracker as if it were new one I go trough all the syncing etc and it will start working but this the only way it works but then I have lost all my records because I have gone back to scratch but as soon as my pc closes down or I access another programme, its gone. This is my second Inspire hr, the first one went back to fitbit because it had the same problems and they sent me a new one. Judging by the number of people who are on this site wit problems it makes you wonder whether enough research was done by the manufacturers before releasing this monster for me to apparently waste my money on. I have been using Alta for a few years and problems were minimal

[PippinthePug]

I hear you, I have gone back to my original Charge HR with it's 2nd band,
imported from China because it was permanently attached and Fitbit had no
replacement option. But it works! connects to my Windows 10 PC and my
Samsung Android tablet perfectly. My Inspire HR now sits in my drawer
because by the time I tried all the "fixes" from Fitbit, the return
warranty period had expired.

[bkg55]

I finally got my Inspire HR to work with Windows 10.

I previously had a Flex 2 working on Windows and when I tried to add my new Inspire HR it would not connect no matter what I did.  I tried everything in this article, but nothing worked.  So I decided to gamble and try something extreme.  I deleted my flex 2 from bluetooth, turned off bluetooth on my phone, put my flex 2 in another room, then deleted fitbit completely from my computer and restarted it.  I then went online to fitbit like this was the first one I had ever owned.  I opened a new account under a different email address and downloaded the app.  The app found my new Inspire HR and walked me through the setup, also telling me it needed a software update.  The update took about 30 mins and then it walked me through using the fitbit.  Maybe it was the new account... maybe it was the update that my old account didn't see.  I am not sure, but it's working now.  I hope this helps someone.

[SunsetRunner]

You will need an external bluetooth adapter, like the "Iogear Bluetooth 4.0 USB Micro Adapter". Be sure to reboot the computer after adding the adapter.