Inspire HR stopped syncing after January 16 and won't connect anymore

[Durhammer]

I have been busy and hadn't checked my Fitbit dashboard until today. The last recorded activity seen in the web dashboard is from January 16. My main app host is a Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70 running Android 6. I use that because it doesn't have a cell connection. Previously, when the Fitbit app was on my Android phone, it started using gobs of data -- oddly enough, about the first day of the Google acquisition! Switched over to the tablet, as it's ONLY WiFi, and it's been working until six days ago. (Interestingly enough, Google's acquisition completed two days before my tracker stopped syncing. Strange, almost coincidences. 🙂 )

I've gone through all the proper motions many times now, trying both my tablet and my phone, setting up the Inspire HR anew. After keying in the 4 digit sync number, it tries connecting and eventually gets the "Sorry, the setup is taking longer than usual. Please be patient. We're on it!" Yeah, right! HOW LONG should I have to wait? It "never" comes back. Same issue with my LG Stylo 4 Android 9 phone. I've turned Bluetooth on and off, restarted tablet and phone, rebooted the tracker each time when trying the setup, yadda yadda yadda. It simply ain't working no mo'!!!

The only thing I haven't tried is to clear the user data off of the Inspire HR, as that would clear my unrecorded steps, sleep data, and such. If I have to do that, I will, but this is rather disappointing to say the least. HELP !!! (???)

Chatted with Fitbit guys. Wish they were more helpful. Told me to update my Fitbit app and try again, but the app is already at the latest level in the Google App Store. And now I've reached the chat limit, since they keep wanting me to go away. Sheesh!

[Rich_Laue]

Have you installed last Fridays Fitbit app update for android? 

You don't want to clear the data from the tracjer, and you do not want to remove the tracker from your Fitbit account, which probably will clear the in synced days. Neither step will fix a sync issue. 

If you have Fridays update, let's look at these steps. 

If these steps fail. 

Through the phones settings. 

Stop the Fitbit app

Clear the Fitbit data. 

Restart phone

Open the Fitbit app

Log into your Fitbit account.

Your tracker will remember 30 days of daily totals. 

[Durhammer · Accepted solution]

I had the latest update on my Fitbit app at the time.

I tried the recommended steps to sync over and over to no avail.

I worked with three Fitbit support folks over chat (which itself was
quite unsatisfactory, sorry to say), and nothing -- NOTHING -- they had
me do worked.

The ONLY thing that finally worked was when I deleted my data on my
Fitbit Inspire HR. THEN I was able to re-sync with the app. That S*CKS
out loud. Lost about a weeks worth of data.

[Jockey141]

Hey I had the same issues for months. 

After deleting the app, resetting the watch all I could get to was enter the 4 did get code from watch onto the phone and then it would never manage to sync. 

I Have the inspire HR and my phone is a Huawei. Mine hadn't connected since December 6th when I was looking at it in Jan as it was the third or forth time it had done this since I purchased it half way through 2020. I would connect to power and rest the watch, I would un sync the watch from phone, delete the app and restart phone and nothing would work for months. I finally managed to find out how to get customer service and then they sent me a replacement unit which worked straight away. 

[Durhammer]

Well, think about it -- your new unit didn't have any personal data on it. 

QED (maybe). There's a bug in the current firmware, no doubt, but replicating it probably is a bear.

[Rich_Laue]

If you are an android user, update last Fridays Fitbit app release. 

Sorry but unsync doesn't mean anything. The tracker is either connected to your Fitbit account or not connected. 

[Durhammer]

Same issue happened in the last few days. Looking at my Inspire HR on my wrist, it recorded lots and lots of steps each day the past week. Got my weekly report and saw where I had few or no steps over the past 5 days. Tried syncing the d*mn thing and again and again, no luck. Did all the "right" steps as support and this community have ever suggested, and after wasting about three hours worth of effort, again erased the user data on the HR. THEN, and ONLY then, I was able to set up and "sync" my HR with the Fitbit app. (In the meantime, between erasing the user data and setting up, the watch face showed a totally incorrect time, interestingly enough. That got fixed when it finally set up.)

At least this time, I "only" lost maybe 5 days worth of data. I haven't "slept" since last Thursday (today is Tuesday). I now realize that the "steps" that sporadically showed on the app were because I also had set up the phone with the Fitbit MobileTrack pedometer service.

Wish my old Charge 2 had not crapped out on me. It had a much easier "forced sync" mechanism. When this issue happens on the Inspire HR, the device simply won't show up on any Bluetooth receiver. Doesn't matter about turning BT off/on, searching, rebooting the HR, removing/reinstalling the Fitbit app, nothing works until you clear the user data (with all your steps, sleep scores, etc.) and re-setup the device. THIS SUX.

[Rich_Laue]

When it comes to the temp data in the fitbit app, this is safe to clear, since all synced data is already in fitbits cloud services. Um synced data is still on the tracker. 

Yes setting up a tracker as a new device, is always risking the loss of any in sync data. 

Adding the tracker as a replacement to the existing tracker, when both trackers are the same tracker, seldom will lose steps. Fitbit will also try and sync the data before removing the tracker, when doing it this way. 

Sorry for the loss but the only way to remove data from the inspire, is through a sync (good) or by setting the tracker as a new device. 

[Durhammer]

Sorry Rich, but this is pure BS. After having this happen many, many times now, I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the device loses its Bluetooth capability. I can "see" the tracker on my phone's BT connections, but if I unpair it, it doesn't pair again until and unless I clear the user data, and NO, the data is NOT in "fitbits cloud services." It's GONE, period. The only thing that shows is the phone pedometer steps, and I don't always walk with my phone. 

I have to amend my comments above, as that was then and now is now. Today, after having yet another sync loss, Bluetooth loss event, the tracker simply won't sync, period. I've lost count of the times I've rebooted the tracker, cleared the data on the tracker, and tried to set it up again. It just won't. About an hour ago, after the first clearing of data, eventually it said it "found" the device, but then failed to connect to it. After that one time, it hasn't even gotten that far. The other cute thing is that apparently until it DOES sync, the clock part of the watch is totally useless. Right now, it's 9:26 EDT and the watch is showing 01:26 -- not sure what time zone that's in. Maybe Vietnam, where the thing is made? I am SOOO tired ot this **ahem**. 

Allegedly, it's still under warranty, so now I'm trying to find out how to get it replaced. I am NOT going to pay for an upgrade, either.

PS -- oh yeah, another odd thing I've noticed when this thing "goes South" is that the Fitbit app shows that "today's" steps are something over 10,000 (maybe what I had yesterday), but then it's all gone when I clear the data from the tracker.

[Rich_Laue]

I have no idea what is meant by by loses Bluetooth capability. If a tracker dies not sync, it may be hardware issue and a phone or tracker shutdown will be needed. Software could require a restart. I've noticed if the phones memory is pretty full, the tracker will not sync. 

Im not sure what is meant by pair again. Yes A user will not be able to pair a tracker to the phone. The tracker should reject this type of pair

The user setup the tracker to their fitbit account. 

Then the tracker requests permission to pair the tracker. 

Also the tracker does not need to be paired with the phone go a sync. 

Yes, many users have mentioned to clear the Fitbit Apps cache did fix their sync issue

[Durhammer]

Hi Rich, 

You should head over to the topic "Android Notifications and Syncing Issues" which I was pointed to when I went to get "help" in the community for my most recent bout of this crap. PLENTY of users reporting similar symptoms regarding Bluetooth and such. It seems like FB did something back earlier (maybe trying to solve the problem I and a few others have had for a long time), and seems like LOTS of folks were having the same or similar problems, on many different Fitbit devices, many much more expensive than my Inspire HR. FB's issued multiple app updates, the last two (3.43 and 3.43.1) both fixed MY problem -- so far, at least I was able to sync again -- but appears to have broken many other users' syncing, folks who didn't HAVE a problem until the latest update.

I don't have a lot of faith that the current state betwixt my Inspire HR and my phone will maintain. I fully expect another break in sync-ability at some point in the future.

Yep, had a few "good" (not entirely, durn device is increasingly hard to charge) months, but the issue has happened yet again (just like I said it would). My Inspire HR limped past its warranty expiration (September) when I should have tried to get a replacement, then it stopped syncing on October 21st. When it happens, the ONLY way to get it syncing again is to clear the device's user data, and remove the device from my account and then add it back. I've been down this road too many times. Don't know why I stick with Fitbit.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Rich_Laue]

A couple thoughts I have @Durhammer 

• There isnt a factory reset to clear users data on the tracker? 
• Removing the tracker from the users fitbit account normally doesn't fix a sync issue with phone. It simply tells the fitbit server that the user is no longer wanting to use the tracker, possibly koi sing any data that hasn't synced. 
• A tracker can be reconnected to a fitbit account without first removing, use the replace option. This assures no loss in unsync data. Still requires the user to remove the tracker from the phones Bluetooth. 

Normal steps.

• Remove tracker from Bluetooth 
• Clear the phones cache
• Restart tracker and phone, actually better to do a shutdown 
• Log out/in sometimes helps. 
• Try through WiFi and cellular. 
• Clear the for its data. This does not clear any user data. 

[Durhammer]

Rich, believe me, I had tried all the recommended approaches every time before when this happened, and with the "guidance" of Fitbit chat folks, and no, no, no -- NOTHING worked/works except to "first" (after trying all the other suggested approaches) clear the user data. I can only guess that you've never had an Inspire HR? There is no "factory reset" that I know of or could ever locate online or on the tracker. From the home screen, you can scroll UP and eventually see a "Settings" selection, which offers dimming control, double tap, etc., and then Clear User Data, Reboot, and Device Info. (If the Device Info DOES anything other than give the firmware level, I'd like to know.)

Supposedly, this was something in the app on the phone, and back in (June?) it DID seem to fix the problem when the app was updated to a fixed level. For a while, until late last week. One thing that might have had an effect -- maybe could be a big clue for devs if so -- is that at some point, I ran the Android "Smart Cleaning" app to free up some space and memory; pretty sure it killed all my running apps at that point, probably including Fitbit, but I didn't think to check. In any case, it obviously didn't fully kill the app, since the built-in step counter DID count a few steps each day; the trouble with that is, I'm not addicted to my phone so I don't take it when I walk my dogs or do other things like working on my farm. But perhaps the killing of the app at that point unpaired it from the tracker. I guess I COULD try recreating these steps as a test to see if it stops syncing again, with the before-hand knowledge of that possibility, so I would only lose a few steps if it succeeds in screwing up the connection. I'll probably try that and report back.

[Durhammer]

Well, OKAY -- the "Smart cleaning" extension (so not an app, per se) DEFINITELY kills the Inspire HR tracker syncing with the Fitbit app. My tracker shows I've done 10,004 steps, but the app shows 4,000-ish. Will try Rich's suggestions, BUT -- I don't understand the last line -- "Clear the for its data. This does not clear any user data." Huh? Meanwhile, swiping down in the Fitbit app updated the step count to a bogus 14,231 (probably added the two values together?) Fitbit help said to force stop the app, which I did and it didn't change the number above, and the app really isn't syncing -- shows last sync today at 8:49 AM.

Removed the tracker from BT ("unpair" on the phone).

Clear the phone's cache. (There is no phone cache, so I presume it was meant to clear the cache for the Fitbit APP.)

Restart tracker and phone. Phone's easy, but the only "restart tracker" function is the reboot action, which I'll do. Done. Now restarting phone. Now tracker shows 4,439 steps. Try syncing? Doing the usual "Sync is taking a while. Sit tight..." Sure, yeah, right.

Well, Rich -- actually, after all these steps (so to speak), it most certainly DID finally sync and start showing the right number. Granted, between the states of the last two sentences, the account sync view said it synced "a few moments ago" but then retuning to the dashboard, it still showed the ~4K steps; but then, when I did the usual Android "refresh" swipe, THEN it got its act together.

Ergo, my humble apologies! Still -- (1) the app shouldn't be so sensitive, should be more resilient to drastic actions such as the "Smart cleaning" action, and (2) the steps to re-sync are waaay to complicated -- too easy to mis-interpret or miss something essential. Plus, probably needs to add the Android "refresh swipe" at the point mentioned above....

Thanks!

[ritabel]

Thanks for the info on how to clear user data.  I was getting nowhere with the support articles.