Inspire & Inspire HR Battery Issue

[MattFitbit]

Fitbit update: 4/9/19 Our engineers have added the Stats Heavy and Valerie clockfaces back into the gallery. Feel free to re-install them if you had recently removed them due to battery concerns. 

---

Our team was recently made aware of an issue which may be affecting some users battery life while using certain clockfaces on Inspire and Inspire HR. We are currently looking into this and hope to have a fix identified soon. 

In the meantime, I recommend switching to one of these three clockfaces: Simple Stats, Shifted, or Analog. After some testing, our team has determined that switching to the above clockfaces should help alleviate potential battery drain. 

If you are experiencing short battery life after switching to one of the clockfaces above, I also recommend performing a quick restart and following the troubleshoots listed in this article.

As always, I will be sure to keep you all in the loop as more information becomes available. Feel free to let me know if you have any additional insights or questions. Thanks again!

[ProfJudi]

Excellent post, SloCyclist - you've identified the key problems. I'm one of the people who called Customer Service, had them check my battery drain and, after the second call, they sent me a new Inspire HR. It's a tad better - can get up to 2.5 or almost 3 days on a charge now, but it's still not as good as my Alta HR.

   One other point you didn't mention was that the charge cable is very short and the magnetic attachment to the back of the FitBit has to be done very carefully and then laid down without it becoming disengaged from the charger.

    I am very, very surprised that FitBit hasn't been more attentive to these messages and addressed what's being done to improve what seem to be extremely widespread problems. I say that because I've always been a very happy FitBit owner so this has been a bummer.

Moderator edit:  format

[Alohaacres9253]

Well there goes my out of the stock picks for fitbit inspire

Sent from my iPhone

[torroid]

I started using my Inspire HR on March 21st and in the last week I've started having battery issues: full charge is now lasting barely two days. At the start it was a week, so something has definitely gone south. (I haven't messed with clock faces, haven't changed the way I'm using it.) Haven't done the reset or tried the troubleshooting yet, but I am Disappointed with a capital D.

[LomLin]

I get about 4 to 5 days now, sadly this is how I ended up making it last that long. I switched to the clock faces that was suggested to use: Simple stats, shifted or analog. I turned off wake screen and I have absolutely no notifications sending to my fitbit. So far like I said 4 to 5 days. Sucks, because I liked the notification alerts. That was sucking up a lot of battery power as well as the wake screen, which kept waking me up in the middle of the night if I tossed and turned a lot.

Moderator edit:  format

[LomLin]

Pretty sure they dropped that clock face due to battery draining.

[LomLin]

I agree, much better than the other ones they have had, great price as well.

[LomLin]

Announced a few weeks ago, the Inspire line of fitness trackers replaces the Alta HR and older devices such as the Flex 2, Zip and One. The duo was originally released to corporate customers back in January.

While they are excellent options for someone looking for a 24/7 activity device, it seems the fitness bands are not without their issues. In fact, we noticed comments on our website dating back a few months on users complaining about battery life.

According to Fitbit’s technical specs, the trackers should last about 5 days on a single charge. But some users are barely reaching half of this figure. A growing thread on one of Fitbit’s forums discusses the issue. It also offers a solution.

It seems the battery issue is linked to using certain clock faces. If you are experiencing poor battery life, Fitbit recommends switching to one of these: Simple Stats, Shifted, or Analog. After some testing, they found that those clock faces should help alleviate potential battery drain.

You should also restart your fitness band after doing this. This is done by pressing and holding the button on your tracker for 5 seconds and then releasing the button. When you see a smile icon and the tracker vibrates, Inspire has restarted. The reset requires that the watch is connected to the charger.

Fitbit says its engineers have temporarily removed the Heavy Stats and Valerie clock faces which seem to be the main culprit. They are hoping to have both of these back in the gallery soon.

Moderator edit:  format

[PAT7776]

have you really read the other posts—the complaints are on the inspire and inspire hr —Not alta. We have tried changing faces, turning off notifications etc. and to no avail it only lasts 48 hrs. again you need to read all the negative posts on people who have done all fitbit told us to do and to no avail it does not fix nor do they seem to be able to come up with a solution. this is a cheap battery problem and what they should do is get a better battery and send all of us a new fitbit with the proper battery that holds a charge. you buy a watch because of it’s features and when you can’t use 2/3 of them and still have to recharge it is a rotten product. people will go elsewhere if they don’t respond to their customers with a true fix!! plus the charging cable is a bad joke as it is so short—just like the battery….

Moderator edit:  format

[ProfJudi]

It really is such a bummer. I contacted Customer Service and actually did get a replace unit. Sadly, the same issue with low battery drain; I got 3 days once and now it's back to 1.5 to 2 days max. I really dislike the charger and when I compare it to the ease and secure attachment of the AltaHR, it's really a downward slide in quality.

   I do believe there is something systemically wrong with the InspireHR; we do not buy the next generation of something we like - and I have really liked my FitBits - to turn off all of the features that motivated us to get it!

   I cars can get recalled, why not recall what seems to be a defective FitBit? I am still a fan of FitBits and I do like many aspects of the InspireHR. If the charger was better and the battery life matched my AltaHR, I'd actually be thrilled with it.

   Moderators, rather than telling us to turn off the features we bought it for, can you let us know if there is work within the company that is aiming to address this widespread problem?

[PAT7776]

amen—we all know the problems—lets get a solution from fitbit, like the recall idea. give us a new battery design!!!

[DavinaT]

I annoy even change my clock face because the button for my inspire hit on the app has disappeared ! Someone please help I’ve been trying for the pasts 2 hours any help will be appreciated ! 

[LomLin]

You know what @PAT7776  no need to be this harsh with me, I am a nice person just relaying a message I saw on the internet, so if you read my post you will see I said - 'Announced a few weeks ago, the Inspire line of fitness trackers replaces the Alta HR and older devices such as the Flex 2, Zip and One.' - this statement is stating that the inspire replaced the Alta and older devices. Also the person who voted for the comment didn't read my statement right either! This device is awesome, I  have had several fitbits and this one is great! The charging cord, yes it's short, so buy a longer one! And yes you are right about using all the features, oh well, adjust. I have changed the clock face and yes it does work. Fitbit is a great product!

Moderator edit: format

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for your help with this @BethLass, @SloCyclist, and thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the device.  

Also, thank you for sharing this information @toniecet, @SloCyclist, besides the time when you were in bed and got extra steps recorded, were you performing any specific activity when you noticed this 1500-1800 step difference? Please let me know as well if you've tried to restart your device following these steps, and check your dominant hand settings. 

Thank you for sharing your feedback about the Inspire HR @ProfJudi, these are always helpful to continue improving the quality of products. Let me know if you continue to experience any trouble with the battery draining too fast. 

Thank you for your feedback @Alohaacres9253. 

 I'm sorry to see you've been having trouble with the battery draining too fast as well @torroid, before considering other options, please make sure to exhaust all the troubleshooting steps listed here. Let me know how the devices continues to behave in the following days.  

@PAT7776,  thank you for confirming that you already tried the troubleshooting steps suggested. I've gone ahead and sent your information to the Customer Support team for further assistance with this, so you should be getting a reply soon.

Thank you for your feedback @ProfJudi, this has been addressed here previously, the engineers are aware of this and are still investigating ways to improve battery life. Thank again for sharing your experience and comments, it's good to know that you will be receiving a replacement soon. 

@DavinaT, you should be able to see the device Icon on your main dashboard in the app. Please make sure the device is still paired to the account, you may follow the steps here as reference. Keep me posted.  

Thank you for sharing all this information @LomLin, I'm sure this will be of help for other users. It's good to know your experience with Fitbit has been positive. 

Let me know if you have further questions.  

[Mark22]

I have an Inspire HR. Been charging fine, however it went totally flat this morning, and won’t recharge at all. Any suggestions???

[DavinaT]

The button in the corner is completely gone. So I cannot sync it or anything. I may just delete my account and restart my Fitbit 

[toniecet]

I wasn't doing anything other my normal activities. I haven't worn then
both to the gym yet but doing that this week to see how far off it will be
during my workout.

[Joli1221]

I’ve noticed that the exercise shortcut will start an exercise without my knowledge and run until I stop it. It’s “tracked” up to 7 in a day. This kills my battery life. My daughters dies before she gets home from school. One exercise was still going 8 hrs by the time we noticed. There needs to be a way to completely disable the exercise shortcut on the display. I’ve never used it in the years I’ve been using Fitbit. 

[quiofhearts83]

I purchased the Fitbit Inspire 2 days ago. Funny changed it yesterday. Used it for the first time and it died in less than 14 hours. So it hasn’t been fixed.

[Mahea04]

I agree with the disabling of that feature or making so it doesn't turn on easy 

[Mojordans]

I have the Fitbit Inspire HR. This would be my third replacement in 2 months. I don't get it wet  and I charge it every 4 days. But it keeps dying on me. The screen turns dark and then it just vibrates every second. I've tried restarting it but that doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I've only had my Inspire HR for 1 1/2 months... This would be my third one! It keeps dying on me. But they have replaced it each time. But this is annoying!!