Bluetooth Issues every three to five days

[Dave_Demase]

Every three to five days my the Fitbit App gets into a funk and throws up the above message. This condition seems to occur in the middle of the night since the sleep tracking monitor in the app will always stop between 2am and 4am, mostly, when the issue arises. I have tried many techniques to recover from the condition so as to continue. However, the only reliable way to get back on track is to warm or cold restart my phone and power cycle the Versa. Once those occur, everything is synced and all good til the next failure.

I've been using the Versa since the end of December '18, and this condition has reliably occurred on a regular basis much to my annoyance. I installed the App on my phone in early November '18, and never saw this condition with the app running until the watch was found and installed as a device at the end of December.

Detail of my devices:

PHONE: LG V20, Android Oreo 8.0.0, Verizon, Fitbit App Version 2.88 - 2/21/19

FITBIT: Versa Spec.Edition, Firmware Version 32.33.1.30

Any insight on this is appreciated.

Dave

[Marrrmaduke]

@Dave_Demase Hey Dave. Someone has reported here that when their Versa loses connectivity (can't sync), the sleep doesn't get tracked. Same problem as yours. The only way was to make sure Versa actually syncs during the night, or perhaps going a opposite route. Things to try:

• turn off All-day sync - perhaps if versa doesn't attempt to sync by itself at night, it will not fail and actually record the sleep... 
• downgrade fitbit mobile app - find the build that syncs without issues - perhaps 2.74.2?
• make sure your phone is nearby.

[Dave_Demase]

Mr. M., thanks for the reply.

The only reason I referenced the Sleep Tracking is that I can tell approximately from when the last sleep data was synced to infer from that when the Bluetooth Issue (i.e. permanent connectivity loss) likely occurred. Otherwise, cold restarting everything brings the full Sleep Cycle data up to date with the first sync afterwards. No sleep data is ever lost it appears, through that sequence of events. It eventually gets caught up along with the hurdle of a reboot in between to all devices. It does seem quite odd to me that this occurs only at night. My phone is never more than 10 feet away from the Versa day and night. 

I may try turning off All-day-sync, and only do a forced sync on demand through the day. However, with that I may risk losing some data if the watch has a run-down battery. Don't know if it would be able to save/keep all the data around for the next sync once it had power again. What I mean is I'm not sure if a planned shutdown with button power off  or Settings-Shutown is any different than the battery giving out. 

[Marrrmaduke]

@Dave_Demase So Versa tracks the sleep but simply the sleep info doesn't get synced? Question: can you see it in the app and it's missing only from your Versa (before restoring the connectivity), or is it missing from the app as well? I'm trying to figure out which syncing step fails - Versa - app or app - Versa.

[Dave_Demase]

Here is a scenario. I fall asleep at at 11pm and wake up at 8am. When I look at the Versa no new notifications have arrived for hours even though I typically get emails and app news updates all through the night. When I check the app, the sleep graph shows a start time of 11pm and an end time of 2am. Any attempt to sync fails and the attached graphic appears. Following reboots for phone and watch a sync automatically occurs within minutes, and sleep data now reads 11pm to 8am while notifications flow normally a well. Apparently, the watch had saved all the sleep data and updated the app with the entire session once a new clean sync has executed even after a power cycle.

[Marrrmaduke]

@Dave_Demase I'm curious what Today app shows in the morning (before restoring BT connectivity). Could you take a look next morning? Swipe up on the main screen of Versa and check what the sleep section shows. Does it show 11 PM - 2 AM? This is really bizarre as normally Versa feeds raw data to Fitbit servers (via Fitbit app) for calculations and then sleep stats as you know them are synced back to Versa (again via Fitbit app). Interesting case.

[Dave_Demase]

That is an interesting operational detail that helps me understand what the inter-dependencies are.

Last night was a domino drop of negative events that skewed this mornings state of affairs. My ISP connection was down most of the night until I power cycled my cable modem first thing this morning. Inferring from many devices including webcams, smart plugs, smart hubs etc, it looked like it was around 12:30-1am when the Internet link went down. My Versa Home App showed only 1.5 hours of sleep, which would more or less coincide with the ISP connection going away in terms of timing. I actually had a good nights sleep of around 7.5 hours. My phone app showed the same sleep duration of 1.5, and the "Bluetooth Issue" warning was up as well. Keep in mind that my phone will automatically switch over to a cell connection when the WiFi link is no-op. So, per my regular routine I power cycled the watch and phone, but the results after the first sync made no change to the sleep interval on the phone app unlike most other scenarios like this. The Versa Home Sleep was still at 1.5 hours as well, an example of data loss in my view.

I will have to wait until the next failure to do a more controlled observation, as I feel the above is much too anomalous to really say anything about the original problem at hand. The info on the flow of data from watch-app-cloud-app is something I needed to know to have a better understanding, for sure. 

[AMatsui]

I was having the same issues but now that my Samsung S9+ had a system upgrade, the bluetooth & syncing issues have completely disappeared.  

[AMatsui]

I was having the same issues but now that my Samsung S9plus had a system upgrade, the bluetooth and syncing issues have completely disappeared.  

[Marrrmaduke]

@Dave_Demase We can say data loss only if it's missing from fitbit.com after all the syncs etc. I find Today app slow to update at times. I would not be surprised if 5 hours later your sleep appears on your Versa. That is if it's on fitbit.com. If it's missing there, and from Fitbit app, that indeed I'm afraid it's gone.

ETA: Just as a side note, do you have battery optimization turned off for Fitbit app in the Android Battery Settings? 

[Marrrmaduke]

@AMatsui Was it updated to Pie? Try this:

1. Unpair (remove) Versa from your phone's bluetooth settings
2. Uninstall the Fitbit mobile app
3. Reboot your phone and install Fitbit mobile app. Do not pair in your phone's bluetooth settings
4. Reboot your Versa by pressing and holding the left and bottom right buttons until Fitbit logo appears
5. Login to Fitbit mobile app
6. Grant all permissions and sync.

The trick here is to not pair in phone Bluetooth settings but rather let the Fitbit mobile app do that. 

Additional tips if sync issues persist: If you have Wifi set up, go to Fitbit mobile app and remove it, then sync your Versa. I noticed that it causes issues for me. If you have other Bluetooth devices paired with your phone, forget them. One of them might be causing issues. Also, make sure Always Connected and All day sync are enabled.

[Dave_Demase]

What an adventure! Data, data, who's got the data.....

After I read your last message I took another look at the phone app, and to my surprise there were two new records for sleep data. I had deleted the previous partial single 11pm-12:30am this morning deeming it worthless. The above two records now installed paint a picture of the data disruption like my other IoT things around my home, and my watch Today stats are more or less the same as the above at 5h35m. While that's not actually my real sleep hours, it's a close approximation considering the lack of network visibility in the middle of the night; i.e. about two hours unaccounted for.

For Battery Optimization, I have "Power Saving Exclusions" turned on for the Fitbit App, meaning no battery saving or optims will be enforced for the Fitbit App.

[Marrrmaduke]

@Dave_Demase This is soooo bizarre... O.o I really do not fathom why it breaks the sleep even though it records everything and you do not have any bedtime sleep presets set. I would perform an experiment and turn off all-day sync or even bluetooth for the night and see what happens in the morning after restoring the connectivity.