Bluetooth, WiFi, iPhones, iOS 12, all fail together.

[J.Clow]

I’ve already had one of those useless cyclical “reboot, restart, uninstall, reinstall” conversations with customer service, and no great surprise, it has fixed nothing. And I know that there have been others with similar issues.

New Versa, iPhone XS on iOS 12.1.2, me standing on my router. The. Stupid. Versa. Won’t. Sync. Reliably. Ever. It just vacillates between “looking” and 5 seconds of failed “syncing”.

Im not an Apple fanboy, and I really want to blame the newest iOS update. I’m also no longer a Fitbit fanboy, so I’m just as likely to blame crummy software dev work or poor quality hardware. Either way, somebody is dropping the ball. And it’s incredibly annoying, albeit a very first world problem.

Is there any reliable, recent solution to this problem? Should I just return the Versa and save myself the trouble?

So, to close with a cliche apples-to-oranges anecdote, my old Fitbit One never gave me this level of trouble. A Versa *should* be capable of counting AND syncing steps at the very least, but I can’t even count on it for that.

[Marrrmaduke]

@J.Clow Works on XS Max for me. Try this, perhaps it will help:

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
4. Reboot your Versa by pressing and holding the left and bottom right buttons until Fitbit logo flashes
5. Login to Fitbit mobile app. Do not pair in phone's Bluetooth settings
6. Grant all permissions incl pairing
7. Make sure Fitbit Notifications are enabled in your phone Settings. If they are switch them off, sync, switch them back ON, and sync again. Please follow steps 1-3 from my post here to properly set up the notifications on your iPhone.

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.

[J.Clow]

That’s so incredibly convoluted, it makes my day! I’ll give it a go later this evening. Thanks.

I played around with other iOS devices (iPhone 7, iPad Air) in my house that DO NOT have 12.1.2, but have other iOS 12 versions installed, and I don’t get the same problems; the Versa interacts flawlessly.

[Marrrmaduke]

@J.Clow LOL. Let's give it a try, but knowing our luck... We will need another update of the fitbit mobile app to work well with the newest iOS.

[lenny4d]

@J.Clow"New Versa, iPhone XS on iOS 12.1.2, me standing on my router. The. Stupid. Versa. Won’t. Sync. " -- well that's problem one: if you are standing with your Versa on your wifi router you are asking for trouble, it operates in the same frequency band it may well interfere with the weak Bluetooth signal. You need to be faaaaar away from PC's, Wifi routers, etc. Also your mobile may interfere. All operate at 2.4Ghz.

[J.Clow]

Totes. I was using hyperbole to mock the constant reminder from the mobile app to be close to the router during setup.

[J.Clow]

I appreciate the advice, but I’m still not seeing an improvement.

My only moderate success has still been on devices running non-current iOS.

ETA: Nevermind. I haven’t had a successful sync in 24 hours! Argh!

[Marrrmaduke]

@J.Clow At this point (beside reaching out to Customer Support for a potential replacement), that's what I would do:

1. Remove Versa from Paired Devices list on ALL devices it was ever paired with
2. De-link from Fitbit account (delete from Fitbit mobile app)
3. Turn off the bluetooth on ALL devices but the one Versa will be used with (primary device)
4. Uninstall Fibit mobile app on ALL devices but the one Versa will be used with (primary device)
5. Reboot the primary device
6. Perform Factory reset of Versa - wipe wipe wipe
7. Install Fitbit mobile app on the primary device and log in
8. Take your Versa and the primary device near router (I know @lenny4d, I know)
9. Plug Versa for charging and start setup process as a new device
10. Set up WIFI in the Fitbit mobile app and follow onscreen instructions
11. Grant all permissions and sync
12. Immediately remove Wifi from Fitbit mobile app
13. Sync again
14. Set up Notifications etc
15. Remove Versa from charging dock.

[J.Clow]

I’ve totally done the nuke and repave method, and I’m still getting spotty results. Just when I hone in on one variable I *think* is causing it, it fails and I’m back to square one. 

I really do do appreciate all the help.

i had already reached out to CS once, but perhaps I need to head back there when I get tired of this fight.

[lenny4d]

@J.Clow  I assume by "nuke & repave" you mean pretty much the steps as outline by @Marrrmaduke --- and seemingly you didn't encounter any setup problems? Which is good, that's how it is supposed to be 🙂  BUT "and I’m still getting spotty results." which probably means something like "Won’t. Sync. Reliably. Ever. It just vacillates between “looking” and 5 seconds of failed “syncing”?  You also wrote : "my old Fitbit One never gave me this level of trouble." But is that on the same XS and same iOS??  Can you confirm that you mean specifically Bluetooth syncing between your XS and the Versa, and not syncing between the app and fitbit.com, neither any Wifi related 'syncing' such as music transfer and app innstalls and the like. It sounds like that sometimes it does sync, but more often not then it does. Do you force a manual sync, or do you just open the app and wait and see? Can you check your bluetooth menu on your XS and see if the Versa is paired? (it doesn't have to but it makes syncing a lot easier). When you write spotty, do you mean syncing from Versa to app or do you mean f.e. notifications (= from app to Versa). There are a lot of highly specific details and aspects that matter when trying to pinpoint what type of problem you really have.

For general bluetooth syncing you should not be standing on your wifi router, but of course I agree with @Marrrmaduke that in situations that you need wifi (relative rare) you should not be too far away from your router either because the wifi signal from the Versa isn't that strong. 

[Marrrmaduke]

@J.Clow hmmmmmm hmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm All right. I will ask something stupid, ok, three something's. Is the background refresh ON for Fitbit mobile app? Is All-day Sync ON? Also, have you tried keeping the screen awake and the app open for a few hours to see if your sync/notifications improve? 

[J.Clow]

@Marrrmaduke Both are on. I’ve left the app go for 20+ minutes without a guaranteed sync. Let me be clear (because my snarky humor tends to declarify my point), I’m only trying to get stats to sync. All other functionality (like music sync, text notifications, third party app notifications, etc.) is moot for me if I can’t just get my steps, stairs, and pulse to update regularly.

I’m trying to thoroughly respond to @lenny4d with details and images to help.

[J.Clow]

[[I assume by "nuke & repave" you mean pretty much the steps as outline by @Marrrmaduke --- and seemingly you didn't encounter any setup problems? Which is good, that's how it is supposed to be ]]

Yes, I have tried everything as @Marrrmaduke described. And I absolutely encountered problems - both WiFi and Bluetooth related. Persistent “try again” button mashing *eventually* got things going, but it was not a flawless process. When I go through the setup in the mobile app, it will occasionally tell me the WiFi is not available or that it cannot connect to the Versa.

[[ BUT "and I’m still getting spotty results." which probably means something like "Won’t. Sync. Reliably. Ever. It just vacillates between “looking” and 5 seconds of failed “syncing”?]]  

Yes. With the app open, the Bluetooth syncing process does not complete on a first try. The ((*)) icon blinks, goes between gray and green, the sync arrows spin, the progress bar moves  part way across the screen, then it drops out. If I select the Versa and watch the “Sync Now” spot, it goes between “looking...”, “Syncing...” and “Sync Now” rapidly.

[[You also wrote : "my old Fitbit One never gave me this level of trouble." But is that on the same XS and same iOS?? ]]

I did say this, and pardon my snarky humor. I called it a “apples to oranges anecdote” *because* it was not a valid comparison. Without any tongue in cheek, no. The One was on different hardware and different software. 

[[Can you confirm that you mean specifically Bluetooth syncing between your XS and the Versa, and not syncing between the app and fitbit.com, neither any Wifi related 'syncing' such as music transfer and app innstalls and the like. It sounds like that sometimes it does sync, but more often not then it does.]]

I’m fairly certain it’s Bluetooth (stats from Versa to app). Although changing watch faces and adding apps causes inconsistent “Unable to Connect” messages.

[[Do you force a manual sync, or do you just open the app and wait and see? ]]

Both.

[[Can you check your bluetooth menu on your XS and see if the Versa is paired? (it doesn't have to but it makes syncing a lot easier).]]

Yes. It is. 

[[When you write spotty, do you mean syncing from Versa to app or do you mean f.e. notifications (= from app to Versa). There are a lot of highly specific details and aspects that matter when trying to pinpoint what type of problem you really have.]]

Just getting stats to the app. The rest is superfluous for me at this point.

[[For general bluetooth syncing you should not be standing on your wifi router, but of course I agree with @Marrrmaduke that in situations that you need wifi (relative rare) you should not be too far away from your router either because the wifi signal from the Versa isn't that strong.]]

Truth. And I get within a reasonable range if needed.This message comes and goes every couple of seconds.

Shows this for 2 seconds, but doesn’t sync.

Shows this for another 2 seconds...

Shows this for another 2 seconds...then the cycle starts over.

[Marrrmaduke]

@J.Clow thank you for that detailed explanation. Would you happen to have any other trackers linked with your account? If yes, please remove them and leave only Versa. Then forget Versa, uninstall and reinstall the app, reboot both devices, log back in and grant permissions.

This might sound like a ridiculous thing to ask but I have already encountered issues syncing or adding two or more trackers under the same account - Versa and Ionic, Versa and Flex, Versa and Charge 3, etc. I would make sure there's only Versa linked to my account, and it's the only Bluetooth device paired with my iPhone. Unless @lenny4d has something in mind... If you cannot make it work at this point, I think you might want to try the replacement route and talk to Customer Support.