Fitbit Versa connected GPS issues

[SunsetRunner]

Hi There!

My versa loses connection with my phone (nexus 5x) during bike excercise and thus shows no route on the map. I know I have gps, because Strava app shows it right.

Is this a bug in the software from the Versa?

I tried to start an excercise from fitbit app, but only walk, run or hike does gps. (no bike. why not?!?) so i choose hike.  now i have a hike excercise with hr and ps data. this this excercise shows after sync with strava in strava as hike. in strava i change hike in bike.

now i have bike excercise in strava with hr and gps. after a while just from magic, the ecercise in strava has been changed back into hike again with no hr data anymore.

I know that fitbit versa is not a swiss watch, but at least it should be working as advertised!

connected gps is not not working. People at Fitbit, can you fix this?

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject For Clarity.

[Smokester]

RonS16 - I tried some but not all of your suggestions from your 07-08-2019 post and it did help.  My device generally stays connected during a walk but still no success with a bike ride.  I have recently cleared out the cache from my Bluetooth apps and will give that a try this weekend, but there are so many apps using GPS I don;t know how I could possibly identify all of them.

[silvermetis]

The theoretical max number of sumultaneous bluetooth connects is 7 but the practical maximum is 3 so you need to turn off those you are not using not leave them in background. 

[zard60]

Wow, this seems like a lot to just get the bike mode to connect!  My daughter loves her Apple Watch, I got this as a gift an only am on my 3rd day, not even much data to "tie" up my data.  Very disappointed with this product.

[zard60]

Ridiculous that it is this bad, for a basic function like distance and speed??? I agree.

[Leforan13]

Mine never connects.  I get so mad.  I've tried everything I can think of.  My whole run it just says connecting.  I'm so unhappy with this product.

[Smokester]

I have moved on to a Garmin product with its own GPS.  The technology Fitbit is using just doesn't work reliably.  My Garmin is not much bigger or heavier and works perfectly every time.  I even tracked a kayaking trip with it - very flexible and doesn't need the phone nearby at all times.

[dave_in_ni]

This worked for me, I think it was downgrading to 2.74 that done it for me as I had tried everything else.

[MarkMM]

Mine has been working well for a couple weeks now for no apparent reason. No special tricks like reverting to older app version or turning off wifi. It just works. Was unreliable for over a year. No clue what happened.

[zard60]

So strange how it is random about working?

[urmoluts]

right now oneplus 6 (9.0.8 android) and fitbit (30.08.2019 updated) gps works fine.

[dave_in_ni]

Mine is not working again.  I now just use the Strava app on the phone, Defeats the purpose of the Fitbit I suppose

[silvermetis]

Watches/fitbit app are less than less than 99% reliable so you are going to have atleast 30min every day when something does not work, I had trouble syncing to day - it all part of fitbit experience!

GPS connect relies on bluetooth connection it might be worth checking if any other apps are running that use bluetooth as practical bluetooth limit is only about 3 simultaneous links.

[JLop]

I ordered my versa 2 through Costco. After doing the update yesterday the GPS has not giving me good readings. For 2 weeks it has been very inaccurate. I am returning it and getting a Fitbit ionic watch with built in GPS. I currently own a surge with GPS in it but is not water resistant what so ever. The fitbit watches with unconnected GPS are not the way to go if you are an active runner. 

[SunsetRunner]

So, here's the thing. Fitbit sorted this issue with an update some months ago and it worked great (after several months of issues!). That was when I had a Versa original. I then decided to upgrade to Versa 2 and didn't have any issues.

I have just used connected GPS for the first time in two weeks for a cycle and it connected fine initially but as soon as my phone went off, I had the good old message 'Connecting ....' on my Versa 2. It hardly recorded anything of a 10 mile cycle. I ensure the app is not battery optimised, the notification connection has been stable (thanks to Fitbit enforcing us to have always connected by removing the option to turn it off!). I restarted my Versa 2 and my phone and still connection issues.

It is SOOOOO frustrating to have had a pain in the backside issue sorted only for the developers to re-introduce on issue down the line again. It smacks of using us as guinea pigs to do their testing for them!

[silvermetis]

Sorry to hear you are having problems - it's all part of the Fitbit experience we are continually been told about!

After many years in the IT industry I am of the belief don't fit it if it ain't broke I gave up upgrading months ago and have been relatively trouble free.

More seriously it might be worth checking simultaneous blue tooth connections only about three can be supported reliably at a time.

[SunsetRunner]

Yes, well, I was in IT for 20 years. We had testing scripts that allowed
for development of new software but made sure you tested scenarios to
ensure regressive changes were ironed out before release. We are the
regression testers now it seems.

I got my Versa 2 in October and have not had a single issue with connected
GPS until today. I can only think it's to do with a Fitbit app update or
even possible the latest firmware update for the watch. I only have one
bluetooth connection going in general.

Many thanks for your post. In the words of Boris, Let's get Fitbit done!!

[silvermetis]

I've been retired now for 13yrs, worked all my life in tech industries our telecoms goal was 5 x 9 reliability 30secs outage a year. Nothing was released until we knew it worked and even then we never upgraded all at the same time.

It is easy to stop most s/w & f/w updates the only one forced on me was the new dashboard which was a stealth upgrade installed in a number of earlier upgrades.

[SunsetRunner]

I reset the watch and phone and it's all working seemingly. Two rides and all tracked 100%. 

🤞

[Lindy52]

How did you reset?  I have removed app and installed,  turned off phone, and held the left and bottom right buttons on watch and still have problems.  This just started 10 days ago.  Did fitbit do another update 10 days ago that caused this?

Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android

[SunsetRunner]

Hi Lindy,

I imagine it's a previous issue has potentially be re-introduced or a change that has had a temporary impact to already installed devices.

Steps for Android. (I don't know how different some of this is for iOS):

1. Perform a final manual sync to your phone with the fitbit app so you have all your device data backed up.
2. Go into your bluetooth settings and forget your device 
3. Remove the fitbit device from your fit bit app (delete device)
4. Perform a factory reset of your device, not just a soft reset (lookup instructions to follow for your device)
5. Go into the fitbit app information in your system settings for your fitbit app and delete the cache and storage.
6. Uninstall the app
7. Restart your phone.
8. Re-install the app
9. Re-link your fitbit device in the fitbit app.

I don't know whether you have to do all those steps but it's easier to just do them all as you will know you've done the maximum you can even if it's more long-winded.

Hope that helps.