Music control not working

[splitbricks]

Has anyone else been frustrated at getting Versa to control music on your phone? I've found it's taken me multiple tries and pairing attempts to get Versa to even recognize I'm playing something and for the actual controls screen to pop up. Plus it only seems to work (sometimes) for the default music app on my GS9 or the Spotify app, but not ones like podcast players which I use frequently. Am I not pairing the device right or is it something Fitbit still needs to address?

EDIT: I tried setting up the connection to my phone again and curiously it only seems to work if i unpair and re-pair Versa every time I want to use music controls, no automatic connection once it's already paired. Also really hate how I need to switch between play from watch to play from phone just to get the controls to work. Seems unnecessarily complicated just for an external controller 😞

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[AlejandraFitbit]

It's great to welcome you @splitbricks.

Thanks for troubleshooting this by yourself. Here are some articles that might help you to know how the music feature works:

• How do I listen to music and podcasts on my Fitbit watch?
• How do I control music with my Fitbit device?

Now, if you previously listened to music stored on your watch, you must manually change the source from the watch to your phone. Then try again to control music playing on your phone:

1. On your watch, press and hold the back button and swipe the Music Controls screen.
2. Tap the 3 dots icon (...).
3. Tap the phone icon to change the source.
4. Press the back button to return to the track listing. On this screen, you can play or pause the track or skip to the next track depending on the app. 

Let me know the outcome. 

[splitbricks]

Yeah, I've tried switching from sources multiple times and unpairing/repairing and versa still won't show me the music control screen. It randomly decided to work a few days ago but dropped out again a couple of hours later... really not great.

[Ccorr]

Having the same connection issues with my note5. Sometimes the music controls will appear and sometimes they wont. It tells me to start playing music from my phone but, when I do, only volume is controlled by pressing either right top button for volume increase or bottom right to decrease volume. First time I tried to connect, the music screen popped up and allowed me to control the playlist but not the volume. This is extremely frustrating because I teach multiple fitness classes and hoped to have a simple Bluetooth music control on my new $200 watch. My way less fancy garmin viviosmart (the old one) had no issues with this simple feature. Fitbit needs to fix this before people like me start to regret this purchase and muck up the reviews. 

[alk15]

If the steps Fitbit suggest actually worked, there wouldn't be so many complaints out there about music controls!!!  Fitbit needs to fix this for Versa users!!! 

[Ccorr]

Music controls are now working since the update but, I'm still waiting for menstrual cycle feature 😑

[splitbricks]

Mine worked temporarily after the update, but when i disconnected bt and re-paired to check if it was stable, went right back to not recognizing being connected to my phone 😞 im wondering now if its a compatibility issue since last i heard the galaxy s9+ wasnt on the initial list? dunno if they've updated it yet.

[Ccorr]

UPDATE:

Now I've noticed that I only sometimes have access to view music controls but, volume always works. Specifically, if I'm connected to 2 Bluetooth devices I have issues.

Scenario 1:

Phone is connected by headphone jack to speaker and Bluetooth to my fitbit versa. All music controls work perfectly with Google music playlists. 

Scenario 2:

Phone is connected to Bluetooth speaker/ headphone. Volume control works perfectly but no music is visible on screen. Unable to fast forward, pause, rewind and fails to display name of song. 

PLEASE FIX THIS IN THE NEXT UPDATE. it's such a simple thing that so many devices already do seamlessly! Fix it!!!!!

[NeedPebbleBack]

in fact, if you click the three dots and switch between play on watch and play on phone. The music control appears. However, it is not synced at all, you can skip songs, but the interface will not update.

And once you leave the interface, you have to do the trick again to get the control up.

[ascavalcante80]

As @Ccorr said, I've noticed something similar... I have trouble trying to control music with my Versa when using two devices connected to my phone (Versa Classic + earphone) .

To get this working I do the following; first I launch the player on my phone with my bluetooth earphone disconnected. Then I make to connection with Versa. When I see the control music available on versa, I connected my bluetooth earphone.

Trying to control the music once my earphone are already connected it's just impossible...

[ascavalcante80]

P.S: my phone is not even listed as supported phone. Even so, I got it working.

[Xmill31]

This worked for me! Thanks! 

[arabafenice85]

I've searched for this issue all along the forum, and this is actually the only way to fix it.. frustrating, but better than anything until spotifiy will be available on fitbit

[Guynamedtom]

I found that if nothing but the versa is connected to my phone first it would work. If my headphones are connected to my phone before the versa it would not work. 

[Cmoya345]

This works right here. Nothing else was working. This got it to work

[KaraC74]

I’ll let you know the outcome- it didn’t work. Tried it several times. I just got this less than a week ago and I’ve had to restart it several times. Seems to me you might have a product issue here more than a user issue. I literally did EXACTLY what you directed, 6 times, still can’t control my music. Never had this problem with my Blaze...

[MaidInChelsea]

I've recently "upgraded" to a Versa and am experiencing the same thing.  It was a very complicated faff in the first place trying to figure out how to pair my Fitbit to my phone (I'm quite tech savvie and it was not at all straight forward, and not what the instructions imply you need to do at all!).  Controlling downloaded music on my phone from my Versa was a key selling point, and my old Blaze worked every time, but the Versa sometimes does and sometimes doesn't recognise my phone and says there's "no phone connected" when there is!  You have to go into your phone settings, unpair the Versa and re-pair it and that seems to work, but you SHOULD NOT have to do this every time as it completely defeats the whole purpose!  Please sort this out Fitbit, don't just respond to these complaints with your copy and paste "instructions" on setting up pairing a device - we've all tried that and it still fails, that's the problem!!!

[JustKat001]

Hi All -- I have struggled with this issue and gone back and forth with Fitbit regarding the issue. I found a separate thread that may provide a resolution to this. There is a distinction between using Versa Bluetooth from Versa Classic Bluetooth.

Per Fitbit:

1. • Open the Settings app on your Versa then Bluetooth > Pair
   • Go to your phone Bluetooth Settings and wait for the phone to finish scan for new Bluetooth connections. 
   • If Versa (Classic) appears tap on it. 
   • If it doesn't appear, turn off Bluetooth for 5 seconds and turn it back on. 

When connected to the Versa Classic, your Android device has the ability to select the Versa Classic as an "input device". Once you connect your phone to the Versa Classic, the audio controls should work.

I tried this on my Note 8 and it is functioning properly.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Versa-Versa-Lite/How-to-use-Versa-Bluetooth-vs-Versa-Bluetooth-Class...

[Vali_ie15]

Im having exactly the same problem with iphone 11 pro.

music control worked great in controlling changing track/volume. Now after i pair the control screen doesnt even show up on versa. Latest version etc on everything.

[Marty675]

I have the same issue since the update, it appears that in the Bluetooth settings it will pair as versa classic, but as soon as Bluetooth goes back to the normal on setting it looses the connection. The second problem is the watch no longers will run a connected GPS , this is a major issue for me as the watch doesn't track my work outs anymore. I am extremely dissapointed now. Thisn fixing now!