Music controls on Versa not working correctly.

[pocal]

I have a new Versa. I have a Pixel phone running Android 9 (Pie). I have some Bluetooth earbuds which work perfectly with the phone. I want to control audio playback on my phone using the watch. I do NOT want to download content to the watch; this is of no interest to me whatever as I always have the phone with me. After hours of effort I managed to pair the Versa with the phone (i.e. Versa Classic - the normal Fitbit app pairs and works fine). The instructions say to press the left button then swipe to Music Controls. So far so good. The Controls show it's set to the phone. However actually playing audio from the phone makes no difference most of the time. Maybe one time in 5 the screen shows the actual audio controls. Is there a reliable way to get this working? If there isn't, I'm returning the watch. I had a Charge 3 before this and only went for the Versa because it offered this functionality.

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[Marrrmaduke]

@pocal The controls are flimsy for me as well, but all I have to do is toggle on and off (sometimes 10 times) with audio playing. I can control anything really from Google Music to Audible. I mentioned that here.

[pocal]

Thanks, I'll try your suggestion though frankly this is really unacceptable from Fitbit. Apparently they claim the Pixel is an "unsupported device". Is this some kind of sick joke? Pixels are the references devices for Android. If anything works, they should. That's why I buy them.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @pocal, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's nice to see you too @Marrrmaduke, thanks for all your help. 

@pocal, I appreciate you have taken the time to bring this to our attention. Would it be possible for you to elaborate a bit more about your issue with Music Control? Which apps are you using with it? Is the screen not responding to your taps? When you mention the screen is not showing Music Control, what is it showing? Have you tapped on the ellipsis (...) icon and selected "phone" as a music source? 

Having more information will be very helpful for us to check this further. Additionally, a picture will be very helpful as well. In the meantime, please restart your Versa by pressing and holding the Back and Select buttons (left and bottom right) until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen and let us know if anything changes.

Thanks for your patience, we'll be waiting to hear from you. 

[Marrrmaduke]

@pocal it doesnt mean Pixel won't work. It means it hasn't been tested yet. They will get there. Actually I have heard only good things about Pixel 3 + Versa so far. Mind you it's a second hand info, but the source is trustworthy. 😊 I myself am in the OnePlus camp. 😊

[pocal]

I'm using (or trying to use) Audible and Pocket Casts, the two apps I most frequently use when walking about with my earbuds. The behaviour doesn't seem to be any different whichever one I use. 1) The phone shows Bluetooth on and paired to the buds and to Versa Classic. 2) The screen Shows Music Controls, with the ellipsis. If I touch the ellipsis I get the Source screen, showing the phone as the source. 3) If I run an app the Music Controls screen usually doesn't show the actual back-pause-forward controls. It doesn't matter if I run the app and then select the screen, or vice versa. Maybe one time in 10 it will show the controls. The rest of the times I try it I just get the initial Music Controls screen with the ellipsis, and the ellipsis just gets me the source selector. No amount of pressing the left button, turning the screen on or off etc., makes any difference. 4) Meanwhile the audio source from the phone is playing on the earbuds and the Versa seems completely oblivious.

UPDATE:

I don't read "unsupported" to mean "doesn't work". A cynic might take it to mean "there must be a bug but we aren't taking any responsibility because we haven't tested it with the standard Android reference platform, even though common sense says it should work". What I'm getting at is that any kind of response of this nature would be simply unacceptable (note that it's not a response I've received myself, just something reported elsewhere on this forum). I've read good things about OnePlus, but I really don't expect the problem to be related to the specific phone. The Versa is a Bluetooth device following Bluetooth standards. If it doesn't work, there's a bug somewhere. Given that similar behaviour has been reported multiple times here, with a variety of phones, I'm guessing that the bug is in the Versa firmware. Thanks for responding in any case.

UPDATE 2:

I reset the watch (I hadn't noticed your suggestion before). At first glance, that seems to have fixed it but I'll keep testing and report again if anything changes.

UPDATE 3:

Update: after resetting the watch it worked, then it didn't, then it did. I think finally figured it out: you can't have two audio apps running at once on the phone, even if one of them is paused. The watch is tied to the first one you start. To use another one you have to stop the first one, then run the second one.
At least that's what appears to be the case so far.

[MarcoGFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello @pocal, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. It's nice to see you around too @Marrrmaduke, thanks for your help. 

@Marrrmaduke, at this moment, I would like to suggest you to check the following article: Which phones and tablets can I use with my Fitbit watch or tracker?, where you can find the entire list of devices compatible with Fitbit. If you notice, the Google Pixel 3 is already listed here. I understand our list of supported devices hasn't been updated yet but our team is working on it. 

@pocal, I appreciate you have come back and provided details about this situation and for letting us know everything about the tests you've performed, I'm glad that after resetting your Versa, Music Control seems to be working better and I'll make sure to forward your findings to our team so they can take a better look at them. 

Thanks again for your participation in the Forums, feel free to reply in case you need anything else.  

[Marrrmaduke]

@MarcoGFitbit Thank you for pointing out the list has been updated. I believe, at the time of writing original post, @pocal's phone was not on the list of supported devices. Nevertheless, @pocal has been having certain issues and we've been trying to resolve them as best as we can. Thanks again!

[owingsjs]

I’ve found that if I connect Bluetooth earbuds to my phone and then launch my music app, I have a hard time getting the Fitbit Versa music controls to work and control my phone.  At best (often after turning off Bluetooth, rebooting the Versa, etc.), I can get the controls, but they will be missing track title and artist name.  However, if I launch my music app and get started playing music before connecting my Bluetooth earbuds the Versa controls typically work and show track and artist name.  I suspect that the earbuds are competing with Versa for control.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @owingsjs, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community. It's nice to see you too  @Marrrmaduke, I hope you're doing well, it's nice to see you around helping others! 

@owingsjs, I appreciate you have taken the time to provide your insight about Music Control, I'm sure your tips will be very helpful for many members of the Community.

@Marrrmaduke, you're very welcome! Please note that even when the list of compatible devices is still yet to be updated, you can consult the help article  Which phones and tablets can I use with my Fitbit watch or tracker? which has the latest mobile devices added to our list. 

Thanks again for participating in the Forums, if there's anything else I can help you with, feel free to let me know. 

[Marrrmaduke]

@owingsjs thank you for sharing that tip! 😊

[Meen]

I have a new fitbit versa lite, and I have a oneplus 7 pro, running on android pie. The music control disappears again and again. After every 5 minutes I have to repair my phone and versa lite. After 5 mins music controls show that no phone is connected, even though my phone is constantly connected to the watch. Its a new device and i i expect it to show the basic functionality of controlling music through bluetooth at least. Please suggest what to do, and if so many people are facing so many issues, please fix the bug.

[phildgeorge]

Since the latest fitbit versa update, this functionality is very flakey. I now have to unpair and re pair every time I want to use this. Not very satisfactory really. I have a galaxy s10+ which was working perfectly well before the update 

[Versa-tility]

I too am having to un-pair and re-pair 'versa Classic' to keep the music player active. I normally only have to do it once. If versa Classic is in my list of past connected devices I can reconnect but after a few minutes the versa will disconnect and music player stops functioning. This is when I un-pair (forget device basically) and re-pair. I am using a Samsung S7. I have also had some notifications not clear or mark unread since the update. I forced stop the Fitbit app, re-opened app and restarted the Versa which seems to have corrected the issue.

[shochman]

I am using a One Plus 6 on my new Fitbit Versa, which is supported, and I am having the same problem. The Fitbit classic bluetooth connection used for the music control is very unstable.

[Kloh]

Same here. I had a consistent way of connecting my phone (Note 10+) to my Versa successfully prior to the firmware update. But now, that no longer works. 

The only way I can get it to connect (and it only connects for a few minutes before it disconnects again) is by pairing it constantly. 

It's so maddening. 

[Versa-tility]

Still have same issue as you with my Android. I was "unpairing" and re-connecting and it was working now I can't even "unpair", when I select the option on my phone Versa classic will not leave my device list. I have confirmed that other devices will. Very frustrating. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[Chuckegg]

My experience too.  Versa connects and initializes only when my bluetooth earbuds are disconnected.  Once the Versa audio controls are working, I can only then connect my bluetooth earbuds to my phone to have everything work as it should.  (Moto G6 Play, Android v. 9)