New Fitbit Versa various Issues syncing

[Elsker]

Hi, I am a long time fitbit user, bought the first Fitbit Tracker when it first came out and love it, upgraded to a Fitbit One and loved that, they both still work flawlessly within their capabilities, then I upgraded to a Fitbit Charge HR and loved that, it didn't last as long only about three years and the battery died, no bigger it worked flawlessly while it lasted. Needless to say the Versa seemed very exciting, since I have been back on my Fitbit One since the Versa died. 

While I really like the watch, it fits well, is comfortable, the display is great, the advertised features are great, its such a nightmare to setup. I am no novice to technology, I work in IT. 

The setup took 22 hours. No matter what I tried I couldn't get my galaxy note 4 to recognize it, an older phone I realise, but its on the compatability list. So I used my desktop, with a fitbit bluetooth dongle. Recognised it fine but didn't give an option to use wifi during setup I tried a few times but just was not there, so I let it do its thing for 22 hours... that alone was an awful experience.

So I got the watch working. Wore it all day, the steps seem off. I need to tweak settings probably, happy to work on that. I know my fitbit charge always registered more steps than the fitbit one too. Wasn't unexpected.

My real issues are syncing, now it is setup it sometimes randomly is detected by my phone. However it is completely random, I have tried all the suggestions on here to sync it up, turning bluetooth on and off, restarting watch, reinstalling app, restarting phone, the issue is simply that 99% of the time the watch just isn't being detected when scanning for bluetooth devices. once it shows up as available it sync with the app ok but that only lasts a few minutes if lucky. So that's totally unreliable, and negates a lot of the advertised features. 😞

So I reverted to my desktop. Now it will sync data with the fitbit dongle every time I ask it too. Does so instantly and perfectly. I'm feeling pretty good about this. finally can install some clock faces and music. Music is way up there on the list of reasons I bought this watch, probably in the top 2 reasons. But no. I can't connect the wifi, or open the clock gui or media gui it says "please make sure bluetooth is on".

But wait its syncing data fine before and after this error. My desktop has no native bluetooth only the fitbit dongle. Is the fitbit dongle not fully compatible with the fitbit versa? surely not. 

Soo I turn off the desktop and go back to the phone, I move around the house doing acrobatics like kramer in sienfield trying to get a tv signal till I finally get the two devices to sync. I wukcly setup wifi and even get a clock face synced before I lose the connection again. I hope I like this clock face now because I think I am stuck with forever as the phone won't sync/connect  again. 

So back to the desktop 12 hours later after work. Syncs data great but same error when trying to change clocks or sync some music. I really wanted to sync some music, I could probably live without the rest of the features I had hoped for is I could just get that music to sync. I try removing the dongle, letting it reinstall, same issue. I google the problem again, I check the forums again, nowhere can I find anything about this specific problem or anything about syncing with phones I haven't tried dozens of times. I also discover you can't sync music from your phone.

So after this long tale is there anything I can do, am I missing something, so I need a third party usb bluetooth  dongle, is the fitbit one just inappropriate for this fitbit device. 

Specs:

versa firmware v 32.32.12.19

desktop is windows 10 home fully updated 

fitbit app desktop is updated

phone is a galaxy note 4 android v 6.0.1 fully updated for this device.

fitbit app on phone is updated and reinstalled twice in last few days.

[Marrrmaduke]

@Elsker Try if this helps:

1. Unpair (remove) Versa from your phone's bluetooth settings
2. Turn off the Bluetooth
3. Reboot your phone and turn on the bluetooth but do not pair versa 
4. Reboot your Versa by pressing and holding the left and bottom right buttons until Fitbit logo flashes
5. Open Fitbit mobile app and force sync. 

[Elsker]

@Marrrmaduke

Thank you for your response, I had tried this, well minus the unpairing as the versa never pairs. I just tried it again but the versa for the most part doesn't show up in available devices, no matter how many times I reboot it. Except occasionally for very short periods. 

The main issue that is frustrating me now is the desktop issue where it syncs perfectly every-time with the fitbit dongle but I cannot add clocks, media, apps or modify wifi settings, I just get the  "please make sure bluetooth is on" error. 

I'd really love to put some music on my watch. I'd love to know if anyone else has this issue and whether buying a non fitbit bluetooth dongle might solve it. 

[Marrrmaduke]

@Elsker At this point it's really hard to say where the issue is. I think just to cover all bases, I would try syncing (and setting up WiFI, apps etc) using a different mobile device. Perhaps someone in your family has an iPhone or different Android device (something running Nougat or Oreo). I probably would also perform one more factory reset to be sure I am starting from scratch. I would set up Versa using that borrowed mobile device. If this fails, I would contact Customer Support as this really might be an issue with the tracker itself. Also, you have probably already seen that page, but just in case some troubleshooting tips from Fitbit.com.

[Elsker]

@Marrrmaduke

Thanks again for your response. I had been a bit busy to do much more, but I had noticed it seems to have started syncing more reliably with my phone, and despite searching manyt imes for some information about the bluetooth is not turned on error and not finding anything last night I found a workaround from a google search, which led me to another post here, which worked to allow me to sync music. I still can't sync apps and clocks from the desktop but I can do that on the phone more often now. 

FitBit Dashboard says 'turn bluetooth on'

I do really love the device, its such a shame it doesn't integrate more smoothly with my phone and pc though. 

[SunsetRunner]

I had synching problems on LG G6 Samsung Galaxy S7 S9 and many other Android phones. Until recently after buying Google Pixel 3 way worth the money. I set the phone and then logged in to Google it restored my phone like normal all the apps and I didn't even need to re-setup versa it synched immediately. And has been perfect ever since. Lol it's pixelating