Sleep Tracking Not Working

[keticsteve]

 I am opening this topic here because I have tried EVERYTHING suggested to get my Versa to track my sleep with even a vague accuracy. 

It simply doesn't work consistently at all.

I have patiently waited for months for Fitbit to come up with a solution to this issue but constantly read the implication that it is user-error.

Tonight a moderator of a previous thread decided to close it - whilst many of us were faithfully waiting for a promised helpful response which never came!

I guess that is Fitbit saying "It doesn't work - live with it! You're on your own!"

Shame on you Fitbit!

[NellyG]

I dont know your circumstances etc, but I think fitbit is it not saying user error, so much as usuer physiology differences. I have absolutely no trouble with sleep tracking which ever tracker I use. Some people have endless problems over different devices - some of which work well tracking their spouses sleep but not theirs. I think ( and this is a guess - no insider knowledge here) that some peoples unique physiology simply doesnt work with fitbits sleep tracking. Why? I have no idea, but I dont see it as blame the user, just people are different.

[keticsteve]

I have used other Fitbits with no sleep tracking issues whatsoever.
I bought the Versa because it is marketed as a device which tracks sleep.
It simply does not function effectively in this respect for myself and the
many others who have reported this failure.
There is no indication whatsoever in any product information which refers
to the possibility that it will not work with certain users physiology.
Fitbit have not even accepted that there is a significant issue here and
they certainly have never admitted that physiology may be a problem.
This leaves MANY users with an expensive piece of equipment which does not
live up to the specification under which it is sold.
If your hypothesis is correct and physiology is a factor then Fitbit need
to be clear that the device does not work with all people and offer the
opportunity to return what is, for those individuals, an unacceptable
device.

[BigDando · Accepted solution]

This Versa is my third Fitbit device. I never had any sleep tracking or heart rate monitoring problems with the previous two. I used the Blaze for a couple years, never an issue. However, the Versa gives me accurate sleep tracking maybe once per week. Often, it's laughably inaccurate.

The problem with Versa sleep tracking seems to be the heart rate monitor. The Versa has only one flashing diode for monitoring, whereas the Blaze had two. If this actually is the problem for the large percentage of us Versa wearers, then there will never be a fix, it is a fatal design flaw.

Sad, because aside from the useless sleep tracking, I love the Versa. 

[ImGettingFitter]

There is a 33 page thread on this in here that they eventually disabled instead of dealing with the issue. See Here..

[keticsteve]

Thanks for Posting this!
I tried but failed...
Fit bit are hiding their failures!!

[Jerimennifer]

Lucky I saw these threads before the 30 day return period is up. I'm returning mine. Had a Blaze for over a year and it tracked my sleep accurately 99% of the time. Replaced it because the heart rate monitor quit working after about 14 months. Sleep tracking was one of the important features I wanted, and with my new one (only 28 days old) the only way to get an accurate sleep start and stop time is to tell it manually, and then I get only basic sleep statistics. When I just wear it to bed it doesn't register that I am sleeping accurately, and when I update my sleep times, it says I was in deep sleep, and yet the device didn't register that I was sleeping at all. How does that happen? If my heart rate and movements are consistent with deep sleep, I don't understand why (at 11pm) the Versa doesn't register that I am sleeping. I am seriously considering switching to a different brand because of how Fitbit is handling this issue with the Versa.  

[SunsetRunner]

Hi NellyG,

fully agree with you. Had sleep logging problems with the Versa using version .19 (it started well but then suddenly stopped working and had to add my sleep manually everyday), but since the update to version .30, I have no problems at all with sleep logging. 

[TRL666]

The Versa sleep tracking is horrible. It DOES NOT work, it will probably never work. Versa buyers should be granted a credit to use towards the device they design to replace the Versa. As someone mentioned here, the problem is in the design of the watch/tracker itself. No software update is going to fix this and it's not user-error. I replaced my Blaze with a Versa expecting the same feature which I used to use a lot. I'd still like to use it! I certainly let it be known when ppl ask about the Versa that its sleep tracking does not work at all. Or maybe I'm just crabby? According to Versa I get an average of 4 hrs a sleep a night - last night only and hour and a half. That could be it.

[BigDando]

I may have found somewhat of a solution to the sleep tracking issue. As noted here, the heart rate monitoring is crap, probably due to there being only one LED, so that messes up the sleep tracking. 

I noticed that the veins on the inside of my wrist are more prominent and closer to the skin, so at night I've been rotating my Versa to the underside of my wrist. When I get up in the morning, I rotated it back. Been doing this for over two months now, sleeping with the Versa on the inside, and sleep tracking is nearly 100%. Before doing this, sleep tracking was a joke.

[TRL666]

Interesting fix! I'll try that out

[TRL666]

Too bad it didnt work. Versa says I slept 1 hr 29 min last night. Not quite correct.

[JessicaGolden]

Hi there, 

I was interested in this reply, since I just bought a Versa Lite four days ago and so far only one night has had accurate sleep tracking (so far it says that 3 of 4 nights I've woken up at 2am or 3am to start my day lol). I seem to only have version 2.92 available on my iPhone, though, so I'm not sure what to do 😞

I tried tightening the band while I slept to keep the sensor in the appropriate place, and last night I allegedly woke up at 0257hr. I've seen replies about switching to your dominant wrist while you sleep and haven't tried that yet. I also don't want to have to manually start and stop my sleep tracking since I've read that you won't get adequate details that way.

So far I'm kinda disappointed with this. 

[BigDando]

Sleep tracking was 100% for a couple months, with the Fitbit rotated to the inside of my wrist at night...then I suddenly got no tracking at all for three nights. My wife suggested rebooting the Versa...sleep tracking immediately started working fine again.

So that's what's working for me: Versa on the inside of my wrist at night, and reboot when it gets cranky. Not a great solution, but I gotta admit, the sleep tracking has been perfectly accurate since I made this change. With the tracker on the outside of my wrist I sometimes got ridiculous results....  like, oh, I fell asleep at 1:30 and woke up at 2:15...

[JessicaGolden]

Ok thank you very much, I'm going to try it tonight to see. So far in the last four days I've slept ..... 6 hours and 43 minutes total, according to my Versa Lite hahaha. Hopefully this works, as it's the only part I'm disappointed with. 

[TRL666]

I've re-set mine w/ no improvement, but I hope it works for you!

[Retibtif]

How do you reboot the Versa?

[BigDando]

Press and hold the left and bottom right buttons until you see the Fitbit logo.

[Retibtif]

Thank you!

[Sleepriven]

I have the same issue. Couple times a week I have to reboot the phone and the device, unistall/install just to get it to work for a while...  but I think the most maddening thing is to see the issue marked as 'SOLVED'