Sleep tracking problems caused by lack of phone sync

[jbotwood]

I've been having problems with the sleep tracking on my Versa for the majority of the time I've been using it and looking at the forum here there are lots of other people with the same problems and the 'official' solution just closes down the threads without providing a proper explanation

Most of the time my logs are split into two distinct periods per night with unexplained hours in between when I was sleeping and not moving, or the start time is about 3-4 hours after I go to bed and was sleeping and not moving the whole time. I sleep very solidly every night and I never get up to go to the toilet

I know it's not occasional steps or elevated heart rate every night because I check these things, and when I correct the sleep logs they will show very obvious awake periods at the start and end of my sleep with nothing untoward in between. The data collected by the Versa is clearly identifying my sleep correctly but the app does not construct the sleep pattern correctly

I am currently working on the theory that the sync with my phone is causing these problems, because I never sleep with my phone in the bedroom (because I keep strict sleep hygiene rules) and leave the phone switched on overnight in the lounge. This means the Bluetooth range is probably just on the edge of working and failing, so maybe overnight data syncs are failing or corrupting randomly and cutting up the sleep logs

Last night I slept with all of the automatic sync and keep alive options disabled in the phone to prevent overnight syncs and I got my first accurate sleep logs in weeks. It's too early to know if this definitely fixes it, but thought it was worth posting here in case anyone else wants to try this?

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood Extremely interesting! Thank you for posting this observation. Perhaps you could monitor it further? Honestly, my first guess was that your Versa somehow did not measure your HR and that's why sleep tracking got interrupted. But, as you have never mentioned gaps in the HR recordings... Let us know!

[jbotwood]

I do get the inconsistent HR message and basic sleep tracking occasionally (along with missing HR periods in the HR chart), but no more than once per month and only when the strap was loose, whereas the chopped up logs (2 stages per night) or wrong start time has recently been every day for weeks

Last night I got accurate tracking for the second night in a row so that's looking promising

At the moment I have 'all-day sync' disabled + 'always connected' disabled + 'keep-alive widget' disabled. I know the keep-alive widget doesn't help because I only switched this on recently to try and improve the sleep log problem and it made no difference. If it keeps working properly for the next few days I will test the remaining two settings to see which one of them reintroduces the problem, and beyond that I can leave the phone closer and further away from the bed to see if it really is down to distance from the phone

[jbotwood]

I've been testing my theory about the sync with my phone causing the problems and now I have enough data to say this isn't causing the problem 😞

I forgot to mention in my original posts I had changed the sleep sensitivity from 'normal' to 'sensitive' a few days before I disabled sync to see if it helped. It didn't - but this does impact on my tests

When I first switched off 'all-day sync' and 'always connected' I got close to good logs for two days, but the start and stop times were out by 5 minutes so there were no small awake periods at the start and ends of the log. I remembered the sleep sensitivity setting had caused things like this when I first bought the Versa, so went back to 'normal'

That night the start of the log was 2 hours too late, but there was an awake period right before the late start. I put sensitivity back to 'sensitive'

Next night the logs were broken into two logs with 1.5 hours in between, but steps were recorded right before the second log started so I put this down to erroneous steps

Next night the log was perfect

Last night the start of the log was 3.5 hours too late. This time there were no steps, and critically no awake period. All the logs were totally flat - I was fast asleep. I'm calling time on these tests - the device doesn't work properly

I will reset the Versa to factory defaults and see if I can get the latest firmware on it. Failing that I will be trying to get it replaced under warranty

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood I agree. Let's hope 2.2 update will resolve that. If not, then definitely contact Customer Support for help. I'm sure they will do their best to guide you. Thank you again for running this tests. Negative results say something, too! Good luck!

[jbotwood]

The OS 2.2 update didn't make any difference - and to be sure there is nothing wrong with sync or the phone app talking with the Fitbit through the night this time I shut my phone down before I went to bed

I opened a case with Fitbit tech support and we are now running official tests. They said the sleep recognition (e.g. start and stop times) is done inside the Fitbit and not by the phone app, so data sync / Bluetooth / your choice of phone / app configuration has nothing to do with it. It's all down to the Fitbit device, how you have configured it and how you are wearing it

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood Let's hope you will get a replacement. Good luck!

[jbotwood]

I have found the solution to my broken sync logs. I was on the right path thinking it was something to do with phone sync but it took a lot of testing to find the answer

I started leaving my phone next to my bed on silent every night with all the sync settings enabled. Since then I haven't had a bad sleep log

Prior to this I have tested every possible combination of wrist-placement, both sleep sensitivity settings, leaving phone sync settings on or off on the phone, but in all cases my phone was never in the bedroom or was switched off overnight. I bought myself a new phone last week and the problems were exactly the same. I've reset the Versa to factory defaults, upgraded the Fitbit OS version to the latest, reset the phone app. Basically everything possible has been tested

Following the guidelines of two people in technical support didn't come up with anything that worked. Nobody suggested that the Versa needs to sync sleep progress continuously during the night for the app to register accurate sleep logs, but that's apparently what it needs. If you sync the entire night's data in one go because your phone was off or located out of the Bluetooth range to sync automatically, then your logs get broken

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood thanks for the update! I'm glad it finally works. 😊 To have a full picture, could you please share your phone model and OS. Im sure it will help others.

[jbotwood]

No probs - My previous phone was an obscure UK brand - Wileyfox Swift 2X on Android Oreo. Replacement phone is a OnePlus 6T on Android Pie

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood Love OP. A big fan. I'm still on OP3T and it's going strong. Impressions? How's Versa working with Pie on your OP6T. We've got so many users struggling here. How are the notifications, connected gps, etc.?

[jbotwood]

The OP6T is brilliant. Mind you it's the first truly good phone I've ever bought so i have nothing to compare it to. The reviews say its as fast as anything around with now due to the Snapdragon chip set being the same as most flagship phones

I haven't tested anything on the Versa except sleep and basic sync yet so haven't got much to say about Pie - the app is no different from when I ran it on Oreo. It's too cold here in UK for me to go out exercising for the foreseeable future and I hate getting bugged by notifications so am unlikely to test them soon... I really just use the Versa for food/weight/calories & sleep management

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood awwww but we all so want to know that notifications outcome on Pie! hahha Thank you!

[Kathleen1106]

[YogaLite]

I spent days troubleshooting with the chat line after my new product stopped tracking sleep stages after 30 days. I tried everything, and wasted a lot of time; they are replacing the unit, with the explanation that it was a bad battery. This would seem to be a common problem with this product. 

[jbotwood]

I'd forgotten about this thread...

Despite me being sure I had fixed my sleep track problems, they came back after a while proving it was nothing to do with Bluetooth or sync or distance between my phone and my bed every night

The last firmware upgrade definitely improved things a lot - I was probably only getting one bad sleep log every week. Lately it's started going wrong every night for several days in a row and nothing has changed in the way I use it or how I sleep, but I haven't bothered rebooting it yet

I just stopped caring about the logs being accurate. I bought my Fitbit brand new on eBay but with no officially recognised receipt so the warranty is invalid. I correct my sleep logs every morning if they are wrong and its just part of my 'getting up' routine

Personally I don't believe what technical support say - they know the Versa has bad sleep tracking so they are just fobbing people off with whatever shuts them up, in my case the warranty technicality

[Marrrmaduke]

@jbotwood true indeed. I'm a wondering why it's so random. I mean why it affects some users and others are not impacted. 

[YogaLite]

Do you know people who've had 100% performance on their sleep app, tracking stages? It's the leading complaint of people who brought a recent batch off of HSN in January.