Versa 2 not syncing and having other issues

[RetroFit]

I've had a Versa2 for a while now and I'm frankly shocked at how unreliable it is and at how people experiencing similar issues and coming to forums are being fobbed off and treated like an army of unpaid testers. I've never in my life posted a bad review for a product but this is on a whole different level (and to put it into perspective, I've learned to live with Windows 95 back in the day). I am in fact considering getting in touch with the UK consumer watchdog on this.

To list some of the issues:

1. Connected GPS is unreliable to say the least (have been using google fit on the same phone for a year with no hitches so please don't sell me the cloudy weather excuse). Nine times out of ten during a run it stops tracking about half a minute after I go out and sometimes it even fails to get connected when starting a run activity (it'll show the 'Connecting...' screen on the watch and just stay there). When it does, I randomly get a notification on my phone that the connected GPS is running (Although one of the times it did work there was no notification ? Go figure...).

2. Connection between phone and watch is continuously failing (it's not working as I write this, although it was working last night). It consistently fails to sync when I get back indoors after a run, although disabling WiFi on the watch appears to have somewhat improved that (and I'm rolling my eyes as I'm typing this). I see large numbers of complaints in this area in the forums and the advice invariably seems to boil down to restarting this that and the other (again, the Windows 95 parallel comes to mind).

3. The app is a complete battery drain. Battery life on my phone has all but halved since having this. Frankly, any bit of software that expects to run all the time to do its job in this day and age - bar a kernel - is poor engineering.

4. The watch reboots randomly during a run (happened three times albeit not since the last update).

5. The app seems generally poorly written and has quite a number of glitches like tiles out of sync (sleep seems to be the most common one, you'll sync up the watch in the morning but sleep stats don't show nor is there some indication that the numbers are still being crunched or...?), updating clock faces is a hit and miss experience (though that's probably more symptoms of the general sync unreliability problem) and quite frankly it looks like a hastily put together platform for FitBit to be advertising paid services (which based on the experience so far I'd be mad to fork off any money for).

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @RetroFit, welcome to the Community Forums.

Thanks for every step tried prior to posting, as well for taking the time to share your feedback about your Versa 2. This isn't the experience that we want you to have and I'm sorry for the inconvenience you've had with some of its features. As you may know your watch uses connected GPS, meaning that it'll use your phone's GPS connection to track your data. However, since your watch isn't syncing correctly, this will impact other features that require a constant connection between your watch and phone. That being said, may I know the model and OS/software version of your phone? Have you seen an error message when trying to sync? While you mentioned a few steps, make sure to have followed the suggestions described in this help article.

In regards to your other question, let me explain that the battery life of your watch will depend on how frequent certain features are used, such as the SpO2 Signature or an animated clock face, GPS, Spotify app or the Always-On Display function. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use them, but just to take those factors into consideration. If you've not done so, please give a try to the tips described here and monitor its behavior in the next days.

About the random reboots, does this happen just when running? Or does it happen even when you're not tracking an exercise? Have you tried to manually restart your tracker? Please provide me with this information as this will help me to further investigate on my end and continue helping you.

[RetroFit]

1. Regarding connected GPS: if what you're saying is true then this is a fairly major design flaw, the phone should be able to record GPS data regardless of temporary loss of sync with the watch. The data can be reconciled later when the watch is eventually synced up. I used to have an app written by a hobbyist (FittoFit, I think the app is called) that does exactly this when importing tracker data into Google Fit and it worked very well so there really is no technical reason why this can't be done. If you guys expect a perfect connection and ideal conditions at all times then your QA manager has some tough questions to answer.

2. Regarding phone make, sw version etc: I keep seeing this asked in the forums, for a device that gathers reams of data about its users all the way down to their bedtime routine I find it astonishing that you seemingly don't collect basic field log data such as make and model of watch, phone, software versions etc. Do you guys really not know how to debug software in the field? Given the reams of issues your users have you'd think by know you'd have this sort of thing figured out or is this asking for phone os/model etc just a way for you to appear to be doing something?

3. I have not seen any error messages. The sync just randomly stops working. Yes all permissions etc were checked, double checked and re-checked. Yes restarting bluetooth/watch/phone will temporarily make it work again but let's be clear this is not an acceptable solution. My life doesn't revolve around fiddling with this watch and debugging your software. It's a consumer product and it should just work as advertised on supported hardware/software. How would you rate a bluetooth headset that needed restarted or required a phone restart or a bluetooth restart or digging through forums to work out what the matter is with it now every single time you wanted to make a hands-free call?

4. The battery life point was referring to the phone not watch, please re-read my original post. It's the FitBit app that appears to be draining my phone's battery.

5. Per the above, I have restarted the tracker several times and it did not seem to make a difference re reboots. Yes the reboots always occured while tracking a run as I've already stated. I'm going to take a chance here and ask, do you guys store a crash log on the watch itself when it dies? How do you debug sudden restarts?

Please be advised that I've also given the app a one star review on the Google Play store on account of all these issues.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @RetroFit, it's good to see you here in the forums.

Thanks for getting back with detailed information of the issues experienced with your Versa 2. I understand your point of view and because that information isn't available in your posts or Community profile, it was requested in my post as that will help me and our team to further investigate what may be occurring. Your feedback is appreciated and be sure that won't be taken for granted.

In regards to your first inquiry, even though your phone is recording your GPS data, the Fitbit app needs to be running in the background so your watch can capture that data while syncing. If the GPS tracking is interrupted during your exercise, your activity will continue being recorded by your watch but the distance and map may not be accurate. Because your post didn't mention, please give a try to the troubleshooting steps for syncing issues described here. For more details about how the GPS data is recorded, see this help article.

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding with the battery draining issues. Because this is experienced with your phone, please double check if there is a setting that may be impacting the battery life. You can also get in touch with your phone's manufacturer support so they can help you with your inquiry.

About your Versa 2 restarting by itself, because the suggestions didn't work I'd recommend to get in touch with our Support team so they can evaluate your watch's behavior and provide you with further assistance. Click here to get connected with them via chat or phone.

[RetroFit]

I'm still surprised your support team has no way of retrieving SW and HW information? The phone is a Sony Xperia X Compact (F5321). Can you please clarify whether a field log feature exists in your app and steps needed to make that available to support.

Also can you please clarify what type of support you are actually able to offer, and how to escalate the above issues as none of them is actually adequately addressed by troubleshooting steps which I have already read through and followed.

For avoidance of doubt, what I'm asking for is actual software fixes as having to keep restarting watch/phone/bluetooth/etc is _not_ an acceptable solution.

Please advise re escalation and expected time frame to have these issues corrected or a refund issued.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @RetroFit, I hope you're doing well.

Thanks for getting back with the requested information, as well for your feedback about your Versa 2 behavior. Please let me explain that the moderators in the Community forums provide assistance and troubleshooting steps based on the information shared in the posts. Because you mentioned that your watch is restarting by itself, my best advice is to contact our Support team via chat or phone so they can create a case on your behalf and continue helping you with this matter. Please click here to get connected with them.

Have a good day.