Versa 2 won't receive notifications "a phone restart is required to re-enable notifications"

[Iwantapebble]

Hey everyone.. I finally jumped ship from my unreliable Pebble classic to the Fitbit Versa 2, and 3 days in, I'm finding when it works for the notifications it's actually great, but when it decides not to get notifications and gives me that red message about my device needing a restart to get notifications (it still syncs during all this) it's Really Frustrating! I have been over 2.5 hours today trying to get it going, restarts, unpair, connect, starting Amazon music to try and force a connection, forget cache, force stop, and so on.. and still nothing! Am I being a bit thick here? There doesn't seem to be any way of knowing from the watch if I'm connected or not, other than I get a notification of SMS or email.. my pebble said 'connected' if I checked the Bluetooth under settings, and even then half the time it wouldn't get the notifications which is why I got this new fitbit but it's driving me quite insane.. I'm using an Honor 8x, so is it android 10? Is it me? I really want this to work and not be running crying back to John Lewis.. can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong please?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Michael2020]

What was suggested to you?
--
Sent from Mike's mobile.

[Iwantapebble]

@Michael2020 I wouldn't mind doing the workaround (although it's annoying)if  I could at least have some kind of notification (haha!) that it WASN'T connected properly so I would know that the silence from the Fitbit wasn't that there were no notifications at all, but that there probably were some that just weren't coming thru because it wasn't syncing again..

But as far as Fitbit official fixing it goes, it's a case of waiting I feel, and looking at the forums I don't think a fix for that or any other issues is coming anytime soon.. 

Pebble watch support was always amazing, both Official and fan based, and I miss it 😪

[Pake25]

Well I spoke to soon just thought have not had a reply on a text then looked and I had so went into the app and guess what there it the message in red to restart my phone! Ffs this is annoying suppose I better look at this so called list of phones that aren't compatible (which is a pure joke!!!) 

[Iwantapebble]

Haha @Pake25 , here I was wondering why it had worked once and sorted your issue and not for me 🤣 according to Fitbit, there are only 3 or 4 phones they class as 'incompatible' and mine isnt one of them.. but my phone isn't on the list as fully supported either.. to me it's either compatible or it isn't, and so all those 'not fully supported' phones should be added to the incompatible list and the list should show before any Fitbit purchase can take place. Why would anyone in their right mind buy something that isn't going to work properly.. infuriating..

[Iwantapebble]

For anyone else coming to this thread with a similar issue here's the link to check your phone's (alleged) compatibility with a Fitbit

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2315

 

 

[Iwantapebble]

@MarreFitbit why have you changed my subject? A million restarts and no notifications is much more accurate than Versa 2 won't receive notifications from my phone, because the issue is about the Fitbit advice to restart the phone to get notifications to work, which DOES NOT WORK, even if you did it a million times 

[Pake25]

Tried clearing the cache and reinstalled the app but didn't work this time ffs. My phone is on the list but it still doesn't work! Definitely not impressed after paying for an expensive watch when my old one that was under £50 worked far better! Wonder what excuses we will get for this issue! 

[Iwantapebble]

@Pake25  be sure to do all the things you still need to do after 'clear cache' and 'clear data', I no longer need to reinstall the app to make the workaround work, but clearing the data does log me out of the app, after I log back in, I still need to (all within the app, NOT in general settings) do all these things to make it work

Enable location and permissions

Enable Bluetooth

Enable Alexa 

In the notifications options bit, make sure WhatsApp, gmail etc are all there

In the app notifications heading, all the boxes have become unticked during the data clearing I guess, so I need to select all of those

If any of those things aren't done, it won't work properly 

I'm sorry to hear it's no longer working for you, what phone do you have? If it stops working for me then it will be a return to the store and a showing of this forum to show the Versa 2 isn't fit for purpose and move onto some other type of watch or back to second hand pebble 

[Sreeikanth]

 I did not understand? I am on the Fitbit app in my settings? Do I just go ahead and Uninstall? I hope this workaround works?

[Iwantapebble]

@Sreeikanth Read the entire thread for full instructions, you don't need to uninstall the app, (I'm using android phone, have no idea about iOS) but you do need to go into your phone settings, apps, Fitbit, and clear cache and data and then log into app

[Sreeikanth]

I have an Honor 8X and a Fitbit versa 2 lite

[Iwantapebble]

I have Honor 8x and Versa 2, workaround works for me, try it following all the steps carefully

[Sreeikanth]

If you spend £160 a clear your cache twice a day what is the point? My point is simple, why do we need to struggle with the device after spending so much money. Any device should put the user at ease rather than putting the user under stress. Trust me my notifications were working so smoothly for a day and then there was a notification to update the Fitbit app and then boom I was back to square one.

I cannot find 

[Pake25]

I just went into my settings (on ur phone) then down to apps then go to fitbit, click on storage then the buttons clear data and clear cache. Then go back into the fitbit app and go to the bit of notifications and just turn them on again. Has worked for me but for how long it will keep working that I don't know! Hope this helps 😊

[Iwantapebble]

Honor 8x phone is not on Fitbits supported device list..

So having spent the £160 what do you suggest? do the workaround for3 minutes and have notifications or don't do it and don't have notifications? The store is closed due to Covid so no.return option at this time

does the workaround give you notifications or.not?

[Sreeikanth]

Well, thanks buddy for the info. Really helped. That **ahem** thing on top of the notifications of restarting the device doesn't appear. So good not to see that. 

I will follow this procedure to clear the cache as and when it appears. 

I hope Fitbit finally wakes up to a solution for this. 

I really like the Fitbit Versa. 

[Pake25]

Yeah I don't think there should even be a phone that isn't compatible and cause there is it should be VERY clear before u pay out so much money!

I'm getting my notifications at the min (will let u know how long for when it stops working!) but this shouldn't be an issue in something that's this price! Check Martin Lewis page there might be some help on what to do there! 

[JuanJoFitbit]

Hi @Ashels1001, welcome to our Fitbit Community! Regarding the notifications issue that your Fitbit Versa has experienced, I appreciate the time spent trying to get this issue resolved before contacting our forums.

I was able to get in touch with our Support team and was told that they assisted you via email. Please reply to their email in case the issue persists and they'll be happy to follow up and assist you accordingly.

I'll also be around if any question arises.

[MarreFitbit]

Hello everyone. We acknowledge the limitation we have on our part particularly on what you have experienced. We‘re taking into consideration your comments and sentiments with regards to our products and services.

As I've mentioned here, Fitbit products are compatible with most devices that have the following operating systems: Apple iOS 12.2 and higher, Android OS 7.0 and higher.

Please keep in mind that when a device is not supported (not listed in the article I've shared with you) and does not meet the require OS we cannot guarantee its functionality with the Fitbit app. It might work at a certain time and then it can stop working out of nowhere after an update. This is because the app is not optimized to that device and any change could impact the performance. The officially non-supported devices due to Bluetooth issues that prevent certain devices, like Fitbit devices, from syncing, our products aren't compatible with the following phones:

• Huawei P8 Lite
• Huawei P9 Lite
• Xiaomi Mi 6

If you're on Android phone and you're getting the error message “Notification service is not running. A phone restart is required to re-enable notifications on your tracker”, please note that we’re aware of it and are working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible. This is affecting official Android devices included in the list I provided and other Android devices not listed but running compatible OS.

If you're not getting the error message, but having issues with your notifications, make sure to follow these steps: Troubleshooting quick tips for iPhones and these ones for Android: Why are notifications delayed or missing?

The title of the thread was changed to make the topic more readable to find in the Community Forums. 

Let me know if you have any questions present. 

[Iwantapebble]

@MarreFitbit the point I am.making both generally and specifically with the title of MY thread is that this red error message is completely pointless because you can restart your phone a million times and it won't give you back your notifications, so what you have is people getting that error message and trying your suggested solution of restarting and then being frustrated when it.doesn't work