Versa Smartwatches - Fitbit OS 4.2 Firmware Update (71.6.19)

[KateFitbit]

Update 9/3/2020: This update should now be available to all customers. If you have any difficulty updating, make sure you are following the directions in this article, and then provide as many specific details as possible in your post so that we can assist.

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We've started rolling out Fitbit OS 4.2 Firmware Update (71.6.19) for the Versa series.

We release firmware updates to all customers in phases. The update will be available to everyone soon, and a banner will appear in the app when you can install the update. If you don’t see the banner yet, check the app again later.

*Firmware releases are not distributed based on region or location and can reach anyone no matter where you reside. We do not recommend performing a factory reset to force the update to your device as your data will be lost and you may not get the update. Please be patient and wait until you see the update banner inside of the Fitbit app to begin the firmware download.

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

Release notes can be found here.

HOW DO I UPDATE?

Step by step instructions for updating your Versa device can be found here.

We recommend updating your Versa over a home Wi-Fi network as this can greatly reduce the time it can take to get set up. For more information on connecting your Versa to Wi-Fi, check out this article. 

If you run into any trouble updating your Versa I recommend reviewing these troubleshooting tips. 

[MarkMM]

@swatton 

First Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights

• Sold 2.2 million devices

A couple hundred complainers isn't much. I don't think I'm lucky. I'm average. YOU'RE unlucky.

[janryndagreer]

👌 we're happy for ya

[janryndagreer]

Rechecked my permissions. Turned them all of them on Again... nothing changed sadly. 

[McLinds01]

Yes I agree.  I’m not sure why this makes me “lucky”.  The bloody thing still doesn’t work properly so 🤷🏻‍:female_sign:
I was mostly just curious if others were having the same issue.

[DutchBrit]

I fried changing the permissions and back, but still no sleep score.

[JennieK37]

And this morning, I doesn't respond to holding the reset button, so I put it on the charger for a couple of hours and, guess what?! Still not responding to the button.

I'm pissed. I got this for Christmas (or in November for a different occasion). It's less than a year old and your update broke it, with zero helpful information on these community boards. You bet your a** I'll be looking at a Samsung smart watch VERY  soon first continue to see ZERO hope of it being fixed/replaced.

[subashp]

Hi there,

I upgraded my Versa(32) into 71.6.19 & below are the issues I am seeing after it:

a) The battery drains very fast. I uninstalled "find me" app that would ring my phone as it was the only new app that came in this release. But it doesnt seem to be causing this drain.

b) My sleep data doesnt have oxygen levels any more. Looks like this feature is disabled which is required by me.

Can you pls help me to revert this firmware to previous version? I am really surprised how Fitbit is dropping the ball again & again in each firmware release. How can I upgrade my watch to your new offerings if I know you are going to make my experience bad over time?

[Blake_cook]

It will not update so I factory rest it and i can not connect it to the app now and i have tried costumer support and they could not help 

[Mommyah2]

Just noticed my versa 2 since the last update my hr is high.

[Jillsm17]

Updated my versa2 yesterday, no longer showing hr zone bars in exercise, all higher rate zones from fat burning up shown as zero but the line chart of the activity goes into these zones. How do I resolve?

[swatton]

maybe you should have read forum I wish I had as there is nothing you can
do , the firmware update has caused a lot of problems for a lot of people .
Even support couldn`t help me they just suggested I buy a new one as my
warranty is out of date .!

[Chartwell]

Yeah I posted on Facebook a message saying I would never buy another Fitbit based on this last experience. You wanna talk about a lightning reply from them, which is empty in my opinion cause it will not fix the device not will they give me a new one. 

[rdaniel36]

What a great answer!

Our update that you installed in good faith made your equipment inoperable. Sorry, your warranty is out of date, you should go drop a couple hundred dollars (again) for a new one.

This doesn't happen often, check the forum.. on second thought, just take our word for it, but a new one, don't check the forum, you'll be fine. Pinky swear!

[Marcia1371]

Honestly all Fitbit needs to do is push out a patch.  Their developers should be able to discern the problem and push out a patch to fix it.  If they would do that, they might retain more of their customers. I am waiting for them to do something, but I will not wait much longer. The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is looking pretty good right about now.

[Jo271]

I’m glad I found this forum, I thought there might be just a fault with my Versa Lite rather than it being a problem with the update.  I only noticed it wasn’t syncing properly when I kept spotting that the time was wrong on it & it wouldn’t sync. Also my app is stating I’ve done around 600 steps a day at least more than the Fitbit itself is displaying.

[subashp]

As someone who works in firmware, it is more difficult than "push out a patch" I believe fitbit has an internal platform on which they develop various products(versa, versa2, versa3 etc) So when different products have different computing power(upgraded micro-controllers) & hardware(ECG etc) the code gets complicated. A new software feature generally gets migrated into all these products(unless the experience gets hampered significantly) When that happens, the quality assurance needs to be extra vigilant on what might slip through the cracks. I have been wearing(on & off) my Versa from last 1.5 years and for the $179 I paid, I guess this watch doesn't deserve firmware update beyond a year. However, Fitbit needs to have a mechanism to revert the firmware if it expects the issues to slip through. This is not hard if they have the right design for their bootloader(I have done this in a similar wearable device in the past) So provide the firmware update & also an option to opt out of it if it doesn't suite the user needs. Dont force us to live with the issues that crawl through your fingers. It is just telling me poor engineering & quality groups powering your good ID products.

[janryndagreer]

PREACH! Plus customer comm plan when such does happen. Every software
company going to release a buggy update; the black hole that is their
communication concerns me enough to jump ship. And I heart'd my fitbit.

[ahzryn]

I just wanted to check back in with an update, particularly for the one (or more) people who like me had a Versa that was still tracking and syncing, but had no text display.

My replacement tracker came today (I opted to upgrade for a fee, personally), so since I figured I had nothing to lose at this point I tried the factory reset despite tech support saying it would not work. But, low and behold, I have a functional Versa again on the setup screen. It took me several shots to get the reset to take, the timing is a little fiddly, and despite what I was seeing in a search I had to release the lower right button after the THIRD logo, not the second, to get it to go, but it DID work. I'll likely pass this one on to my college kiddo, so in the end it works out, but maybe this will help someone else. If your tracker isn't responding at all, I can see not recommending the reset, but if there's still signs of life it might be worth the last ditch effort. YMMV.

Tammy

[Cybdiver]

I've been saying almost exactly the same thing since the first firmware updates rolled out.  The most recent disaster was December 2019.   I totally agree a rollback method would have been best.  Instead they force you to take the updates.  I see now they have version 3 for the Versa so how much longer before they kill Version 1?   The most frustrating part of all this was that tech support had all kinds of imaginary solutions that could never work.  Reboot this,  reinstall that,  and none of those things worked.  Good natured people trying their best but basically just giving the average user things to do.  Read through these threads and you will see the absurd things they had users doing.  The number of watches that have been replaced, and the bad customer satisfaction as a result.  I hope they don't try to blame the pandemic because all this started long before that. 

[swatton]

Good unfortunately I cannot afford to replace it. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.