Versa battery draining fast

[Andie4414]

My husband bought me a versa for Christmas 2018. When I first got it, it was great! It always held a charge for 4 days.  Over the last few months, I have noticed it will not stay charged for more than a day or two.  I don't wear it any differently than I have in the past. I actually take it off to swim, do dishes, and shower, so it shouldn't be a water issue. I have read through some of the other forums and have done the suggestions on turning things off to help improve battery life and to no avail, it still is not working.  I'm a little disheartened that it's only been 6 months and it is already having issues.  I charged it Sunday evening, woke up and put it back on, battery was at 100%, then by Monday night it was at 50%, and by mid-morning on Tuesday it was dead.  Is there anything else I can do?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[JuanJoFitbit · Accepted solution]

@Andie4414 welcome to our Fitbit Community! I'm happy to assist you with your Fitbit Versa since its battery is not lasting as long as it should. By the way, thank you for trying all the recommended tips before contacting our forums.

Since the issue persists, I'll send your case to our Support team so they can investigate further and provide a solution. You will receive an email from them soon.

Let me know if you have any questions! 

[imsarge56]

Mine is doing the same thing, just 1 year old.  Was at 9% when I woke up this morning so I put on the charger and reverted to my old Charge 2 (that can still go for days!)  Versa was on the charger for over and hour and got to 99%.  Put it on and an hour later without doing anything it was at 80% and now 2 hours later its at 69%.  This has been getting increasingly worse in the last month.  Ready to give up on it and use my Charge.   HELP I love the Versa!

[imsarge56]

Mine is doing the same thing, just 1 year old.  Was at 9% when I woke up this morning so I put on the charger and reverted to my old Charge 2 (that can still go for days!)  Versa was on the charger for over and hour and got to 99%.  Put it on and an hour later without doing anything it was at 80% and now 2 hours later its at 69%.  This has been getting increasingly worse in the last month.  Ready to give up on it and use my Charge.   HELP I love the Versa!

[silvermetis]

Hi, I had the same problem after a software update it seems that the update does not install fully unless you turn off your fitbit and restart it. It worked for me give it a try, you will not lose data as long as you don't do factory reset.

[imsarge56]

Thanks!  Im hoping for the best!  Just turned it off left and left it off for 2 minutes. Back on now so fingers crossed!

[imsarge56]

That’s not the solution sorry. I’ve shut it completely down twice today and restarted.  From it being 99% at 8am now at 7pm not even 12 hours it’s 8%.  HELP!  

[Andie4414]

Thank you for sending my issue to support.  I have tried shutting down the watch and rebooting it as suggested but it still does not help.  I went from 100% at 6am this morning to 8% by 7:30pm tonight. 

[silvermetis]

Hi sorry for delay getting back to you.

In my experience there are 3 main reasons for rapid battery drain:

1 software upgrade on phone or fitbit not installing fully - fixed by restarting phone and/or versa

2 use of GPS connect for an exercise drains battery in a out 5 hrs

3 fitbit fault battery ,charger etc

Does the battery drain rapidly during an exercise? if so is GPS connect turned on?

[imsarge56]

Thanks.  I walk 2-4 miles every morning using map my run as the gps.  Is that affecting the versa? I dont know?   BUT most mornings the versa is on the charger and im walking with my old charge2.  I put the versa on after my walk for the rest of the day, which is normal day at work.  Thats when it starts to drain.  My phone and versa have both been shut down and restarted.   If it is the battery and/or the charger how do i know which?  I does charge to 100% in about an hour.  Im lost here with it!

[silvermetis]

I do not use mapmyrun but i understand it is an android app that runs on your phone, not the versa. You can link your fitbit account to mapmyrun so data in your account can be viewed in mapmydata but there is no direct link to your versa.

When you look at "track exercise" in fitbit app can you see maps of your exercises if you can you are using GPS connect and this drains battery very quickily

[imsarge56]

When I go to track exercise on my phone app, yes it comes up with a map and the start button, but I never have used this.  How can I turn this off? 

[silvermetis]

Looks like it could be the GPS connect. If it is there are 2 solutions I are aware of which I will send tomorrow. In meantime best be certain turn off the location on your phone if you are using android it's one of the pull down menus leave it off for an a few hours and see if the fitbit battery discharges more slowly. My versa discharges to about 80% in the first 24 hrs.

Let us know result then I am sure I can help.

NOTE you most likely find the fitbit app will not sync with location don't worry you won't lose data just sync later when location turned back on.

[imsarge56]

I have an iphone so went to settings and found the fitbit and changed to never track my location. I will leave it off the rest of the day and see.  Versa was 100% at 8am, now at 2pm its 55%  Ill watch it and report back.  Thanks

[BrianHoover]

I've had mine since Father's Day of 18. A couple of weeks ago, it started draining in less than a day, the heart rate monitor stopped working, and the hourly activity wasn't communicating with the app. Fitbit sent me a replacement. The replacement drains in under 4 hours.

There is no way this is strictly a device issue.

[imsarge56]

I agree and Ive had mine since Mothers Day 2018.   I just turned the location GPS off an 90 minutes ago and I am literally sitting at my desk and its drained 10%    Theres a huge problem when you cant get 24 hours of use!

[silvermetis]

Seems you guys are getting problems we don't get in UK hope they are not on the way here.

Are you still getting new exercises in the log with maps if you are the GPS must be still on. If that is the case try turning off auto recognise in the fitbit app it under settings,goals,exercise it will then say ignored.

You can also turn GPS off for each of exercises from your versa by going into each exercise touching the settings gear wheel and turning off GPS.

[Andie4414]

@JuanJoFitbit thank you for forwarding my issue on to the support team.  My watch ended up being defective, failed all of the battery tests, and Fitbit is sending a replacement. 

[BrianHoover]

They've sent me 2 replacements in the past month. Still not lasting more
than 24 hours.

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[silvermetis]

I can't believe fitbit have manufactured so many faulty versas. They made any attempt to diagnose your problem? Fitbit s/w is fragile but a clean install of the latest version on versa and phone fixed the problems I had been having for months.

What versions of s/w have you got installed are you using android or iOS?