Versa heart rate not working

[benzle]

My new Versa is great but the heart rate monitor does not seem to work. The videos say there is a blue light but mine has not blue light in the back? 

Is mine just broken, should there be a blue light HR monitor?

Moderator edit: subject for clarity 

[TwiHope]

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@MarriannaD wrote:

I cleaned up the sensors with a special polishing cloth that I use for my eyeglasses. Cleared it up and am getting the pulse rate I wanted. Geez, it took a lot of reading then stopping, pulling back mentally, and the idea to clean the sensors came to me. A lightbulb moment. Thanks everybody for your questions and feedback.

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@benzle wrote:

My new Versa is great but the heart rate monitor does not seem to work. The videos say there is a blue light but mine has not blue light in the back? 

Is mine just broken, should there be a blue light HR monitor?

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The light on the back of my Versa is green and loves to blink when I clean it.

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Tried Cleaning mine, resetting, even the hour long phone call with customer service doing the factory reset.  Nothing works.  Less than 1 year old but can not be replaced as I had to replace the originally purchased one once already and the warranty is only good from the original purchase date.  Very disappointed with the quality of this fitbit.  I love all the things fitbit does and my friend base on the competitions however I am now debating on going with something else as I do not want to have to spend the money to purchase a new one every year :(. My grade school girls have the 1st generation apple watches and they're still going strong so would be a much wiser buy but I hate leaving my fitbit friends ;(. Anyone considering purchasing a versa should for so go with a different model until this problem is fixed as it appears to be a common one.

[PennyCh]

Me too - light has stopped working! Went from green to really, really bright red that made my whole wrist glow, then no light at all. My Versa has stopped tracking HR and therefore sleep, it is still tracking steps but not accurate calories during exercise or active minutes. I have tried all the suggestions in troubleshooting several times but it’s still not working properly. Also the battery is running down much faster suddenly. What should I do now. The versa is less than a year old.

[SeattleRos]

So my Versa is now out of warranty (purchased May 2018) and whatever they did last week caused an issue - red light permanently on, draining battery, HR no longer displaying, Sleep no longer tracking. Not sure if it is connected with the updated app as that was around the same time. Tried all steps mentioned (reset, HR on/off) and when nothing worked, called support. They got me to do a factory reset (and app also had an issue as nothing was displaying properly - separate issue but clearly something is going on with quality control) but that didn't fix issue and THEN Versa would no longer connect to my phone despite multiple tries (and the red light was STILL on). Agent then said Versa is clearly defective and, because it's out of warranty, they could offer me 25% off a new one. Sorry Fitbit bit I'm NOT spending over $120 on a new item when I did nothing to cause this. I don't expect free since it is over a year but I do expect to at least be met half-way with 50% (ish). I escalated to a supervisor (who clearly was very junior) as she could do nothing other than say "please put this detail in your survey". I explained I've been a fitbit customer since 2013 and I WILL leave and go to Apple but she didn't seem to care or was not empowered to do anything. I'm SO disappointed in Fitbit after being committed to them for over 6 years  on multiple devices but I'm NOT investing another penny in a company that thinks so little of their long-standing customers. I'm also really glad now that I did not buy a replacement scale when our Aria V1 stopped working (kept running out of battery REALLY quickly). I bought a different, much cheaper, scale that works great to fitbit but also to another health app I now use. To finish, EVERYBODY knows in Sales it's easier to keep the customers you have than get new ones so if this is the way Fitbit treats their loyal/long-standing customers - who knows?!?

[Tiger74]

Hi,

I am having the same issue with my Versa.  Did you ever get it resolved?

[SeattleRos]

Unfortunately not - if you read my comment above all they would offer me - after their customer service broke it even further (so it wouldn't even connect to my phone at all) was a 25% discount on a completely new one. I refuse to pay over $120 for something they broke with an update. I went and bought an Apple watch this evening and so far absolutely LOVING it - it's not even comparable. But I never would have even looked at the Apple watch if my Versa had stopped doing what I bought it for last week - Heart Rate, Sleep, and stay on more than few hours!

[Alan25]

I had a couple of silly issues after the update but mine is fine now!!!!

I agree with you about the customer loyalty issue, it’s become the norm in my opinion. They are only after new not long term term customers.

Hope you get sorted soon.

Cheers,

[SunsetRunner]

I got my first fitbit in 2015 and have upgraded to the Versa in March 2019... after update the HR and sleep stopped working and the steps are way off... I'm going to sync up my Blaze to see if that will make a difference since it's been months since I've used it.   If that doesn't work, I'll be doing some Major research on the Apple Watch and changing my mind about Fitbit.   

If Fitbit does not fix this soon, they are going to lose a lot of people. 

[Elizabeth.]

My heart rate monitor used to work then there was an update and now it doesn't work and the sleep monitor doesn't work anymore. I used to have this red light that stayed on and drained the battery, now I have no lights and the battery doesn't last a whole day. So bummed

[SeattleRos]

Sadly, same thing happened to me. There is no fix. I did a reset and then called support when that didn't work. they got me to do a factory reset and that only resulted in red light still being on but then the Versa would not reconnect to the phone. All Fitbit offered was 25% off a new watch. So basically I needed to spend over $120 because they broke my watch with an update. Needless to say - I purchased an Apple Watch last night and I'm really enjoying it. 

Fitbit were good once but their policy of only offering 25% to loyal customers when it's clear from all the people having issues - it's something that Fitbit broke is just very sad. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi, as i was doing more reading, Fitbit is coming out with a new Fitbit soon and I think they are going to wait for it to come out and then push people to buy the new one.  I also noticed that there Stock is falling for their stock holders, so you know someone is getting the news out that there is a problem.  

I'm doing research for an Apple watch... I rely on the reminders for my Husbands Medication times to go with out something and I don't always have my phone on me to listen for the alarms. 

they just lost another Fitbit person to Apple. 

[lorraineg]

Even when it works it's not accurate. I also have the SE Versa. I had heart surgery a few months ago and go to cardiac rehab. Basically, it's exercising while hooked up to monitors. At one point today, the Versa was reading at 120 while my HR was actually 99. We're not talking anything crazy here either. It's not like I was doing HIIT or circuit training. Steady pace on a treadmill.

At first customer service said this was a known issue with the Versas and they're working on it. There also was no point in sending me a replacement since it will do the same thing. So basically, they sold and are still selling an item with defective software causing grossly  inaccurate HR readings and if you call, all you get is "we're working on it". After almost an hour, they finally agreed to send me a replacement. I said "you just told me this was an issue with all of them". Well, it's either try another one or wait for a software update that will fix the issue. They also won't send the replacement out until they receive this one. That is not the way they used to operate. It's a shame.

[Dragonflyforeve]

Have just moved Fitbit Versa on to my right arm without a tattoo and is now detecting my heart rate. Didn’t have any problems with Fitbit Alta. They should put an alert to say that it does not work over ink. Will take a while to get used to wearing it on my right arm. Disappointed 😩

[ARoe22]

I’m having the same issue with my tattoos 

[gmanone]

So I have lots of ink on my left arm and was having the same HR issues not reading. I did try switching to my right arm where there is no ink in the area the watch rides and BOOM Huston we have a reading !!! weird but I think that's it.

[Tim635]

First of all, how can you mark this down as "Solved".  Second, it's a known defect with the Versa and Versa 2 so why aren't you doing a product recall.  Thricely, thank you.  You have made my decision to buy an IWatch easier.  

[oldschoolskippa]

My heart rate monitor stopped after about six months of reliable use.  Here is what worked for me.

On the watch, press the settings icon.  If it is not there, install 'settings' using the phone app.  Scroll down to 'about'.  Press 'About' and scroll down. You may choose either 'Factory Reset', or 'Shutdown'.  Since Factory Reset erases all your installed apps, try Shutdown first.  After shutting down and starting again, the green light on back was on and heart monitor was working.  Good luck.

[Ruthie21]

Mine is brand new Versa 2. HR is turned on. Green light is blinking. HR shows as 000. Everything else seems fine.  This is very aggravating as my doctor wants me to monitor my HR during exercise. Main reason I bought the thing. 

[Vickid425]

I was hoping they would have ironed out all those bugs in the Versa 2. So many people had the same problem. I'll hold off buying one.Thanks!Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[oldschoolskippa]

Restarting the Versa worked for me.
On the Versa, not the app, got to settings, about; scroll to 'Shutdown' and
'reset'. 'Shutdown' was all I needed to do to fix the heart rate monitor
problem. If that doesn't work, try 'reset': this is more drastic because it
resets to factory settings and erases your personalized settings. Good
luck.

[larawarwick]

My heart rate suddenly stopped working today and after trying all the troubleshooting (restarting and checking the settings on the device) I am still having an issue. The only thing I still need to try is checking the heart rate is on auto. But, everywhere I have looked online doesn't describe to me where to find this- I have looked everywhere on the dashboard and the app and still cannot find these settings. I've already had the watch replaced before as it just suddenly wouldn't turned on and it is probably past its year warranty now. 

It's a shame because I love everything about the Fitbit app when it is working, but am thinking of buying an Apple Watch instead as there doesn't seem to be anywhere near as many issues!