Versa losing GPS connection when locking Android phone.

[CanadianCyclist]

Hey all 🙂

I'm having a weird issue that I am hoping I can get some insight on. 

I have a versa and a galaxy s7 with the latest software. 

Whenever I want to start an exercise activity, I open the biking exercise screen on the versa. It says connecting for however long, then it connects. Cool. No issues. 

BUT .. as soon as I lock the screen on my phone, it disconnects from the versa and stops recording my exercise. If I open the versa, it shows connecting with no end.  If I open up my cell phone, the versa will connect to it .. And the process repeats itself over and over. I can't figure out why it's doing this.

Any insight would be great:)

Thanks gang. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @CanadianCyclist, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for sharing your experience. It seems the Fitbit app doesn't have permissions to run in the background of your phone, which explains why the GPS signal is dropping when the phone gets locked. At this moment I would like to suggest you to make sure of the following:

• Bluetooth is enabled on your phone and your watch is connected (paired) to the phone. To confirm, go into your phone's Bluetooth settings and make sure you see Versa on the list of devices.
• The Fitbit app is allowed to run in the background on your phone. For more information, see Why is the Fitbit app sending a notification to my Android phone?
• Your phone is within about 30 feet of your tracker.
• Your phone can identify your location and can track your location when you're not using Wi-Fi. For more information on which phone settings you may need to adjust, see How do I use exercise apps and modes on my Fitbit device?
• If your mobile device is running Android Marshmallow or later, see Why do I receive access requests from the Fitbit app on my Android mobile device?

I hope this can be helpful, give it a try and keep me posted in case you need anything else. 

[BobbyJay]

I have a similar problem with my new Versa, but frustratingly worse:  most of the time the exercise/biking connection is not made, with the Versa continuously saying it's connecting, but it never does actually connect.  From time to time it actually does connect, and it can then accurately count the distance of my ride.  I am doing nothing different each time I try to use this feature.  I am doing everything right in accordance with the suggestions responding to the earlier inquiry by CanadianCyclist.  What can I do, or is the device I have defective?

[Marrrmaduke]

@BobbyJay I have the same issue. It's not the hardware. It's the software. There are several known issues and lack of stability of connection is one of them, among wifi issues, sync issues, music control issues etc. All those need to be addressed with an update... Hopefully soon... It really resembles the sync issues that Charge HR used to have. Until several firmware updates were rolled out.

[CanadianCyclist]

Yeah. I have two people (my wife and cousin) who all have the same issues.  I have a Samsung s7, cousin has an s8, wife has an iPhone 7. All with the latest software. What's the common denominator here?

In talking with Fitbit folks, they of course push the issue and it cant possibly be the watch. 

I hope that future firmware updates fix this or I won't buy a Fitbit again in the future. 

[BobbyJay]

Thanks for that. I hope the problem is resolved soon. Take care.

[BobbyJay]

No one to my knowledge.

[CanadianCyclist]

Not to my knowledge either. It's quite frustrating. 

[freddybigs10]

I have found a solution for a similar or perhaps the same problem on my phone . Please look for the following thread in the forum and try it .

Fix for Connected GPS and Bluetooth connection issue.

[andrealynch]

I am still having this same exact problem, and at my whits end! I have a brand new Note 9 on Android Pie, and previously had a Samsung S8, neither of which would maintain a connection to my fitbit, unless the phone is unlocked, and the app is open and visible. The second I lock the screen, or the phone goes to sleep, the connection is lost. The second I reopen the phone & app, the connection is immediately restored. The app seems to be running in the background, so I don't know what else to do. Fitbit blames Samsung, and Samsung says it isn't their problem. In looking through the thread here, I don't really think the question or problem has been solved by any of the previous replies. Please help 😞 P.s. Fitbit says this isn't a common problem, but obviously I'm not the only one. 

[andrealynch]

Hi all:

Just a quick update on this issue. I have been working now for days with fitbit and samsung to solve this, and no one can come up with a solution to the connectivity issue. My mother has an Ionic, which can connect fine to my phone, therefore, this suggests the versa is defective. Unfortunately, below is the "pass the buck" stock reply I received today from fitbit--I'm pretty sure they've sent me this automated response before. You would think they could offer to replace the device? Anyhow, luckily the device was brought through a different company, who is gladly giving me a cash refund. So buyer beware, especially if you purchase directly from fitbit. 

Sorry fitbit, but your lack of customer service just isn't good enough. Perhaps wrongly, I expected better customer service from the likes of your company. 

Fitbit stock response: 

"Thanks for letting us know about this issue. We want to share with you that we reached out to our team and they’re aware of it, but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future. We'll continue to monitor the situation, and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other customers. We understand that this isn't the resolution you're hoping for, but rest assured we're always working to improve our products. We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track. Please let us know if you have any other questions." 

[Missieg]

Any news on this? I had the same problem with my first Fitbit and resolved it by deleting the Bluetooth cache and re adding the watch "as a new device". Stayed connected/worked fine until that Fitbit died after 3 months (lol really?). Now I'm having the same issue with my Fitbit replacement (charge 3 disconnecting during recorded exercise when phone locks). However, the solution above does not work for this replacement watch. That was my only solution unfortunately and now that doesn't work. 

[andrealynch]

No, not at all. Fitbit (and samsung) both told me that this is a known
issue with the versa and Samsung phones. So for now, it wont work
correctly. Sadly. I upgraded to an ionic with internal GPS and it works
fine now. But I shouldn't have had to upgrade.

[SunsetRunner]

I have been using my Versa with my Samsung S9+ for a year and as long as i changed my battery optimization to high usage, i never had any issues. But this morning even on high usage everytime my phone locked, I lost connection which caused my 3 mile plus walk to look like a 2 mile walk, Not sure what has changed.

[eepyaich]

I've just got a Versa 2, which I use with my Samsung S10 (running Android 10) and am having exactly the same problems.

On the one hand, I'm glad to know I'm not alone and am not going mad.  On the other hand, this is very frustrating.  I tried to do a cycle last weekend (my one bit of exercise in Coronavirus lockdown) and was pretty disappointed that nothing on my route was tracked (and I got no speed or distance information on the watch).

Having read this thread I just did a walk for today's exercise and, keeping my phone on all the time, I actually have my first properly tracked exercise.  Now, if only we can work out what is causing this and fix it, I'd be overjoyed (and wouldn't have to walk around with my phone in my hand!).

[CanadianCyclist]

Its sad that after a year AND a different model fitbit, the same problems still exist.

Shotgun NOT buying a fitbit again.

[SunsetRunner]

Mine only did the one time, the next time it worked correctly so idk what's going on. It was strange. 

Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android

[ZeeSK]

I started having this problem when I switched to a new Android phone (Galaxy S20 Plus 5G) and I think I made a crack in the case: check your location permissions on your Fitbit app in your phone, make sure its set to "allow all the time" instead of "when app is in use".

After doing this, my Charge 3 remains connected for a few minutes on a run, but drops the connection afterwards. However, the second I look at my Charge 3 and have the screen light up, the connection is re-established. Screen goes dark again, connection drops off again. This must be some annoying battery saving feature, there has to be a way to turn it off.

Can someone try enabling all the time access to their Fitbit location permission and see if they get different results?

Thanks

[eepyaich]

I believe I've got the "allow connection all the time" setting enabled.  I've also checked that the Fitbit app isn't "optimized" for battery (and, following some advice on reddit, have also made sure optimisation is off for various Bluetooth settings as well).

However, the results are still, frankly, rubbish.

On a cycle, unless I have the phone in my hand, switched on, I don't get any distance or speed on the Verso 2.  When I switch on the phone, though, I do see there's a notification from Fitbit saying that it is using "connected GPS".

On a walk, it's a bit more variable - I've had walks where the watch has showed my pace for about 20 minutes, then it's done the "connecting" thing - turning the phone one briefly will then bring it back to life - sometimes only for a minute or two, sometimes for another 15 mins.  

Frankly this is just very disappointing.  My guess is that I have something that's causing problems when the phone's always on display kicks in , but that is also set to not be batter optimized...  Thinking about it, the problem could occur more when the phone goes into a pocket so the screen completely powers off.  

EIther way "aaargh"!

[eepyaich]

TL:DR; if you're on a Samsung phone, in addition to making sure apps aren't being optimized, you should check your overall power settings in Device Care\Battery - I've just changed mine from "Medium Power Saving" to Optimized and things seem to be working a lot better!

Another update from me...

I've just had what was probably my most successful walk with the Versa 2 and my Samsung S10.  To cut a long story short, the first half of the walk was hit by the usual "connecting" alert on the watch within about 90 seconds which required me to unlock the phone to recover.  After that, I didn't see the connecting again which was positive. 

However, about half way through the walk I got an alert from the Samsung "Device Care" app, warning me that an app was using lots of battery.  I thought I'd check it, as I assumed it was related to Fitbit - as it happened, though, it was a weather app, so I pressed the "optimise" button.

I then noticed that the "Power mode" on the phone was set to "Medium power saving".  I took a look at the options and noticed there was also an "Optimised" setting, which was the recommended, whereas "Medium" just said cryptically "Extend battery life by limiting some functions".

I moved the phone to Optimized, which caused a few things to whir about and continued my walk.

Having now completed the walk:

-  the watch stayed connected for the entire rest of the walk (about 20 mins or more)

-  looking at the track in the Fitbit app, it is far more accurate (i.e. wiggly as I followed the paths) from about half way through the walk, compared to the first half which has lots of straight lines

-  during the walk, I got lots of notifications from apps which had clearly been wanting to send me things but stopped by the power setting (e.g. a game which only normally sends me its daily reminder when I actually start it).

So - long story short, if you're on a Samsung phone I recommend checking the power setting under "Device Care\Battery" and making sure it is "Optimised" (or presumably, High).

Next test is to try it on a cycle, but so far so good.