GPS disconnecting after update

[grunning]

I have been using this watch for 3.5 years on the exact same trail and never had any issues with GPS constantly connecting and disconnecting until last week when I was stupid enough to do an update to 220.31.  

I have tried all the suggestions including factory reset but yet the GPS problem still exists. What did you engineers do?  Did you change the GNSS constellation it used, modify some connection/re-connection timeout, etc..?  

What is really annoying is it vibrates every time it re-connects. I have checked and there is no way to disable that annoying vibration other than disabling GPS. Unless Google can fix this very soon, this watch is going to be smashed. I was never really thrilled with it at its price. 

I chose this watch because I had heart surgery and wanted to start a walking/jogging exercise routine. My cardiologist suggested I get a sports watch that was ECG capable as well detecting Afib. Unfortunately; the ECG only works if you have a regular heart beat as decided by whoever which kind of defeats the purpose and in my case, my resting rate is in the 40s and the ECG feature will not function. The Afib feature I have to sign up for and if I have been previously diagnosed with Afib I am not eligible to participate, again kind of defeats the purpose. The oxygen sensor is great to have when exercising, especially when recovering from open heart surgery but again, it only works when at sleep. FYI Engineers: it would be good to monitor my oxygen levels along with heart rate when doing exercise.

If someone out there knows of an affordable watch that can track distance with a good working GPS, time, current and average speed, heart rate and oxygen levels while exercising, please let me know.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[ManuFitbit]

Hello @grunning. Welcome to the community forums. 

I'm sorry to hear about all the issues you've been having with your Sense 2.

I want to thank you for your patience and for trying to fix each problem on your own.

Regarding the GPS function, I suggest trying these steps: How do I use GPS on my Fitbit device.

I suggest sharing your feedback regarding oxygen and heart rate tracking while doing exercise in the Product Feedback board of the Community, since this section is regularly monitored by the team of developers.Please make sure to post your idea including as many details as possible. 

[grunning]

I sincerely appreciate your response. I called tech support and was on the phone for awhile with the tech. I told him I have done everything that various posts and Goggling say to do, including ones from tech support, all the way to factory resetting the watch, removing and reinstalling the app and removing it from my phones Bluetooth.

I explained to him that I understand that GPS will disconnect and re-connect from time to time, for instance going through a tunnel or under a bridge but there aren’t any where I’m jogging and I’ve been doing the same trail for 3.5 years and never had this problem until after the update. I also told him that I could live with it constantly doing that if it didn’t vibrate every time because that is extremely annoying.

I was placed on hold for a couple of minutes while he could consult with other engineers. After he returned to the phone I was told if I put the watch into the sleep mode while exercising that it would stop/mute all vibrations. I did that with him on the phone but unfortunately that does not stop the vibration from GPS disconnecting and re-connecting. He consulted again with someone and their solution to stop the vibrations is to turn off GPS and use my phones GPS. I told him that would defeat the purpose of why I wear the watch. I wear it mainly to track my distance and speed and I don’t carry my phone when I am exercising.

The tech said he has documented everything and he would escalate it up to higher level support and would be getting back to me within 2 days. 

Here is what I received back:

May 7, 2026, 2:05 PM (22 hours ago)

Thanks for reaching out to the Fitbit Customer Care Team.

Thank you for your patience.

After checking your case with our specialized team, we want to suggest the following to solve this matter:

1. Force quit, and reopen the Fitbit app to refresh the connection with your device. Find, open & close apps on Android.

2. On your phone, go to Settings → Bluetooth. Turn Bluetooth off and back on.

3. Restart your phone.

4. Make sure that your phone is within 30 feet of your device.

5. Check that GPS is turned on for the exercise. Note that only exercises where you cover physical distance use GPS.

6. Confirm that the Fitbit app can use your phone's GPS sensors:

• Location permission is set to Allow all the time.

• Precise Location is turned on.

As for steps 1, 2 and 3, I told the tech several times that I have already done that.

As for steps 4, 5 and 6. They are basically telling me to use GPS connection with my phone which on a 6 mile jog would require me to carry my phone. Something that I already told them I don’t do.

The problem is caused by the update. If they can’t or won’t correct that back to the way it used to work then they need to very quickly come out with a patch to allow turning off the annoying vibrations.

[Biker1234]

Same issue with my Charge 6.  I have used the GPS function on my iPhone to track my bi-weekly mountain biking rides for 10+ years.  Worked perfect every time I used (hundreds of times)…except with the last update. No longer will it track a ride, nor even a walk around my neighborhood.  GPS delays when starting the ride/walk, cuts in and out, etc.  My 11.5 mile ride today says that I only rode 7 miles.  Please resolve issue with the app update causing the GSP tracking to be not useful at all.

[grunning]

Thanks Biker1234. Please contact fitbit tech support and explain in detail to them and please reference my case number 7-1798000040823 so they can hopefully connect the dots. I've been going round and round with tech support now for over a week. Long story on that but they have supposedly escalated this higher up. I communicated with them today because they wanted me to send them pictures of my watch when this happens I guess to prove to them because they don't believe me. I've told them over the last week that's almost impossible to do because it connects disconnects it connects disconnects whenever it wants to for no apparent reason so it's not like I can predict it. The good news today is after my workout I was able to get a video of this happening and I did send it to tech support. They said it was too large for their system to download it which makes no sense because it was on Google drive but that said ask me for screenshots from the video which I did send this afternoon. I'll wait and see what I get back from them tomorrow but I'm not counting on much. Maybe if somebody else tells them the same things they'll start to believe us. We can only hope.