Sense 2 Weather App Inconsistencies

[Run1994]

Hello Fitbit Community & Developers/Moderators!

I have used Fitbit devices for years and am very familiar with the technology. I literally just upgraded from the Versa 3 to the Sense 2. Besides being an outstanding fitness tracker, a key feature of mine is the Weather App. With the Versa 3, as soon as you opened the Weather App the device would grab my location, get the latest weather, and download it. When you viewed the weather it would say "Updated 0m ago". It was very convenient to just look at the current weather conditions on my watch without having to open up my phone. I truly was current weather data.

The Sense 2 is not working that way at all. When you open the weather app it sometimes says "no weather data available" or it will say anything from "Updated 10m ago" to over 100 minutes ago. Nothing... including manually syncing the watch will get it to update until it decides to do so by itself. I have tried 2 factory resets, removed the Fitbit app from my phone and reinstalled it, toggled the permissions many times (which are all on) and of course verified that location services is set to "Always" on my phone. Just to verify it's the Sense 2, I "Forgot" the Sense 2 and reinstalled the Versa3. The Versa 3 works fine, always pulling the current data when bringing up the Weather App. Customer Support was not very helpful. They had me restart the watch, verified permission settings and said try it for a few days. I seriously think there is a firmware issue with my Sense 2 or it's defective, the Fitbit app has a bug as it relates to the Sense 2.

I have an iPhone 11 running iOS 16.3. Any help would be very much appreciated. I love Fitbit, but very disappointed with my recent purchase of the Sense 2.

[Guy_]

Hi @Run1994 - thanks for the information, it is probably not a watch problem but more an issue with the firmware/app implementation which is early days.

However do try removing the 2 Versa 3 Bluetooth entries from your phone, just in case it is not helping with connections. To also improve things, logout of the Fitbit App and clear the storage cache and force stop it and restart both watch and phone.

[lovefit71]

I've tried that too but it does not fix the problem permanently. it did help for a few hours then the weather stops syncing again. A good smartwatch with a $300 price tag should not have us to factory reset or disconnect bluetooth on/off every few hours or even everyday. That's nonsense!

I hear ya bro. Same issue. I believe this happens to every Sense 2 owner since there are already a few tread talked about weather proplem. No fixed yet as I know of. Very frustrated and dissapointed about this Sense 2

[Guy_]

Hi @lovefit71 - applying a temporary cure to get around an issue often helps confirm the problem and what to do next.

If it works a while and stops, then it normally indicates a syncing problem that is happening on the phone, most often.

It could be as simple as ensuring the Fitbit App and associated services run in background or mistake of operation or new incompatible phone firmware after an update or a just bug.

[lovefit71]

I know what you meant and i did try every work around and make sure everything running  but the problem persist. Reconnected my old Sense and Weather just works perfect!

[Guy_]

@lovefit71 - could you chat via the Fitbit App, click profile photo, Help & support, Contact Customer support. There may be something specific related to your phone and the new weather app in the sense 2.

For example, weather won't work for me on an old version of the Fitbit App but will with the latest.

[lovefit71]

I have the latest Fitbit app, the latest Sense 2 firmware and the latest Pixel 7 firmware. The customer support team properly know less than you do i bet.

[Guy_]

@lovefit71 - are you running Android 13?

[LZeeW]

This photo shows very typical Sense 2 Weather app behavior.

I wake up to images like this every morning.  The app will update if I force quit the app, then reopen it.  But I shouldn't need to do that.  Just like the OP's experience, the weather information is updated 40 minutes ago.  Or some other old number.  I've used the weather app on four other smartwatches and two trackers and have never had this problem.

[Guy_]

@LZeeW- the weather app on the Sense 2 and Versa 4 is evidently a new development and not the same app and functionality as the app for the other models. Nor is the functionality the same across Fitbit App versions and OSe [iOS & Android]

EG. Android 3.51.1 installed and connected shows

Android 3.74 after login it shows

 

   

[t.parker]

@LZeeW this looks like you may have disabled "Run in background" permission (so you need to launch app in the foreground to update weather app). However, as far as I remember, you are iOS user and things may be different on that platform (which we experienced many times so that wouldn't be a surprise). When I had a problem with Weather app I found out some permissions were disabled why others were enabled (totally random set) and selecting all solved the problem. Saying that, I still have issues with delayed (sometimes many hours) sleep and readiness data so there may be a bigger issue when syncing certain types of data.

[LZeeW]

@t.parker   Up until an hour ago, I had all my permissions set.  All of the necessary iPhone setting were correct.  My Fitbit app is always running in the background.  My Fitbit app was synced six minutes before I took that photo.

I say up until an hour ago, because I decided to uninstall the Weather app.

[t.parker]

@LZeeW it would be good if users could specify the platform (I see OP uses iOS, too). That would narrow down the issue to a single OS (maybe would be easier to drill a hole in Fitbit's wall-of-silence).

[Guy_]

@LZeeW- It should be noted that on a Sense there is a Weather system function and a Weather app, whilst on a Sense 2/Versa 4 there are no apps so it is just a system function which probably has a bug in some or all of the iOS versions which can manifest itself in different ways.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi,

i am also affected by the problem and have already posted it here (Sense 2 Firmware Update 1.184.52 - page 2),also in the german-speaking forum and communicated the problem directly with the support team.

They already are working on a solution, as they told me.

Quote:

"After installing Firmware 1.184.52 and updating the Fitbit App to version 3.71, the weather on the watch no longer syncs.

All necessary permission for the Firbit App and Weather App are set correcly.

I've tried reinstalling the Fitbit App, but that didn't help either.

The only thing that helps to sync the weather again is to stop the Fitbit App and start it again. I set up a task in Tasker that does this at a certain interval in the background, but that's only a temporary solution."

And here is the email response from the Fitbit support team dated December 5th:

Hi Markus,
Thank you for your email and your efforts in this case. We are sorry for the late reply.

We appreciate you letting us know about this issue. We’re aware of it and are working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible.

We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track.

For help with your Fitbit device and services, see help.fitbit.com

Sincerely,
Isabela E. and the Fitbit Tea

BR,

Markus

[Guy_]

Hi @SunsetRunner - thank you for the update.

[t.parker]

@SunsetRunner don't want to bring you down but:

"We’re aware of it and are working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible."

is kind of standard response. They've been working on HR (on Sense and Sense 2), they've been working on Strava sync etc. For me, it only means so much as a shrug. Just search this phrase and you'll find out how busy Fitbit is trying to identify a resolution to various issues 🙂

[Run1994]

Hello Markus! Thank you so much for sharing the message you received from the Fitbit team. Feeling a lot better knowing they are aware of it and working on the issue! I appreciate everyone's input since I opened this topic. Have a great weekend!

[lovefit71]

I am using Android 13 and got the same problem

[Guy_]

@lovefit71 - see posts in the forums, Android 13 has / had it's problems.