Sense 2 side button not working

[JScofield]

The side button on my Sense 2 stopped working. I have tried:

Fully charging watch

Power cycle watch

Verified sleep and do not disturbs settings not enabled

Used compressed air on button to help clean button area

Put watch in water to clean button area

The watch is 3 months out of warranty. Great time to fail.

[JohnnyRow]

Perhaps explain "not working"

Cannot depress?  Could depress but it is stuck in?  Can depress but it doesn't do anything?  Can depress but it doesn't do what you expect it to do?

[JScofield]

Can depress, but it does nothing. When the screen is off, depressing the
button does not wake the screen. When the watch is powered off, pressing
the button will not power it on. When on any of the non-home screens,
pressing the button does not return to the home screen. I can activate the
display by movement and by double tapping the screen.

[JohnnyRow]

By "power cycle", do you mean restart by holding in side button for 10 or more seconds until you get fitbit logo?  If not, try that, and try holding in for up to 30 seconds if don't see any response.

[JScofield]

By "power cycle", I mean restarting the watch. To do this, I go to Settings, then Shut Down. Pressing the side button will not power the watch back on. I have to connect the charging cable. Pressing and holding the side button for 30 seconds does not do anything. 

When I connect the cable it flashes the Fitbit logo numerous times, then goes to a big red X, then the device starts up to the home screen.

[JohnnyRow]

Since you can press the button in and it comes back out, I expect it's not hardware but a software glitch that's not resetting.  I'm just taking a guess here, but I'm guessing that "factory reset" would fix it, but no guarantee.  Usually I never recommend a factory reset and it is rare that I see it having solved a problem, and I generally consider it way overused, but one time for me a few years ago on another model, it wasn't a button but there was a function I just could not swipe to, and eventually I tried a factory reset and that got it to work.

But a few cautions if you do try a factory reset:

Make sure to do a sync first to get current data from watch to fitbit database.

You will lose any customization you might have done.

This was with an older model but few years ago there were several cases where people tried a factory reset on their own but then could not get it to boot back up so ended up out of luck so there is some risk involved.  I think that has been solved now, especially since there is a "factory reset" option right on the watch in Settings.

I guess up to you, how much of a pain it is working with a button.  You might want to try calling Support to see what they say, though I guess they can be hard to reach.

[phatbitzr]

Have you tried to put the Sense 2 in a container of rice or some other moisture absorbing material and just leave it there for some time?  On my old fitbit, when it goes on the fritz or just get stuck where it is not recoverable, that's what I would do and frequently it revives it.

One of my old fitbit had button problems, the button would never work, except for powering up the fitbit that has been shut down, so there could be situations where the firmware is just ignoring the button presses.  I just had to not descend into submenus where I cannot get out, since on that fitbit, the button was used to go back one level.  Changing clock faces was the only thing that saves me when I am stuck in some screen and don't have a charger nearby.  So on the Sense 2, with the swipe right acting like the up one level/back button, you might be able to live without the button, except for the loss of various shortcuts.

[JScofield]

Updates - so far none of the suggestions have worked.

I did the factory reset. Yeah, that is annoying to go through the full setup again, but was worth a try. No luck.

I left in a container with rice for 24+ hours, no change.

I never realized how often I use that side button and not being able to return to the home screen or turn on display without moving my arm (in bed) is actually aggravating. 

It's a shame that 3 months out of warranty this fails without any solution. Maybe these are not built as reliable as I hoped.

Solution: go buy something different.