1-tap to wake up does not work

[JoanXa]

Hello, I'm newbie with Fitbit devices. I like so much my new Sense but I don't understand what's happening with the 1- tap waking up feature.

It seems that just after some seconds that it has been awake, then 1 tap wakes up the display. But trying to wake up the display at any time it just doesn't respond when I tap.

Very annoying.

Some times it responds after 10 taps, or I've played tapping in different zones...

How the hell a 330€ smartwatch has this types of bugs?

I just want to tap the screen and wake it up. Or at least that Fitbit explain how this tapping feature works because I look like a fool trying to repeatedly tap the screen to wake up my new smartwatch.

By the way, the left side capacitive button always works and wake up the screen...but is not the most comfortable way to wake it up.

Thanks for your help.

[Rich_Laue]

Hi @JoanXa I believe it takes two taps to wake up the tracker once it has been off for a while. This is to minimize false light ups. 

[JoanXa]

Hello, It is not true that it takes 2 taps to wake up. Just try it yourself. Let it for some minutes then try to wake up tapping on the screen.

I am the only person with this problem?

I would like to get an official answer to this question.

Thanks.

[Rich_Laue]

Yes @JoanXa you may have the only one that turns on with one tap but your original post disagrees. 

After having 19, different models of Fitbit's I can't say that I not aware of any models that turn on only with 1 tap or touch. 

Page 8 of the user Manual says two twice and page 18 States tapping, not tap. 

[JoanXa]

Hello,

I found this on top of page 21:

"When you set screen wake to manual, press the button or tap the screen to turn on the display."

Can you tell me where I can find that is needed to tap the screen twice to wake it up?

And by the way, tapping twice does not always work for me. Some times I have to tap 3, 4 or maybe 10... or look, if I tap twice the strap then then it works almost every time... 🙄

Let's see...

[JoanXa]

For your understanding I found another thread talking about dame problem:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Sense/Tap-to-wake-not-sensitive-on-Sense/m-p/4523623

But it seems is not solved for the moment....

[Rich_Laue]

For the sense, it is more of a very light touch. The same type of touch with the phone. 

Any sliding of the finger will be a swipe, not a tap. 

[Rich_Laue]

If I spent a little time, I can find many posts over the last 6 years saying the tap is to sensitive and a coat sleeve turns the screen on, and this is on trackers that do not have a touch screen. 

Yes I have tried, a single tap, does not light up my Sense, Versa, Versa 2, Versa Light, or Blaze. 

[Guy_]

Hi Rich, I think there is a confusion.

Normally 2 taps are required, however if the display goes off, for a brief period of time, 1 touch or tap is sufficient to rewake it.

I don't know how long is the delay before it reverts to normal 2 taps, or left button, or wrist movement to wake it.

This situation is for my watches which are set to auto [wake on wrist movement]

[SunsetRunner]

@JoanXa - you ask, “Can you tell me where I can find that is needed to tap the screen twice to wake it up?”

I checked the documentation in several areas and you are right, it does say to wake the screen with a tap in several areas. But as @Rich_Laue and @Guy_ mentioned, experience shows a quick double tap is required to wake the screen. This is my experience, too, as I’ve had many different Fitbit devices and currently place my Sense in Sleep Mode before retiring every night. The quick double tap allows me to check the time if I wake up. 

Since you choose not to set your Sense to automatic screen wake, then please use the quick double tap to wake your screen. I’ve found that QUICK is the key word. It’s Tap-Tap, not Tap (pause) Tap. 

[Guy_]

@SunsetRunner  You can also gently press the back button with your thumb, that way you don't wake the neighbors!! [with constant tapping!] Seriously, it works quite well and you can do it with your eyes closed and just peek at the time when it lights up.

Also try settings, sleep mode on your watch and enable a schedule that way it sets Do Not Disturb, dims and sleep mode at the same time each night without any action on your part and avoids being woken if you forgot to set sleep mode. As its a schedule it reverses the process in the morning, again in case you forget.

[cyrusgrimes]

just playing around with my new Sense, and found that the internal accelerometer can accept a double-tap almost anywhere near the device, a quick double bonk (harder than a tap) of my wrist woke it up!

[Mladen90]

Same for me.

Just tapping twice the sense will not activate it or will do it but after 10th time.

A bit more strength seems necessary...probably to avoid that it gets activated randomly? 

[bouncealong313]

I got a new Sense today and I'm actually having the same problem - so much so that I didn't think the Sense even supported wake-up on tap until coming across this post to find out it should work but isn't working properly. I have to tap my Sense about 6-10 different times before it wakes up by tap, whether I do single taps or double taps. I've tried doing very light taps, hard taps, prolonged taps, waiting between taps and I'm definitely not swiping in any way. It just doesn't seem to work well.

The only thing I have discovered is that double tapping directly in the centre of the screen works much better than other areas. But I mean DIRECTLY in the centre - within 1-2mm of the centre. And even then, it's so random as to whether it works first go (~20% of the time), second go (~30% of the time) or takes more than 6 taps to work (~50% of the time).

[Rich_Laue]

The Sense has a touch screen. The harder the tap, the more likely the finger will slide and will be detected as a swipe. 

Really the tap should be only done as a short touch.

Pretend that the Sense is a phone screen. Tap the sense the same way that one would type on the phones virtual keyboard. 

[Mladen90]

@Rich_Laue 

Normal tappings look just random to me...far from normal touchscreens.

(this is my first fitbit so maybe i'm not used to it...or it's just an "issue" with new model(s)?)

https://youtu.be/X5HEUx78Etk

[bouncealong313]

Rich_Laue I'm aware of that, I'm not new to technology. I've had plenty of other devices with touchscreens and tap-to-wake, and in my experience the Sense has the worst tap-to-wake or touch-to-wake out of any device I've had or used.

Also, in contradiction to what you warn about hard taps I've found that the taps on the Sense HAVE to be hard or they don't register at all. It's not over-sensitive for me - it's the complete opposite, it doesn't register soft/average/normal touches at all and still doesn't register some hard taps. I'm absolutely not swiping my finger as I'm conscious of that.

By doing hard taps - considerably harder than I would normally use on any touchscreen device - and specifically in the centre of the screen, I'm finding that the double taps actually successfully wake the device nearer to 50%-60% of the time first go, rather than 20% or less as before, and 80-90% of the time by the second double-tap. The harder the tap - the better, to the point I would suggest people doing more of a "hard quick double-poke" than what you would normally call a "tap", much harder than you would normally use on a touch screen device.

[Rich_Laue]

I find just the opposite. For me I only have to barely touch the screen with the following models. Anytime I tap hard, the tap rarely gets detected

Inspire, inspire 2, blaze, Sense, ionic, versa, versa lite, Versa 2, Versa 3, Charge 2, Charge 3, Charge 4

As for technology, at 12, I wrote my first basic program in 1965 on a time shared PDP 11, through a portable TTY connected at 115 baud. 

[bouncealong313]

How you tap other Fitbit devices isn't very relevant when we're talking specifically about the Sense. I've had other Fitbit devices too, which are not the same as the Sense and don't handle the same - they accepted lighter touches. The Sense doesn't seem to for tap-to-wake in my experience.

When you started programming has nothing to do with how the touchscreen on the Sense works either so I don't know why you bring that up. I only mentioned not being new to technology because you replied before as if you were talking to a five year old who didn't even know what a touchscreen was - everyone here knows what a touchscreen is and the basic similarities with a phone's touchscreen.

[Mladen90]

@Rich_Laue

That's why I made the video...you can clearly hear the difference between normal and harder tapping and what is the result.