Announcing Sense Update OS 5.3 (44.128.6.12)

[FitbitCommunity]

This update should now be available to all customers! If you have any difficulty updating, make sure you are following the directions in this article, and then provide as many specific details as possible in your post so that we can assist.

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Update 11/7

We are continuing to roll out this firmware for the Fitbit Sense, and expect more users will see it as available. This is a progressive rollout, and all customers can expect to have it within a few weeks. We roll out releases in phases as a cautionary measure so that we can monitor performance closely and make adjustments if needed. If you don't see the option to update, don't worry - you'll have it soon!

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Update 10/27

We’re excited to announce that a firmware update for Sense will be available soon!  Some of you may already have this update available - if you installed it, let us know what you think!

If you don’t see the update yet, that’s expected. Check the Fitbit app in a few days, and you’ll see a message when you can install the update. We expect everyone to receive the update in the coming weeks. We appreciate your patience while we get this update to all of our customers. 

Did you know that we gradually release our updates? We do this to make sure everything is working just right for you. Sometimes we find an issue and it might take a little longer than expected for everyone to get the update. While you might see suggestions on how to “force” an update, we ask that you don’t try any of these workarounds. Most of the time the update won’t be available and you can lose data or encounter other difficulties. The best way to get the update is to be patient and wait for the update banner to appear in the Fitbit app.  

WHAT’S NEW AND FIXED

You can find release notes here.

HOW DO I UPDATE?

You can find step-by-step instructions for updating your Sense here. 

We recommend updating your Sense over a home Wi-Fi network as this can greatly reduce the time it can take to get set up. For more information on connecting your Sense to Wi-Fi, check out this article. 

If you run into difficulty updating please review these troubleshooting tips. 

We’re interested in hearing your feedback on this update! Let us know what you like! If you encounter unexpected behavior during or after your update, please post the details below.

[JChaney]

I was gifted my Sense for Christmas last year (2020) and it has never counted floors correctly. In fact today alone I have 43 and only 3400 steps. I work in IT and have not gone up one flight of stairs. I have just written it off as it sucks. 

My Surge which the Sense replaced was excellent tracking floors. Have you read or found anything that can explain this?

[adriano72]

I recently updated my sense to the latest firmware and since then the battery is barely lasting a day. Didn't change anything to the settings, clocks or apps I already had before the update.

Anyone else noticed the same problem?

[eddasig]

Yup! Had problems with battery since I bought it, but now I have to keep it on no notifications so that it lasts a day 🙄 Quite possibly my biggest waste of money ever. 

[Clove6060]

I don’t have the same problem. Have not lost any battery life since the last update.

It may be possible that some features were added or turned on in the recent update, without your knowledge. Check to see if the snore report and readiness score are initiated. If so, turn em off. They are known “heavy drainers”. 

How long was your battery lasting before the update?

[adriano72]

Sorry to hear -- personally I've been very happy with the Sense so far. I hope to find a solution for this battery issue. Have you tried to contact Fitbit support? Perhaps it's an hardware issue in which case you might be able to get it replaced.

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I enabled the readiness report before the update and didn't notice battery drain at the time, so I don't think that's the issue. Although I just checked the snore report and that was enabled -- I have now turned it off. Hopefully that was the issue

[Clove6060]

Oh you’ll see a significant difference now that you disabled the snore report.  I’ve heard people report anywhere from 30-50% drain overnight. The longer you sleep, the greater the battery usage. 

[Misssss]

I keep sleep mode enabled in efforts to reduce rapid battery drainage. However that defeats the purpose of having it.

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I’m going to try that to although the issue was the same prior too. Fingers crossed

[Guy_]

Hi @Misssss - You can enable Sleep mode on a schedule, covering your normal sleep time, in watch Settings Quiet modes, Schedule.

A sleep schedule helps reduce intensity of the display, stops auto wake and notifications.

Enabling it during the day will turn the smart watch into a dumb one!

The things to remove, or not use, to get long battery life are:

• SpO2 tracker app,
• SpO2 clock face,
• Snore report,
• Readiness score,
• Always on display.
• GPS
• a clock face with an Internet permission [such as weather]
• a clock face that has an intense or active animated display.

Set the display screen timeout to 8s, brightness to normal.

If you are really into battery saving and monitoring, try the battery efficient SimpleClockPro clock face, it has charge logging once a day and records all charges so you can see what affect the changes you make have on the battery performance.

With the older firmware 44.128.5.38 over 6 days is easily possible even using notifications quite a lot but no phone calls.

[SababaBenji]

I had this too. It is do not disturb is turned on

[Clove6060]

I get about 20% drain every 24 hours. It has been that for over a year. Battery life between charges will depend on features used etc so I’ll give you an idea of how I use and don’t use the sense. 

- Screen Button activation only 

-Clock Face is low usage (low animation)

-Eliminated reminders to move, wash hands, get ready for bed etc.

-charge sense at or around 20% to 100% 

(Effort to maintain battery integrity over long term)

-screen brightness set to normal. 

-No snore report

-No readiness report


Some things to consider and know my usage varies daily on notifications:

-I do not play music on sense

-I do have extensive gmail notifications and outlook (work) notifications through the day. 
-I do have on wrist calls but only use as notifier.

(however get a lot of calls.)

-I’m considering removing built in gps for auto recognized activities but still researching pros and cons.

-I auto sync

Additionally this is a work in progress. I am always mindful about battery usage and after 1 year I am still finding ways to eliminate or reduce features I don’t use that require battery consumption . 

[adriano72]

Disabling the snore report seems to have helped.

I don't have any reminders enabled, neither call or calendar event notifications, and using a watch face with minimal animations -- that said, I get way more than 20% battery drain over 24 hours but that has been since new (never went more than a day without recharging).

[Clove6060]

@adriano72 

Well glad to see that helped. 
Not sure if there is anything else you can do, except monitor the drain closely for a day or two. See if there is a battery drain associated with a specific period of  usage or it drains at a consistent rate.

Do you listen to music, use for exercise, make lengthy calls.

Maybe there is a day you do not exercise or listen to music per say and see what the battery usage looks like.  Regardless, you should be getting more than a day. 

[Allan00]

While setting up my brand new Sense, it lost connection with my phone. Sense won’t turn back on. Tried resetting it but didn’t work. 

[adriano72]

I don't listen to music from the Sense nor make calls from it. I do track exercise it. Might try to disable the readiness score see if it improve things (although as long as the battery lasts for at least a day and an half I'm fine with it). Thank you for all these suggestions!

[Clove6060]

I’d be interested in knowing what disabling the readiness score does for your battery.  You can always reinstate it later if the difference is negligible and you want that data.

Anyway glad to help!

[lablover55]

try charging it..

[Allan00]

Tried that, still won’t turn on. Fitbit was 100% and connected to the charger when I was updating it. 

[SunsetRunner]

If you remove all those apps, you might as well not use a fitbit sense lol

[UnguruBulan]

@Clove6060 in regards to this info:

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@Clove6060 wrote:

-charge sense at or around 20% to 100% 

(Effort to maintain battery integrity over long term)

I wonder where did you get that? I was also looking for best practices when it comes to increasing the battery lifetime. Thanks!

[Clove6060]

@UnguruBulan 

I don’t know, probably from trolling the forum.🤣

Actually I believe it is a way to keep the battery in a good state. Apple iPhones recommends a similar procedure…….let it get down to a certain point before charging. “Apple recommends, as do many others, that you try to keep an iPhone battery between 40 and 80 percent charged. Topping up to 100 percent isn't optimal, although it won't necessarily damage your battery.” Fitbit does not recommend leaving it on a charger overnight. I am of the mindset to let it regularly run down to 0 percent can prematurely lead to a battery's demise.  I like the 20% because its a point where all features continue to run and I got some some leeway if I can’t get to it that day. I never let it sit on a charger to keep it at 100%.

Maybe I’m being routinal (😉) but it’s my program.