GPS exercise tracking shuts down on Sense

[Casual-User]

I have seen this several times.  On board GPS and exercise tracking works well, as long as you never touch your iPhone.  However, if you touch your iPhone for any purpose (call, text, check weather), the GPS and exercise tracking shut down and do not restart, even if you stop using the phone.  It’s the only reason I coughed up $300 for the Sense.  The Sense is non-Sense.  My Verse worked better.  It relied on the phone for GPS, but didn’t stop / lose tracking if I used the phone.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[lifeisgoodnow]

Are you saying that you have PAIRED your sense to your IPHONE and when you go to use your IPHONE it turns off features on your sense?

[Casual-User]

iPhone is paired to Sense. I start a walk. I get a text on the phone, read it, and that stops the GPS and exercise session tracking on the Sense and in the app.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Casual-User. Welcome on board. @lifeisgoodnow Thanks for stopping by to help our new member.

@Casual-User Thanks for sharing these details. I understand where you're coming from about getting your GPS activity interrupted and I'm sorry for this inconvenience. Because you mentioned this happens when using your phone, do you recall if you opened the Fitbit app at that time? May I know since when this started to happen? Also, what is the model and OS/software version of your phone?

In the meantime, please force quit the Fitbit app, reboot your phone, restart your watch to refresh its performance, open the Fitbit app,  pull down on the screen to force a manual sync and try tracking your GPS exercise one more time.

Hope this helps.

[Casual-User]

I am using an iPhone 12 Pro, iOS version 14.6, Sense version 128.5.38, fitbit app version 3.43.1 (1057).  The fitbit app is always running in the background, and has Location Services always on.

I have force quit the app, and shut down and restarted the phone between instances.  In one instance, I had started the exercise on the Sense, and accessed the app (it was already running in the background, but I brought it to the foreground) and it terminated both the activity and the GPS tracking.  I learned that lesson.  In yesterday’s instance, I started the activity on the Sense, the app was running in the background on the phone, I got and read a text message, never brought the app to the foreground, but it terminated both activity tracking and GPS tracking.

[Casual-User · Accepted solution]

Another update.  No help from “support,” so I’m debugging on my own.  Tonight I ended the app on my phone (not running in foreground or background), started exercise / walk on the Sense, walked a mile, had my wife text me, read it, replied.  GPS and exercise still running.  Opened a weather app, checked the weather, closed the weather app.  Got home, ended the exercise / walk on the Sense, opened the Fitbit app on the phone, synced it.  GPS and exercise tracking stayed on and recorded the entire exercise / walk session and track.  Not a good solution, but a solution just the same.  Sense remains non-sense.

[Cathbadh]

The issue was noted in a topic on 22 June, so it's been around for a minimum of a month without a fix. It neatly explains my own observation that outside of opening the Fitbit app on my iPhone, any rest stop seemed to crash the Sense (on rest stops I'm probably checking texts, email, taking photos, etc). I'll try your solution - thumbs up for doing the legwork!

[Casual-User]

I hope it works for you. Please let me know. Hopefully someone at Fitbit will figure it out and push an update to fix it.

[Scuba_Si]

I’m the same. Today during my excercise I had a notification from Fitbit suggesting I open the app to allow for regular syncing or some such. I duly complied and it crashed the watch and uploaded half the activity to strava. 

I only found out when I got a notification from strava, which was some time after that had happened. 

this fault makes it impossible to use the Sense to track activity and then try to beat your best times etc. better off to use my old Apple Watch series 2.

very disappointed and will contact support directly to ask for a return / refund.

[Cathbadh]

Yes, if you close Fitbit completely (not running in background on iPhone) it will send a notification prompting you to start it. You need to ignore this.

[Casual-User]

This notification needs one more sentence - “If you look at notifications or updates, you will terminate the session you are… tracking…”

[Librarygal]

Just a note, I have an Android and it does same thing. 

Jennifer

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @Casual_User  thanks for your great fault finding , I too had this issue and you are correct in saying that exiting the fitbit app completely, before starting walking exercise on your sense and not reacting to any fitbit notifications and not opening the fitbit app works perfectly.

I logged a call yesterday and today was told the usual restart everything at first which did not work, then was told to follow the thread on the 22nd June which gives info by others too this did not work either, none of those solutions worked.

I found your thread which is 100% correct.

Thanks again for your time sorting out how we can work around this.

Support when I logged a call have told me they are looking into this and a fix will be forth coming I asked when but there was no further info given other than "in due course"

[Sparky617]

I have noticed on my Sense that if I open the app while using the exercise mode on the tracker that the tracker shuts off the tracking and I get a Fitbit logo that it is rebooting.  I just got the Sense two weeks ago after dropping my aging Versa and cracking the screen.  I'm on an iPhone running 14.6 Fitbit Sense version 128.5.38 Fitbit v 3.43.1

I'm trying rebooting the phone and tracker.

[Casual-User]

Hi @SunsetRunner. I’m glad it worked for you. As noted in my response last night, the FitBit notification to turn on the app seems to have pierced my shield - I got it last night while walking, ignored it (phone was in my pocket untouched), and it still killed the GPS. I may be stumped at this point.

I may put in a call to support myself, to request a refund for their defective “product.” My Versa 1 was limited, but at least it was reliable. The Sense is not.

[Casual-User]

Hi @Sparky617. Good luck with that. Rebooting the device, restarting the app, rebooting the phone, all “textbook” support responses, do not work. The closest thing to an answer that I have found (and others are supporting), is to close the app on the phone (close, not running in the background) before you start your exercise on the Sense. You may get a popup notification from FitBit asking you to launch the app to sync updates and get notifications (wait, this is a nitification?!), but DON’T - if you do, it will kill your track. If you follow my solution to the letter, you can use your $1,000 phone for anything else without upsetting your $300 wrist brick.

Good luck!

[Ricardo4488]

I have the same problem/. My exercise app on the Sense shuts off when I am doing a walk.  My Versa never did that.  Can you fix this or do I need my Versa back?

[barbarabarbara2]

What worked for me was turning off gps tracking on the watch, under running exercise. Than I clicked the plus sign under the exercise section on the app and it worked from than on.