Sense battery draining after iOS app update

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there,

Our team has released the new Fitbit iOS App 3.43 version and it should be available for all of you. Please make sure to download it from the App store as this will resolve the battery short life issues experienced on your Sense. Take in mind that this and future Fitbit app versions will require iOS 13.4+.

---

Hi everyone. Thanks for your continued reports.

Our team is aware of the Sense not holding charge when syncing with iOS devices and they're working to bring a fix as soon as possible. In the meantime, we recommend force quitting the Fitbit app on your iOS devices to prevent the battery from draining when syncing.

I've moved your posts to this thread so we can keep our team informed of this situation. Your patience is truly appreciated and please know your feedback hasn't gone unnoticed.

See you around.

[lablover55]

turn off bluetooth and only turn it on when you need to sync...

[SteveS_39]

Even if the app indicates it is up to date, it may not be. You may need to force it from app store. See previous threads

Steve

[Angiegia]

Thanks for that I’ve updated everything and it appears to be working normally

Sent from my iPhone

[Sheils1]

I’ve checked app and firmware to confirm version numbers are latest as advised by Fitbit

[Tokala]

I updated the firmware yesterday and charged my watch to 100%. Now I find it will not last through the day. 

I don't have "Always On" enabled. 

I don't have "Automatic Screen Wake" enabled -- it's on manual where I have to hit the button to light up the watch.

I'm not using an SP02 face -- just one that has Time, one counter and HR monitor. 

I have notifications, but the text messages have never worked on it (yes, I enabled the settings to allow for it, I share system notifications, and I get phone calls and other notifications just fine).

It seems to drop 1% every 10 minutes, meaning 6% per hour. Meaning it will NOT last a full 24 hours. 

I haven't gotten any notifications today on it, so I know it's not from lots of notifications. 

I don't understand since I didn't change anything ... just updated the firmware. 

I primarily got this for sleep tracking. I cannot use this product as is anymore.

Is anyone else having this issue?

This might be the final straw for me... I occasionally have had terrible troubles syncing and go through all the troubleshooting steps of turning it off, removing from bluetooth, rebooting watch, rebooting iphone, disabling bluetooth + force quit app + renable bluetooth. It's very frustrating... I've even removed the sense itself from the app which seems to help sometimes, then re-set everything up. It seems to preserve sleep data this way. 

Anyway, if this issue is not fixed I'll have to return this, sadly, and I don't know if it's worth getting another Fitbit product. I also pay $10 a month for the stupid "advanced sleep analytics" which really should just be included since I doubt that 10$ goes to anything related to the "advanced" analytics. 

Now that I can't even get this to last a SINGLE DAY I am irate. 

[Uncle_Paul]

Sorry to hear that you are having similar problems.

Support are working on a fix apparently, and in the meantime they asked me to force quit the app on my phone.

This has helped, and the battery use has “reduced” to around 1.5% / hour - much better than the 10% / hr since the “upgrade”, but worse than the 1% / hr pre “upgrade” - and that was with everything switched on, not in its current hobbled state!

It isn’t fit for purpose until they fix this.

Sent from my iPhone

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there. Thanks for your continued reports and welcome to our new members.

I'm glad that the newest Fitbit app version is working for some of you, and thanks for sharing your feedback . I totally understand where you're coming from about having this experience with your Sense. Our team values every comment shared by our members as it help us to improve the experience with our products, features and services. Rest assured your comments haven't gone unnoticed.

@TT001, @Kent3894, @PWM13, @melcurtsi, @Bfroggy1 and @Sheils1 Thanks for keeping your Sense and the Fitbit app updated. I'm sorry the battery is still draining and to work on this, let me recommend the following steps:

1. Force quit the Fitbit app on your phone.
2. Reboot your phone.
3. Restart your watch to refresh its performance.
4. Fully charge your Sense with the charging cable that came in the box.
5. Open the Fitbit app and pull down on the screen to force a manual sync.

Please use it as you normally do, sync it with the Fitbit app to update your details and monitor its behavior in the next days. Note that certain features such as GPS or SpO2 tracking consumes the battery in a higher rate. You can find more details about that in this help article.

@Katdono Thanks for joining this thread, I'm sorry for the inconvenience you're having with your Versa 3. Because you have a different Fitbit model, I'd invite to share your comments to its dedicated board by clicking here so you can have more chances to receive help from the moderators and the Community.

Hope this helps.

[ladennis19]

This is crazy. I can’t get an accurate sleep score because I have to get up at 5:00 AM to charge the watch while I then sleep for another hour so I can take the watch to the gym with a full charge. I feel like this is such false advertising, 5 day battery life, blah, blah, blah. I’ve seen posts dating back to December 2020 outlining this problem, 6 months later, no fix??? I love this watch  and have had a Fitbit of some variety for many years, this is so very disappointing on all fronts.  I am so sorry I didn’t read up before I switched to the Sense. 

[AndreasQ]

Hi Lizzy. Any New Information on that issue?

[Sheils1]

Where is the posts giving advice on how to force the App Store to update the App on on IOS device?

[SteveS_39]

Go into appstore and search for fitbit.
Click on the logo to open the detail screen.
The open button will change to an update button if a later version exists.
Click update!

Steve

[AmolJ]

I encountered this issue in the last couple of days where my Sense battery would drain in less than 24 hours. Whilst the jury is still out, the device has stopped exhibiting this after I removed two installed apps - Nav Buddy and World Clock. I am suspecting that Nav Buddy started using GPS even when I was not using it. I will confirm after a couple of days of use but thought would share anyway as it is extremely annoying to charge every day (the main reason I chose Fitbit over Apple Watch). Good luck

[Timr13]

Please ensure you have all the latest updates for the iPhone, the sense watch and the Fitbit app. The Fitbit app must be manually updated to the latest software. Open apps, find the Fitbit app, click on the icon and force the new update if needed.

Tim

[bcurtis32000]

Anyway to get the update on Iphone 6 - The new app is not compatible with the older ios - worked w/o issue until couple days ago when like all - battery  drains so fast

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone. Thanks for your participation in the forums.

@SteveS_39, @AmolJ and @Timr13 Thanks for your suggestions. Your posts will definitely help many other members.

@ladennis19 and @AndreasQ. Thanks for joining this thread and letting me know about your watches. I understand your point of view about going through this experience, your feedback hasn't gone unnoticed and will be passed along to our team. As mentioned before, please make sure to update the Fitbit app on your iOS devices as this will improve the battery life. Then monitor your Sense's behavior and let me know how it goes.

@Sheils1 You can take a look at this post which describe how to update the Fitbit app from the App store. Keep me posted.

@bcurtis32000 Thanks for letting me know your iPhone's model. As you may know, it's now required to have iOS 13.4+ to update the Fitbit app to 3.43 version or higher. I'm sorry for this inconvenience and my best suggestion is to force quit the Fitbit app on your iPhone 6 to prevent the battery from draining when syncing.

[Bfroggy1]

I did all of those steps before joining thread. My phone has the latest version 14.6. The problem started when I sense requested firmware update. The only solution I have found to keep charge is to turn off Bluetooth in iPhone settings then turn it on to sync. 
fitbit needs to correct its software update and quickly or as a long time customer ( I’ve had the hr and blaze for years) I’ll move to the Apple Watch.

[KidsHvPaws]

Tried the recommendations and disconnecting helped with the battery
draining but my fitbit sense screen is still having issues, doesn't light
up. It's still tracking activity and vibrates when there's a reminder or
I've met a goal.

Since Fitbit is well aware of the issue I'm waiting for them to release a
remedy.

[pbeckw1044]

I got the same answer twice. Mine is a warranty replacement already. Extremely frustrated 

[Sheils1]

Hi SteveS, all checked via App Store and all up to date,including IOS on phone and firmware on watch.  The device still quickly drains the battery requiring a charge after a few hours of use

[Lizziecat]

Same here.  It’s only been draining for the past 3-4 days, and died during the night the past two nights.  I had to charge it multiple times yesterday and it’s back on the charger now.  Not happy.