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+.

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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.

[Gradysmom]

Thanks.  I’ve stopped all of the smart watch features on my phone and the charge does not last ONE day. 

[Marco60530]

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Just to update - "bizarrely" the watch is keeping the battery charge better than previously! So far in 14 hours it has lost only 5% charge, including 3 hours exercise and a lot of syncing to keep checking! 

Hopefully others will do the same - force the update to 3.43 by going to the Appstore, clicking on the Fitbit icon (not the button that probably says "open") and there should now appear an "update" button... click and the app updates, and (so far) end of battery being drained...

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[SteveS_39]

The combination that works for me on my iphone xr is:
Watch firmware: 128.5.38
App: 3.43

You may need to view the fitbit app detail screen in the appstore to force update to 3.43.

Steve

[Leibow]

giving it a try

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Moderator edit: personal info removed

[ToniBeanMango]

I have updated the app and the battery has stopped draining. BUT now I don’t get notifications on my Sense. I have toggled every Bluetooth setting, reconnected, restarted everything. Apparently they fixed the battery drain problem in the update by killing the Bluetooth notification features?

[ssgesq]

I updated lastest firmware last nite. My Sense then completely drained over nite. I charged it this morning and about 10 hours later I am already down to 8%. 

[LML3]

This has seemed to work for me, too!

[XenaLena]

What I have difficulty understanding is that this issue has been known for at least a week and the firmware update continued to be rolled out. Unknowingly, I downloaded the update, experienced extreme battery drain when it seems I could/should have been notified to not install the update. Surely Fitbit knows who has iOS and who has android. This seems to me to be a preventable problem. At this point and for the next several weeks (according to the customer service rep I spoke with) my ability to use my Fitbit Sense the way I expect is impeded. This is not acceptable and I do hope that some sort of compensatory gesture finds its way to affected users.  I'm paying for Premium and I'm not getting "minimum" acceptable performance.

[Staserabella]

This new update drains my sense in hours. How do I remove it so my sense is actually usable again??

[Alex654321]

I downloaded the new firm ware and now my Sense will only hold a charge for 8 hours. What should I do?

[TimmyDa]

Exactly my issue too - paying for premium and not getting premium is definitely unacceptable and may cross consumer law requirements in some countries.

[VetEdUASF]

Same here. I updated the new firmware version and now my sense is not holding a charge. It will not even accept a new charge.

[Dtustin]

My Sense is holding a charge for about 10 hrs.  I did sign out of the phone app and that made a difference - but that's not the solution of course. Any idea when we can expect a "fix"?

[SteveS_39]

Fix already in place (at least for me)
Search for fitbit in appstore, select it, view details (important as open button changes to update on details screen) and from this screen you should see a button to update. Just click on it and you’ll get the latest version

Steve

[XenaLena]

Searching the App Store and waiting for it to say "Update" rather than "Open" appears to have vastly improved my battery life.  I had shut down virtually everything and I've left it off whilst I give this a go.  So far, it's held pretty well today as I'm at 89% with eight hours elapsed.  Still not what one would expect but a vast improvement and I hadn't realized how important it was for me to have the app up and syncing often throughout the day.  Tomorrow I'll try turning notifications and so forth back on. 😄

[Leibow]

So far so good here tooi

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Moderator edit: personal info removed

[y8tesy]

Does doing this mean you loose data though?

[y8tesy]

I did updates yesterday for both the Fitbit app and iOS on my phone, neither has made any difference, the battery is still being drained. I’ve not had the firmware update made available to me, will this make the difference? 

[MarciM]

My battery is still draining after doing both updates too. Perhaps there will be another fix to come out soon to fix the battery issue. My didn't even make it a full day today. Charged to 100% at 8am, down to 18% by 3pm. Fingers crossed there is a fix for this soon. 

[Angiegia]

I have now done a factory reset on my sense and the battery appears to be working normally again… Make sure you sync your Fitbit first then delete the current device and add again and it seems to be functioning normally.  YAY