Sense battery drains when using Snore Detect

[scaddenp]

Overnight battery usage has suddenly increased. The watch was easily doing 3 day on 80-30 range but

suddenly barely making two. Chewing through 30% or so overnight. Maybe coincidence, but it seemed to coincide with turning on the new snore report. Anyone else noticed - and if so, how do you turn it off?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[JohnnyRow · Accepted solution]

Yes, Snore Detection does that.  To avoid more frequent charges, I would expect many would choose to use it only for a night or 2 just to find out whether or not they do snore.

To turn it off from phone app Today screen:

Sleep tile > Gear icon near top right > Detect Snoring > Off

[scaddenp]

Thanks very much for that prompt and effective answer. I missed the "it will suck your battery" warning. Settled the argument on who snores most 😝 so turning it off.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @scaddenp. It's good to see you again. @JohnnyRow Thanks for your amazing help!

@scaddenp Thanks for trying the steps suggested by our friend. I'm glad you were able to turn off the Snore Detect feature and if you haven't done so, please see this help article which describes what features impact the battery life of your Sense.

I hope you keep enjoying the experience and if you have time, let me invite you to visit our Health & Wellness board where you can share your story, meet more people and create new topics.

[G.F.C4]

@LizzyFitbit @scaddenp @JohnnyRow It is true of course that there is a warning from Fitbit that turning this on will affect battery life. This is said about most features that are not enabled by default, such as SPO2 monitoring for example.

BUT it does NOT say that the battery life impact will be so severe that this much-publicised new feature is unusable except just for very short periods of a few days!

The battery impact depends on sleep duration obviously, and in my case, my Sense was using 40 to 50% of the battery overnight with it on!

So continuing to use it would almost certainly shorten the life of my Sense severely! These types of batteries have a limited service life in terms of numbers of charge and discharge cycles. Charging more frequently uses up the battery service life more quickly.

The battery isn't replaceable, so an end of life battery that will no longer store enough charge means a watch that is end of life.

So in my view, this new feature is not really fit for purpose, and the warnings that go with it from Fitbit are entirely insufficient because they do not make clear that this feature drains the battery so much more drastically than other features.

@LizzyFitbit Can you please confirm that the developers know that this level of battery draining is the reality, and that Fitbit think this is acceptable, and that this feature has Fitbit's approval for regular daily use without risk of damage to the battery because of charging every 1 to 2 days?

Can you also advise whether Fitbit is prepared to provide fuller advice to users when turning this on, with a clearer warning that this will dramatically impact battery life, and probably significantly shorten the usable life of the watch itself?

[Sarahdem]

They really need to figure out a way to have it work effectively AND not kill the battery. 

[Sarahdem]

100% agree with you. It almost seems like they’re adding these battery sucking features just so you’ll have to replace the battery sooner. I can’t BELIEVE how much battery is used up using the snore report feature. 40-50%?? That’s insane. 

@Fitbit you can do better. 

[LZeeW]

@Sarahdem   Unfortunately, you can't replace a Sense battery.  My experiment with the snore feature told me that I snored a total of ten minutes in one night and didn't snore at all the other four.  Experiment ended.  Snore feature turned off.

[G.F.C4]

@Sarahdem @LZeeW That's right, as I said earlier, an end of life battery means an end of life watch.

I hope Fitbit will have to think again, because of having lots of warranty claims due to battery life ruined well within warranty period.

This could be a useful feature if it could be left on, so that if snoring starts to be a reason for disturbed sleep, that shows up.

As it is, is not fit for purpose as I said.

I really think we need a much better answer to this point from Fitbit, that takes this seriously, and I think it's misleading that the post its marked "answered" because it hasn't been answered satisfactorily.

@LizzyFitbit Can we have a better answer please? 

[Phoebus77]

I did not know we had a snore detect, thanks.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone. It's good to see you here in the forums.

Thanks for letting me know your thoughts about the Snore Detect feature and I'm sorry for the inconvenience you've experienced. I see where you're coming from about this situation and while it's not possible to change the impact this feature has on your Sense battery life, please know your feedback will be passed along to our team so they can work on this feature and improve its performance, as well as the experience with it.

@G.F.C4 About your other inquiry, please take in mind that because this is a public forum, other members experiencing this situation might have found that post helpful enough to mark it as the best answer. However, I understand your point of view and appreciate your comments which will help us to work on the Community Forums.

@Phoebus77 Thanks for joining this thread and check this help article to learn more about this feature.

See you around.

[DeltaSpark]

As irritating as it was to go to bed at 34% and wake up at 7%, I’m glad to see that we’re all in agreement as to what’s causing the problem. Is there really not a way that they could fix this? I had sleep mode on last night too, assuming that my screen was turning on during those restless moments.

my watch battery only drains at night. I can go ALL DAY on 30% but it could barely make it through the night due to the snore detection feature. 

I think there should be more of a warning as to how significant the battery will drain with this feature. All Fitbit features say “this may reduce battery life” but this isn’t just reducing battery life, this is DRAINING your battery. This is SIGNIFICANT battery loss  and we don’t have a good enough warning before we turn on this feature. 

[LizzyFitbit]

Welcome on board, @DeltaSpark.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about the Snore Detect feature. I understand how you're feeling about your Sense not holding charge while using this feature and I'm sorry for this inconvenience. Our team strives to improve our devices and features, and the feedback shared in the forums never goes unnoticed as it's a big part of the process. I appreciate your feedback about having a warning so others can know how much this feature will impact the battery life, please know this won't be taken for granted.

See you around.

[Not_My_RealName]

Well I’m here 6 months after this thread was active to say it’s a huge problem and it was not indicated that this would happen. I’ve been a Fitbit  fan since they introduce the original clip style tracker. I’m used to being frustrated by features and products not working well, like the one pebble that would always feel out of its silicone holster. I lost 4 or 5 of those!

but I recently, a week ago switched from my trusty charge 4 to sense and I’ve got to say it’s a real scam. Almost every single “feature” is a battery drain. Using it as a bare bones tracker the way I do with my charge still is causing the mega battery drain. Turning off all of the features that make the sense what it is is ease yield turning it into a regular tracker.

it’s super disappointing to spend a lot of money only to discover it’s basically not even as good as my previous tracker because of all of the battery drain issues. 

one of the other posters noted that the excessive charging will mean diminished battery life and that person was right. That point has not yet been addressed. Posting a response saying sorry for your hassle isn’t doing anything except ignoring peoples concerns. Rather than saying I understand you’re upset/ frustrated actually doing something is needed not more patronizing customer service blather. 

[LizzyFitbit]

@Not_My_RealName Welcome to the Community.

Thanks for the detailed information, as well as sharing your feedback. I'm sorry you've gone through this experience with your Sense. Before anything else let me explain that as with any other electronic devices, certain features have a great impact on the battery life specially if they're used regularly. As described in our help site, you may have to charge your Sense more often when tracking GPS, SpO2 and/or Snore data. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use any feature; however, please take our recommended tips into consideration when using your watch.

I understand your point of view and if by any chance your watch keeps draining, my best advice is to get in touch with our Support team so they can evaluate its behavior and see what can be done to help you with this matter. Click here to get connected with them via chat or phone.