Sense battery is quickly draining

[LongTimeUser888]

I have been using Fitbit for just under 10 years.  I have been a long time believer in your products.  I have recently upgraded from the Charge 4 to the Sense, mostly because of a Costco promotion.  I was perfectly happy with my Charge, but bought the Sense anyway.  I have come to regret this decision.  the battery health is lousy ... I am charging my Sense every 2-3 days.  I have already turned off all the features about a month ago and still, a battery with less than half the life of my 2-years-old Charge.  So disappointing. 

That and I can hardly feel vibrations, even though I have it set to max.  I wish I had read the community forum before purchasing the Sense.  So many people have been complaining about these issues and, as of yet, no fix. 

I bought it at Costco, so I suppose I could just return it.  Unfortunately, I gave away my Charge, so I'd have to buy something else.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Guy_]

Hi @LongTimeUser888  - - the current firmware version seems to have a common problem [see other posts in the forum], maybe due to the new features added. Quite possibly Snore detection and SpO2. Check each of the issues in How to resolve the Major issues causing short battery life. 

You should be able to get 6 days battery life then add the features you actually need.

Vibration has been a problem from day 1 even when set on Strong. It should be noted that a Sleep schedule sets it to Light [and may be during sleep too]. Things to be aware of.

• There is virtually no detectable difference between Light and Strong.
• The vibration intensity decreases as the battery level goes down,
• Below 25% it's virtually non existent,
• For some reason an alarm may be more detectable, notifications not so much.
• So to get best sensation, keep well charged
• You can use the free SimpleVibrate app to compare the 8 vibration types.
• You will see in the app documentation the reason, the vibrate has a shorter duration. It also seems weaker in intensity than on older watches.

Lets hope that Fitbit introduce some improvements in the firmware. In the mean time setup Google Assistant, it's really useful, especially if you have home automation.

[LongTimeUser888]

I had turned off all features, including SpO2, back in early December.  Yesterday, I turned off snore/sound detection (I had to google it to figure out how to turn it off).  I am hoping that it will improve battery life to the advertised 6 days.  Thanks!  I am hoping for the best at this point.

[eezeepee]

Snore and noise detection off should make a noticeable difference. Overnight for me I noticed it using up to 20% over 7 hours.

[RichardsCatz]

You really want to see the battery drop, use the onboard walk/running apps the GPS is straight death on the battery 

[LongTimeUser888]

I turned off the snore and noise detection yesterday, and that’s on top of literally every other feature. So far, about 50% battery drop in 1 day. So disappointing.  

[eezeepee]

Yeah that's not right. Factory reset it and try again. I just had only 6% during 7 hours of sleep.

[Guy_]

Hi @eezeepee  - your watch usage seems normal.

 @LongTimeUser888 are you sure you addressed all the items in the link provided earlier. There also could be a fault with the firmware / Fitbit App / phone configuration.

Also note that due to errors in the factory reset, it is best to only do it if instructed by Fitbit support and when your watch is in warranty, because there is a risk you could end up with a dead watch under certain circumstances, especially true with the older watches.

[eezeepee]

Wow there's problems in factory resetting? I would think that's the one thing you could rely on. My Sense was a "hand me down" as my wife wasn't using it and I did a factory reset at the very end of December. It's been fine.

[Guy_]

@eezeepee- yes, you were lucky, but Sense and Versa 3 may be less prone to error.

Look in the forums for Ionic and Other Versa watches. There are Numerous issues of bricked watches..

Lost a perfectly good watch that way. It was under warranty and replaced [twice, because one replacement didn't work at all].

[LongTimeUser888]

I will do a factory reset. I bought the watch from Costco less than 90 days ago so it is still returnable. Might just exchange it for the Charge. Never had any issues with my previous Charge 4. 

[LongTimeUser888]

Factory reset was successful. One thing I noticed is that my battery issues started about a week after I bought the Sense, at about the same time as I activated the 6-month premium trial. I canceled the premium subscription but still had all the “benefits”. Is there a way I could stop the premium subscription… as in completely remove it?  When I log into my app, I still see that I am a premium subscriber. 

[eezeepee]

I honestly think that's just pure coincidence. I'm using the premium trial and doing just fine.

[LongTimeUser888]

I’m hoping that the factory reset works. Fingers crossed. 

[LongTimeUser888]

About 14% of battery in the past 24 hours. The factory reset seems to have worked. Thanks everyone!

[Guy_]

@LongTimeUser888  - are you again on the latest firmware? See What's changed in the latest Fitbit device update?  

[BarbBinOhio]

I am hard of hearing, but I hear/feel vibrations easily

[LongTimeUser888]

Don’t know but not changing anything now. 

[Guy_]

@LongTimeUser888 - if it's working don't change. You can check in the watch Settings, About Sense.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone, it's good to see you here.

Thanks for sharing your insights, and for the steps tried so far. Before anything else, let me clarify that we don't recommend performing a factory reset unless it's instructed by our Support team or a Community moderator. The reason for this is that we want to help you with this process, make sure the right steps are followed and evaluate your watch's behavior afterwards. If you're having difficulties with your watch, you can always post your question in the Help Forums or get in touch with our Support team to receive further assistance.

On another note, the battery life will depend on different features and how often they're used such as GPS and SpO2 tracking. If you have issues with the battery life, I'd recommend the tips from this help article. For the ones that have a Premium subscription, because the Snore and Noise feature will track noise throughout the sleep period which can last for several hours, you may have to charge your Sense more often. You can turn this feature off with the steps described here.

@LongTimeUser888 About your other question, if after adjusting the strength from the Settings app and restarting your watch, the vibration is still not strong enough, I'd recommend contacting our Support team so they can see what can be done to help you out. Please click here to get connected with them via chat or phone, and let them know what troubleshooting steps you've tried.

Hope this helps.