Sense battery isn't holding charge

[Chellers4]

I received my Sense for Christmas and my battery lasted 5-6 days. Recently I started using the Sp02 app/watch face and now my battery barely last 1 1/2-2 days before it's completely dead.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[SOlewine]

Having the same challenge on battery life

[eezeepee]

You didn't happen to turn on snore and noise detection as well? That seems to kill more battery than SpO2 in my use. 20% vs 6-8% in 7 hours overnight.

I'm currently doing the battery test again and here's my numbers with the following settings. Brightness dim, screen wake motion and button, always on display off, snore & noise detection off, SpO2 on.

Day 1
5:00 AM - 99%
9:45 AM - 93%
5:00 PM - 87%
9:45 PM - 84%
Day 2
5:00 AM - 77%
9:45 AM - 74%
5:00 PM - 68%
9:45 PM - 61%
Day 3
5:00 AM - 53%
9:45 AM - 49%

[Chellers4]

I did turn on the snore and noise detection. 

[klingka]

Mine is a year old, doesn’t last a day!

[eezeepee]

Welcome to the Fitbit community. What are your Sense settings? For example, mine I listed above seems to be the optimal way to get 5 days or so. My watch was purchased in August 2020 and used for about a year until my wife stopped. I started using it December 29 and the battery is still very good.

[Chellers4]

My settings are...

Brightness normal

Screen wake motion and button

Always on display off

Snore and noise detection on

Sp02 on

[eezeepee]

I was actually replying to @klingka but yeah, turn off snore and noise detection. I did after using it for 5 days straight and seeing that neither myself or my wife snored. It'll make a big difference.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone, and welcome to our new members. @eezeepee Thanks for your insights.

Thanks for the detailed information, as well as the steps tried on your own. As you may know, while the Sense should last up to 6 days, the battery life will depend on how frequent certain features are used. Please note you may have to charge your watch more often when colleting SpO2 or GPS data, or when having the Snore Detect feature enabled.

That being said, I'd recommend following the tips described in this help article to maximize the battery life, fully charging your watch for around two hours and monitoring its behavior in the next days. If the issue persists, please don't hesitate to let me know.

[Wilbur1]

My battery has never lasted more than 12 hours. So frustrating 

[Wilbur1]

And I purchased due to post covid issues with O2 sats. If it has all these attributes and can not use then ??? My O2 sats have never worked- I have changed clock faces, reinstalled ect… nothing. Notifications do not work either- I continuously have to re- pair with my phone and the sense controls never ever stay paired. My old blaze worked way better. I’m ready to return this. I got one for my mom - hers works somewhat better but nowhere close to what was advertised. I’m ready to pitch both and get the apple watches I was debating. I have had fitbits since the beginning- I’m done soooo frustrating now. WAY over promised ….

[Guy_]

@Wilbur1  - wouldn't it be simpler to resolve the issues.

Eg. Sense controls shouldn't stay connected. The only connect when needed. So there is nothing to be done.

Many things you don't necessarily need can drain the battery.

If it's not syncing that's not good but can be resolved.

Why not talk to Fitbit support.

[eezeepee]

Not more than 12 hours?! What kind of settings do you have? I would have to try super hard to kill it that fast. I'm currently testing these settings and it's been very good.

Brightness dim, screen wake motion and button, always on display off, snore & noise detection off, SpO2 on.

Day 1

5:00 AM - 99%

9:45 AM - 93%

5:00 PM - 87%

9:45 PM - 84%

Day 2

5:00 AM - 77%

9:45 AM - 74%

5:00 PM - 68%

9:45 PM - 61%

Day 3

5:00 AM - 53%

9:45 AM - 49%

5:00 PM - 44%

9:45 PM - 41%

Day 4

5:00 AM - 30%

9:45 AM - 23%

2:30 PM -19% (As of typing this reply)

Have you tried deleting the watch from the app and re-adding it? Force stopping the Fitbit app? Factory reset?

Sense Controls are only connected for phone calls and music controls. It's not supposed to be continuously connected.

[MaximillianC]

I am actually having this problem too, but I have had my Sense since April 2021, and I haven't had this problem until the past 2-4 weeks.  I haven't changed any settings in months, so this new problem isn't due to a setting.  I wonder if it's a software update?  It's also very unpredictable.  Some days, the battery lasts normally as expected, going from like 99% to 65% or so in a day.  But this morning, I charged it to somewhere around 91%, and 4 hours later (just now), it's at 16%.  At first, I thought it was when I'd forget to put it back on my wrist after charging, like it was burning more battery that way... But it's been on my wrist the whole 4 hrs it took to go almost dead today.  No exercise marked during that time, and haven't been doing anything activity-wise that's out of the normal.  It's very strange.

It's a shame, because, this feels like the final straw for me.  I had high hopes for this super-feature-rich watch when I bought it, but after seeing how poorly this watch is supported by its manufacturer and support team, how buggy and flawed the Sense and its software are, and how little improvement I've seen over the past year, my first Fitbit will probably be my last.  I'd get my money back at this point, if I could.  Really disappointing, especially for a Google company.

[eezeepee]

Have what have you tried to troubleshoot your battery issues? It's very fixable, for most people. 

[MaximillianC]

Unfortunately this forum system doesn't seem to indicate who you're actually replying to in the thread, so @eezeepee, was your last reply to me?

[eezeepee]

Yes my reply was to you @MaximillianC 

[LizzyFitbit]

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

I'm sorry for this inconvenience and thanks for taking the time to share your thorough feedback about your Sense. As a friendly reminder, if you want to address different members in your post, you can tag them by using the @ sign and their username.

@Wilbur1 and @MaximillianC Before anything else, let me clarify that as many other electronic devices, the battery life is affected by several factors and mostly on how often certain features are used. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use any feature, but just to take into consideration what features impact the battery life of your Sense.

That being said, if the Snore Detect function is disabled and tips described in this help article don't help, my best advice is to get in touch with our Support team. They've specialized tools to investigate your watch's behavior and evaluate your options. Please click here to get connected with them via chat or phone.