Sense does not change time zones.

[westsidekilla1]

Language button does nothing when I press it on my Sense. Using Pixel 4 XL. Course speech to text is completely useless. It never works. Well it did work one time for me today. One time. This watch is just buggy. It won't even change time zones on it's own.

Moderator edit:  updated subject for clarity

[JuanFitbit]

Hi @westsidekilla1 , thank you for sharing your experience. As already explained Google assistant is only available in English at this time. 

Regarding the change of time zones. The watch overtakes the time of the last device, it was synced with. Eg. You sync your watch with an Android Tablet. Then you are on a trip, you need to change the time on the tablet before you sync, so that the watch takes the new time. 

Let me know if you have further questions. 

[westsidekilla1]

Time zone doesn't work for me at all. Even the time automatic time zone switch in the Fitbit app turns itself back off when I enable it. It's broken. It's synced to my Pixel 4 XL and it switches tone zones fine. The watch doesn't. It's broken. Even a sync doesn't fix it when go back to the other time zone. I go to the Fitbit app and the automatic time zone switch has disabled itself. That's broke.

[JuanFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi @westsidekilla1 , I moved your inquiry to a new thread to avoid misunderstandings and to keep the Community in order. 

To set the time correctly again, please do the following:

On your phone:

• Please go to Settings> Date and Time. (may be named differently, depending on the operating system of the mobile phone)
• Switch the automatic time to manual.
• Turn your phone off and on again.
• Try to sync your watch again.
• If the time is set correctly again, you can reset your mobile phone to your desired setting.

If the time is still wrong after the synchronization, please do the following:

On your PC

• Please open Chrome, or any internet browser (internet explorer, Firefox, etc)
• Go to fitbit.com and log in with your password and email address.
• Tap on Settings (gear top right)
• Under Personal Settings> Time Zone, select any time zone.
• Save the changes. (Press send)
• Then please go to the Fitbit app on your mobile phone.
• Click on "Your profile picture> Advanced settings"
• Turn off the "Automatic time zone" and "Automatic location" options. The selected time zone should appear. Then select Berlin and your location again.
• Turn your phone off and on again.
• Try syncing your Sense again.

The time should be displayed correctly on the clock again.

If your tracker time is an hour out of date and it doesn't automatically adjust to daylight saving time, use the steps above to make sure you are in the correct time zone. The daylight saving time settings are automatically configured by selecting the time zone.

Please let me know what it looks like then.

[westsidekilla1]

That sounds like a lot of steps. I'll try it some time but not tonight. Shouldn't have to go through that many steps just to get something to change time zones. The phone my Sense is synced to changes time zones correctly so you'd think the watch would too.

[JuanFitbit]

Hi @westsidekilla1 , I appreciate your feedback. I get that it seems to be a lot of steps, but once done, your Sense should overtake the time of your phone once you change it with a new time zone. 

Take your time and let me know how it goes. 

[westsidekilla1]

Yeah I just kind of figured the watch would switch time zones just like my Pixel 4 XL does. I work in Eastern Time zone and live in Central Time zone. When I get to the county I work in my phone switches to Eastern Time. My watch doesn't. It stays on Central Time at all times. Sync doesn't matter really. When you turn on the automatic time zone switch in the Fitbit app and then cross over to a different time zone, instead of the watch updating to the new time zone, the Fitbit app turns the automatic switch back off all by itself. I go back to the Fitbit app and sure enough, even though I enabling automatic time zone switching, the app turns it back off. That could really cause problems for some people who aren't aware and use their watch for their alarm. That's just one example. My Samsung Galaxy Active Watch 2 switched time zones automatically just like my phone. Just don't see why the Sense isn't capable of doing that without going through 10 steps or so. So it's just kind of frustrating. And I wouldn't think it would be too big of a bug to squash and make no mistake about it, it is a bug. The FitBit app shouldn't be turning features off all by itself when you enable them. 

[jandeanne]

None of the recommended steps by the moderator worked for me  either. This did... https://www.myhealthyapple.com/fitbit-didnt-update-the-time-lets-fix-it/

Go to your Fitbit app on your phone and click your profile icon / pic to get into settings. Click on app settings and turn on automatic time zone. Resync.

[DSegal]

It’s a shame that Fitbit still has bugs like this, however this answer solved the problem.

[gDog69]

The downside is you have to do that every time you change time zones. As an airline pilot (international) I have to do this often. I wish Fitbit would fix the time zone  “Set Automatically” feature to actually work. It’s always on (green) and the phone of course syncs time as well as every app that requires time except….Fitbit app. In writing them directly all they say is “perform a manual time zone reset.” Um… ok, but that doesn’t fix their app.

Oh well. It’s their company and they don’t have to appease their customers or expect loyalty.

Cheers!

[DSegal]

I’ve been with Fitbit almost 10 years and have had most of their products, and unfortunately the quality of their firmware and their products continues to decline. It’s a shame, I think they are past their prime. Good luck to Google

[Guy_]

@gDog69  you are right, it seems nothing is being fixed and more things are being broken with each update of firmware or App.

Users are expected to jump through hoops to get things working and Fitbit considers that the resolution! So don't bother fixing it.

In your time zone case, does toggle automatic time zone off, logout and login and turn it on again make it work? Or even force stop the App?

If not, what is your interim workaround, however infuriating it is?

[Guy_]

@gDog69  Btw  My solution is if you have enough things working is to stop any further updates that way you don't get additional problems.

Unfortunately Fitbit make behind the scenes tile changes so things can still be working one day and not the next, eg SpO2 in health metrics which comes and goes intermittently.

[LeslieZ]

Why is there an automatic setting when you have to turn it off and reset? Makes no sense at all and is a real pain. I’m still trying to get my phone to change. I travel a lot… this is not good.

[Guy_]

Hi @LeslieZ - the automatic setting in the Fitbit App should take the time from the phone, so it's important that the phone is setup correctly to reflect the time zone changes. If the phone is not correct then the automatic Fitbit setting may not work to change the time on the watch.

[gDog69]

Yep, toggle “Set Automatically” off and back on sets the time zone correctly in the Fitbit app.

I have to do this every time I want to sync a new time zone. The Fitbit app is flawed.

[rmadisonwi]

What’s weird is that I have been using a Fitbit watch for several years, traveling all over the world, and yesterday is the first time I encountered the issue of the time zone not correcting automatically (or at least after a manual sync with the phone).

Toggling the time zone setting in the app fixed it, but I know I’ve never had to do it before. Maybe they changed something in a recent app update for me.

[Kayakker35]

Interestingly my fitbit charge 2 updated time automatically on our trip. My wife's new Fitbit Sense stubbornly stuck to our home time. That makes no sense to me. If anything i would have expected the opposite.

[EnriqueApproved]

Similar experiences here too. We have Pixel phones.

Here's how I fixed it...

1. Make sure the feature is turned on correctly in the Mobile App.

2. Next, I had to Force Stop the Fitbit mobile app.

3. Last step is to clear the Fitbit mobile app cache.

Now try syncing and it should work.

This remedy points out that the mobile app is the culprit, not the Fitbit device or mobile phone.

Good luck

[Guy_]

Note: You can use the SimpleCheckUp app from the Gallery to see from the watches perspective if it can connect and when it last synced and what time zone it is using, amongst other things.