Sense drops connection and will not reconnect to phone

[Kel7s]

I recently got the Sense after the Ionic recall. I LOVED my Ionic and never had an issue with it. However, the Sense is constantly disconnecting from my phone and I keep missing messages. If I walk out of the room my phone is in, it disconnects and then will not reconnect when I return. The watch displays the phone with a slash through it icon. However my phone’s Bluetooth still shows connected. I have to open the Fitbit app and sync, then it works for awhile again. Please note this has nothing to do with the Sense Controls; I know how those work.  My Ionic stayed connected even if I was outside and the phone was inside. I’ve tried all the restarts and it works fine for awhile then starts disconnecting again. I even upgraded my phone since I got the Sense - same problem with both phones. If this can’t be fixed my next watch will be an Apple.

[LokeAa]

On your phone, go to to settings for the Fitbit App (long press the icon). All permissions must be granted, and battery settings under advanced must be "do not optimize" or similar.

[Kel7s]

I’m on an iPhone; not android. But I do have everything enabled in settings for the Fitbit app, and my battery settings have low power mode turned off.

[LokeAa]

I do not know how often the  Fitbit iOS App gets updates. I know it was an issue for an update released in february, but I suppose that is not the latest version?

[Kel7s]

The newest iOS update was a few days ago (I have it) and I ensured my Sense is up to date too. I’ll do some digging on app updates and fixes to see if this is included for iOS. Thanks!

[rbalasco]

I have the exact same problem, except that I have an Android. Although, my Sense seems to not want to reconnect after I try all the steps that are repeated everywhere (i.e. force close, restart Bluetooth, restart phone, etc). I will say, my Ionic NEVER had this issue and I had 3 phones over the course of having that smart watch. I'm wondering why the only advice I ever see refers to changing/doing something with the phone when it's clearly not the phone.

[LokeAa]

@rbalasco Have you checked these settings? On your phone, go to to settings for the Fitbit App (long press the icon). All permissions must be granted, and battery settings under advanced must be "do not optimize" or similar.

It is actually the phone. Power saving mode was introduced with Android 6, minor changes in 7 & 8. With Android 9 adaptive battery, with the help of AI was introduced. They are all great features, but some App features like sending notifications to Sense from phone at the same time they  are received must be connected 24/7.

[rbalasco]

It's actually not the phone. That permission has been set to Unrestricted since I got it and while I had my Ionic.

[Kel7s]

I agree - it’s not the phone.  I’d really like to know if it’s the watch hardware or software since with software we could at least hope for a firmware update fix. At this point I wish I had just kept my Ionic. 

[rbalasco]

Me too. I wasn't having any issues with my Ionic. But we probably wouldn't have gotten any more updates for it.

[OllyBadger]

It's not your phone. I've replicated this issue on the Fitbit charge 3, charge 5 and the Versa 3 on 4 different phones. It's a bug in their software that doesn't automatically refresh Bluetooth connection when back in range(all other brands fitness trackers do this without issue) Fitbit won't come out and admit it though. I'd be fine if they just said yeah it's a bug we are working on it, but I've spoken to 3 different people at support they just throw the same troubleshooting nonsense at you. So I returned the charge 5 and versa 3 and bought a Polar which actually works. Honesty goes a long way Fitbit

[u1742406944]

My sense has not synced with my Android since Monday and nothing I do works. 

[skinnyroo]

Mine won’t connect to Bluetooth and won’t display the clock 

[Wwyd4aklondikbr]

Agreed!  Saved to get the sense for updated health scans but it can’t do the basic things my 4 year old verse can do. Waste of money and a total scam. Returning and moving to a different product. Time is money Fitbit and the amount of time I’ve put into trying to fix the issue is insane.