Sense features won't work with Samsung S20 Ultra

[nbgoheen1979]

Hi, I have just upgraded my phone from Samsung 9+ to the Samsung S20 Ultra. I have gone through setting up my watch and although its tracking sleep, fitness and all that great stuff, I cannot get the Sense Controls to keep paired. 

I have tried re pairing several times, I have un paired and paired again.  I have un installed the watch a few times and even deleted the app and reinstalled. 

I cannot for the life of me get the sense controls to work to receive my notifications (ie. Text messages,  whatsapp messages,  emails, etc)

Can someone please fill in the blank for me as to what I'm missing?

Cheers!

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[USAF-Larry]

@nbgoheen1979, in the phone's settings ensure you have battery optimization is disabled for Fitbit. In Phone Settings->Apps->Fitbit->Battery->Optimize Battery Usage, ensure that is set to Not Optimized.

[nbgoheen1979]

Thank you for the idea. I have checked and the app is not optimized. It
currently shows 0% battery used. All current settings look like it should
work.

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @nbgoheen1979 Welcome to the Community Forums! @USAF-Larry Thanks for the input! 

@nbgoheen1979 Thank you for the troubleshooting steps you've tried. I would like to mention that in order to set up, sync and use any other features like notifications, the Fitbit App needs to be installed on a compatible phone or tablet. For more information, please visit:

Which phones and tablets can I use with my Fitbit watch or tracker? 

Although some features may work, Samsung S20 Ultra doesn't appear in the list, which means your device isn't fully compatible. Our team is continually adding more devices and improving the compatibility so if your device isn't listed, I recommend checking back soon. 

Keep me posted. 

[HBlood]

Your link is broken or perhaps you're misreading the list provided? It lists simply that Android phones are compatible but certain Huaweis have issues. Can you confirm whether or not fitbits are fully compatible with and tested against new Samsung devices? I just upgraded to an S21 and none of my call/text features work. Sense Controls fail to connect.

[westsidekilla1]

Yeah they forget to tell you when you buy the watch that it's only fully compatible with certain Android devices. I didn't see that on my Sense box. Seems like false advertising to me. I have a Pixel 4 XL and my wife has a Pixel 3 XL and the Sense doesn't work right with either of those phones and they're Google phones. So, if it won't even work right with Google phones, good luck getting it to work right on any other Android phone. I wish you well though! Seeing as Google owns Fitbit and now sells the janky Sense on the Google Store I'm hoping some bugs gets squashed. To anyone with a Samsung phone; buy some kind of Samsung watch instead and do yourself a favor.

[Trankster]

I have a Samsung S20 Plus and can receive notifications.  In the Fitbit app, go to Account/Sense/Notifications and check your selections.  I have text messages set to on with my default messaging app (you may only choose 1), calendar is on for alarms, email is off for me (I get too many) and my App notification is on for WhatsApp.  I hope this is helpful.  Like you, my health and exercise functions seem to work fine.  

[westsidekilla1]

My email notification is turned on in the Fitbit app but I never get Gmail/email notifications. I get them on my phone they just never come through on my Sense. Pixel 4 XL 

[HBlood]

Thanks for replying. Unfortunately, is isn't a configuration issue. I suspect for those of us changing phones, persistent pairing info exists somewhere which causes issues with communication. My Sense worked beautifully  with its initially paired phone (Google Pixel 3a) and remained paired after transferring data to my new Samsung S21. However, bc my S21 has a different MAC address than my 3a, I imagine this residual pairing caused issues with the Bluetooth connection and Sense Controls.

I was able to get calls to work after a painful process of resets, reinstalls and cleared data, but messages still aren't passed to the watch. 

Steps to resolve:

1. Unpair and forget Sense and Sense Controls in S21 Bluetooth settings

2. Remove Sense in Fitbit app

3. Factory Reset Sense

4. Sense could not connect to wifi after reset, so I had to re-lease all devices on my router

5. Uninstall Fitbit app

6. Clear persistent app data

7. Sense was finally able to connect to wifi and install updates

8. Disable Battery Saver mode just in case (even though fitbit is designated as permitted to run in bg).

9. Toggled notification enabling and calls now work but messages do not.

@WilsonFitbit please advise, provide the compatibility list you alluded to, or confirm that Fitbit's newest device is incompatible with the latest and most popular Android devices.

Thanks!

[hfjoyce]

i am having the same issues- i hope we can make it work otherwise i will be returning