Sense won't turn on

[NHerbison]

Update - FIXED!! I took the Fitbit and charger into my local mobile phone repair shop, they plugged it into their machine and it showed the charger as being faulty. I bought a new Fitbit charger and amazingly, that is what the issue was! Now charging and has already turned itself back on.

hopefully this may help some of you too!

My Fitbit Sense is not turning on. I charged it two days ago, and noticed yesterday it was unresponsive. It has a blank screen. I have read through the comments of similar issues on the forum, and have tried holding the buttons to reset multiple times (for up to 2 minutes, with no response), both while on and off the charger, with no luck. I also tried to sync it to the app and it won't connect. The 'chat' help feature is currently unavailable.  I am not sure where to go from here!

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @NHerbison. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for the troubleshooting steps you've tried. I'm sorry to hear that your Sense is still unresponsive. I understand your concern, I will do my best to help you with this!

Is your Sense vibrating when you connect it to the charger or when performing the restart? Did your Sense have enough power before going blank? Did you check the battery level? It sounds like a battery issue to me. Please note that sometimes a Fitbit doesn’t seem to be charging when actually the issue is that it has become unresponsive (this can happen if the battery has been allowed to discharge completely). I'd recommend putting it on to charge on a charging wire and outlet known to be working.  Leave it on the charger for a good two hours, even if it doesn’t seem to be charging.  

When it has had two hours, try restarting your Sense once again. I would recommend trying this maybe twice in a row if a first try doesn’t work.

If the above doesn't work, please see Why isn't my Fitbit device's battery charging? 

[MzClaus]

I put mine on the charger last night, the app shows 100%. bit it won't turn on.  it doesn't vibrate when I reconnect to charger & holding side button doesn't turn it on. thoughts?

[MarreFitbit]

@MzClaus Welcome on board. Thanks for the details provided in your post about the issue with your Fitbit device. 

To better assist you, may I know if you tried the tips and recommendations I've provided here?

Regarding the battery level on the Fitbit app, note that it updates every time you sync. That means that if your Fitbit device hasn't synced yet, your app will still show the battery percentage of the last sync. 

[MzClaus]

I did try those suggestions, still won't turn on. it doesn't vibrate when I connect to the charger. my steps are showing/increasing on the App, but I can't get the watch to turn on.

[dawn29]

I think many of us are having the same problem. My sense vibrated on my wrist, but wouldn't display. After charging it worked 1 day and then began vibrating again. Hooking up to a charging port gives no response.  A restart is not functional. A sync with the phone does not happen. Green lights on the back are dead.

I feel a lot of these issues started when FitBit migrated to Google with the app.  I didn't do this, but wonder if my device has now failed because I didn't link to Google.

I've had FitBit devices for years. They only seem to last ~ 2 years if your lucky. I'm tempted to switch.

[BeachBuffy]

I agree with dawn29 that there is something going on with the Sense and possible updates. I posted earlier about the vibration, dead button, and now dead sense (can't turn it on if the button doesn't function!). I used it without a button for a few days but then when I tried to do a ecg reading, the screen froze and I was unable to turn it off (dead button). I let it completely run down for three days (the screen was frozen "on" the whole time -3 days).  I let it site 3 days, then charged it for 30 minutes and touched the button and it vibrated! Let it charge a little longer and the button quit vibrating. Now I'm charging it for two hours to see if I can get the button to "sense" enough to turn on. 

[NHerbison]

Thanks for your reply. I have tried all of these things.

It has been on charge for well over 30 minutes on multiple occasions. After one long charge, it started flashing the Fitbit logo. It stopped that several hours later. 
After another long charge it vibrated when I held the buttons. 
no matter how long I hold the buttons down and how many times I try it, it just won’t turn on.
I also tried unpairing it with my phone and re-pairing, but cannot re-pair it as it won’t turn on.

I’m about at the point where I might have to accept that it just isn’t coming back…

[BeachBuffy]

I charged the Fitbit for two hours and tried to turn it on while plugged in (that's the procedure that originally worked for me the first time it died). I also unplugged it and tried to turn it on. Left it to charge two more hours and tried the procedure again. It is completely unresponsive without the button working now and no vibrations occur while charging or pressing the button. I will charge more and try again tomorrow. I do know it is charging a bit as the charger and Fitbit get a little warm on and off. I think the charge is very slowly charging it. 

[mike2001_747]

hi Bro

 my fit bit sense two was showing similar problem...how i resolved it.

step 1 -hold the side button for about the time the logo of fitbit comes.

step 2. after a pause , press the button again twice.

what this does it..is it set the factory reset....you will be surprised the watch will get activated.

regards

[MzClaus]

I can hold the side button all day, and nothing happens.  so that's where I'm stuck.