GPS not working

[MaryKetty]

 Hi, I never had problems with GPS on my Surge, but for 2 weeks now I can't get it working, with all the GPS-related activities the device just gets stuck on "Searching". I tried rebooting, activating it in various environments (including the ones where it used to work reliably), unpairing, and now I'm out of my wits. Since tracking is the most important function for me (I hike and cycle), so I hope someone smart will come up with a solution! Thanks!

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @MaryKetty! Please receive a warm welcome to the Fitbit Family! It's great to see you participating in our Community! 

Thanks for all the steps that you've already tried! Sorry to hear about the issues that your Fitbit has developed. Must likely your Surge is having issues connecting with the satellite, that's why it got stuck on "Searching" . Restart your Surge one more time in case that it is having hardware issues. When you select a GPS run or exercise, you'll feel a vibration that indicates Surge has found a GPS signal. If Surge doesn't find a signal immediately, keep in mind that environmental factors including tall buildings, dense forest, steep hills, and even thick cloud cover can interfere with your tracker's ability to connect to GPS satellites. 

For best results, wait for Surge to find the signal before you start your workout. However, if you don't want to wait you may be able to use the Quick Start option. Quick Start begins tracking your workout without GPS until it finds the signal. Keep the following tips in mind:

• Quick Start is not available if you're tracking a bike ride because cycling requires GPS to track distance. 
• If you see the Quick Start option and want to use it, press the Select button and then press Play. 
• While Surge continues to look for the GPS signal it will use your step count to calculate distance traveled. In this scenario you can expect that your total distance calculated for the workout will be slightly less accurate than if GPS data was available for the duration. 

If you still have trouble with tracking your workouts please let me know!

Till next time! 

[MaryKetty]

Thanks, Yojana, for getting back; this was restart No. 12 or 13, I lost count, and it doesn't help at all; I walked around with my Surge stuck on Searching for around an hour -- in an area where the GPS used to work reliably. Any other ideas what might be wrong?

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Thanks for getting back to me @MaryKetty!  

Thanks a lot for trying those steps. I'd recommend wait until you get the information from our team, as I've requested them to create a case on your behalf. You should soon receive an email from Customer Support at the email you used to register with the Community forums.

I'll around in case that you need anything else! 

[Sunainakram]

Hi! Im experiencing this same issue. The gps does not pick up my usual walking route for the past week now. I've tried restarting it numerous times. Please help 

[MaryKetty]

Technical support ended up informing me that this can't be fixed, it's final -- and it happened very shortly after the warranty expired; however, on a brighter note, I switched to track exercise option in the fitbit application, and it works fine for me. The battery life of the phone is similar to that of the watch; my problem is that the phone sometimes freezed to death in my climate zone, but other than that it's a solution.

[Sunaina]

Hi! Thanks for replying. So when you track exercise on the fitbit app on your phone, does it show your route on a map? 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Sunainakram, @MaryKetty and @Sunaina! Nice to see you here!

@Sunainakram Sorry to hear about your lost activity, thanks for restarting your Fitbit. Please follow the steps in this post to reconnect your tracker with your account and then try to map your route one more time with these instructions.

@MaryKetty Thanks for getting back and for sharing your feedback. Sorry that your tracker is not longer working properly. Good to know that you found a workaround.

@Sunaina About  your inquiry, yes! You can track your GPS activities with your phone. You can find more information on how to map your routes using the Fitbit App with the feature Mobile Run here. You can check if your phone is in the list of compatible devices so you can have access to this feature.

I'll be around.