Surge won’t sync again

[JogOn17]

Anyone else having problems syncing their surge following the latest “upgrade” to the software?

every time they upgrade I have problems syncing with my iPhone. Thoughts on how to resolve?

[WendyB]

Sorry no Im not

Try a restart

Do it at least 3 times.

Restart
http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1186/?q=restart&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

[Andi1967]

Yep, since yesterday’s upgrade of app , my surge is being looked for . Tried various restarts , deletions, re installing. Still no joy . Running latest iOS on a 6s .

luckily my previous iPhone is running an old iOS and the app hasn’t updated so at least I can still sync but not ideal . 

Why fix it when it didn’t need fixing ?😤

[YojanaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @Andi1967. Nice to see you around @JogOn17. 

At this moment we don't have any information about Surge having syncing issues with all mobile devices. Please confirm that your Fitbit App and phone are up to date first, then you can follow these steps:

1. Force quite the App and turn off your phone
2. Open Fitbit App, go to Account (upper right corner) > Delete Fitbit tracker from the Account
3. Open the Bluetooth Setting on your phone and delete Fitbit tracker from there too
4. Reboot Bletooth to make sure tracker is not there
5. Restart your tracker  a couple of times and Access back to Fitbit App > Account to set up your Fitbit tracker back
6. Turn on notifications

This should solve any syncing issue that you're having, please keep me posted on the resolution! 

[cmaligno]

Same thing with my surge. The phone can "see" the surge with bluetooth but neither the android app or Windows 10 app can connecto to the watch wirelessly. The only way to download data is with the cable.....

[pennyjo611]

Mine won't work either.  I have to do ALL that ???!!!   I have other things in my life to do.  I have loved my Surge, but wristband keeper broke, and now this.  Guess I will use a Samsung Gear S2.

Too bad.    ;o(

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @cmaligno and @pennyjo611 thanks for letting me know those details. 

@cmaligno Thank for trying the suggested steps. Can you please confirm all the details on this article: Why won't my Fitbit device sync? It tries to cover all possible scenarios, but in you case if this is only syncing when is charging; we might have to double check if the Surge is not having hardware issues.

@pennyjo611 you can try the steps above once and if this is not working we might have to check your warranty options. What model of phone are you using?

Keep me posted.

[Jeremyh76]

My Surge has always had problems with this, whether via bluetooth or cable. I'm up to my third replacement Surge now and it still doesn't sync properly unless I restart the Surge - and then when it does sync it doesn't sync the time with it, so it's constantly losing time. I won't bother with another, or any others from the Fitbit range. I'd advise to spend your money elsewhere if you're looking for a tracker. Unless you like one that can't tell time.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Jeremyh76 thanks for sharing your feedback, welcome to the Forums!

Sorry to see about the issues you're having with your Surge. Have you checked this article:  Why won't my Fitbit device sync? What model of phone are you using? Have you tried to connect with a computer? Our goal is to help all users here! Those details are very important.

I'll be around. 

[Jeremyh76]

It will sync eventually after a restart. The issue is that it loses time, and that's what won't update. I've been through all of this before Yojana, tried all the various strategies. I'm using a galaxy S9, which I know isn't on your list of suitable devices, but this doesn't matter - the same thing happens via cable to PC/Mac. I can't fault the helpfulness of anyone at Fitbit, but the issue isn't procedural- there's an inherent defect in the Surge product. As I said, this is my 3rd replacement (Fitbit were kind enough to offer me replacements even though it was out of warranty). It doesn't take much of a Google search to see this is a well documented issue that no proper solution is offered for. I've come to the conclusion that the best thing is to take it as a lesson and simply avoid Fitbit as a brand.

[KoDan84]

I think it is just that the Surge is rubbish - and instead of working to support it Fitbit want you to buy something new.  Here is my link :https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Surge/Surge-not-Syncing-with-Galaxy-A5/m-p/2997919#M80423

As discussed my Pita is that even though the Huawei isnt a 'compatible device' the Surge connects up beautifully and everything works a treat (except Music control).  Especially Notifications - which for me, as for others, is an absolute must. I keep every possible connection option on -  (All-day sync, Always Connected and Keep-alive Widget) and the Surge installs simply, works fine and manually syncs when asked. But a few hours later (Btw Phone is set to not lock) the Surge just refuses to Sync.  Still connected via Bt - but just refuses to transfer any information.  Only option is to completely unistall everything and do the whole installation process all again.  Then it Syncs again......for a few hours 😞

Fitbit (and I appreciate that YojanaFitBit responds) just use the excuse 'it's not a compatible device' - which Imho is rubbish.  Sure, if it didn't work at all - fine, but it does work - but it just stops without any logical reason.  Since my dirt cheap Mi Fit band happily syncs data all day - with my non-compatible phone - this just suggests to me that Fitbit synching software is rubbish.

The fact that it still wouldn't work properly with my son's iPhone SE, and plenty of others seem to have synching issues with compatibl ephones after software updates, again just points to code that is fundamentally flawed or at least poorly tested prior to release.  Which, to me anyway, is a curious way treat customers. In today's mobile world, where you expect devices, especially expensive ones, to work properly, if FitBit products are so dependant on 'compatible devices' how about making that requirement really obvious on the packaging before folks like me make the mistake of buying one.......

Sunday

Update: I'm a sucker for punishment - however I actually managed to get it to work for longer than a few hours.   Half a day in fact - a record.  But more importantly, what this really highlights is that the problem is the FitBit bluetooth software - it seems to have a lot less to do with the standard 'hand-ball' argument of a 'non-compatible device'

Ok - what did I do differently?

Well since I had the darn thing out again I thought I would see if I could get the Music control feature working.  Of course it didn't work because my phone is Android 5.1 (tho why the mobile app, which knows I am on 5.1,  still gives me the detailed instructions on how to set-up Music Control is another vaild developer question) but I did notice I now had two bluetooth connections on my phone.

• Surge = bluetooth icon
• Surge (classic) = PC icon

Since the thing wasn't working properly with the standard bluetooth connection I thought I would just see what happens if I only used the Classic option, so I deleted (forgot) the pairing with the Surge. And guess what - it all works fine connecting with Surge (classic).  Syncs data, notifies me of calls, great!  But......after a few hours it fails again - and won't sync data.  Same as before - almost. The difference is I now have some inkling as to why it fails. Because when I go back into Bluetooth settings I can see the Surge connection has restored itself, so I again have both the  Surge & the Surge (classic) bluetooth connections. And if I delete the Surge connection guess what?  Amazingly the Surge can sync data again.

Summary:

Imho I suspect the Surge would work perfectly fine if it was only using the Classic bluetooth connection mode.  So this tells me that the issue is with the standard bluetooth connection software.

The Problem:

I cannot force the Surge to only use the Classic bluetooth connection.  When the Surge (or the mobile app - I can't tell which initialises the process) 'auto' syncs it also automatically re-pairs with the phone via the standard bluetooth mode.

Where this is really frustrating is that the standard (or dual) bluetooth connection works *sometimes*, for hours even, but eventually the synch process falls over and can't be recovered without manual intervention.  It is the un-reliability of the synching process that is far worse than it simply not working at all. If it were me I would code the Surge software so that when you choose Bluetooth (classic) you had an extra option that resticted the unit (might need app code updates too) to ONLY use the Classic bluetooth mode:  On - Off - Only Classic. Given that the Surge, expensive tho it was, is 'old' product I think I have two chances of this request having any momentum at FitBit:

Buckley's and None!

 However if anyone knows of a way to 'blacklist' a bluetooth connection I'm all ears. 

 Moderator edit: Format.

[KoDan84]

Update: I'm a sucker for punishment - however I actually managed to get it to work for longer than a few hours.   Half a day in fact - a record.  But more importantly, what this really highlights is that the problem is the FitBit bluetooth software - it seems to have a lot less to do with the standard 'hand-ball' argument of a 'non-compatible device'

Ok - what did I do differently?

Well since I had the darn thing out again I thought I would see if I could get the Music control feature working.  Of course it didn't work because my phone is Android 5.1 (tho why the mobile app, which knows I am on 5.1,  still gives me the detailed instructions on how to set-up Music Control is another vaild developer question) but I did notice I now had two bluetooth connections on my phone.

• Surge = bluetooth icon
• Surge (classic) = PC icon

Since the thing wasn't working properly with the standard bluetooth connection I thought I would just see what happens if I only used the Classic option, so I deleted (forgot) the pairing with the Surge. And guess what - it all works fine connecting with Surge (classic).  Syncs data, notifies me of calls, great!  But......after a few hours it fails again - and won't sync data.  Same as before - almost. The difference is I now have some inkling as to why it fails. Because when I go back into Bluetooth settings I can see the Surge connection has restored itself, so I again have both the  Surge & the Surge (classic) bluetooth connections. And if I delete the Surge connection guess what?  Amazingly the Surge can sync data again.

Summary:

Imho I suspect the Surge would work perfectly fine if it was only using the Classic bluetooth connection mode.  So this tells me that the issue is with the standard bluetooth connection software.

The Problem:

I cannot force the Surge to only use the Classic bluetooth connection.  When the Surge (or the mobile app - I can't tell which initialises the process) 'auto' syncs it also automatically re-pairs with the phone via the standard bluetooth mode.

Where this is really frustrating is that the standard (or dual) bluetooth connection works *sometimes*, for hours even, but eventually the synch process falls over and can't be recovered without manual intervention.  It is the un-reliability of the synching process that is far worse than it simply not working at all. If it were me I would code the Surge software so that when you choose Bluetooth (classic) you had an extra option that resticted the unit (might need app code updates too) to ONLY use the Classic bluetooth mode:  On - Off - Only Classic. Given that the Surge, expensive tho it was, is 'old' product I think I have two chances of this request having any momentum at FitBit:

Buckley's and None!

 However if anyone knows of a way to 'blacklist' a bluetooth connection I'm all ears. 

[JogOn17]

Agree with you.

software needs sorting out. 

[SunsetRunner]

I always have to restart mine to get a sync to happen, nothing has changed since I have had it. I am syncing through my win 8 desktop at work every few days.

[KoDan84]

G'day ArtRelics, what made mine un-usable was a simple restart of the Surge/App/Phone would not reset the connection.  The only way I coud get the darn thing to work again was to manually unpair the bluetooth connection, delete the app cache and delete the app.  Then go through the whole download and install app and then 'add new device' again - which was simply ridiculous.

It's not only the up-front cost of the product that is frustrating, it's the time wasted.........

FWIW the Surge has been working 'reasonably' reliably now with just the Bluetooth Classic connection.  Not enough to trust it - but definityely waaaaaaay better than it was before.

And the problem is pretty obvious - every now and then the Surge (or the app) tries to automatically re-sync and it then re-initialises the standard Bluetooth connection  -  even though it is already happily connected via the Surge Classic connection. 

This standard connection, more often then not, stalls and blocks the whole sync process.  Go into the phone's bluetooth listing, delete the standard connection, and this unblocks the connection and the Surge then works again.  So although I don't know where in the software/hardware pathway it is happening, in summary:

• it doesn't work properly using the standard Surge bluetooth conenction.
• It does work properly using the Surge Classic bluetooth connection - which I'm guessing is an older bluetooth protocol.

But I can't stop or turn off the standard bluetooth connection - even with bluetooth visibility switched OFF.  Which means that even though the Surge is fine under the classic mode, the standard connection keeps kicking in automatically and blocking the transfer process.

To me it all seems indicative of in-complete beta testing of the software and a low interest in releasing updates.  Unfortunately a common experience as companies try to weigh up (pun intended) the financial cost to keep up-to-speed with consumer trends.  As a unit the Surge is fine, and seems completely happy synching with the PC (Win 7).  But most folks today want mobile access, so this is where the software looks to have been rushed out and released without rigorous testing.  As an older product the company doesn't want to invest time & resources in fixing the problem - so it wall-papers the issue.

But it's hard not to feel like a fool - someone who is just handed the business cash for older products they really don't care about. 

The fact that many other users have the same synching issues with the Surge, even with 'compatible' hardware, with IMHO almost zero 'real' technical support (they do generally repond quickly - PR?) simply re-inforces my perception of the product, and, therefore, the company.

It's no big drama, I know I'm just shrinkage! 🙂

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing your comments @JogOn17. I really appreciate the time you're taking to help you Surge to connect @Jeremyh76, @KoDan84 and @SunsetRunner.

@Jeremyh76 Thanks for trying all the steps that I've posted. Your Galaxy S9 has been added to the tested devices. I noticed that this a replacement you just got. Can you please check your phone Permissions and leave location on? This is to keep syncing and getting notifications from your phone. I"d also suggest:

• to force sync your tracker 
• then delete your Surge from the Bluetooth section on your phone
• restart your tracker and then connect notifications back with your phone.

What is the phone's version and Fitbit App version?

Hey @KoDan84, that's an amazing job. Thanks  a million for testing your Surge at that level. And you're right Fibit Surge will connect after you get the initial set up with your phone. But Bluetooth Classic works basically just to connect music. I understand your point but in this case as your phone is not in the list of tested devices. I suggest to force sync each time that you notice that it is not connecting. Always check that your Fitbit is not connecting with other devices and that your phone and Fitbit App are up to date. 

What's your phone model?

@SunsetRunner thanks for sharing those details. Have you tried to use this software? This should be connecting automatically with your PC. Also you can delete your Surge from your PC Bluetooth and reconnect later on by setting it up as a new device. You will find more troubleshooting steps in this post.

I'll be around, keep me posted. 

[Jeremyh76]

Thanks Yojana. You're right, the Surge I have is a replacement. It's actually my second replacement. The previous replacement didn't even make it past the set up screen. The issue I have now is the same one I had initially- which was enough for Fitbit to deem my tracker defective. While syncing is difficult, it will do it eventually, most commonly requiring the tracker to be reset, during which the time temporarily stops. The issue is that it will NOT update the time for neither love nor money. So everytime the tracker is reset, it effectively loses more and more time to the point it's totally useless for that function. This happens not only via the S9 bluetooth, but via cable back to the PC. So it's not just my S9 or bluetooth. Everything points to highly defective software. I know that tech turns over quickly these days, but I am amazed at how poorly this product has performed. Now that it is older tech, obviously the level of attention to it is minimal. It certainly doesn't inspire me to purchase anything else from Fitbit, or suggest it to anybody else. 

[SunsetRunner]

Checked my software - up to date - R&R'd anyway, says "galileo version" and Dongle "FW 2.5", so looks like it was up to date. Just requires restarting the Surge every week or so to get it to sync. Odd, usually says "searching for device" and then times out. There are no other bluetooth devices on this workstation. After getting this message several times, I give up and just restart the Surge. At this point, it eventually will find it and sync. Sometimes it takes a few hours to find it though.

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jeremyh76 and @SunsetRunner, thanks for getting back. 

@Jeremyh76 I really appreciate the time you're taking to troubleshoot this. In this case if you've already checked the syncing requirements and the steps listed here, we might have to check with our support team so they can take a look of this issues. Please let me know if I can request a case for you, or you can contact them directly by replying the last email you got from them.

@SunsetRunner Thanks for checking all those details. Please fully charge your Surge and keep it on the charger and try to reconnect it with your PC. You can remove the Surge and add it back. If you have the Fitbit App on the same computer please delete it and keep working with the Fitbit Connect. 

Keep me posted.