How to use Versa Bluetooth vs. Versa Bluetooth Classic?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi 

I got a versa yesterday. The Bluetooth was working fine but I wanted to connect the Versa (classic) so I could control the music on my phone from my watch. However, I couldn't see the Versa (classic) option so I disconnected the other Versa Bluetooth. After this the Versa (classic) option was available however, once iIhad connected to that one I then could not find the other Versa Bluetooth option and my tracker continued to say that I needed to connect to the Bluetooth classic in settings. What is the problem? 

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[MarcoGFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello @SunsetRunner, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

I appreciate you have brought this to my attention for letting me know the process you performed while trying to control the music from your phone using your Versa. At this moment I would like to suggest you to try the following:

1. Go to your phone Bluetooth settings, then remove Versa Bluetooth (Classic) from the list of connected devices. 
2. Restart your phone. 
3. Open the Fitbit app and set up Notifications. Once you do that, you will be asked to pair your tracker with your phone. This will pair the (normal) Versa Bluetooth to your phone. 
4. After that, try again to set up Music Control:
   • Open the Settings app on your Versa then Bluetooth > Pair
   • Go to your phone Bluetooth Settings and wait for the phone to finish scan for new Bluetooth connections. 
   • If Versa (Classic) appears tap on it. 
   • If it doesn't appear, turn off Bluetooth for 5 seconds and turn it back on. 

I hope this can be helpful, if there's anything else I can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you for this. My phone now says it is connected but the tracker still
says to pair my phone with Bluetooth classic in settings app. When I try to
do this my versa cannot find my phone even though my phone says they are
already connected. It was working for about 5 seconds after I first did
what you said and then it stopped. Any other ideas?
*******************************************************************************
This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.

[Jnink]

Having the same exact problem...  I would really like a solution on this as well

[SunsetRunner]

I would love to give you a solution but I never found one. I don't bother
trying to use Bluetooth Classic on my Versa anymore. Sorry.
*******************************************************************************
This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Jnink, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's nice to see you too @SunsetRunner, I hope you're doing well. 

I appreciate you have come back and let us know you're still experiencing this situation. If you'd like to use Music Control with your Versa, you can omit Versa Classic entirely. Simply start playing the music on your phone and press down the button on the left for 2 seconds, when you see the Music Controls screen, tap on the ellipsis (...) icon and select your phone as the music source. You will be able to see Music Control in the Versa screen. Thanks @SunsetRunner for having tried this already.

I hope this can be helpful, if there's anything else we can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

[dmooreny]

I have a Blaze and am curious what Bluetooth Classic is used for?

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @dmooreny, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, thanks for joining the conversation. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for posting your question. Please note that Bluetooth Classic on a Blaze is used to control the music playing on your phone. To set up Music Control, please follow these steps:

1. If you have an Android or Windows 10 phone, first set up music control. If you have an iPhone, music control should work automatically after setting up device, so skip to step 2.
   1. Swipe to Settings > Bluetooth Classic > Pair. 
   2. On your phone, navigate to the Bluetooth settings where paired devices are listed. Your phone will scan for available devices.
   3. When you see Blaze Classic as an available device, tap it.
   4. Wait a few moments for the 6-digit number to appear on your screen.
   5. When the same 6-digit number appears on Blaze, tap Yes.
   6. On your phone, tap Pair.
2. On Blaze, press and hold the top button to see the current track playing on your phone.
   1. Play or pause the song, or skip to the next track.
   2. To control volume, use the top and button buttons on your tracker.
   3. Press the back button or swipe up to return to the previous screen.
   Note that both notifications and music control on Blaze use Bluetooth. If you turn on both features, you might see your tracker twice in your phone's list of Bluetooth devices. 

I hope this resolves your inquiry, if there's anything else we can do for you, please feel free to reply. 

[AphoticAzure]

Hello,

I'm having the same issue with my versa where my phone says it's connected to a device "versa," but when I try adding an audio device from the settings app on my versa, it doesn't find anything -- and I get the same message about connecting my phone via bluetooth when I press and hold the left button to go to music controls. Is it correct to treat my phone like an audio device when trying to connect it to my tracker? I was really looking forward to using my versa for controlling music on my phone. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

UPDATE:

Update: I found what the problem was - I needed to find the device "versa (classic)" specifically from my phone. I was able to scan for it, pair it, and now I can use music controls using my versa  

[Tabithabolter]

I've tried the above steps, but it is still failing to pair. 

Any other solutions?

[SunsetRunner]

That has been my problem as well. My phone says its paired with both "versa" and "versa (classic)" but the watch says my phone is not paired to "versa (classic)". I don't know how to fix it. I did fix it once but if only lasted for 5 seconds before it stopped working again. 

[AphoticAzure]

I don't know how to fix it but this YT video helped me with my issues. Hope you find it helpful! The guy who makes these Versa videos also replies back in comments in case you want to ask him questions too.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Tabithabolter, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's nice to see you too @AphoticAzure and @SunsetRunner, I hope you're doing well. 

@AphoticAzure, I appreciate you have come back and let us know your issue has now been resolved, I would like to thank you for sharing the troubleshooting steps you took in order to resolve it, I'm sure they will be helpful for members of the Community facing the same situation. 

@SunsetRunner and @Tabithabolter, thanks for sharing your experience with us. Tell me, are you currently using and Android or iOS phone? Have you tried any other troubleshooting steps? This will be very helpful for us to check this further and determine what we should do next. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, we'll be waiting to hear from you. 

[Tabithabolter]

Thanks.

I have a Google Pixel 2, which is all up to date. On my settings page,
there is only a Versa showing up (there are no two options).

I have tried restarting And deleting etc...

Thanks!

[Bob15]

I have an iPhone that was working well with my Versa. During the night the iPhone lost the Bluetooth connection to the Fitbit and I can’t seem to to get it back. My iPad does continue to have its Bluetooth connection. I have re-instralled the Fitbit app, restarted my iPhone and shut Bluetooth and the app on and off but it still can’t find the Versa through Bluetooth.

Any suggestions short of resetting the Versa to its original settings?

Thnaks

[Ladyctr]

My watch is doing the same thing to connect with my phone, which is LG Stylo 4. But now it is not syncing with my phone. I am very disappointed with this watch and the problems I am having. Can't download music, one minute is working and I am receiving notifications, and the next minute it stops.

[Tim1023]

--For any Android (Samsung) owners reading these instructions and still having problems--

There's a bit of a UI weakness in Android (maybe just Samsung?) when you are trying to find a new bluetooth device from your phone. All known bluetooth devices are listed before any newly discovered ones. If you have paired to enough devices, you need to scroll down far enough before you see anything new. Especially when you are actively scanning for new devices, it would make more sense for these to be listed at the top.

I tried the process above several times before I worked this out. And there was Bluetooth Classic! I can now control music playing on phone with my new Versa. 🙂

[Devocite]

The YouTube video AphoticAzure references is exactly correct.  What the fellow, in the video, fails to mention is you must restart your phone to get your sync working again.

After connecting with the new Versa (Classic), the app can no longer connect to the watch via the original Versa Bluetooth (BT) connection.

Warning Boring Technical Info to follow...

Here is why.  Natively, the FitBit app uses Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) to connect to the Versa and other Fitbit devices.  This 'connection' is typically only one for a moment, while the app is querying the Versa for stats.  If you look at your phones Bluetooth devices the Versa is never connected.  The Versa, non-classic, is a BT LE connection entry, and not meant to really connect to in the traditional sense.

There must be a persistent Bluetooth connection, to the Versa, for apps (i.e. Music Apps)  to send info to the Bluetooth Media Control device, which in this case is the Versa, and for the Versa to send music control info back to the phone: next, previous, and volume.  So the 'Classic' in the Bluetooth connection name doesn't mean a classic Versa, it means a classic Bluetooth connection.

Once the Versa is connected to your phone via this Classic BT mode,  the Versa stops listing to for the LE connection.  After the phone is restarted, the phone automatically connects to the Versa (Classic). When the Fitbit App starts, it will see the Classic connection and begin using it, instead of trying to connect via the Versa (Low Energy) connection.  Now sync will work, you can update the Versa clock, apps, and still control music playing on your phone.

Since the Versa is now always connect, when in proximity to your phone, the Versa battery life will probably be a bit shorter.

In my wife's case, the ability to control her phone, playing music while directing Zumba class make that trade off fully worth it!  She loves her Versa!

So if sync stop working, just restart your phone and it will all work itself out...

[Tim1023]

Thanks for the info @Devocite ! I wondered about the technical details of the BT connections, why there were two types and why the Versa never shows up as being connected on the normal BT device list. All my questions answered in one post.

[Vaile23]

That works a treat, however notifications are now hit and miss. It is a shame that we have to settle for compromises rather than full functionality.