App on the background runs out iPhone's battery

[TempestFire]

I have used Fitbit app for years on various iPhone with various trackers, always had background app refresh on and all day sync and not had any problems. Moved from a Charge 2 to a Versa in last couple of weeks and now Fitbit app has a massive impact on my iPhone battery life, 2.6 hrs of background use in the last 24 hrs, what the..... what can it possibly be doing. I have tried disabling background app refresh and all day sync and it’s still 1 hr of background use in 24hrs. For comparison the next app is the Apple mail app and that has 6 minutes of background use in 24hrs. 

Anyone suggest anything to try? I have not  been using connected GPS so can’t blame that.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Fredcool]

Hello ,

i have a charge 3 , three weeks old , and four days ago it suddenly started draining my iPhone 7 battery within 6 or 7 hours.

so can I have my money back ?  All it's good for is telling the time , but I already have a watch 

[MarcoGFitbit]

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

I appreciate you have let us know about this issue. At this moment, I would like to gather some information from you so we can check this further:

1. iPhone model you're using.
2. OS version running on your phone.
3. App version installed (go to Account > Help to get it)
4. Charge 3 version (tap on the Charge 3 picture on the app to get it)

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

[Fredcool]

Hello ,
I have an iPhone 7 128 gb , OS 12.1.4
Fitbit app 2.88 (813)
Charge 3 version 20001.49.45 I only bought about three weeks ago !
I am hoping someone can sort this problem out , I would really like a refund

Sent from my iPad

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Fredcool , I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply with the information requested. 

Thanks for coming back. I’ve reached the limits of what I can do for you here on the public community forums, so I've contacted our Support team on your behalf to look into this issue further and provide you with some options. Please keep an eye on your email inbox for further instructions. 

In case you need anything else, please feel free to reply as well. Happy stepping.

[Geotech]

This issue is far from solved. I have a versa with iPhone 7 that is up to date iOS wise. Background is off so is all day sync and location. Even if the app is not open the battery literally changed percent while your own ur phone. From 99 percent to 84 in about 3 min. Sad . Great watch though 

[Smitty29]

I also have a Charge 2 and I am having this problem as well.  My iPad battery drains in a few hours and when I check 100% of the usage is Fitbit.  I have already turned off background refresh. I think Fitbit’s app has serious issues from a recent update.

[urbangirl211]

Also having battery issues with iPhone 7. Have an Inspire. I’m trying to solve by turning off background app refresh and turning off all-day sync. Hope this is it. 

[IrishGrandma]

I have a charge 3 and same problem— battery draining EVEN with closing down app after every use/step update as suggested...so it would appear that the accepted solution does NOT work....please update answer.   Thank you

[urbangirl211]

Turning off background app refresh and all-day sync seemed to help me.

[IrishGrandma]

Yes thanks had already done that..still battery drain

[Almaviva]

I’m finding myself with a dead iPhone in the mornings, and part of the problem seems to be excessive battery use by the Fitbit app in the background, according to the battery section in settings.  My question right now is a simple one: how can the app be using battery in the background with background refresh turned off, both system wide and explicitly for the app? Doesn’t IOS prevent this? Is the app getting around this somehow?

[IrishGrandma]

Yes I believe Fitbit app does get around background refresh by the all day sync option it has in its app.  Turning that off was suggested by others in prior posts and that did help.  Recommend read other suggestions given prior ...those also helped.  What finally worked for me was turning off bluetooth pairing since I didn't use it for notifications.  I do manually update app at end of day and then close app...very little battery, catch is not getting the features you may have wanted when purchased.  Hopefully app developers will read and fix their app to cause less battery drain.

[Almaviva]

Well, I turned off all day sync, and for a while that seemed to fix things. But I just checked again and I have all day sync off, I have background app refresh off, I separately have the Fitbit app background app refresh off, and I am showing 2hr 36 minutes of background activity from the Fitbit app, which has used 23% of my battery in the last 24 hours.  Some of the answer to my question (essentially, why does IOS allow apps to do this?) seems to be here,

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/252239/do-ios-apps-run-in-the-background

and I note that apps that get information from external devices - eg fitbits - are allowed to do this. However, if I've explicitly turned off all this, I think the app should NOT be still trying to do this. Particularly, if I've turned off all day sync, I don't think the app any longer has the excuse that it needs to communicate in the background with the device.

It's my impression that the app is not behaving very well. It may be a bug, but it feels a bit as if it may be by design. Either way, it would be good to see this fixed. I like my Fitbit, but I also like to have my phone not run out of battery, and I may have to make that choice.

[IrishGrandma]

Thanks for link, as I shared what finally “fixed” problem for me was removing/turning off Bluetooth access for the Fitbit.   I deleted/unpaired it in Bluetooth tab.  In reading the link I see that is one of the allowed background options...I agree, hope developers will address battery consumption.

[Batterygulp]

iphone 7 losing battery juice rapidly due to Fitbit app.  I followed the communications previously and don't see current fixes.  Has one been coded to stop the battery drain?  After going through all the iphone solutions, the drain on the battery lies squarely with the Fitbit app.

[B8SH]

This just happened to me after latest app update. Also, happened to be after announcement that Google bought Fibit.

1min screen 3hr23min background. Drained my battery like crazy. What happened to fitbit?

[thenameless1]

@B8SH I think the issue issue might be a lack of transparency. As @IrishGrandma pointed out the issue seemed it resolve itself  when she disconnected disconnected the bluetooth. Allow me to explain a little and hopefully someone from fibit can either correct me or maybe explain a little better.

I attached  a link below which links to another post on this forum regarding bluetooth beacons.  Basically "beacons" allow for near pinpoint location tracking.  So stores  or in this case google can know exactly where and how much time you are spending in stores and in what department!

It used to be that trackers with notifications were bonded to one device to facilitate the use of notifications.  I use an iphone, but i also have the fitbit app for windows 10 and i can't sync my fitbit to windows 10. I thought this was happening because of the bonding that occurs between the iphone/android app and the tracker, but that's not true.

As the user in the link points out the trackers are constantly pushing out data over bluetooth and this "bonding" doesn't really exist since even though you are paired to a phone another device can still pick it up, which ideally shouldn't be happening. Now the data that fitbit/google is collecting is only good if it makes its way back to their servers, which could explain why you are seeing so much use in the background. Other users have posted an unusual amount of location requests by the fitbit app as well and now supposedly fitbit is requiring the location to be set to "always on" The location data collected is only good if it makes it back to their servers and unfortunately 1 min screen time isn't enough, which might be why you are seeing 3+ hours of background usage.

As you pointed out you noticed it happening after it was announced google bought fitbit. I think  this brings out the possibility of google ads in the fitbit app in the near future.  There have been many feature requests asking for the removal of current ads or an option to opt out, which fitbit has commented they have no plans to stop the ads. I'm  guessing  the fitbit app is going to turn into a billboard soon.  

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Ionic-as-BLE-beacon/m-p/2468356

[Almaviva]

Well, that bit about beacons is interesting, if a little concerning. I have the Fitbit app on my iPhone set to allow location access 'only when using' and I don't see why it should need more than that - and so far it hasn't complained.

I've still been noticing battery drain overnight, and something I've noticed is that there seems to be a correlation with where I leave the iPhone overnight. I'm wearing the Fitbit at night because I'm interested in tracking pulse and sleep quality, and it seems to me that so long as I leave the phone in the bedroom, I don't see the battery drain. I think it's the case that every time I've found a dead or almost dead phone in the morning (and was pretty sure it was well charged in the evening, not always the case) the phone has been left on a different floor - and there's a concrete slab between the floors. I'm wondering if the Fitbit app is trying hard overnight to contact the Fitbit and failing, and draining the battery that way? I need to test this more exhaustively - certainly it doesn't happen every night I separate the two devices. At the moment, I THINK that separating the devices may be a necessary but not sufficient condition to bring on battery drain, but I couldn't swear to that right now.

[dlucas7]

I’ve had my Fitbit ionic for almost a year now and up until recently has been working fine. However, since the update to ios13 on my iPhone my Fitbit app has started draining the battery overnight and is using excessive background data. It seems to be doing something every night for about 2hrs straight after midnight. Dss as ta usage is getting expensive - please fix this Fitbit!

[B8SH]

Thank you for your comment and advise. As I was trying out different things, I disabled all day sync and now it drops the background activity to 52 minutes using 11.1MB cellular data (in comparison to 8.6 Google maps). I'm puzzled on what souch being sent to fitbit in 24 hours. As a side note. I always have the phone close to the fitbit, so battery drain due to being separated should not be the issue here. Oh no.....