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

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @TempestFire, I hope you're doing well, it's nice to see you around. 

I appreciate you have brought this to my attention and for letting me know the troubleshooting steps you've tried in this case. At this moment, as you have already disable "Background App Refresh" and "All-day Sync" I would like to suggest you to uninstall the app, restart your phone and install it back. Make sure to sync your Fitbit device one more time before uninstalling the app. 

I hope this can be helpful, give it a try and keep me posted in case you need anything else. 

[TempestFire]

Hi @MarcoGFitbit thank you for the reply and advice, unfortunately I have already tried uninstalling the Fitbit app and it does not appear to have made any difference. I have updated the Versa to the latest firmware today thought that may help.  I will probably try uninstalling some of the apps I have put on the Versa next to see if they are making excessive syncs to the phone.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @TempestFire, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you have already tried the troubleshooting steps I've provided earlier. After you have uninstalled some of the apps from the Versa, please monitor it and keep me updated with your findings, this will be very helpful for me. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, I'll be waiting for your reply. 

[TempestFire]

Hi @MarcoGFitbit the only solution I have found is to to forget the Fitbit Versa under Bluetooth devices on my iPhone. The background activity then stops. Obviously this is not ideal as I have now lost message and call notifications. The Versa only syncs when I open the Fitbit app and select Sync.

I may do some more testing by adding the Versa back as a Bluetooth device to see if it then works correctly. 

Bit disappointed that it doesn’t work like my Charge 2 did without using my phone battery excessively.  Clearly there is a bug somewhere. 

[MarcoGFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello @TempestFire, thanks for replying, I hope you're having a great day. 

I appreciate you have continuously shared your findings with me. At this moment I would like to ask you that instead of removing the Versa from the Bluetooth devices on your iPhone, please force-quit the app on your phone by tapping twice on the home button on your phone, then swipe the Fitbit app. Doing this will prevent your Versa from losing Notifications. 

Thanks again for your patience and understanding, give it a try and let me know the outcome! 

[TempestFire]

Hi @MarcoGFitbit to be honest I had previously force quit the Fitbit numerous times. Since removing the Versa from Bluetooth device, the background use had gone to zero this morning so I re paired the Versa on Bluetooth and enable background refresh and all day sync. After 7 hrs the Fitbit App has had 28 minutes of background processing which is going to be over 90 minutes every 24 Hrs does that sound correct? 

What seems different at the moment is the overall battery used % by the Fitbit app is much lower but that could just be its not been running for 24 hrs yet.

Anyone else on the forum who can share their iPhone battery use by the Fitbit App particularly background minutes with background refresh and all day sync both enabled? 

[TempestFire]

Hi @MarcoGFitbit after more testing the only way to address this seems to be as you suggest kill the app, so every time I open the Fitbit app now I then kill the app when I have synced. The Fitbit App then goes from using 40% of my iPhone battery in 24 hrs to 2%! 

I will mark your suggested action as the Accepted Solution for now, but really its a work around until the Fitbit coders fix the whatever is making excessive processor calls on the iPhone.

Thanks

[Rhondakap]

This is interesting because I have the Charge 2 and all of a sudden (as of Friday night) my phone drains overnight.  I am assuming it's a software issue with my phone, but I also noticed a high level of background activity with the Fitbit app.  I will go through these troubleshooting steps and monitor.  

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Rhondakap, thanks for joining the conversation, it's a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Fitbit Community. It's nice to see you too @TempestFire, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

@TempestFire, I appreciate you have come back and let me know force-quitting the app helped reduce the background activity on the Fitbit app. I'll make sure to forward your insights and findings to our team so they can take a better look at this situation. 

@Rhondakap, thanks for your report. Please try the troubleshooting steps provided earlier and reply to me with your findings, this will be very helpful. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, if there's anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to reply, I'll be happy to help. 

[SunsetRunner]

I've just started running to the same problem. I got my Fitbit Versa in January, replacing a Charge 2. Prior to the last two or three weeks, I'd had no issues with excessive battery drain. The last couple of weeks, the Fitbit app on my Pixel XL has been draining the battery at an incredible rate. I've since turned off All-day sync, Always Connected and Keep-Alive Widget. While the drain may be a tiny bit slower, it's still draining way too fast. I've had my phone disconnected from power for 90 minutes so far today and it's already down to 66% battery left, with 10% of that being the Fitbit app, which is the highest consumer of battery every day now.

The only notifications I've got turned on is calendar. I don't think I have any apps on the Versa beyond what was on it from the factory. Weather is the only one I use now and then. I've even limited background activity and enabled battery optimization in the Pixel on the app and it's still draining like this. Closest phone event I can think of to it is maybe a bit before all of this happened, but I did install the Jun 5, 2018 security patch for Android 8.1.0 on my Pixel XL near the beginning of the month. Fitbit app itself is up to date also.

Any thoughts?

[VGUPTA48]

I have been using Alta since last 2 years without any issue of battery draining (most probably I did not noticed in battery usage section of iphone). Recently I replaced my iphone battery and yesterday I noticed same issue of excessive battery draining due to fitbit app running in background. My battery drained from 80% at night to 32% in the morning. Today I force quit the app and yet to see the result. Is it something related to recent update of fitbit app?

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @VGUPTA48, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

I appreciate you have brought this to my attention. At this moment I would like to suggest you to update the Fitbit app if you haven't already and to close it by force-quitting it once you're not using it. Then monitor the battery activity on your phone and let us know if this has improved. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, if there's anything else you might want to add, please feel free to reply.

[Jk5253]

I have been having problems with excessive battery drain also. Today the Fitbit app in background accounted for  38% of the battery usage on my iPhone battery. I am starting to get really frustrated with this! I have the background app refresh turned off and also sync turned to manual. I have an Ionic. I’m starting to consider just not wearing it anymore. 

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Jk5253, thanks for joining the conversation, it's great to have you on board the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate you have taken the time to report this situation as well. At this moment, if you haven't done it yet, please update the Fitbit app and the OS on your phone. If everything is up to date, please uninstall the Fitbit app, restart your phone and install it back. Make sure to sync your Ionic one last time before uninstalling the app to avoid losing any data. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, give these steps a try and let me know the outcome. 

[pkt65]

I have just got one of the charge 3 fitbits and had excessive battery drain . I’ve uninstalled the app restarted my iPhone and reinstalled and found my battery has gone from 89 to 1% during a two hour dog walk . Really disappointed and thinking of sending back if can’t even track that without taking half the functionality off.... what’s the point in having it? 

[JORDYP85]

Hi, 

I have also just bought the charge 3 and notice since it is connected to my phone it has excessive battery drain. It attributes over 10% of my daily battery usage which is more than most of my phones core functions.

It seems excessive given in that timeframe im am talking about a typical day at the office. I havent even looked at a day with exercise at either or both ends of the day...

I can understand when being used for GPS tracking, and extra synchronisation that falls outside typical usage the battery would be used more intensely though I still feel 10% total phone battery life signals an inefficiency in the platforms development that requires addressing.

Hope we can get a less generic response and a real outcome for this problem. 

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @pkt65 and @JORDYP85, thanks for joining the conversation, it's great to have you on board the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate you have joined us and provided your feedback and report. At this moment your information has been forwarded to our team as they're currently investigating this issue. Once we have more information to share, we'll make sure to post it here in the Official Forums. 

Thanks for your patience, have a great day. 

[JORDYP85]

Thank you Marco, much appreciated. 

Looking forward to hearing the team’s thoughts. 

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @JORDYP85, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you have come back, you're very welcome. If there's anything else we can do for you in the meantime, please don't hesitate to reply, we'll be happy to help. 

Happy stepping!