Charge 5 keeps disconnecting from Bluetooth

[mcullinan]

My Charge 5 is not connecting to my iPhone. It does intermittently.

My Charge 4 had no problem.  

Anyone having this issue?

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Deleted my pairing to the Charge 5 and restarted it, then re-paired it in the app seems to have fixed the problem..  yay

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Actually I am still having this issue.  I’ve unpaired, restarted iPhone and fitbit.  Re-paired.   Restarted.  Bluetooth takes a long time and mostly never connects to the charge 5.  My charge 4 worked perfect. 

Moderator edit: merged replies + word choice 

[SDBJ]

Should I just return my Charge 5 since I keep trying everything suggested over and over and it will not stay connected to my IPhone Bluetooth? SDBJ

[DenkoB]

Not sure if I'm doing this right - trying to add a new message to the thread - but I've decided that I want to return my Charge 5. My weekly step competition is starting, and since I can't get the Charge 5 to work, I've simply reverted to my old Inspire 2.

I've spent a lot of time trying to troubleshoot the Charge 5.  I feel like I paid $150 to be a beta tester of a defective product. At this point I'm tired of  struggling and just want something that works. Which my old Inspire 2, despite its defects, does.

Can you tell me how to return the Charge 5 for a refund? As I mentioned before, I don't have the packaging anymore. I could dig it out of the trash, but it's in tatters. So it's just the watch, charger and band that I would be returning. I hope that's not a problem.

Thanks for your attention to this and I look forward to your reply.

[LiliyaFitbit]

For all of you who are new to the Fitbit community, welcome. 

Thank you for taking the time to share what you're experiencing and for your troubleshooting efforts. I understand that this can be very frustrating, your feedback and comments are greatly appreciated. If you're unable to set up your device, please confirm the following steps:

1. Remove your Fitbit and any other device from the Bluetooth settings of your phone.
2. Turn off other Bluetooth connections that are nearby.
3. Verify if the Fitbit app is updated to the latest version: How do I update the Fitbit app?
4. Force quit the Fitbit app and restart your phone.
5. Restart your Fitbit with the steps from this help article.
6. Open the Fitbit app, tap on your profile picture > Set Up a Device.
7. Choose your Fitbit from the list and follow the onscreen instructions.

If your device is paired to your Fitbit account, but not syncing, please try our troubleshooting tips in Why won't my Fitbit device sync?

@DenkoB I am sorry to hear you decided to return your device. If you bought your device from fitbit.com, we accept returns in accordance with our return policy. In the US, within the first 45 days of purchase, you can start your return here: returns.narvar.com/fitbit/returns. For additional assistance, you can contact our Support team online or give them a call. Click here to get connected. 

See you around.

[SusieQbx]

I have done all that numerous times. Charge 5 syncs sometimes and sometimes does not. More often than not, charge 5 does not recognize the automatic exercise particularly walking. Getting really tired of it. When does Fitbit plan on rectifying theses issues? 

[DenkoB]

I've posted elsewhere in the Charge 5 community about my inability to sync my new Fitbit despite following all of the troubleshooting steps multiple times. I've spent hours trying to get this thing to work. With no success.

I would like to return it. My old Fitbit isn't ideal, but at least it syncs. So I think I will go back to my Inspire 2.

I ordered the new Fitbit before I left for Europe for a month. It arrived while I was away. I opened the package and tested the tracker as soon as I returned, but I see that the window for returning it ended on October 9.

At this point it seems that I have a useless and expensive gadget that I can't return and a $150 hole in my credit card account.

Could I have an extension on the time to return it? It has never been used. 

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

Dan

[Odyssey13]

Hi @DenkoB  as the Fitbit Moderator posted to you above - the time period is 45 days and you'll need to get with customer support. I doubt they offer extensions, but you can check directly with them.

[DenkoB]

Well the return policy is a little unclear, but I will try.

When I try to return it, the site gives me a message says that it can be
returned through October 9th. I ordered it sometime in late August, so
October 9th sounds like it's 45 days after the order.

However, I ordered the Charge 5 before the product was ready to ship. It
wasn't shipping until mid September. It was delivered on September 21. Are
you saying that the 45 days is counted from the day that I sent the email
to order it, even though it didn't arrive until almost a month later?

That seems quite unfair. It doesn't really make sense either.

I paged through the return process on the site, printed it out a FedEx
label, and will run it down to FedEx tomorrow.

Even if the return is turned down, I won't be any worse off. In fact,
slightly better off, and that I will have gotten rid of an expensive,
non-functional piece of technology.

But I hope that it is accepted. The fact is that I am within the 45-day
window, if it is counted fairly, ie 45 days from the day that I received it.

I like my Inspire 2. It works pretty much flawlessly. Too bad the new one
is such a disappointment. In the future I will stick with what works.

[Odyssey13]

@DenkoB  why not get with support at the link above and ask them to be sure.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @Lozza08, @newsman and @KlimentToshkov.

I appreciate your efforts while working on this matter, and contacting our Support team. As mentioned above, our team is aware of this issue affecting some of our Charge 5 users and they're working hard to identify a solution. While there isn't a time frame for the fix, your feedback won't be taken for granted as it'll help us to keep our team informed of the impact to you.

@KlimentToshkov I understand how you're feeling about this situation, and thanks for keeping me posted. While I don't have access to your case, I'd recommend getting in touch with them one more time and keep an open communication with them. That way, they can provide you with further assistance.

Have a good day.

[DenkoB]

I did. We went through the things I had already tried and, surprise, they
still didn't work. Boxed it up, sending it out in the morning. Crossing my
fingers.

[KlimentToshkov]

@LizzyFitbit I appreciate you being positive, but you know that those advises are useless. Especially when we went through very detailed debugging process and now your shiny advise "keep contacting our useless support" 😄

Anyway, device is getting worse and worse. Less than an hour in workout mode and the "always on" screen freezes - it stops refreshing. This has already been reported + video proof. Yet to receive any kind of answer.

Starting yesterday smart wake alarms are snoozing themselves automatically and say in "snoozed for 1 minute" state indefinitely.

And now I notice that I do not receive vibration and notification for "hourly activity reminders".

Sorry to say - I had Charge 1, 2, 3, 4, I am loyal customer for 8+ years - Charge 5 is piece of crap.

[drbrewer101]

Sadly I came here for help but this thread isn’t instilling much confidence. Waiting for an update to the Bluetooth disconnect problem as well. Very disappointed. I wish I saw this before I bought it.

[ynwa_fan]

I also returned my Charge 5 and ordered a new one.  The new one works as expected without any issues.  Sounds like there were some quality control issues with certain batches...?

[KlimentToshkov]

Their help (live chat) refuses to send replacement saying that they have not identified the problem. Ridiculous.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone.

I appreciate your constant feedback, as well as your efforts while troubleshooting your Charge 5. I understand where you're coming from about having this issue with your new tracker and I'm sorry for the inconvenience you've experienced. While I don't have a time frame, please know our team is continues working hard to bring a solution to all our affected members. In the meantime, be sure to keep your tracker and Fitbit app up-to-date as you've done so to ensure you receive the quickest resolution.

Thanks again for your patience and once I have more details to share, I'll update this thread.

See you around.

[scojan]

I had the same response from Fitbit for my Charge 3 approx 2 years ago. I purchased the Charge 5 yesterday and the same issue still exists so good luck hoping that the issue will be resolved. The Charge 5 has been returned.

[nansingh]

Me too on same boat. Returned the device. 

[Fit2522]

Upgrading to IOS 15 seemed to resolve some of the connectivity issues. I was previously on IOS 14 and was running into the same connectivity issues mentioned here.

[KlimentToshkov]

It is so buggy that it even does not charge properly. This is video link with power consumption https://youtu.be/IXB9HojrMuU watch closely the amperage. Varies between 0.00 (not drawing any current) to 0.02 which is very very small amount of current. Even my child watch is drawing 200 mAh during charge cycle. 

to me it seems that parts of this device go on and off constantly and this may be the reason Bluetooth is dropping. 

[SunsetRunner]

I’m having the same problem, had an trusty Charge3 which never let me down, my new Charge5 is completely unreliable, only syncing 50% of the time and that if you are lucky