FitBit Charge 3 wont sync or update.

[1664Fireman]

My Charge 3 stopped tracking sleep, syncing. Won’t recgnize Bluetooth after working fine for one week. I have reset everything and now it won’t see the charge even though all other Bluetooth devices work with my phone (iPhoneXS). Attempted to call customer service but can’t seem to get past the login because none of their associates can speak English well enough to input my email address. This is ridiculous. I pre-ordered this device and it has been a bust so far!! It fails to track my sleep for the past 3 nights and won’t aync at all!! 

Moderator Edit: Format + Word Choice

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Oriondestiny and @Catcrazy. I'm glad to see you here. @Roomers, welcome to the Forums. I'm sorry for my delayed response.

@Oriondestiny, I'm sorry that your Charge 3 isn't syncing correctly, and thanks for troubleshooting it prior posting. I understand your position as this shouldn't be happening, I'll help you out with this. To further investigate, may I know your phone's model and OS version? Is the Fitbit app updated to the 3.0 or 3.1 version? Do you have other Bluetooth connections turn on nearby?

Although you've tried troubleshooting your Charge 3, please give a try to the following steps:

1. Remove the Charge 3 from the Bluetooth settings.
2. Close the Fitbit app from the open apps.
3. Reboot your phone and restart your Charge 3.
4. Open the Fitbit app and tap on Account icon.
5. Tap on setup a device > Charge 3 > replace device.
6. Follow the onscreen instructions.

@Roomers, thanks for joining the conversation. May I know if you're still having issues to sync or update? What troubleshooting steps have you tried? Let me know your phone's model and OS version.

@Catcrazy, thanks for sharing the steps that you've tried to get your Charge 3 syncing. You did a fantastic job! I'm sorry that you've had this experience, and I'm glad that our team has been helping you with this. I'd recommend to keep working with them, so you can receive more details about your case.

Keep me posted.

[burnowt]

I was here looking for solutions since my watch had recently stopped syncing reliably after a trip to Hawaii (so the different time zone symptoms people reported may have been a factor -- it just seemed to go haywire after I got back), and as with everybody else, none of the software solutions fixed it. (reset, clear data, restart phone, force quit app, etc.). My fitbit seems to sync erratically, usually needing to be connected to the charge cable to sync.

I noticed quite a bit of crud on the back side, and figured I should clean some of it because I had taken it swimming with me in the ocean and hotel pool a few times. I detached the bands and plunked it in a shallow bowl of tap water to help dissolve and break up the crud. I just happened to check the fitbit app on my phone and the sync/pairing connection was once again rock solid! I could sync at will!

So it's totally fixed, right? WRONG. It *only* seems to sync/pair reliably if the watch is in the water. I didn't have much water in there, just enough to submerge the watch by maybe about 1/2 inch. It's crazy, but if your watch is pretty much useless anyway, it might be worth a shot. But it's obviously not a permanent fix!

While this is amusing, this is still a sign of a poorly built product! If the watch can't sync reliably after getting wet (unless it *stays* wet), then the watch isn't really water resistant. I didn't come anywhere near the depth limit, mostly wading and floating around in shallow water, less than 3 meters.

I'm going to try maybe soaking it longer, maybe some crud in there is blocking some circuit or something and water is conductive enough to help close it. I was pretty good about drying it after, but didn't really scrub it clean. It's possible that maybe people's sweat may get into some part of the watch, dry, and since sweat is kind of like salt water, residue may accumulate.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @burnowt, welcome to the Community Forums. I'm sorry for the delayed in my response.

Thanks for the information provided, and I'm sorry that your Charge 3 isn't syncing consistently. You did a good job with the troubleshooting steps, as well for making sure to dry your device! Just to confirm, do you see an error message when trying to sync? What's the model of your Samsung phone? Also, is the Fitbit app updated to the latest version in your phone? If you've not done so I'd recommend to try the steps from my previous post.

Let me know how it goes.

[burnowt]

---

@LizzyFitbit wrote:

Hi @burnowt, welcome to the Community Forums. I'm sorry for the delayed in my response.

Thanks for the information provided, and I'm sorry that your Charge 3 isn't syncing consistently. You did a good job with the troubleshooting steps, as well for making sure to dry your device! Just to confirm, do you see an error message when trying to sync? What's the model of your Samsung phone? Also, is the Fitbit app updated to the latest version in your phone? If you've not done so I'd recommend to try the steps from my previous post.

Let me know how it goes.

---

To clarify, I'm on an iPhone XR. It's been pairing fine with my other bluetooth devices and operating normally. The water trick seemed to only work for another few days, but now it won't work any more, even with a dried out, clean fitbit.

Nonetheless, I did repeat the steps a few times now of, regrettably, clearing user data on the charge 3, rebooting the charger 3, deleting the app, rebooting my iPhone, etc, and no luck. To answer your questions:

- After doing all the above, I'm having to add the Charge 3 back to my Fitbit App, and it won't add the device. What happens is that it will find the tracker, but just hang when trying to connect to it. "Connecting to Tracker..." I've left it alone for 10 minutes or so and gave up.

- I'm on an iPhone XR. It's been pairing fine with my other blue tooth devices such as head phones, rental cars, etc.

- I'm on the very, very latest version. I even installed the new version that came up this very night from the App store.

I'm sick of jumping through hoops on this. I want a replacement. I've only had it for 7 months and haven't subjected it to anything more than normal wear and tear. Is there anything you can do to start a ticket for me or do I need to go through another run around with a customer service rep?

[Catcrazy]

Hi 👋
I found the only way to ‘resolve’ my going issue was by actually contacting the Fitbit support team by phone. I had to give my number and someone rang me straight back. I found it was only by talking to a person in real time that I was able to quickly explain that I’d tried all the advice given on here several times, with no success. I think others have managed to sort out a replacement online, but I was going around in circles, until speaking directly to someone that wasn’t having to follow a script. That’s nothing negative on this community, only saying it’s easier when you can bypass all of that.
Hope that helps.

Sent from my iPad

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @burnowt and @Catcrazy. It's great to see you here. I'm sorry for my delayed response.

@burnowt, thanks for taking the time to troubleshoot your Charge 3 with the steps posted above. I understand how you're feeling about this and I'm sorry that you had this experience. I've checked with our Support Team and they're already providing you with assistance. I appreciate your patience and if you need anything else, feel free to reply back.

@Catcrazy, thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience when calling our Support Team. I'm sure others will find your post very helpful!

Keep me posted!

[Montetaz]

I have tried all the steps. I even removed app and reinstalled again. No luck. I have no other fitbit devices. Disappointed as I have only had for 6 months and stopped tracking and syncing a week and a half ago. Miss using all the features and seeing my sleep info.😒

[Catcrazy]

I’m sad to see people are still having problems with the Fitbit charge 3 as I really hoped the techs would of sorted this fault by now. I was initially led to believe it was a software issue but maybe it’s the device itself??? Idk! 

If following the steps given in this thread haven’t worked, I’d seriously recommend you call the support team-not to knock forums, but nothing beats chatting to a human being and actually talking through the steps you’ve tried! You won’t have to pay for the call because you give your phone number and a member of the support team phone you straight back. Be prepared to be asked to retry all the steps you’ve already tried. I was so relieved to be able to go through what I’d already tried with someone in real time! Once we’d tried everything, I was given a return authorisation number to take to the shop where I’d purchased my Fitbit-this allowed me to very easily get a replacement.

Hope this helps x

[burnowt]

Thanks for the tip on calling in. It wasn't as much of an ordeal as I thought. (Of course you'll be asked to do reboots and re-attempts syncs and such.) But the overall call, which didn't require more than a half minute's hold time, took barely 5 minutes. I was shipped a replacement that arrived in under a week. So it's great customer service.

But this means that both Fitbit devices I've purchased, a Charge 2 and Charge 3, suffered from some kind of hardware issue within a half a year. My Charge 2 was broken out of the box in that it never tracked stairs. Got it replaced in-store, worked until it was stolen a year and a half later. I bought a Charge 3 that worked for about half a year and broke days after taking it into shallow water multiple times on a trip.

I can't say for sure if this will be my last Fitbit device, but it certainly does make me more receptive to alternatives.

[Papp]

I just got a Fitbit charge 3 it doesn’t sync I restarted my iPhone 3 times logged in and out of my account 3 times deleted the app twice turned Bluetooth off and on five times it doesn’t even show it trying to pick up my Fitbit but it seems like it’s trying to sync an Apple Watch 

[Kaisercat]

Did you go through the PAIRING your device with your iPhone?  If you already have, delete your device from BLUETOOTH and PAIR your iPhone with your fitbit again.  

[CraigHansen]

The fact that we have to keep doing this is totally bogus. My phone connects up with my car with bluetooth all the time, trouble-free, and about every other day, I have to keep nursing the connection with the fitbit. The troubleshooting path involves turning bluetooth on and off, trying sync multiple times, restarting the phone, trying sync multiple times, removing the pairing and repairing, syncing multiple times again, over and over again. This effing thing is supposed to be working for me, not me working for fitbit. Ever since the last software update, the charge 3 has been unreliable in syncing up. In my mind, this fitbit has one job to do, and it's failing at it. What do other people think - am I asking to effing much to have a reliable device? I've been a fitbit user for multiple years, this is about my fourth fitbit device, and I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that fitbit hasn't gotten syncing down pat by now.

[Catcrazy]

I totally agree. I think the tech experts should be focusing on sorting out this issue and not carry on selling defective devices to people...ok, the Fitbit may work ok initially, until you try to update it, (which is meant to improve the working of the device) but devices are still being sold to people that don’t know about this syncing issue. If I’d been aware of this problem with the Charge 3 I would of got something different and more reliable.

[Tamlee]

I have tried all the usual methods to re-set.....did it a couple of weeks ago and it synced, but noting since then. Now the time is 5 minutes slow as well. Any way to re-set the time since it won't sync so that I can at least use the watch part? Hate that all my data is being lost, would like to at least use it as a watch since it was so expensive. It says there is an update, but can't update since it can't sync and can't even find the device. I do not have a smartphone and have been syncing with Windows 10 up until a couple of weeks ago. I'd had problems a few times before but re-setting had fixed it.

[Tamlee]

I reset something within the computer and was finally able to sync. While I
lost most of the info, the time is at least now correct. I still cannot get
the fitbit update, though.

--
Tammy

[thuf1960]

I have tried everything that has been suggested to get my fitbit to update and to sync.   It worked fine until it totally died as I was out of town and didn't bring my charge 3 cable with.   It won't sync to phone or laptop.   I don't have another phone to try it on.  turned blue tooth off and on multiple times.   turned phone off and on.  multiple times.   very frustrated.

[GraceGFitbit]

Many thanks for stopping by guys and for troubleshooting this issue with us! I'm sorry for the delayed response. 

If you still having issues to sync with you iOS device. I would like to suggest you to check the following requirements :

• Make sure the latest version of the Fitbit app is installed on your phone.

1. Open the App Store app.
2. Tap the Updates tab. If the Fitbit app has an update, you’ll see it in the Available Updates list.
3. Tap Update.

If your apps update automatically, check the Recently updated or Up to date list to see if the Fitbit app was updated.

• The software on your iOS device is up to date.
• Make sure there are no other Bluetooth devices around as they might interfere with the syncing process. ( I understand some of you already did it )
• The Fitbit app is allowed to run in the background on your phone.

If your Fitbit Charge 3 still won't sync or update, try to log in to your Fitbit account from a different compatible phone, tablet, or computer and try to do the update or sync.

We really appreciate your feedback. Our team is always looking to improve the Fitbit experience and is always working.

Hope that helps, let me know how it goes. Have a nice weekend! 😸

[Tamlee]

As previously stated, I don't have a phone that can sync so I use my
laptop. And I can't update the fitbit because the computer "can't find it."



--
Tammy

[burnowt]

And just a general word of advice:

Chances are you've already tried re-syncing, resetting your Fitbit, restarting your phone, even clearing data, etc. If you have, STOP. The only thing you'll get from this forum is just advice to do more of the same. And you'll be asked to do the same thing all over again when you finally call the support line, where stuff can really get done like replacements.

So just STOP and CALL the support line: 877-623-4997

They'll probably do the restart/reset stuff with you again, probably because they have to verify it for themselves before they can talk about shipping you a replacement. And understand it's just a replacement for the watch itself, not necessarily a full new package with a new band, charger, etc.

[Kaisercat]

I think you are right BURNOUT.  Nice of you to give the phone #.