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

[ajadan51]

The Fitbit should work better than this.  We shouldn’t have to do all these steps to make it work reliably.  My new Charge 3 works for a bit and then stops syncing messages, and several other features.  Poor product.  Very disappointed.  

[Kaisercat]

Fitbit charge 3 is great!

Sent from my iPad

[ajadan51]

Glad you think so.

Sent from my iPad

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @ajadan51, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. It's nice to see you too @Kaisercat, I hope you're doing well. 

@ajadan51, I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for sharing your experience with us. If you have already tried the troubleshooting steps mentioned earlier and you're still having trouble with your Charge 3, please reply to us with the following information:

• Phone model you're currently using.
• OS version running on your phone. 
• Charge 3 version (go to Account > Charge 3 to get it)
• App version installed on your phone (go to Account > Help to get it)
• Exact list of troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. 

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

[SXDinAustin]

Another one with an iOS/Charge 3 sync issue.

I changed time zones but the Charge 3 won't update the time displayed to match the time on iPhone.

App on iPhone reports that it has synced but displays incorrect steps and battery status for Charge 3

Have restarted Charge 3, did not resolve

Have restarted iPhone, did not resolve

Did the "Forget this Device" on the iPhone

Bluetooth now can't find the Charge 3 and I'm dead in the water.  Assume the Charge 3 is defective.

UPDATE:

After another iPhone restart I did get the "Add a new device" function in the Fitbit app to locate my device, add it, and sync with it.  All displayed info on phone and Charge 3 appears to be correct. 

Very dissatisfied with this experience.  Hard to believe that Fitbit is having problems with a mature feature that is core to the basic functionality of their product.

[ajadan51]

I tried that. Rebooted my iPhone8, deleted the charge 3 from the Fitbit app and added it back in.

Weather came back but with a 41 minute old update. Notifications (messages) still won’t come in. When I click Notifications on the Fitbit App, all it does is spin the little black icon in circles and won’t stop.

With each day that goes by, I like Fitbit less and less. My wife’s Alta HR works much more reliably than this new and improved Charge 3.

It says “Bluetooth Pairing Failed Call Notifications and All Day Sync are disabled for now”



Sent from my iPad

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @SXDinAustin, I hope you're doing well, thanks for joining the conversation. It's great to see you too @ajadan51. 

@SXDinAustin, I appreciate you have shared your experience with us and for updating your post and let us know you were able to pair your Charge 3 as a new device and the information is showing correctly. 

@ajadan51, at this moment, I would like to gather some information from you so we can determine what we should do next. Please reply with as much information as you can:

• OS version running on your phone
• App version installed in your phone ( go to Account > Help to get it)
• List of troubleshooting steps you've tried so far

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

[SXDinAustin]

My perception is that syncing has been noticeably less reliable lately.  Although the timing of this change in reliability seems to coincide with activating my Charge 3, I'm not sure that the Charge 3 is the issue - it may be the app which was updated around the same time that I went live on the Charge 3.  In addition to periodic times where the app says that a sync occurred (but it clearly did not), I'm seeing sync errors where the app tells me to try again later because there's no connection to the Internet - even though the phone is clearly connected to WiFi and the internet - verified with other apps/Web pages all functioning normally.  A reboot of the phone is required to get the app to recognize the connection.  This is on a 2 year old iPhone SE with the latest iOS installed.

Everything seems to be working normally so far today, but I'm changing time zones later and will be looking to see if that type of activity is part of the issue.  Will post an update if so.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @SXDinAustin, I appreciate you have come back and have updated us about this situation. I'm glad to know everything seems to be working correctly now. Please keep us updated in case anything changes so we can check this further. 

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

[SXDinAustin]

Quick update:  No issues since we restarted everything.  I've been paying more attention to the sync process and there are some differences that I see in the app. First, the step count which used to update and display to match the device very early in the sync process now doesn't update in the app until the sync is complete.  Second the sync seems to take quite a bit longer, I'd say 2x or 3x on average.  Neither of these are really concerns or issues - just noting a difference.  

One other thing is that the app has had a bug since I've been using it (2013) where when i traveled and changed time zones it would double up the step count in situations when say I went from PST to CST and synced after midnight.  Haven't seen that issue recently - so maybe it's fixed.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @SXDinAustin, I appreciate you have kept us updated about this situation, I'm very glad you have come back and let us know about your findings. 

If there's anything else we can do for you, please feel free to reply, we'll be happy to assist you further. 

Happy stepping! 

[Blueviolin]

I have done everything advised and it still won't sync. This is the second time that this has happened. It fixed it the last time but I can't get it to work this time. Why should it be having this much trouble. As I see many people are having this problem I am wishing I had spent my money on another more reliable device.

[8113sally]

I agree that the synching problem is A BIG one and Fitbit owes us all an
immediate fix or replacement. With that being said, I've had better luck
with these strategies: don't wear it in shower or while hands will be
submerged; when it stops synching, I unpair it from my phone and then
restart my phone. I don't try to repair it. After a few minutes, it seems
to see my phone again and repairs itself and resumes synching. But I'll
admit, that I'm holding my breath each time

[Blueviolin]

Thanks for the tips. I too have done all these things and I never wear it
in the shower or even get it wet. I just don't trust it that much. And,
like you, after fiddling with it and turning my phone on and off and my
bluetooth and my internet it finally decides to sync. But like you I am
always holding my breath!

Moderator Edit: Removed Personal Information.

[JohnAnder]

My Charge 3 days it’s synced but won’t show any steps or exercises, just calories. We have tried everything we have found on this page and nothing has worked. Can we get a refund?

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Blueviolin and @JohnAnder, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community, it's nice to see you around. It's nice to see you too @8113sally, I hope you're doing well. 

@Blueviolin and @8113sally, I appreciate you have shared your experience with us and for letting us know the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. At this moment, if you haven't done it yet, please update the Fitbit app and then enable "All-day Sync" in the Fitbit app by going to Account > Charge 3, this will make your phone establish a Bluetooth connection between the tracker and your phone so it's easier for the tracker to sync. Don't worry, it has been tested and confirmed that All-day Sync won't drain the battery on your phone or tracker faster than usual. 

@JohnAnder, I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for reporting this to us. Would you please let us know exactly which troubleshooting steps have you tried so far? Additionally, please go to your online Dashboard after syncing your Charge 3 and check if the information is showing up here. It's possible the app is taking longer than expected to update the information synced with our servers. If the information is showing in the online Dashboard, please try the following in the app:

• Force quit the app, then open it again.
• Log out from the app, restart your phone and log back in. 

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

[8113sally]

Long ago I tried to quit the FB app, install, reinstall, and restart, etc
but the app won't let you force stop! It's impossible to stop or uninstall
it so that a new version can be installed. It's a circle of frustration!

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @8113sally, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I understand you're unable to force-quit or uninstall the app, is that correct? Are you getting any error messages when trying to perform one or both actions? If so, please let us know so we can check this further. A screenshot will be helpful as well. 

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

[BV510]

I am also having this issue. This is the third time this has happened. The first and second times it happened I was able to resync by resetting the charge 3. This time I have tried the following without success: 1. Closing and reopening the fitbit app. 2. Turning bluetooth off and on again. 3. Resetting my phone. 4. Resetting the charge 3. 5. Reinstalling the fitbit app. 6. Using 'forget this device' from the bluetooth menu in my phone and adding a device in the fitbit app. I have version 28.20001.49.45 on my charge 3 and my iPhone 6S has 12.1 - I don't wish to update to 12.1.2 as there have been reports of the newest version of iOS bricking phones.

[SunniVali]

I got it for Christmas, it was on my wish list. At first I was so stoked at the upgrades compared with my old Alta. But my Alta never had this issue. It worked all Christmas Day, they yesterday it refused to sync. Got it working after a software update to my phone but this morning it stopped again. I lost ALL my progress from yesterday and my sleep data.

This is crap, guys. People, from what I’ve seen, are having this issue all over which means it’s not our phones. It’s the device of app! Fix it and push out an update! Get this together or lose a bunch of customers.