No message notifications on a new Fitbit charge 3

[Nancy624]

My Fitbit charge 3 came directly from Fitbit in October! Call notification happens when call is connected on outgoing calls (not incoming ) and text message notifications have NEVER worked. Support proves to be no help other than to blame it on iPhone updates. Now it’s not tracking my sleep nightly. What a piece of garbage! Anyone else having issues ?

[SunsetRunner]

Hello and welcome to the Fitbit Community @Nancy624 

I’m truly sorry you’re not receiving notifications. I do know this has to be very frustrating. Currently notifications are an issue that the Fitbit Team is aware of and are working on a fix. Please view this thread here: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/iOS-App/Stopped-seeing-notifications-after-updating-to-iOS-13/m-p/39...Pay special attention to page one of that thread and perform all the steps carefully. If any new updates or information become available it will be posted there. 

As far as your Charge 3 not correctly tracking your sleep. I understand that not getting your sleep stages can be frustrating. There are a few scenarios where you might see your sleep pattern (which shows your time asleep, restless, and awake) instead of sleep stages:

• If you slept in a position that prevented your device from getting a consistent heart-rate reading or wore it too loosely. For best results, wear your device higher on your wrist (about 2-3 finger widths above your wrist bone). The band should feel secure but not too tight.
• If you used the “Begin Sleep Now” option in the Fitbit app (instead of simply wearing your device to bed). For more information on automatic sleep tracking, see How do I track my sleep?
• If you slept for less than 3 hours.
• If your device’s battery is critically low.

This help article is great in helping you understand sleep stages better:https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2163/?q=Sleep&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

If your still experiencing issues with tracking sleep I would suggest restarting your Charge 3. Here’s how: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1186

Again I understand not getting your notifications is upsetting but I hope these suggestions can help you get back to tracking your sleep. Keep me posted on your sleep tracking 😃

[thenameless1]

@Nancy624  The notifications seem to be an issue that fitbit has struggled with for quite some time.

I've attached a couple of links.  One brings you to the apple site  where they mention the new notifications from ios12 forward.

The second is to a fitbit thread regarding issues with notifications in ios12. Please don't be fooled,  it says answered, but the issue was just rolled over into ios13.  iOS 13 was released back in September and fitbit hasn't seemed to make any progress on solving the issue.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201925

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/iOS-App/No-notifications-after-iOS-12-update/td-p/3012105

[Rich_Laue]

@Nancy624. and @thenameless1 yes Fitbit, along with Garmin and other 3rd party apps have been struggling. Apple made some changes with notification without giving 3rd parties a heads up. 

The first thing I would check is to make sure that your preview, I've been told its in the notification center, is on. Also make sure that you can read your notifications while the phones screen is locked. 

[Nancy624]

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately your suggestion didn’t work. It’s odd to me that my husband has the same tracker and he’s having NO issues with his. Mine is less than 3 months old and hasn’t worked properly from day one. It’s a shame that I spent all that money on a product that can’t deliver and the company isn’t willing to do anything for me. 

[Nancy624]

Oh I’m well aware of all these options as I’ve been on the phone with Fitbit support numerous times. 
it’s interesting to me that my husband has the same Fitbit (only he’s had it for longer) and his works and receives notices just fine! And mine, less than 2 months old and hasn’t worked since day one! 

[thenameless1]

@Rich_Laue Part of the issue is that Apple did give all of the app developers a heads up in the form of the ios13 beta that was released prior to ios13.  Now garmin has offered a little more "transparency" into their ios13 issues. It also makes  me wonder if fitbit could fix the notification issue by employing an ios widget.  The android version has a widget  so why not a fitbit ios widget  to handle the notifications?

Unless @Nancy624 is using an iphone and her husband has an android  i think it might be a quality control issue though. Her and her husband have the same fitbit except 1 works and the other doesn't. Did fitbit change manufacturers/suppliers of some of the parts? Fitbit  should be able to compare manufacture dates of the trackers.

The other thing is that everything is mass produced these days (Not just fitbit).  While the notification issue is an issue it doesn't explain why 1 fitbit works and the other doesn't. It's possible that maybe you just got a bad one. I would take full advantage of that warranty and just keep exchanging until you get one that works.

[Rich_Laue]

What has perplexed Fitbit is that when people contact support, they get stepped through the process and their notification does work. This has been confirmed by the responses on the board. 

[Rich_Laue]

@Nancy624 First I only know iOS on what I read here, their have been many messages from people on how they got their rotification working

You say Fitbit can't deliver, have you contacted them? 

Does you husband have the same phone or at least the same OS? If so then compare settings. 

Sorry that the thread was hijacked 

[thenameless1]

@Rich_Laue The issue between customer support and the forums is that eventually customer support will tell you to delete the bluetooth pairing of your device and repair it. That step is typically missing from the steps here in the forum. In ios 13 apple made changes to bluetooth  splitting it between data transfer and audio. Now, initially many customers would have upgraded from ios12 to ios13 so it would make sense to delete the bluetooth pairing and start fresh. Now, since the iphone 11 has been out a little longer (ios13 by default) there really isn't going to be that need do delete the bluetooth. Which, is probably why fitbit still seems to be perplexed by the issue.

@Nancy624 I apologize if it seems like i hijacked your thread, but i like o get straight to the point.  I'll provide the steps as to how i arrived at my response to you.

1. You got your fitbit Charge 3 in October.

2. Your obviously on ios13 because you are having the notification issue

3. The bluetooth pairing issue identified doesn't apply to you because your charge 3 was paired to your phone after ios13 was released (Apple released on Septemeber 19th). **This could apply if you updated to ios13 after you got your charge 3!**

4. Your husband either has iphone and is on ios12 or he has an android.  The only way he would be receiving notifications on ios 13 would be if he had his messages set to "preview"

You can tell if the messages are set to "preview" because on the lock screen on the phone you will see the entire text message.  If it's not set to preview you just see the name of the person who texted you  and i believe it might say text message. It's similar to how a missed phone call is displayed.

5. The preview setting is on apple. The ios13 update focuses on user privacy and it makes sense  if you don't want to see the message on the phone why would you want to see it on device. Fitbit gets a pass on this one.

6. The ios widget was a suggestion as to how fitbit might be able to work around around the "preview" setting 

7. You have the same exact same tracker as your husband his works and your's doesn't

8. You are experiencing multiple issues with your device. Notifications and sleep

9. Regardless of the notification issue  you are having issues with sleep tracking and your husband isn't. This is taking the blame away from the mobile apps and ios and android and putting it on the tracker. Which, brings about concerns  over the tracker especially since you and your husband have the same one.

10. You ordered your charge directly from fitbit. They only offer a 45 day return window. You can't return it.

10. Google is buying fitbit.

Right now Fitbit offers a year warranty on their products. We don't know whats going to happen after this Google thing goes through. The best thing to do would be to have a working tracker before then! My logic is you paid a lot of money to have a working tracker and you should have a working tacker!

Sorry, if i went straight to the point in the previous post

[Rich_Laue]

Yes @thenameless1 removing a tracker from the Bluetooth menu often helps with a sync issue. 

After a user removes the tracker from Bluetooth they will then open the Fitbit app and force a sync. Their is no repair needed or even possible. The Fitbit app will do the actual pairing. 

No support does not ask a user to repair after the tracker has been un-paired through Bluetooth. When a user tries to pair through Bluetooth they should be greeted by a message stating "Pair rejected by name of tracker. 

If a user does manage to pair through the Bluetooth, this will prevent the Fitbit app from finding the tracker since the tracker is already a trusted device. 

My question. What steps does a user do to "repair"

[thenameless1]

@Rich_Laue By "repair" i meant to re-pair the bluetooth connection. I didn't mean it in the sense that a user should take the fitbit apart and try and service themselves.  However, as a Blaze owner there are some youtube videos that show people replacing blaze batteries and the Blaze has the Bluetooth Classic option.

Focusing on the issue with the ios notifications though. And this would cover users who updated to ios 13. So, basically any fitbit user using an iphone that is not an iphone 11 and on ios13. This would also assume that they have messages set to preview.

1. They should go into the fitbit app

2.Select their profile pic from the upper left

3. Pick the tracker that they are having an issue with and select it

4.Scroll to the bottom of the tracker settings and select "Remove this tracker name"

5. Next they should go into the iphone settings (the gear icon)

6 Select the bluetooth option

7. Select the tracker they just deleted and select the blue "i" that's in a circle

8. Select Forget this device

9. Go back into the fitbit app

10. Set the tracker up as a new device.

I'm pretty sure Fitbit would start seeing more consistent results if they had a standardized process for troubleshooting. At least they would be better understanding of the issue so that they could hopefully fix it.

[Rich_Laue]

"repair" i meant to re-pair the bluetooth connection. 

yes I knew that is what you mean, but the user ie unable to directly do your definition of "repair". If for some reason they are able to do so, it will make it impossible for the Fitbit app to find the tracker. 

This "repair" needs to be done by the Fitbit app. 

Your instructions are for the last thing to try with a sync issue, not really for a notification issue. 

Besides the tracker does not need to be removed, the user may do an add device and use the replace option. 

[thenameless1]

@Rich_Laue sometimes a fix can work for more than one thing, just because i outlined the steps for a sync issue doesn't mean it wont work here. I guess an example would be fitbit's default answer of keeping your device and app up to date. How many issues has fitbit provided that as an answer to?

To run with your example of a sync issue though what if the reason notifications aren't working has something to do with the sync issue.  https://community.fitbit.com/t5/iOS-App/Stopped-seeing-notifications-after-updating-to-iOS-13/td-p/3...  Step 5 in the instructions is telling people to check the settings in the fitbit app. Any changes made here won't be reflected on the fitbit device because of the sync issue.

Deleting the bluetooth connection and then recreating it is just eliminating eliminating one of the variables that exist and might explain why some users have their notifications fixed and others don't

[Nancy624]

Both my husband and I have iPhone 8’s. He does not have any of the issues with his Fitbit that I have. I appreciate everyone’s advice. I’ve tried it all and unfortunately I’ve had no luck. And Fitbit seems unwilling to replace under warranty. So now what?