Tips to improve battery life when syncing with iOS devices

[Guy_]

For iPhone users with watches experiencing sudden high or excessive battery drain, or short battery life or battery not lasting a day, it may be due to the Fitbit App not the watch.

To check if this is the problem, try turning off Bluetooth on the phone, go to settings on the watch and do a Shutdown and fully charge the watch. Obviously you won't get any notifications or calls in this situation but at least it may help isolate the cause.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Guy_ · Accepted solution]

There may be an alternative workaround.

• Remove your device from Bluetooth on the phone [unpair , forget]
• Toggle Bluetooth Off and On
• Logout of the Fitbit App
• Login to the Fitbit App again
• Go to the home screen on your phone and you should get a notification on the phone for about sync

• By clicking this notification, it should repair and relink the device, if not, use your usual syncing method.

Then go to settings on the watch and do a Shutdown and fully charge the watch, the battery may now last normally.

[Katbeer]

Unfortunately this hasn’t worked for me. Midnight fully charged. 32% at 6am whilst on sleep mode.

[Guy_]

Try repeating the process and reinstalling the Fitbit App and of course restart the phone.

Note, you will need to resetup your notifications Settings.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Guy_. It's good to see you around. @Katbeer Welcome to the Community Forums.

@Guy_ Thanks for sharing the steps that worked for you, and for the screenshots provided. Your posts are very helpful and I'm sure other members experiencing similar issues will think the same. Just take in mind that it's not recommended to uninstall and reinstall the Fitbit app on iOS devices, unless it's instructed by a moderator or our Support team. This is to prevent any inconvenience with the data that has synced into your account.

@Katbeer Thanks for the steps tried so far. Let me explain that Fitbit is aware of the battery short life issues experienced when syncing with an iOS device. They're currently working on this matter and I'd recommend keeping an eye to this thread for more updates about this matter.

Have a good one.

[PeteHild]

Iphone 8plus: Settings to Battery to Activity by App indicates that the Fitbit app is the #1 battery drain (background activity greater than on-screen). Unpairing and repairing the Alta HR bluetooth does not solve the problem. Within settings on the phone, go to Fitbit and turn bluetooth off - problem solved. Subsequently when syncing the fitbit app on the phone a "fix-it" pop-up screen will appear which will re-establish the apps access to Bluetooth. When done with the app, return to the setting screen & turn Fitbit's bluetooth off.

This is the only manual work-around that has worked for me; pending a software solution from Fitbit. 

Good Luck!

[Jeronetan]

Hi - so any update on this thread? it has been 5 months since you last dropped this message.

My charge 5 lasts 1 day in terms of battery life. stopped using it altogether. If there is no solution, i would be seeking a refund and this will probably be the first and last time i buy a fitbit product again. 

Thank you.

Jerone

[tmcoffee]

It's February 2022 and this is still a problem. Seems like the iOS Fitbit app continues to be a major battery drain on multiple versions of their app and iOS itself.

My particular version of hell has the phone humming along with normal battery drain for a few hours, then BOOM! Drops to 1% within a matter of minutes. And before you start in on, "is it an older phone, battery, yada yada ...", the battery is still at 85% performance capacity within iOS battery health.

Fix your app, Fitbit.

[Johnerz]

LizzyFitbit,

Whilst this issue is still on and your post on the thread you linked to is 8 months old and there is newer app and IOS updates, it would be appreciated if there was an update from FitBit on this matter.

Replys of that age don’t fill users with any confidence.

Thanks

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone, and welcome to our new members.

Thanks for your continued reports about this situation, and every step tried on your own. Before anything else, let me clarify that this issue was resolved with the Fitbit iOS App 3.43 version released a few months ago. This update was announced in the thread mentioned to you above. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused, and your feedback is truly appreciated. Please know we'll keep working to improve our devices, as well as your experience with them.

I going to close this thread from further comments. However, if the battery of your Fitbit device is still draining or if you have a different question, I'd encourage you to start a new topic in the Help Forums or find a related topic so you can receive help from the Community. You can always check our Help Site where you'll find more information about our products, features, as well as troubleshooting steps. 

Have a good day.