Fitbit Inspire 2 not tracking sleep, how to resolve the issue

Your Fitbit Inspire 2 not tracking sleep? Read on for a list of things you can do to try and resolve the issue.

The activity band is a great choice if you’re after a low cost, discreet wearable. It will have you covered 24/7 when it comes to fitness and health monitoring. Inspire 2 lacks the bells and whistles of other Fitbit devices, but it does the basics pretty well.

The device was launched in August 2020 along with its more capable and more expensive siblings, Versa 3 and Sense. Despite the number, Inspire 2 is actually a third-generation device. The second iteration was dubbed Inspire HR. Hence, the strange naming convention.

In terms of looks, the $99 Inspire 2 does not differ very much from its predecessors. It adopts slight tweaks along with a “button-less” design. A major improvement is battery life. This has been doubled to 10 days. Other features worth mentioning include Active Zone Minutes, Cardio Fitness Level, Heart Rate Zones, Menstrual Health Tracking, Guided Breathing Sessions and more.

Fitbit Inspire 2 sleep tracking

Another of its functions is sleep tracking. The company’s sleep stats are pretty comprehensive – particularly for Fitbit devices that come with a built-in heart rate monitor.

Inspire 2 records sleep data automatically. There are no buttons for you to press or anything to do. All you need to remember is to wear the device when you go to bed. Fitbit uses accelerometer data to track your movements and the optical heart rate sensor to figure out when you are asleep.

Essential reading: Sleep tracking for those with a Fitbit

If all works well, you should see your overnight stats in the Fitbit smartphone app after a morning sync. It will appear in the dashboard. Click on the tile and that will take you throught to detailed information. This includes a plethora of data including time asleep, awake time, movement during sleep, sleep stages (Light, Deep and REM), sleep goals and sleep insights.

There’s also a Sleep Score which lets you know at a glance how rested you are. All in all, lot’s of data to sink your teeth into!

But sometimes you will open the app and find to your dismay there is no sleep data. Something has gone wrong. Needless to say, that can be very frustating. Time for some troubleshooting.

Fitbit Inspire 2 not tracking sleep – how do I resolve?

There’s a long thread on the Fitbit forums precisely on this topic. Frustrated users are complaining they wake up in the morning and the Inspire 2 on their wrist has not tracked sleep. If nothing, perhaps you might find some comfort in the fact that you are not alone with the problem.

Some users were confused. Did they need to initiate sleep tracking – press a button for it to begin. The answer is – no. Inspire 2 should monitor your sleep session automatically. The Fitbit on your wrist should be able to figure it out without you doing anything. You can, of course, choose the “I am sleeping” option in the smartphone app. But that kind of defeats the purpose. Everything should be automatic.

But obviously there is some sort of glitch in the system. Perhaps the way the tracker was designed (small form factor) makes it buggy for sleep tracking. Nevertheless, there are a few things you can do to try and resolve the issue.

Turn on “On Wrist” mode

The first thing you should check is that the “On Wrist” mode is switched on. Inspire 2 can be worn on the wrist or as a clip. If the “On Clip” mode is active, the tracker does not monitor heart rate and some other features. This includes sleep tracking.

To find this open main clock face and scroll up to Settings. Choose that and scroll up or down to find the clip option.

Make sure there’s enough juice in the battery

Inspire 2 has excellent 10 day battery life. Which might give you a false sense of security. If the battery is critically low the wearable will turn off the sleep function automatically. So make sure you are topped up.

Restart your Inspire 2

The go-to solution for any issue with a Fitbit is to restart it. This often irons out any problem you might be experiencing. This is also the solution if you’re getting sleep data in the smartphone app but not on the Fitbit. We’ve written a detailed article on how to restart your device.

Are you wearing it correctly?

Make sure the Inspire 2 is snug against your wrist – but not too tight. For ideal results, Fitbit suggests you wear it a bit higher than you would during the day. In fact they suggest you wear it 2-3 finger widths above your wrist bone.

Change sleep setting

There is a “sensitive” setting which causes your tracker to record nearly all movements as time spent restless or awake. The “normal” setting counts significant movements as being awake (such as rolling over). Try one option – if it doesn’t resolve the issue try the other.

If nothing has worked your device might be faulty. Best to contact Fitbit Support directly in this case – your Inspire 2 might still be under warranty.

For completeness sake we though it might be useful to include a link to the Inspire 2 manual. This explains further what the sleep function is all about.

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