Find My Phone feature for Fitbit Charge 5 starts rolling out
Who says that Fitbit doesn’t listen to its customers? A new firmware update is slowly making its rounds which adds Find my Phone to the list of Charge 5 abilities.
The feature has been on the Fitbit Community “Feature Suggestions” section for a while now. As of around 10 days ago its status was changed to “Under Consideration”. This means the suggestion has been picked up internally by the Fitbit development team and they are working on implementing it.
Software update 57.200001.171.50 for Charge 5
But users on Reddit are reporting now that update 57.200001.171.50 adds Find my Phone to Charge 5 and that the feature works. It seems this is a very gradual rollout as only a fraction of Charge 5 owners are reporting the update is available. The company sometimes does that to test out new functionality before a wide dissemination. But this seems to be a very slow rollout. Interestingly, the Charge 5 firmware change-log on Fitbit’s website still does not mention the new software version.
To test out what version your Charge is running go to: Settings > Device Info > System Info > Version on your device.
The first reports of this latest software update started trickling in about a week ago. You should see a notification in your Fitbit smartphone app when it becomes available for installation in your region. When you do, simply agree to install and follow the instructions.
Some other Fitbits have had Find my Phone for a while now
This is not the first Fitbit to get the Find my Phone feature. Other devices such as the Versa range, Sense and the recently recalled Ionic have had it for a while.
If you tend to misplace your phone often by letting it fall behind a sofa cushion or bed, you will find the feature to be useful. It could save you hours of hunting around for it.
Find my Phone works only with paired smartphones. The other criteria in order for this to work is that your phone is switched on, its Bluetooth connection enabled and that the phone not more than 10 meters away from your Fitbit.
If all the criteria are met, simply open the Find Phone app on your wearable, tap Find Phone and let it do its thing. Your smartphone will ring loudly if and when it is found.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
It has been a few months since Charge 5 has last received a software update. We have to go back to April 2022. That one was potentially life-saving. It added the ability to assess a users heart for atrial fibrillation (AFib), with the Fitbit ECG app. Fitbit had received the nod of approval from the FDA for the feature shortly before going live. It allows the device on your wrist to be able to passively monitor your heart rhythms.
The company is also reportedly working on new watch faces for Charge 5. Presumably these will land later this year.
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