Image source: Fitbit

Fitbit Charge 5 sync issue finally fixed

Fitbit has finally resolved the issue which has effected Fitbit Charge 5 owners across the globe. The sync services were down for several hours. After first denying, the company has acknowledged that there is a problem. Now it has fixed it.

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We suspected something was amiss when there was a huge spike in visits to the page on our website that explains what to do if your Fitbit is not syncing. There are a couple of fixes you can try such as restarting the device, updating the software, restarting the Bluetooth connection and more. However, the fault this time is entirely at Fitbit’s end.

And after spending the morning saying it was individual user issues that could be resolved via standard trouble shooting steps, Fitbit eventually admitted that it’s a widespread issue and not individual user error.

Fitbit server outage

They should have done this right at the outset. All the denials caused was confusion and people searching forums and social media to see whether others were having similar problems.

It seems, the company was having technical issues which manifested as sync problems for owners of Charge 5, and specifically those that are on App version 3.65. Other devices did not seem to be affected. Users reported they were unable to sync their Charge 5 with the smartphone app. According to downdetector.com, the problem appeared around 6 AM London time.

Fitbit Charge 5 outage
Source: Downdetector

What to do?

Whenever this sort of thing happens, it is important not to panic. Delete the app and you’re just creating extra work for yourself as you will need to reinstall everything once again. Just to go about using the device as usual, but leaving the sync until the servers are back up and running. Which now they are.

These sorts of problems make you wonder why Fitbit does not store a copy of all your data locally on your smartphone. Perhaps an effort to keep the size of the database on your local device as small as possible. But this seems to be the industry standard as most other companies do the same.

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Marko Maslakovic

Marko founded Gadgets & Wearables in 2014, having worked for more than 15 years in the City of London’s financial district. Since then, he has led the company’s charge to become a leading information source on health and fitness gadgets and wearables.

One thought on “Fitbit Charge 5 sync issue finally fixed

  • It’s March 11, 2021 and it seems that the Fitbit servers are having problems again haven’t been able to connect for over 24 hours

    Reply

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