A rising variety of Fitbit Cost 5 house owners are complaining {that a} current software program replace has bricked their health tracker – however Fitbit has now denied that the difficulty is firmware-related.

A pinned publish on the prime of the official Cost 5 discussion board for the machine’s most up-to-date firmware (model 194.91) now has over 400 feedback, with many homeowners complaining that their up to date tracker now loses cost in a single day or is even “fully unresponsive”.

We have requested Google, which has owned Fitbit since 2019, for an up-to-date response on the problems and what may be inflicting them. Thus far, Google has solely issued a press release to the BBC denying that the Cost 5’s firmware replace is inflicting the issues.

In that assertion, a Google spokesperson mentioned: “We’re nonetheless investigating this concern, however can verify it’s not as a result of current firmware replace.” The tech big added that “customers ought to proceed to replace their units to the newest firmware and make contact with Fitbit Customer support at assist.fitbit.com in the event that they encounter any points.”

However that is unlikely to quash the rising frustration on Fitbit boards, the place some customers are understandably regretting updating their Cost 5 and have even (within the case of discussion board consumer ‘Gevans1388’) been supplied a 35% low cost off a brand new Fitbit after they reported the problems.

Some customers have urged restarting the Fitbit or doing a manufacturing unit reset, which includes going to Settings > Machine Information > Clear Consumer Information, then urgent the ‘Maintain three Sec’ button for 3 seconds and releasing. However this is not one thing Google or Fitbit has advisable and it is not an possibility in case your machine is unresponsive. 

We’ll replace this text as quickly as we hear again from Fitbit.

One other Fitbit furore

These Cost 5 points are the newest in a protracted line of controversies and calamities which have taken place since Google acquired Fitbit in 2019. Most just lately, Fitbit has needed to lengthen a fig leaf to livid followers within the type of a number of highly-requested app fixes.

This adopted some widely-reported points in 2022 concerning the Cost disconnecting from Bluetooth, which wrecked many customers’ sleep-tracking graphs. Additionally, in October 2022, Fitbit ended the power to obtain music recordsdata onto smartwatches just like the Versa three and authentic Fitbit Sense. This led us to conclude that Google’s sluggish destruction of Fitbit was the whole lot that is unsuitable with fashionable tech.

It ought to be acknowledged that not all Cost 5 house owners are having points following the 194.91 software program replace. For instance, discussion board consumer ‘bbunge’ mentioned they up to date “with no hitch” and that battery life was really “higher by a few days” with the brand new firmware. Google’s present stance can be that the firmware is not inflicting any of the reported points.

But the overwhelming consensus from the a whole bunch of Fitbit discussion board feedback is that numerous points, from battery drain to a totally unresponsive machine, have arisen following that the majority current firmware replace. And whereas final yr’s app redesign was extra of an inconvenience, these seemingly software-driven issues are understandably inflicting extra anger. 

We’ll be following up once more with Google and Fitbit quickly and can replace this text as quickly as we hear any additional recommendation about what you must do if you happen to’ve been hit by any of those Cost 5 points.

You may also like

• The perfect health trackers 2024: Get lively with these ace wellness units
• Fitbit simply gave its pissed off followers three highly-requested app fixes
• Fitbit Cost 6 evaluation: A enjoyable however flawed fashionable health tracker