Fitbit Sense and its newer version, Fitbit Sense 2, are considered the best health-focused smartwatches for anyone looking to monitor their health and wellness daily. The watches connect to your smartphone, Android or iOS, and have an intuitive companion app for viewing reports and analytics. If your Fitbit Sense smartwatch suddenly won’t power on again, here are some of the most common causes and how to fix them.
The 10 Ways to Turn On Fitbit Sense When it Won’t Come Up Normally
Some users have reported that their Fitbit Sense smartwatch often freezes and won’t power on. If you ever experience this, here are the steps you can take to fix your Fitbit Sense startup challenges.
1. Allow the Watch to Cool Down
Overheating may be the reason why your Sense smartwatch isn’t turning on. Maybe you should let it sit and cool off for a while, especially if you just wore it hiking, jogging, or walking in hot temperatures.
Don’t charge it while it’s overheating; just let it sit idle and cool off. Once it’s cooled off, try powering it again. If it doesn’t power on, then go on to try these other tips below.
2. Force Restart the Device
A force restart often resolves smart devices’ power issues; for the Fitbit Sense smartwatch series, the procedure to force restart slightly varies.
Steps:
- Press and hold the side button for about 10 seconds until the screen turns off.
- Continue pressing the button until you feel a vibration, then release the button, and press it again (in split seconds), until the Fitbit logo comes on.
For the Fitbit Charge 5 or Luxe versions, tap the battery’s key 3 times, stopping for one second for each. Then, wait for it to reboot. Repeat this reboot a couple of times more if the watch doesn’t boot. If after 5 trials the watch still won’t reboot, move on with the other fixes below.
3. Clean the Charging Port and Check the Cables
If the charging port pins sometimes get clogged with fine particles and dirt, which may prevent the watch from charging, and as such, when you plug the watch in to charge it and troubleshoot, it won’t come on.
First, check the charging cable for:
- Bent connectors
- Dirt on charging pins
Then, check the charging port on the watch for dust or sweat. To clean the port or the cable surface, use a dry microfiber cloth; gently wipe the charging pins. You may want to dampen the cleaning cloth lightly.
4. Try a Different Power Source
Yeah, this is especially true if you have always been charging the watch using your laptop. Charge the smartphone by attaching the original charging cable to an original charger (adapter) and plug to a wall socket.
Or, you might as well use a reliable power bank. Sometimes, switching the power source fixes everything, as simple as it sounds.
5. Charge for 30 Minutes
Connect the watch to its charger, let it sit there for 20 – 30 minutes, and see if it charges. Apparently, your Sense smartwatch won’t turn on if the battery is drained. So, if you’re unsure of the battery charge state, just let it stay connected to its charge for up to 30 minutes.
If the battery is fully drained, the screen may take a few minutes before showing the charging icon. But, if after 30 minutes, it didn’t show any sign of charging, and didn’t reboot on its own, then there might be a problem with the watch, or you could try using another compatible charger. Don’t charge with your laptop; use a good adapter plugged into a wall socket or extension.
6. Drain the Battery
If your Fitbit smartwatch screen is frozen and won’t reboot, either, allow it to run down; don’t charge it anymore. Let the battery fully drain to 0% so that it shuts down by itself, then reboot it normally and see if it turns on. This works sometimes.
7. Perform a Hard (Factory) Reset
A hard reset will forcefully fix deeper glitches or firmware errors, while wiping out all custom data you have saved or configured on the watch. To perform a hard reset on a Fitbit Sense watch, follow the steps below:
- Make sure the watch is not plugged into power.
- Press and hold down the side button until the screen turns off and you feel a short vibration.
- After you felt the the vibration, release the button, then immediately press and hold it again.
- Wait until the watch vibrates again and the Fitbit logo appears and disappears.
- Once the logo disappears, release the button and wait for about 5 seconds, then press and hold it down one more time until you feel another vibration, then release.
- At this point, your Fitbit Sense will factory reset and reboot.
8. Update the Watch via the Fitbit App
Since the watch won’t boot, you can’t update it from the device. Try using the mobile app. Most of the time, the issues people face with smart wearables can be linked to outdated firmware.
Open the Fitbit App and check for updates for your watch model, and select to carry out a firmware upgrade on the device. A prompt should appear on the smartwatch when you initiate the firmware upgrade from the app. However, if this prompt doesn’t come up, skip to the next troubleshooting.
9. Check Your Customizations
From the mobile App or your PC (if the watch is connected to your PC), try changing the clock interface to forcefully refresh the interface; this may cause the screen to come on (if the device has been on all the while but showing a blank screen).
If you had made any third-party customizations via the app, try to undo them one after the other to see which one affected the watch’s performance.
10. Contact Fitbit Support
When all of these suggestions fail, your only bet is to contact the Fitbit support. You might be facing a hardware problem, such as battery damage, power circuit damage, or internal component issues, and only the company can fix that.
Summary
When you use a smart wearable, it is always advisable to keep the device’s firmware updated to the newest version, always, and also make sure you’re running the latest version of the mobile app on your companion smartphone, the device is paired to.
Smart wearables, irrespective of watch, bracelet, ring, or glasses needs the companion app to work effectively. So, the app is always a good place to check for earlier or ignored notifications when trying to resolve your Fitbit Sense startup challenges.
