People who love their Fitbits really love their Fitbits. But sometimes, as with just about any electronic device, things go awry. Or maybe you just got a new phone, and you want to restart the process of getting your Fitbit connected.
Either way, every once in a while you might need to reset or restart your Fitbit. Don’t worry, we have you covered.
Fitbits are typically reset manually on the device. The process of restarting trackers differs depending on which Fitbit you own. (Be sure to check out Fitbit’s website for a continually updated list of devices and methods of resetting and restarting.)
Now, not every model of Fitbit can get a full factory reset. But if your device can, here’s how you’ll do it:
1. Swipe to the settings tab on your device.
2. Navigate to the “About” page.
3. Select “Factory Reset” or “Clear User Data,” then confirm the choice.
If you don’t see the option to factory reset on that page, chances are you won’t be able to do it. Note: There are some Fitbit products, such as the Aria scale or Flyer headphones devices, for which you have to hit a certain sequence of buttons to reset. You can find those sequences written out on Fitbit’s site. Some older versions of the Charge tracker can be manually reset with a certain sequence of buttons as well. But, for the most part, if you don’t see a reset/clear data option in the settings of your device, you cannot do a factory reset.
Another important note: Resetting a Fitbit is like erasing it. That means you will totally wipe your device clean and lose data. In most cases, if your Fitbit is acting wonky, what you’re really looking for is a restart.
No, a restart will not totally reset the tracker, but it will give you a fresh start if the device is glitching out in some way, like freezing, not responding to taps, or not counting steps. A factory reset is the step you might take if you’re gifting your old tracker to someone, while a restart is like unplugging the TV from the wall when it’s acting odd.
If you want extremely in-depth steps on restarting your specific model, Fitbit has a detailed index here, but the basic procedure is roughly the same across most of the trackers.
Typically speaking, you’ll want to plug your tracker into its charger, then hold down its main button for anywhere from 4 to 10 seconds. Now, if you have a smartwatch model, you can navigate to the “About” page and restart from there if you like, so long as your device is responsive. For the Ace and Alta series trackers, you’ll actually want to hold the button on the charging cable and not a button on the device itself.
When a smile icon appears on the device and the tracker vibrates, the tracker has successfully restarted. If this doesn’t work, try again after your device charges for a bit. If all else fails, you can reach out to Fitbit for help here.
Some older Fitbit products that are no longer for sale may have a different process for restarting/resetting, but you can search the company’s index to locate the instructions if you have an outdated model.
Go forth, restart, and get those steps in.