How to turn off Fitbit Charge 1

This article is a part of our “How to” series. Are you wondering how to turn off or on your Fitbit Versa, Charge, Inspire or Sense? It actually quite easy.

Table of Contents Show

Why would you want to turn off your Fitbit?
How to turn off your Fitbit?
Ionic, Versa, Versa Lite Edition, and Versa 2
Sense and Versa 3
Older Fitbit smartwatches (Surge & Blaze)
Fitbit Charge 4/3/2, Inspire 2/HR, Alta range
How do I turn my Fitbit charge off?
How do I turn on my Fitbit Charge 1?
Why won't my Fitbit shut off?

Here we are not talking about doing a restart or a factory reset of your device. That is something quite different. It is often said, when you are experiencing problems with your Fitbit, the first thing you should do is restart it. It’s a great troubleshoot for fixing many internal issues. You can read more on how to do this here.

Why would you want to turn off your Fitbit?

The obvious question is – why would you want to switch your Fitbit off? After all, the goal is to keep it on all the time keeping on eye on your every move.

Knowing how to turn off your Fitbit can be useful. You might need to do it for several reasons.

Perhaps your Fitbit is running low and you want to preserve battery life? Your charging cable is nowhere to be found or you forgot to take it with you when traveling. Perhaps you want to switch the Fitbit off whilst traveling on an airplane. Or you want to sell it and send it by post to someone. The reasons could be numerous.

Having said this, if you are dealing with battery drain issues there are better ways of dealing with the issue than switching the device off. They boil down to one of these options: restart your tracker, clean the device and charging cable, make sure the USB port or outlet is not faulty and make sure the tracker is connected securely to the charging cable.

How to turn off your Fitbit?

The one thing to know when switching off your Fitbit is that you won’t lose any data. So you can be safe in the knowledge that turning off the device is safe. This is also the case when doing a plain old reset, but not the case if you do a factory reset. A factory reset will actually delete all the data from your tracker.

Essential reading: Experiencing problems with your Fitbit? Where to get help.

The process of switching Fitbits on and off varies from model to model. In fact, some of them cannot be turned off. Of course, you could simply let the battery run out. This will eventually shut the device off. The solution works across all Fitbit devices.

The ones that can be switched off are any in the Versa range and Sense. You can also switch off some of the older devices such as Blaze, Surge and Ionic.

Ionic, Versa, Versa Lite Edition, and Versa 2

On the Ionic, Versa, Versa Lite Edition, and Versa 2, the first step is to open the Settings app on the smartwatch. Simply navigate to it via the touchscreen.

Then choose About > Shutdown. You’ll be asked to confirm whether you really want to turn the device off. After you’ve done so the screen should go blank after a couple of seconds.

Turning the device back on is even easier. Simply press the back button. The screen will spring to life after a few seconds.

Sense and Versa 3

Image source: Fitbit

The procedure is very similar for the latest edition of Versa and the Sense. On the watch open the Settings app. Then choose the Shutdown option and confirm when asked to do so.

Getting your device back working again is simple a matter of pressing and holding the single button. Let go when the watch starts to vibrate.

Older Fitbit smartwatches (Surge & Blaze)

If you’re still holding on to your aging Surge, shutting it down involves pressing the Home button and choosing the Settings screen. Swipe until you find the Shutdown option. Confirm shutdown. Pressing any button will switch Surge on again.

Those with the Blaze can do the same by swiping from the home screen until they find the Settings page. Scroll down to Shutdown and confirm. Just like with Surge, pressing any button will wake the smartwatch back on again.

Fitbit Charge 4/3/2, Inspire 2/HR, Alta range

You can’t completely turn off a Charge 4/3/2. Don’t look for a way as there isn’t one. The only way to get a Charge to stop working is to let the battery run out.

The same is the case for devices across the Inspire and Alta lines. There’s no way to switch any of them off. So once again, your only option is to let the battery run out.

Having said this you can always do a good old restart. It will shut a Fitbit down for a few seconds and get it up running again.

There is a way to turn off the original Charge & Charge HR but hopefully you’re still not holding on to one of these! If you are the procedure is to press down the side button for 10 to 12 seconds while it is plugged into the charger. The same procedure works for Fitbit One.

How do I turn my Fitbit charge off?

To turn a Fitbit Charge HR off, plug its power supply into the back of the tracker, then hold down the side button for 10 to 12 seconds. The screen will go dark. The Fitbit is now off, and can be unplugged and set aside until you want to turn it back on, which you can do using the very same button.

How do I turn on my Fitbit Charge 1?

Press and hold the back and bottom buttons until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen. Let go of the buttons. If you still have issues with your device, turn it off and turn it back on.

Why won't my Fitbit shut off?

Press and hold the back (left) and bottom buttons until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen. This should take less than 10 seconds. Let go of the buttons.