After Pixel 4a, now Fitbit trackers are getting a bad battery update

Google took Pixel 4a owners on a wild ride this year, those still using this smartphone from 2020. The Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program update released in January 2025 reduced capacity by around 44%, halved the maximum charging speeds, and disabled features like Adaptive Charging and charging time ETAs. Now, Google is releasing a similar Battery Performance Program for the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3.

Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 Battery Performance Program

Google has posted a consumer notice for Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa 3 owners, informing them that a limited number of these devices are at risk of overheating batteries. Consequently, Google is rolling out an immediate firmware update that will reduce the risk of the battery overheating. However, the update will also reduce battery capacity as a side effect.

The update will improve the stability of the device’s battery performance and reduce the risk of the battery overheating. As a result, the battery will last for shorter periods between charges and you may need to charge your device more frequently.

Much like the Pixel 4a update, this issue is said not to affect all Sense and Versa 3 devices. Google says that if your device is not impacted, the battery will perform the same as before. However, if the Pixel 4a update is any indication, we suspect many users could face degraded battery performance even if they don’t have a faulty battery. Google has a request form that you can use to figure out if your device is impacted.

Google says the update has begun rolling out and will reach owners over the next month. Once users receive the update notification, they must manually update their device’s firmware. If they don’t do it within a few days, the device will sync some of its data and then factory reset itself. Some information will be deleted, including alarms, goals, credit and debit cards, saved settings, and notifications.

After the factory reset, you will have to set up your device again, during which the new firmware will be installed.

It’s not immediately clear if manually installing the update preserves your data, but even this alone is such a bad user experience.

Much like the Pixel 4a, users with an impacted Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa 3 may be eligible for a $50 appeasement. You can submit a request to check your appeasement eligibility. If you qualify, you can claim the appeasement even if you aren’t regularly using the device. You don’t need to return the device even if you claim the appeasement, and you can continue using them after the firmware update is applied.

However, unlike the Pixel 4a, there is no provision to replace the faulty battery on the affected Fitbits. Fitness trackers and smartwatches are notoriously difficult to repair, even for simpler tasks like a battery swap, so we aren’t entirely surprised.

Details are scarce at this stage on what precisely the firmware update changes, how widespread the issue is, and whether many seemingly non-affected users are also affected, as we witnessed with the Pixel 4a. These frequent battery reduction updates leave a bad taste in our mouths as they pop up several years later.

For context, the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 were announced in August 2020, and even the Pixel 4a was announced that month. Yes, not as many people would still be using the same devices. But the few who are using them happily will definitely be impacted. If they have held on to the devices, there’s probably a good reason why, and a $50 appeasement may not solve those issues.

We are unlikely to get more details from Google beyond the posted notices, so we don’t expect to get an official answer on what happened. For impacted users, we recommend taking the $50 appeasement if you are eligible and upgrading to a new fitness tracker or smartwatch.