The short version
- 01Rule out focus modes on the phone and Do Not Disturb or sleep mode on the Fitbit.
- 02Close the conversation thread, since an open one stops its text notifications.
- 03Check the phone shows notifications on the lock screen and can run the app in the background.
- 04Force quit and reopen the Google Health app, then test.
- 05Turn Bluetooth off for a full ten seconds, turn it back on, then restart the Fitbit.
- 06Forget the device in the phone’s Bluetooth settings, not just the app, then set it up again.
Start here
Several of these are working as designed
Before troubleshooting anything, rule out the rules. Google's documentation says the phone must be within 30 feet of the Fitbit, that you will not get notifications with focus, do not disturb, quiet hours or driving mode on, that Do Not Disturb and sleep mode on the Fitbit itself suppress them, and that you will not get a text notification for a conversation you already have open on the phone. If none of those applies, the fix sequence is force quit the app, cycle Bluetooth, restart the Fitbit, then refresh notifications, then re-pair.
Applies to: Fitbit trackers and smartwatches paired to a phone through the Google Health app. The exact settings paths below are Google's for Android; iPhone equivalents exist but sit in different menus, and Google publishes a separate article for them. Fitbit documentation lives in Google's help centre rather than on fitbit.com.
Which notifications are missing?
Fitbit notifications fail in two very different ways, and the fix depends on which you have. Either something is deliberately suppressing them — a focus mode, a distance, an open conversation — or the link between the phone and the device has come unstuck. The first group accounts for most reports and is not a fault at all, which is why it is worth working through before touching Bluetooth.
No notifications at all, suddenly
Is a focus or do-not-disturb mode on?
Check the modesOnly some apps come through
Are phone-side notification settings allowing it?
Check the phoneTexts missing but everything else works
Is that conversation open on your phone?
Close the threadNothing helps and it used to work
Has the pairing been rebuilt?
Forget and re-pair1. The rules that suppress notifications on purpose
Google's documentation lists several conditions under which notifications simply will not arrive, and none of them is a fault. The phone must be within 30 feet of the Fitbit device. You will not get notifications if you have turned on focus, do not disturb, quiet hours or driving mode on the phone. Do Not Disturb and sleep mode on the Fitbit itself have the same effect.
The one that catches almost everyone is the open-conversation rule: Google states you will not get text notifications if you have the conversation open on your phone. That is sensible behaviour and completely invisible as an explanation, and it produces the specific complaint that texts stopped arriving while everything else still works.
Device lock is worth checking too. If device lock is active on the Fitbit, Google's guidance is to make sure you have entered your PIN recently to unlock it — a locked device will not display what it receives.
Work through this list first. It costs a minute and it resolves a large share of cases without any troubleshooting at all.
Sleep mode is the quiet one. A Fitbit that switches to sleep mode on a schedule will suppress notifications every night and morning, exactly as configured, and nothing about that looks like a setting from the outside.
2. What the phone has to be allowing
The Fitbit only shows what the phone hands it, so the phone's own notification settings come first. Google's checks on Android are that Bluetooth is on — under Settings, then Connected devices, then Connection preferences, then Bluetooth — and that the phone is set to show notifications while locked, under Settings, then Apps and notifications, then Notifications, then Notifications on lock screen.
That lock-screen setting is the one that surprises people, because it has nothing obviously to do with a watch. If the phone does not surface a notification on its own lock screen, there is nothing for the Fitbit to mirror.
Google also asks you to confirm the Google Health app can run in the background. Aggressive battery optimisation is the usual reason this gets switched off, often by the phone itself without being asked, and it produces notifications that work for a while after you open the app and then stop.
Finally, Do Not Disturb on the phone under Settings, then Sound. It is easy to enable by accident and easy to forget.
3. Versions, and why they matter here
Google's setup requirements include updating the Google Health app, the Fitbit device firmware and the Android OS to current versions. That reads like boilerplate and is not, because notifications depend on a chain that spans all three.
Notification delivery is one of the areas phone makers change most often between OS releases, and it is where the app's permissions get quietly re-evaluated. A device that worked yesterday and stopped today, with no change you made, is very often on the far side of an automatic update.
Update the firmware from the Google Health app and let the sync finish before testing. A partially applied firmware update leaves the device in a state where some functions work and others do not, which is a confusing thing to troubleshoot.
4. Google's fix sequence, in order
When nothing is being suppressed and the settings are right, Google gives an ordered set of steps, and the order is worth following because each is more disruptive than the last.
First, force quit the Google Health app and reopen it. Second, reset Bluetooth by turning it off for ten seconds and then back on — the ten seconds matters, because toggling it instantly often restores the same broken state rather than a fresh one. Third, restart the Fitbit device itself.
Test after each step rather than doing all three and hoping. If notifications return after the Bluetooth cycle, you have learned something useful for next time; if you do all three at once you have learned nothing.
Light
Force quit the app, cycle Bluetooth for ten seconds, restart the device.
Heavier
Refresh notification settings, then forget the Bluetooth pairing and set it up again.
5. Refreshing notifications, then rebuilding the pairing
The next step up is a notification refresh rather than a re-pair. Google's method is to turn off all notifications, restart the phone, then open the Google Health app, turn notifications back on and sync the device. Restarting the phone in the middle is the part that does the work — it clears the state that turning the setting off and on again by itself would preserve.
If that fails, rebuild the pairing. Google's route is to go to the phone's Bluetooth settings, tap the information or gear icon next to the Fitbit device, choose to forget the device, then set notifications up again through the Google Health app and sync.
Forgetting from the phone's Bluetooth settings rather than from inside the app matters. The pairing lives at the operating system level, and removing it only from the app leaves the stale Bluetooth bond in place — which is why a re-pair that seemed to work sometimes changes nothing.
6. Narrowing it down before asking for help
Two comparisons place the fault quickly. Does the notification appear on the phone at all? If not, this is a phone problem and the Fitbit is an innocent party. And is it every app or one app? A single app failing while others work points at that app's own notification permissions rather than at the watch.
Test deliberately rather than waiting. Send yourself a message from another device with the conversation closed, the phone locked, and the Fitbit on your wrist and in range. That reproduces the exact conditions the documentation describes, which is more informative than noticing hours later that something did not arrive.
When you contact support, say whether notifications appear on the phone itself, whether it is all apps or some, whether any focus or do-not-disturb mode is active on either device, which of Google's steps you have already worked through, and what versions the app, firmware and OS are on. Those five answers separate a suppression rule from a phone permission from a broken pairing.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my Fitbit stop showing text messages but nothing else?
Most likely because the conversation is open on your phone. Google states you won’t get text notifications for a conversation you already have open, which is deliberate behaviour and invisible as an explanation. Close the thread and send yourself a test message to confirm.
How close does my phone need to be?
Within 30 feet, per Google’s documentation. That is a straight-line figure in ideal conditions — walls, floors and bodies all reduce it in practice, so a phone two rooms away may be nominally in range and functionally out of it.
Why do notifications work and then stop after a while?
That pattern usually means the Google Health app is being stopped in the background. Google’s setup requirements include making sure the app can run in the background, and aggressive battery optimisation switches that off — often automatically. Notifications then work right after you open the app and fade afterwards.
What’s the right order to fix this?
Google’s sequence is force quit and reopen the Google Health app, turn Bluetooth off for ten seconds and back on, then restart the Fitbit device. If those fail, refresh notifications — turn them all off, restart the phone, turn them back on and sync — and only then forget the Bluetooth pairing and set it up again.
Should I forget the device from the app or from Bluetooth settings?
From the phone’s Bluetooth settings. Google’s route is Settings, Bluetooth, the information or gear icon next to the device, then forget. The pairing lives at the operating system level, so removing it only inside the app leaves the stale bond in place and the re-pair changes nothing.
Could sleep mode be doing this?
Yes, and it’s easy to miss. Google names Do Not Disturb and sleep mode on the Fitbit itself as things that stop notifications. A device set to enter sleep mode on a schedule suppresses them every night and morning exactly as configured, with nothing to see from the outside.
Sources and review notes
Checked on . Compiled by Glitchary from Google's Fitbit help centre guidance on phone notifications. The settings paths quoted are Google's for Android; iPhone equivalents live in different menus and Google publishes them separately. Menu names change between Android versions and app releases — check Google's current article for your phone. The advice to test after each step, and the note about why forgetting from Bluetooth settings matters, are editorial. Glitchary is independent of Google and Fitbit.