How to Hard Reset or Restart the Fitbit Charge 5

Imagine this scenario: you’re using your brand new Fitbit Charge 5 fitness tracker, and suddenly the screen locks up. It’s not a big deal–this can happen for a lot of reasons. Maybe there was a glitch in the device’s code, it got hung up while connecting to your phone via Bluetooth, or some other unknown error occurred.

On Fitbit devices with a button, like the Fitbit Sense, there’s a relatively easy procedure to restart the device, doing a hard reset to get it back up and running even if the screen is not responsive. I’ve talked about the process in detail elsewhere. But on the Charge 5 and the Luxe as well, there’s a catch: there is no physical button on the screen that you can push.

How do you hard reset or force a restart of the Fitbit Charge 5? Luckily, the process is easy and fast. Here’s how to do it.

If Your Screen Still Works

Maybe your screen is still working, but something about the watch is just being a bit wonky. If that’s the case, you’re in luck–the hard reset process is quite easy.

Swipe down on the main screen (the one with a clock on it) to access the Settings app. Find the setting that reads Restart Device.

Press that. The tracker should restart, and you should be in good shape. Give it at least 20 seconds to fully boot back up once you do a hard reset.

If Your Screen is Frozen

If your screen is frozen, things are a little trickier. Again, there’s no physical button on the device for you to press to execute the restart procedure. And since the screen isn’t operating correctly, you can’t use the Settings app, either.

Don’t worry, Fitbit has thought of this and provides a solution. According to their procedures, you should first plug your Fitbit Charge 5 into the charging cable that came with it. Plug that cable into a USB port or USB charger so that the watch is plugged in.

Next, find the small button on the USB cable’s end. I bet you didn’t even realize it was there–I sure didn’t!

Press that little button 3 times, pausing for one second between presses. Wait for 10 seconds. You should see the Fitbit logo and your Charge 5 should restart. You’re good to go!

If your Fitbit Charge 5 freezes, it can be a pain, but more often than not it’s easy to fix the issue. Just follow these instructions, and you should have your tracker back up and running in no time.