Fitbit Ionic Battery Replacement

Written By: Adriana Zwink

Comments: 25

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

Time Required

1 - 2 hours

Introduction

Use this guide to replace a worn-out or dead battery in your Fitbit Ionic.

If your battery is swollen, take appropriate precautions. For your safety, discharge your battery below 25% before disassembling your Fitbit Ionic. This reduces the risk of a dangerous thermal event if the battery is accidentally damaged during the repair.

You’ll need replacement adhesive to reattach components when reassembling the device.

Tools

Step 1

Before starting, take your Fitbit Ionic off the charger and power it down.
Feel free to attach or remove the watch band as needed to provide more control as you make repairs.

Step 2

Heat an iOpener and apply it on the display for at least two minutes to soften the adhesive underneath.
The adhesive of the Fitbit Ionic is very strong. You may need to reheat the iOpener and repeat this procedure several times until the display adhesive gets loose enough.

Hair dryer on low took about 25 minutes directly blasting on the device, then used the ifixit metal spudger blade with rubber handle in the velcro kit pack

disgustipated -

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Adriana Zwink -

Step 3

Insert a technician's razor with a flat blade into the small gap between the watch case and the display.
Cut through the adhesive on the upper side of the Fitbit Ionic.

Step 4

Use a technician's razor with a flat blade to pry up the top edge of the display and create a small gap.

Step 5

Insert two opening picks underneath the top left and the top right corner.
Leave the opening picks in place to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
Remove the razor blade.

Step 6

Insert a third opening pick underneath the top right corner and slide it along the right edge of the display.
Leave the opening pick in the bottom right corner to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
If cutting becomes too difficult, reheat and reapply the iOpener.

Step 7

Insert a fourth opening pick underneath the top left corner and slide it along the left edge of the display.
Leave the opening pick in bottom left corner to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
Do not remove the display assembly all the way yet—it's still connected to the mainboard.

Step 8

Carefully fold the display assembly in the direction of the bottom edge.

Step 9

Use the flat end of a spudger to loosen and pry up the mildly glued NFC antenna.
Carefully fold the NFC antenna in the direction of the upper edge of the watch.

Il semble qu'il y ait confusion : <vers bord “superieur" > et non "inférieur” .

Plusieurs cas relevés

Bernard Tremblay - 27/03/21

Bonjour Bernard ! Merci pour vos différentes remarques ! Vous êtes un lecteur attentif et éclairé. Nous avons adapté le texte d’origine et/ou les traductions en français. iFixit étant un wiki modifiable par tous, n’hésitez pas à modifier vous-même la prochaine fois que vous remarquez quelque chose.

Claire Miesch - 06/04/21

Step 10

Carefully fold the display assembly onto the upper side of the watch.
Take care not to pull or bend the cables too much—they are still connected to the mainboard.

Plutôt que “replier" il vaudrait mieux dire “basculer vers le haut" puis ajouter <en soulevant délicatement la nappe de connection de l'écran qui reste connectée (qui est maintenant libérée) >

Bernard Tremblay - 27/03/21

Step 11

Remove the Torx T2 screw (3.65 mm length) on the bottom left corner.

Step 12

Use a pair of tweezers to remove the metal shield covering the battery flex cable.

The pointy tweezers in the ifixit kit are easier to work with the shield than the ones pictured here.

disgustipated -

Step 13

Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the battery flex cable.

Step 14

Fold the display assembly back to its original position.

Plutôt “basculer” l'ensemble écran dans la position précédente, en bas.

Bernard Tremblay - 27/03/21

Step 15

Remove the two Torx T2 screws (3.65 mm length) from the top edge of the watch.

Step 16

Use a pair of tweezers to remove the metal cover.

Theres a lip on the right side that goes under the frame, and another lip that goes under the nfc antenna where you need to slightly turn the nfc antenna a bit to get the left side of the shield away.

disgustipated -

Step 17

Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the NFC antenna.
Remove the NFC antenna.

Step 18

Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the two display cables from the motherboard.

Step 19

Remove the display assembly.
If possible, turn on your Fitbit Ionic and test your repair before installing new adhesive and resealing.

The comment “turn on your Fitbit…” is out of sequence at best - battery is out, etc. However the “Remove the display assembly” is correct.

John Swartz -

When reassembling and prior to gluing the screen, turn the device on with all components attached. Verify screen function, button function, nfc function, and HR monitor function.

disgustipated -

Step 20

Remove the Torx T2 screw (3.65 mm length).

The two Torx screws were removed in step 11.

John Swartz -

Step 21

Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the heart rate sensor from the motherboard.

Step 22

Insert a spudger into the gap between the watchcase and the upper edge of the motherboard.
Use the spudger to pry up the motherboard.
Avoid damaging the battery and heart rate sensor cables during the motherboard removal procedure.
Remove the motherboard.

Step 23

Remove the four Torx T2 screws (1.8 mm length).

Step 24

Insert the flat end of a spudger between the watchcase and the battery on the top edge of your Fitbit Ionic.
Use the spudger to pry up the battery.

Step 25

Remove the battery.

Conclusion

To reassemble your Fitbit ionic follow these instructions in reverse.

If possible, turn on your device and test your repair before installing new adhesive and resealing.

For optimal performance, calibrate your newly installed battery: Charge it to 100% and keep charging it for at least 2 more hours. Then use your device until it shuts off due to low battery. Finally, charge it uninterrupted to 100%.

Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Answers community for help.

Author

Adriana Zwink

Member since: 18/12/19

47683 Reputation

14 comments

This guide is very detailed and pretty accurate. Thank you for posting it!

Does anyone know how crucial the ‘Calibration’ procedure noted at the end article is?

I replaced my battery and it drains so quickly - during the course of a few hours.

But I didn’t try leaving it on the charger for 2 hours after 100% is reached. Trying that now.

Monte87 - 22/09/20

Und woher bekommt man die Batterie?

k.krah - 24/09/20

From iFixit.com - they are back in stock now.

Monte87 - 09/10/20

Sehe keine Battery im Shop.

Gibt es einen Link?

k.krah - 14/10/20

The new battery part is linked at the top of this page.

Here is the link: [linked product missing or disabled: IF384-004]

- regards

Monte87 - 15/10/20

The battery drains so quickly - just like the old battery that I am replacing.

It charges up to 100% but then loses about 1% every 5 minutes. Could there be a short circuit somewhere?

This was all sealed up by factory until I needed a new battery.

Monte87 - 09/10/20

Hi @monte87 unfortunately I’m overwhelmed with this problem. Maybe you can contact the troubleshooting website of Fitbit directly. I hope someone there can tell you more about your problem.

Adriana Zwink - 12/10/20

ONE SOLUTION -

I examined my Ionic case under high magnification and discovered that the bottom has a clear plastic lens covering the sensors. Over time, this lens layer has worn thin and actually cracked enough to allow water or sweat to infiltrate the bottom of the pebble.

This must have caused a short or damaged the sensors because every new battery I tried drained quickly.

I have put all of my parts (Screen, battery, Main board, shield, etc.) into a new case complete with sensor array and now I am seeing excellent battery life!

Monte87 - 23/10/20

Thanks for helping resurrect my Ionic!

Don Jenkins - 27/03/21

Amazing guide! I was able to replace my ionic’s battery and it’s working again, thanks!

The symptoms my ionic had: the watch worked only when it was plugged into the charging cable. As soon as I remove the charging cable it shut down. Ionic did show that it’s charging when it was connected to the charger but it failed to charge even after I left it charging for more then a day. I tried soft/hard factory resets, replacing charger, replacing battery and nothing helped. So I decide to buy a battery and replace it myself and it finally resurrected my watch :)

Because fitibit didn’t have the battery available, I ordered HSABAT IONIC 500mah from ali. I’ll try to leave a comment after I use it for some time. At least my ionic is holding a charge right now :)

Andrii - 25/09/21

A couple of tips:

- You DO need a technician's razor with a flat! I’ve tried multiple plastic tools and even a knife - I couldn’t detach the screen. Partially, because the gap is so narrow. It’s very easy with a flat blade!

- (DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK) I didn’t have an iOpener so I put my watch in a ziplock, put it in a cup, poured hot water (~100C) and left it for ~3 minutes. It was very easy to detach the screen with the technician's razor with a flat, and it simply popped out! my screen is still working and there no cracks :)

Andrii -

Thank you for your feedback and sharing your experience! I'm glad your repair went well.

Adriana Zwink -

Wow @andrii that is a very creative way to heat screen glue! I guess the only catch is you are heating up the entire unit - not just the area of concern…

But very clever!

Monte87 -

Is there anybody who would provide the service to post out to them fix and resend back , I have a spare watch in excellent condition with a good screen and good battery I would like to swap them over to my original Fitbit Ionic looking for somebody who could do this for me ,07703190950. ozzy64@btopenworld.com

ozzy64 - 07/09/22