Syncing problems Ambit3 with iPhone11

simonzn

Same problem here with the new iPhone SE and iOS 13.4

Ambit3 Peak SW: 2.4.17
Suunto App Version: 1.20

It took me about 6 attempts to pair my watch and the app - but I got used to that, as well as having to re-pair the devices on a regular basis for unknown reasons. I’ve had these problems with the old Movescount app and the new Suunto app, on both iOS and Android.

Interestingly (or not), once the pairing was successful, very short activities are sync’ed. At first I suspected dodgy heart-rate readings to be the problem (my sensor has become a bit unreliable), so I recorded two activities of a few seconds, one with and one without heart-rate - both were sync’ed without problems.

Edit: I recorded a third test-activity of > 1h with heart-rate - that failed to sync initially. Just noticed that about one hour later it was sync’ed as well. So it’s at least working to some degree, sometimes. All three of my test-activities were indoors without GPS data - I wonder if that could be the issue. Maybe the “GPS Optimization” (whatever that is) breaks the sync?

I’m tired of opening tickets with Suunto’s support. I’ve reported about 20 issues in the last 3 years, at best I got a response about 3 weeks after, some of them have never been addressed. So what I would like to know instead: Is there a current Suunto watch that is known to work with iOS 13 on a recent iPhone?

(Before anyone jumps ship and buys a Garmin watch, read the reviews for the Garmin app in the app store - it appears to be just as bad, and the customer support just as unhelpful.)

Djanbgo

Hello All,

Having the same issue with my Ambit 3, and Iphone 11, with IOS 13.6 (I also had the same issue with previous IOS)
I can’t sync the watch with the suunto Mocile app. I have read the entire page here, and followed adviced but it looks like the problem is still there.
Any update from your side?

entropia437

@Djanbgo No yet for the App.
You can solve the problem update Suuntolink and sinc.

schiggy13

Same issue here.

Ambit3 and iPhone XS. The synchronisation-issue costs me hours and hours. So much errors with long “large” hiking activities.

Short walks are fine.

I will use the usb cable and notebook in the future…

Please fix it…

lkovari

@entropia437
Hi I faced with the same issue on iPhone SE 2020 iOS ver 13.6

lkovari

@Cookiemonster
Hi All,
With iPhone iOS v13.6 did not works the pairing at all.
Somebody mentioned on iPad it works well, is it correct, I using iPad mini 3 iOS v12.4.8 it works as we expected.
! One more thing…
I owning another Suunto watch a Spartan Ultra.
It smoothly paired with the Suunto app on iPhone iOS v13.6.

benoitg

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos hey Dimitrios! Since we established that there is clearly a Bluetooth connection issue between Suunto App on newer iPhone / iOS and Ambit3, do you have any news regarding this problem?
It would be nice to know if a fix will be released or if we will have to sync via USB for the rest of our Ambit days‍️ ?
(In my case IPhone SE 2020, pairing works fine but sync always fails, I tried to force firmware update to « clean » my watch along with any other tips found here or on suunto support pages.)
Thanks !

erick86

After reading through this thread, it seems clear that the Ambit 3 is not compatible with the iPhone 11.

Attached is a screen shot of the eternal attempt. No combination of unpairing, forgetting, uninstalling, reinstalling, restarting, smashing, banging, or cursing will make it go. Soon I will have to try an axe or sledge hammer.

Is this just a fundamental hardware incompatibility that has no fix? Sadness. Nothing lasts anymore…

benoitg

@erick86 @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
Exactly, it would be really nice to know if a software update will resolve this or if we need to think about watch replacement (even if the watch works perfectly fine…).

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Hi all here,

There will be at least at some point an improvement on this afaik.

I understand well the issues here and all feedback is transferred.

Some issues from my experience and you feedback are related to syncing the activities.

I would suggest syncing those with the cable, and deleting them so the if it’s a bug in the activity parsing the rest of those could continue syncing.

Could you validate that ?

benoitg

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Thanks for the feedback !
I’ve been syncing with cable and movelink2 and suuntolink since I changed my phone (3 weeks now) for an IPhone SE 2020, no other choice
I’ve tried deleting synchronized moves directly on the watch and also a complete reset of the watch through movelink2 and suuntolink without any success sadly.
I think the Bluetooth connection between ambit3 and newer iPhone (newer iOS ?) is genuinely faulty. It doesn’t seem linked to a broken move that has trouble syncing.
Is there any developer or support working on this ? It should be simple to debug and tell us if we can expect a software fix or if we need to change watch if we want to sync with our phone
Thanks !

Bryan Cook

It’s crystal clear that the problem is with the Ambit3’s ability to communicate over BT with newer iPhones, either due to their hardware or software, not an issue with faulty moves or whatever. We’re just waiting for the functionality promised.

runnr_az

I’m having the same issue as well, FWIW. Worked fine with my old iPhone 6S… Love the watch, pretty upset that it won’t sync via BlueTooth…

benoitg

@runnr_az Works fine with an old iPhone 7 and an old Android too…
It’s sad to not have any official communication about this… And the watch is still available for purchase on suunto website without any disclaimer

AndreaTraverseAS

@benoitg
Anche io che ho appena preso un Traverse Alpha Stealth vedo che in BT si collega ma NON con la App mobile dell 'iPhone… Mi sembra di impazzire perché è strano che non ci si riesce…
Ho un iPhone SE 2020 aggiornato!

benoitg

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Hey! No news about this issue?
It would be really great just to know where we are on this : support knows about it, issue found, fix already done and ready to deploy, won’t fix at all, no idea…
I could understand that Suunto would stop all support on Ambit3, just get rid of the legacy, but it would be nice to let users know about it.
And the watch is still available for purchase on the website… I can’t understand how you can let people buy something new that just won’t work with newer iPhone ‍️
Thank you!

livia_Gmelin

Hi @JohanT, I have the same problem with the IP 11 Pro, Ios 13.7. Cannot synchronize with Ambit 3 via Suunto app v1.51.0. Forced to use serial USB and suuntolink application. Movescount is not updated with this method. Unable to retrieve GPX traces !
Suuto is experiencing planned obsolessance. A shame for a Nordic society claiming to be respectful of the environment …

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

Hi all again. I need to validate the following as I am trying to raise your voice to Suunto.

So with iOS:

Pairing works ok
Syncing fails for some activities ? Right ?

Syncing with the Suuntolink / cable all activities are synced right ?

entropia437

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos yes to all! But I think Suunto has already heard but does not want to hear.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@entropia437 I am assigning this to me to help here.

Please install the beta version 8634 1.60.0 (you can find info how to install via the FAQ here).

Here is what we are going todo:

When an activity sync fails we are going to pull that activity manually out of the watch via a special method and you are going to share it with me and I with the developers.
They will analyse the issue and fix it.

A few info before that

The ambit / traverse can go into sleep mode if it’s not “shaken”. For example if your hand stays static for some seconds the watch goes to hybernation and thus breaking sync.
So when you try to sync make sure the watch is not in sleep/hybernation mode. Just walk around.

If you have tried the above and it still says: 1/x activities not synced etc then:

Go to debug menu (Tap 7 times next to profile image),
Select “Save data from watch”, Select “Export raw files”, (switch),
Then select unsynced workout (toggle above), then press start sync.
After sync finished you can select “Export” which allows you to send the files via email.
Use my email ext_dimitrios.kanellopoulos@suunto.com and send me those files.

That should do the trick. It will bypass the app processing.

Does this make sense to you guys ?