Problem with iOS notifications after 1981 firmware update

As all of you, I have the same problem - no notifications.

Being a years long Withings user (I started already with they Activite Steel watch), whose expectations from Withings went downhill in the past few years, I still end up being surprised about the level of incompetence. I can't be happy with the official "we know and we are fixing this" answer that is already almost a week old for a FW version released almost two weeks ago. What the hell? A big part of the functionality of a device is gone due to the company's own fault (what kind of update has caused this? where was testing?) and no ETAs are presented? No FW rollback/downgrade option is provided? How come one support team knows about the issue, the other does not? I remain speechless. 

Let us just hope the next FW "update" doesn't brick our watches :)

I think we must continue to harass them on social networks, Twitter Instagram wherever we can make requests or relaunch them because bad advertising is the only thing that can force them to react quickly

New Scanwatch 2 received yesterday - spent hours trying every thing to get the notifications on my iPhone 13. Today I got though to their chat support & all he could say was what has been mentioned here - we hope to have a fix soon. I fixed for myself & sent back for a refund. Can’t understand how they release updates without checking them out on probably the biggest mobile phone platform- the IOS, & then day we hope to have a fix soon!!

Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of you here.

I have been using Withings products since Withings Activité Steel and over time I have seen the quality of firmware and mobile app deteriorate. Each update fixes something, but on the other hand it also breaks something.

For example, the transition to version 6 originally caused the synchronization with Apple Health to malfunction, there were problems with loading historical data and other minor details. Gradually they managed to solve most of the problems, but I think that with proper testing they should not appear at all.

For example, to this day after a workout, loading the graphs with elevation and temperature is problematic, but these are things that I do not even report.

Of the things that bother me most besides non-functional notifications, there is still no update of Fitness Score. ScanWatch 2 has been unreliable from the beginning and only updated after some of the workouts. After updating to 1981, it no longer updates at all.

Same problem here. Wasted an hour this morning trying to fix this issue before I found this message. Hopefully they release a new firmware update soon. 

As soon as this was discovered there should have been an immediate rollback. It’s a core function of the watch and to see it last for this long should be embarrassing for Withings.

Now they’re trying to keep it on the down low in an attempt to avoid negative publicity, which is only going to backfire and further erode customer trust.

Each of us must have spent 30-60 minutes trying to fix something that can’t be fixed. And now we have to go through all the settings again, including the clunky notifications process for 3rd party apps.

This is unprofessional and unacceptable Withings!

According to my exchange on X, here is some news:

Hello, our team is validating a fix this week, we will inform our community as soon as the situation is resolved. Thank you for your patience. -Rachel

Ok, so we have 2 weeks+ that this is a known issue that breaks a main functionality of the product. Without a fix, without any communication to customers (apart from one response here saying its broken and there is no fix date). Seriously? 

Things can break ... but this is really bad way to treat customers. Just left a review on apple-store - maybe that helps? Sad that this is necessary.

Hello,

When are we going to have a solution? A rollback or a new release?

Thanks

The lack of communication and solution is very poor customer service. It's really testing my loyalty to the Withings brand (since the Activite). 

I’m curious when the FW 1981 wil be fixed. I think your costumers, including me deserve that information.

These watches are quite expensive and mine actually never worked since the day I got it. I also chatted with you about this matter. Apparently, there’s no info that you can give. Very disappointing!
I needed to buy a new watch after my old one didn’t charge any longer.. and now I have a watch that doesn’t work properly.

How are you going to compensate for all of this?

I agree. No clear information for 2 weeks on one the most important feature is very weird 

Here is the answer on the French forum:

Hello everyone,

I would like to inform you that unfortunately, our team of developers has just confirmed that the solution they tested this week did not work, because it put other important features of your Scanwatch 2/Nova at risk. This means that the notification problem will only be solved in the production of the new Firmware scheduled to be deployed in the week of March 4 to 10.

To be prioritized in this deployment, please contact us via chat or email (if the chat option is not available) by providing the following information:

Enter your Serial Number (MAC) - You will find it in your Withings (My Devices) application

Indicate: "Problem Notifications Firmware 1981 - ScanWatch 2/Nova"

Our customer support team will make sure to transmit this information to our developers so that your problem is solved as a priority. If you have already contacted us to report this problem, no need to do it again, because you are already on the priority list.

Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience. We understand that for many of you, this feature is the main reason for your purchase. Once this problem is solved, we will contact you to offer you a small commercial gesture during a next purchase.

I thank you, once again, for your understanding and patience. I will keep you informed of the events.

Yours,

André, Customer Service Withings

Martin and Andre for the win! Tysm for posting- at least we now have some timeframe around it

For US customer service, here’s the response I got yesterday (tldr: no additional info on fix)

Thank you for contacting Withings Customer Support. My name is Alda, and I'll be glad to assist. I am sorry to hear that you still don't have notification with your ScanWatch 2.

I appreciate the information you shared. Please know that our development team is working on resolving this in an upcoming software update for the watch. We do not have an ETA but you will be notified via email once the update has been deployed.

Please let me know if I can assist you with anything else in the interim.

Per @martin.laurent1 mention of the French forum, this makes sense. I know it's frustrating not having the notification feature, but as soon as you cross paths with mobil phone apps + Software Development+ HIPAA regulations, you are in for a world of hurt. Clearly, they did something that broke the notifications feature, but that process may have actually fixed a security issue...which is weighted more highly. I don't know, I'm just guessing. 

Working in some of the same fields I can tell you that developers often do NOT understand the end user, nor do they understand the concept of updating their users on their progress and Withings should really get their act together on that, but at the same time, we as users don't know what actually has to go on behind the scenes to get all the the things to work...at the same time.

So, Withings people, why could you not revert to the old Firmware? Let us know the reason why. You don't need to provide a full technical breakdown, but we want to know. Also, Why did notifications get broken?

There can be no innocent explanation for being unable to solve a notification problem for ten days. I have been using the Withings product for only one month. When I encountered this problem, I saw similar problems in the past in Google searches. Obviously, Withings is not as good a company as it seems and does not care about its end users. I don't think I will buy another product from now on and I will get rid of this watch as soon as possible.

I am amazed that withings are now asking for us to contact them by chat or email to log our complaint & to priortorise a fix. In addition to offer a financial gesture for a future purchase.

BUT MY QUESTION IS WHAT IS THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS,   - I can't find any customer service email address anywhere, just wondered if anyone has it, & if so can you share it on this forum - Tnx>>

I think the voice of the customer matters a lot. Unfortunately this forum is not treated seriously by Withings. Why don’t we inform the others about the issue using fb (https://www.facebook.com/withings). Maybe it will it will give Withings a sense of urgency that this issue is critical for us.

Thanks to all here for keeping us updated with lack of progress(!). Sheesh another two weeks for a fix. I hope this is a 24 x 7 priority, but it doesn't feel like it. It would be great to have a downgrade option in the interim, as has been suggested. 

Likewise, if anyone knows that email address, please share because I can't find it and the chat keeps breaking for me.  

Also, don't they know all the Scanwatch2/Nova users already through the app? They spam me enough with notifications that I didn't ask for about using the Scanwatch2!

@martin.laurent1 Thanks a lot for the info, any piece of good news is great.

But honestly, I believe it when I see the fix. Withings has proved lots of times, they do not keep their promises and I would not keep my hopes too high for a fix next week.

I also have this notification problem on my Scanwatch 2. As a workaround until the promised update from Withings, I recommend the following procedure:

• Press the button on the side of the watch and hold it for 5 seconds.
• Once in this menu, press the button to cycle through the available screens until the Clear Cache screen appears.
• Press and hold the button for a second and the cache will be cleared.

After that, the notifications will appear again for me, at least for a while.

@juergenpaul.schaefer clear cache is not working for me. I also tested the testflight application 6.3.2 and it doesn't correct anything either. Maybe others will have more luck.

Thanks @ juergenpaul.schaefer it worked for me.

Clear cache did not work for me

Clearing cache seems to have worked for me, even though a hard reset did not. So strange. Thanks!

The clear cache did not work at first but...

So I turned off the phone and emptied clear cache again. Then start the phone and the notifications worked.

But as soon as I went to the withings and notifications application to check what is active the notifications no longer work.

I installed the version of testflight 6.3.2 and clear the cache again and the notifications worked again but as soon as I return to the notification setting it no longer works.

Conclusion attempted to empty the cache

Shows the phone turned off and if it works did not go in the notification setting in the application.

You can try restart the watch and stay pressed for a very long time.

Clearing the cache worked for me, great stuff. Well it worked once, wait and see if it keeps working. Thank you.  

Seriously‽ Clearing the cache? It's that simple. Come on Withings, this would have been a good point to share with the class. So, now I've learned about the service menu on the watch, cool. AND notifications are working (for now)

If you re visit the watch settings, you need to clear cache again :)