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Participant App Troubleshooting Guide

You may face an issue with the device's connection to the Labfront Companion app during the study. We'll show you the steps that can be followed to solve the problems.

This article will provide troubleshooting for:

 

 

Labfront Companion and Garmin Device Troubleshooting

 

⚠️ Notes

  • We recommend first checking that you're on the latest version of the app before starting with the troubleshooting steps. Here's where to check:

    • Apple (iOS) : Check the What's New section where it has version history

    •  

      Android: Check the About this App section

  • Our troubleshooting tips go in order of intensity, so we recommend you start with the first tip and see if it resolves the issue before moving on to the next one.

Syncing

Garmin device is shown as "Connected" but is not syncing

In this case, we recommend:
  1. Turn your phone's Bluetooth off, wait for 10 seconds, and then turn it back on again. This usually solves the issue.
  2. 'Kill' the app. Close the Labfront app completely and reopen it (make sure it's not just removed from the foreground, but fully closed).
  3. Restart your phone and try again. 

Sync is getting stuck / Sync doesn't complete and stops at a certain percent (e.g. Getting stuck at 0%, 70%...)

In this case, we recommend:
  1. 'Kill' the app. Close the Labfront app completely and reopen it (make sure it's not just removed from the foreground, but fully closed).
  2. Restart your phone and try again. 
  3. You may also trying rebooting your Garmin device. 

The device is stuck in the "Connecting..." stage

If you find yourself stuck in the 'Connecting' stage, here are some helpful tips to try:
  1. 'Kill' the app. Close the Labfront app completely and reopen it (make sure it's not just removed from the foreground, but fully closed).
  2. Restart your phone and try again.
  3. Delete the Labfront app and redownload it. This will require a new invite code from the researcher.

 'Syncing error' message when trying to sync the device

If you encounter this issue, we recommended the following:
  1. 'Kill' the app. Close the Labfront app completely and reopen it (make sure it's not just removed from the foreground, but fully closed).
  2. Unpair the device from the app and then re-pair it.
  3. Restart your phone and try again.

The device is shown as "Disconnected", but Bluetooth is turned on

For this problem, we suggest:
  1. Restart your phone, wait a few minutes, and try again.

The sync process stalls before reaching 100%

  1. Sometimes Garmin's sync will fail a few times if there is a lot of data. Keep trying several more attempts to sync.
  2. If it continues to stall, there could be an issue with the Garmin SDK. Restart your phone and try again.

Tip

If you're using a newer Garmin device with an Android phone and have a lot of accumulated data, you can also try syncing via USB.

The device card is not appearing / The sync button is not visible

  1. Restart your phone, wait a few minutes, and try again.
  2. Uninstall and reinstall the Labfront Companion app (Note: Participants will need a new invite code from the researcher to re-join the study).

Pairing

The device won't pair with the Labfront Companion app

Some Android devices, such as Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Samsung have default settings in place that may affect the functionality of the Labfront Companion app, including pairing.

  1. Check your system settings to see if there is a battery/performance optimization whitelist.
  2. If so, then please add Labfront Companion to the list. Learn more here.

The device won't pair with Garmin Connect

If you are experiencing an issue with pairing your device with Garmin Connect review the following troubleshooting FAQs:

Other topics related to Bluetooth troubleshooting: 

Getting an error that Bluetooth is not turned on when it is

This likely means that Bluetooth permissions need to be enabled on your phone. Go to your system settings > Apps > Labfront and enable Bluetooth permissions.

Crashing

The app keeps crashing

If your app keeps crashing, we suggest you report the issue and describe the scenario with your mobile device model to support@labfront.com. In the meantime, you can try to fix the problem by following the steps below:

  1. To troubleshoot app crashes, start by turning off the Bluetooth on your mobile device. Then, restart the app to see if the Bluetooth function is causing the crash. If the app stops crashing, you have identified the issue 👏. If the app continues to crash, try going to the Settings page and unpairing and pairing the device again.

  2. Restart your phone and attempt #1 again.

  3. If you have paired a Garmin device, try updating the device firmware via the Garmin Connect App.

  4. Delete the Labfront app and redownload it. This will require a new invite code from the researcher.

🚨 Still have a problem? 🚨

Most of the time, syncing or connection issues can be solved by completing closing and re-opening the Labfront Companion app, or by unpairing and re-pairing the device from Bluetooth. However, there may be some instances when these troubleshooting steps alone can't solve the issue you're experiencing. If you're experiencing a persistent issue with your Garmin device and the Labfront Companion app, try following these steps in order:

 

⚠️ Warning

If you're a participant, we strongly recommend contacting the person in charge of your study before following these steps as this will disconnect you from the project and you will need a new invite code regenerated. Some data loss may result. 


  1. Uninstall the Labfront Companion app from your phone. 
  2. Unpair the Garmin device from your phone's Bluetooth.
  3. Reset your Garmin device. 
  4. Reinstall the Labfront Companion app (participants will need a new invite code from the researcher to join the study).
  5. Follow the app instructions to pair the device to your app.

If your issue has not been resolved after following these steps, don't panic (or throw your phone against the wall), please contact Labfront Support.

 

Note

If you're experiencing issues with the Garmin device itself, please review our Garmin Troubleshooting article. 

 

Labfront Companion and Movesense Device Troubleshooting

 

Movesense is not connecting/ Movesense device cannot be found when setting up

Frame 2978If your device cannot be found when setting up the device, or it cannot connect to the app, it's likely that it's sleeping 😴.

To wake it up, you need to touch the connector studs on the back of the sensor. The red LED should start flashing when it's awake and waiting to connect 🚨. The sensor stays on for one minute, waiting for another device to connect to it. If a connection is not established, the sensor goes back to sleep.

 

Movesense is on but cannot connect to the Labfront app

If the sensor's LED light flashed for 2s when you touched the connector studs but it still cannot connect to Labfront, the sensor might already be connected to another device. Use the sensor with one device at a time only.

 

Movesense disconnected during task recording

During your task recording, you'll be able to see the connection status of the device. If for some reason the device disconnects during recording, the timer will continue to run but the data collection will be paused until the device reconnects.
Usually, making sure your device is near your phone solves this problem. Otherwise, try turning your phone's Bluetooth on and off to reconnect the device. 
Once the device is reconnected, the data recording will resume. 
 

Note

If you're experiencing issues with the Movesense device itself, please review our Movesense Troubleshooting article. 

 

Videos

How to "kill" (close out of) the Labfront app | Android

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