Garmin Messenger™ Reviews

by Hsuaneirbacw

Inreach mini is already setup on my iPhone and garmin earthmate app works fine. But messenger can’t find my inreach even if I unpair and start over.

by Colin1234

This is an emergency device. I want to pair with all my phones so if one isn’t working i can use another. Why have this limit???

by Ghlatta3

I made the mistake of installing this junk app because it's required with an Inreach Mini 2. Pairing the Mini 2 device through GarminMessenger literally took hours. Once paired, I tried to manage my Garmin subscription, but for some reason that option isn’t available - after multiple attempts, all I get is a blank screen on GarminMessenger . So now you’re trying to tell me that I’m supposed to use this Garmin device and nonfunctional app to contact help when I’m in the wilderness when they don't even work in the comfort of my own home?!? Junk junk junk and a complete waste of time and money. Garmin’s Messenger app is a scam.

by Misschiff800

There’s a bug in GarminMessenger - I can’t activate my subscription in GarminMessenger . It keeps not loading the full screen and I’ve had to uninstall and reinstall multiple times. Still can’t get this to work. May have to return the whole device and use a different satellite communicator.

by Ronald HC

I tried to use GarminMessenger while in the backcountry with no cell signal. It required authentication, which I couldn’t give, you guessed it, without a cell signal! What good is GarminMessenger if it doesn’t work when I need it? The reason I bought the device and pay for a subscription is that I can communicate when I am where there is no cell signal!

by Donnyhead007

My wife bought a garmin inreach for an up coming backpacking trip. She cannot figure out how to program it after days of trying. We are taking it back. The lack of information on how to program it is appalling.

And she works at REI which sells these. She will not be recommending them to customers from this point forward.

by Amjdhfb

Nothing works because it will not upload software. Absolutely no tech support except online videos which can't solve this problem. There is no one to call. It's horrible.

by D_ayl

I can pair to my phone (iPhone 14) via standard Bluetooth connect. I can see on my inreach that it is paired. However it never pairs in GarminMessenger . I have updated the firmware to latest on the mini. Very disappointed as the device is not old at all…

by Kaptainkriz

Try again later. Useless app does not work at all and tech support not able to fix. Returning very expensive paperweight back to the store.

by Opticagent

Countless attempts but error saying “Something went wrong. Try again later.”
Useless at this point.

by Waiting For Weather

This has to be one of the dumbest apps out there. Won’t message my contacts directly, they must be “ invited into the community…”

Who thinks this stuff up? Fire some marketing weenies and hire competent app designers and programmers.

by Glen Campbell

Instructions walk you through creating a new account (I already have one). Will not connect to my existing inReach Mini

by Sooroo77

I recently purchased an inReach MINI 2 at REI and attempted to set up Garmin’s Messenger app which is required for the inReach. For some unknown reason, I have been blocked by Cloudflare, the company responsible for Garmin’s online security. There is no way to reach out to Cloudflare for assistance to correct the problem. Judging from other reviews, I am not alone in my frustration. Sorry, Garmin. Your $400 inReach device will be returned to REI tomorrow. This is the least user-friendly device I have purchased in a very long time.

by Beckaslc

Some of my work contacts in my phone have popped up as having Garmin accounts. Please give an option to either share or NOT SHARE, to either connect or NOT CONNECT. Just because someone is in my address book with their cell number does not mean I want them to a) know that I have a Garmin messenger or b) be able to contact me in the backcountry. This is freaky.

by Left Coast Bill

Like so much software these days, Garmin’s suite of software for its satellite comm devices is overly complex. Garmin should be thinking about two things, and greatly simplify the interfaces:

1. Almost all users are casual users. We access the software once every few months, to set it up for a trip.

2. Occasionally the software will be used during a trip. Users are distracted, anxious, under pressure; have no access to a laptop or desktop system; and may have power or communication issues.

Please think a little more seriously about how this stuff looks to someone who is packing for a trip or has already started the trip.

by Zmcdargh

Try to activate. Asks me to log in, but I have no account. No button to create account. Try again. This time I get a create account page. Type in info, and the website hangs forever without creating an account. Try laptop. Same thing. I have never seen something so shoddy. This total failure is without even getting to the satellite messaging or GPS stage. I can only imagine what a treat that will be.

by BG_Sea

Don’t download GarminMessenger to a secondary device like an iPad. My friend tried to check in from the field and the messages went to an iPad we hardly use and I didn’t see it for nearly a day. Once I downloaded GarminMessenger to my phone, I could see meaages but could not respond from GarminMessenger . Also, deleting GarminMessenger does not restore your texting capability; you need to first “deactivate” your account. This option should be labeled something more accurate like “unlink phone number from Garmin Messenger” because I also have an InReach and I didn’t want to deactivate *that* account.

by Tsunamiix

I try to reinstall GarminMessenger several times but it does not work, can verify my number

by Ilchymis

Logging into Facebook and posting is completely broken

by Copete Rojo

My family has acquired Garmin satelite mapping services in order to let us know when and where they are. Some in the family have received messages while others have not(we are at the 60:40 mark) while the set-up is reasonably costly, the service is miserably failing. Any in the family have the same setup in their respective phones, in order to clarify any misperceptions. Garmin Customer service is failing, absent! Don’t waste your money, there must be an alternative to an otherwise good idea.

by No Screen Name

What a disgusting, over-complicated piece of garbage this is. 20 unnecessary steps and multiple accounts that you need to create. I can’t imagine a normal person allowing this to happen.

by Garmin Bricked My InReach

I used to send InReach starting and safely stopping messages to my people. But now they have to download test I another messenger app, this d time from Garmin. Why should they? It used to work just fine with whatever messaging apps they have on their phone. Garmin basically bricked my $600 InReach device.

by Shelley2mars

Don’t expect to operate quickly with your Mac computer and hardware. Software hasn’t been update for Mac hardware in several years

by Tom Hates App

Watched videos. Still can find “maps” or a good tutorial on using messages. I’ve wasted a couple of hours and have given up.

by Jb55555

Same as other review. Inreach mini won’t pair

by Reallife2

Poor software implementation that barely works with an excellent hardware device.

by SeeingTrails

Pairing with iPhone in a wide open field and it fails over and over and over.

by LempelZivWelch

Button on one of the device activation screens for inreach mini 2 is broken (leads to frozen app state)

by Wpm_Garmin

This is the most unintuitive app I have ever seen. Trying to restart my subscription and nothing works.

by Garmin_meh

Won’t connect, doesn’t show tracks, no courses. Lots of room to improve.

by Dan Dugan

Awful instructions, can’t understand app UI.

by Fig

So hard to get this sucker to work

by RobTheWizard

So, like most responsible adults, I use a password manager app. For some reason, if I navigate to my password manager during the create account experience, it will start over. I also can't paste the password from my app into the set password field.

Why do you need to make this so difficult? I love needing to have my laptop open on the side just to type a password in to my phone 🙄

by Do Better Garmin

That is is the message I got when I tried to pair it. Seriously Garmin? For a device that costs $100 more than the messenger, you would think this messaging app could be used on more than one kind of device.

by DanMPark

Got a new Garmin InReach Messenger and a new iPhone 14 and can’t get the two devices to pair. Don’t know if it’s GarminMessenger or the InReach device, but both are Garmin. Worthless device and application combination. Garmin, you can do much better…

by Flyfisher96

The title pretty much says it all. GarminMessenger doesn’t support the gpsmap 66i which makes no sense at all and is a huge reason to not buy that model. Wish I had known that before I bought it!

by PhillyCNM

I was stoked to get GarminMessenger until I found out that it won’t pair with my Mini2 device. Garmin team, add this device and I’m sure you will get more positive reviews.

by MK2131

Not compatible with the original InReach Mini. Come on Garmin, don’t be so quick to try and force us to always upgrade our hardware device with your petty software games.

by Ksuela

I am stuck at the verification message (step 0). Per Garmin’s instructions I have tried “without VPN,” disconnecting Apple’s private relay, wifi only, cell only, etc.

by Artamisfowl

For those who do not know, if you have your Garmin watch linked to your InReach via the Messenger app, you will not be able to delete any messages from your watch. It does not matter if you delete them from your phone, the Explore website, or even the InReach itself, those messages are on your watch for good. It’s lazy design that is unacceptable for a paid subscription service. It’s also very inconvenient!! Anytime I use my InReach, in the back of my mind I’m thinking “well, there went some storage that could be used for maps”. It also makes searching for and responding to current conversations very difficult, because you have to sift through all the garbage you do not want and that you have already deleted off your phone. I know this was a rant, but the current user interface really takes away from any positive experience.

by 00Hein

Garmin supports a weird subset of the inReach devices with this Messenger app — in particular no support for the original inReach mini.

GarminMessenger also suffers the iMessage problem in that if you’ve used it once it will default to send all text messages there rather than to SMS, even if you’ve since uninstalled GarminMessenger .

by App Doesn’t Let You Sign In

I keep trying to sign in unsuccessfully. I have the correct password and my account is verified. It just won’t accept my password when I am at the screen it takes me to after trying to submit my personal information. It is like signing my out and then asking me to sign back in but denying my correct password. This sort of thing really has me bummed that I purchased a product that I thought made work well right out of the box. I have a newer IPhone and don’t suspect that is the problem, likely GarminMessenger . If I can’t get it to work I will be returning my purchase for a competing alternative.

by SJ195784367

They make you go to the website to pause your account, and I you want nonstandard messages, you can get them but only after calling. Why? Why not just allow customers to do both easily through GarminMessenger ?

by The Solo Canoe Tripper

The map for me comes up as the Apple Maps, which if someone is in the deep wilderness, the detail is not there.
I have the old inreach explorer which everyone has said it’s very easy to see where your at.
I personally will not update to this model. I will stick with the inreach explorer model for the time being.

by Professional QA

Can’t process activation yet. Has frozen multiple times.

by Mog404

I was hoping to be able to directly ping another InReach device from GarminMessenger. I can send a message, but if the other user is unable to respond, there is no good way to locate them unless I have web access to MapShare. This is a longstanding gripe I have with Garmin InReach. Maybe they should call them “CantReach.”

Very confusing as to why some devices support the Messenger app vs. the Explore app It would be more powerful to have a consolidated app with the same features across all devices.

As stated in another review, it is important to deactivate the account when switching phones. GarminMessenger should automatically support the paired phone.

Also, kind of weird that they named GarminMessenger “Messenger.” That is the name of the new minimalist device itself, as well as the Facebook Messenger app.

by QML1026

Needs map incorporated in Messenger app for tracback feature. Or have the inreach messenger compatible with Explore app??

by J In Burque

Garmin apps work great overall but it would sure be nice if the Garmin apps could pull GPS location information from compatible Garmin device rather than relying on smartphone’s location services. On multi day trips I have to turn off my phone’s location service to save battery. What’s the point of having two separate GPS systems running simultaneously???

by Ty&bella

I have scoured GarminMessenger and the inReach messenger device and the words “pair device” do not exist. This should be a priority and I’ve wasted 30 minutes trying to pair this thing. Activating an account should be easy too but those words are only on the device, not on GarminMessenger …

by HSchuerger

I have just started configuring this device. When attempting to link to Facebook, I had some difficulty because I have Facebook pages which I manage. GarminMessenger wanted me to pick a page to post to. I didn’t want GarminMessenger to post to either of those pages and it would not allow me to just post to myself because my Facebook account isn’t a separate page. So I had to go in and create a separate page so that I could pick that from the list. Thought you’d wanna know.

by DSZ1984

I like the idea but when you have competitors like apple out there offering a complete different experience with messaging, then GarminMessenger feels like 5 years behind. Even the way the keyboard is displayed in your watch when replaying to a message… it felt like using an old nokia phone. I also don’t like that I can only reply to messages received through GarminMessenger and not whatsapp or other messaging apps. It limits the user to one messaging platform which is VERY limited in functionality at this time, for example: keyboard display, just messaging and no emojis or ways to react, I was also unable to customize my automatic reply options

by Melly MeL 19

Let’s now be able to have anyone on or off the messenger app be able to send us garmin watch users a text and us be able to respond from our watches!! That would be even better.

by DShaull315

During activation of a 67i device while GarminMessenger was asking me to enter basic info (name, address, phone numbers) GarminMessenger either would not display portions of the interface after scrolling or would be unresponsive when editing fields or trying to hit the next button.

Proceeded to have issues until letting GarminMessenger transfer an update to the garmin device. After that, no issues.

by Garminblows

Won’t sync with my iPhone

by Yt Fhgjdfjjffjfh

I like it but it could pair with other messenger apps so it can message across apps

by Dralph01

The InReach device and accompanying app are excellent in the case of an emergency, to call for help. App could be better designed where I can monitor my sons travels out in the open ocean. For example, receive text or email notices of his movement and locations from time to time.

Currently, the inReach and website can show you a map of the person’s locations. However, one has to log into the website map in order to see the person’s location as opposed to… it would be nice having notices sent to me via text or email of his locations along his journey.

by 12368ihudrbjyc

GarminMessenger would be great if there were an Apple Watch widget. I am the black sheep in the family without an Apple Watch. The ability to be able to communicate via wearables would be marvelous.

by None_dont_like_nicknames

While I love the functionality of consolidated messaging, the ability to se plans, updates, settings, etc on app and by far is the best inReach experience to date.. I’d like the ability to tap and hold a message that has not been sent , failed to send or is in pending status and get a connect menu with the option to resend /retry sending the message. Also… while all tones the device supports are listed in settings.. they make zero sound when you tap them… so add the actual sounds to GarminMessenger so the user can select tones for the messenger based on what they actually hear and prefer and not blindly guessing. Also maybe add a subscript to each message bubble with “status / time stamp” for each message.

by Kathy Ann 55

My husband just took this on a weeklong solo backpacking trip. Then happy I can track his movements and he can send pre-programmed messages that he’s OK but those messages are supposed to be unlimited For our package. I can’t find a way to contact customer service.

by Fluffy3557

Is it melodramatic to say that this is the best app I’ve ever used to date

by Purduex3

When our son goes hunting two miles high in the Rocky Mountains and freezing temperatures every year, we now have more peace-of-mind, given two way communications plus the coordinates.
Four other men along with him
Thank you, Garmin Messenger!

by Bobkitchen

Support for the inreach mini 2 was advertised at launch. When is it going to drop?

Update: the inreach mini 2 has been updated, and all is now well with the world and GarminMessenger. Big thanks!

by Michael Haddon

I’m still figuring it out. So far, everything seems to be working well. When I updated my Check in messages, it tells me to make sure to sync. Not sure what that means!

by Hahahah Shake

As a friend of an avid inReach user, it’s nice to finally have a way to communicate with them when they’re on or off the grid, without having to guess which number to send messages to. The super simple and quick sign up process was delightful.

by Tom Oldfather

I’m 77 an use to be an avid white tail hunter….i live in Ks an like to follow an keep in contact with son - Elk hunting in Wy… GarminMessenger allows me to stay in contact with him an see his area he is hunting in….

by Skilljas

GarminMessenger is super easy to use seamlessly between cellular texting and satellite.

by 사라

👍👍👍

by Atomicdame

So press the back button, your gonna skip activation, you will go back to where your on a Home Screen. There’s an icon in the corner you will just press okay. Go down to settings. Press the phone Bluetooth button. Then press okay and okay again. Then pair your phones.

by Tamboril1957

Perfect