Garmin Connect™ Reviews

by D_Edwards16

May not deserve a 1 star but the fact there are so many problems/bugs that they haven’t addressed in years makes it a one to me. The first is the notifications. If I get one in anything it’ll show as a very large number of notifications and won’t go away unless I tap on the top left icon. Second are the charts that are messed up when going in my run details. Might as well forget trying to look at pace chart. For some reason it wants to show pace as slow as 30 minutes a mile even if you never went that slow. For instance I may do a run and the slowest I go is 8 minutes a mile but since they pull the chart down to 30 minutes a mile you can really tell anything about your pace.

The other thing they need to do better on is making it more sociable. They have basically accepted strava as taking its business but if they would make a better screen with social interaction and better search engine for friends it would be great. They also need to make it to where people can use their phone as their GPS device in their app but I doubt they’ll ever do that as they want people to buy their devices but the fact is most casual runners will never buy one cause they want their phone with them.

by Big Pierogie

Despite many updates, GarminConnect never works well for me, regardless of which iOS version I’m using. I use it with an Instinct solar and it keeps disconnecting. I have to reboot GarminConnect for it to work again. Since there is no Bluetooth connection indicator on any watch face (it’s in a deeper menu), you don’t realize the connection has been lost. When GarminConnect works and you turn off your phone, the watch will notify you that there is no Bluetooth connection. But when GarminConnect just randomly stops working, you never get that notification, or any other notification, and that happens a lot. Very frustrating as it’s easy to miss calls and messages since my phone is on silent most of the time. Wish there were more watch faces to choose from and that they would include the Bluetooth icon. Even my old Pebble had that. I would also like to see my phone’s battery level displayed on a watch face. Sometimes the watch battery saver won’t turn itself on at night, and if it does, it will stay in that mode past the designated off time. This is less common but it happens. Love all the features but it would be nice to get what I described above. Please make it less buggy.

by Regretting I Bought This

I have a vivoactive 3 for 1.5 yrs. Until recently I owned a edge 520 for roughly 4 years. The 520 does the basic features ok but when you want to use an advanced feature, it might work it might not. Both are plagued with constant glitches. I couldn’t handle the edge 520 reoccurring issues. When the charging usb port broke I got a refurbished 520 and gave it to a friend who was new to cycling. I switched to a wahoo roam and I am problem free!! I still wear the vivoactive 3. My watch always had one or two nagging quirks. Now it continues to have constant connection issues since iOS 13 was released. I’ve gone through the suggestions garmin sent out to fix this issue but still nothing. 🙄 Furthermore I had great customer service 4ish years ago. The last time I called my experience was the opposite. Things happen and people can have bad days. Why am I bringing up customer service? If you buy a garmin product you’ll have to use the garmin connect app. When issues arise you’ll have to call garmin. I know this is supposed to be a review of GarminConnect and I am giving examples of the products issues. In the end who knows if it’s a garmin connect issue or a 520/vivoactive issue.... who cares when the stuff isn’t dependable and doesn’t work as advertised. If anyone reads this the take away thought is my garmin experience has been sub par due to numerous glitches. They kinda work 🤷🏻‍♀️. Good luck

by Andy Du Garmin

I’ve been a Garmin fan since buying my Forerunner 935 on initial release two years ago. I take some ribbing from Suunto (climbing) and Apple Watch (running) friends, but I’ve been 100% pleased with the decision: the 935 is a great piece of tech, and I’m sure the 945 is as well.

HOWEVER: the Garmin Connect app seems to be getting more disappointing to use as a training tool with each revision. The prevailing style seems to prioritize oversimplified infographics over actually allowing users to review and interact with their data. As an example, I’ve been religiously using “training status” every day for two years to monitor the relationship between my 7-day training load and my target load (based on integrated firstbeat tables), making training adjustments on the fly... Now, when I open GarminConnect , all those brilliantly helpful, adjustable, overlaid charts are gone—they have literally been replaced by a colored icon that says, “Productive.” That icon changes in response to training each day, but I can no longer view the data that underlies it on the fly, rendering this potentially valuable source of insight meaningless within GarminConnect .

Dev team: you’ve had two years here. Please, please, please stop driving GarminConnect towards banal “mass-market cuteness,” and instead, try giving your devoted fanbase more powerful tools to articulate and shape our fitness goals. Would love to see you course correct here.

by Alcheming

I purchased the Fenix 6s a few weeks ago and have been loving the watch with all its bells and whistles. The watch and app is an upgrade compared to Polar, however I wish there were more options to customize things. Like being able to create certain activities (or change the names of the provided activities), or adding additional bed and awake times (I have different wake times on days off), or being able to record and separate naps from overnight sleep and have that data compute to your sleep score. Supposedly, according to the Garmin website, the sleep and wake times that you key in are fixed in that even if you take a nap any recorded data would be in ADDITION to what was computed overnight. Wrong. I took a 2+ hour nap and the data OVERWROTE my overnight sleep. Which is very frustrating when the data is being used for tracking purposes. Aside from that, I find GarminConnect is very limited in its ability to customize or tailor to personal preferences. Perhaps I am just unfamiliar with Connect but I do not want to have to download all or any of the the other Garmin apps JUST to be able to get one or two things to my liking. My phone doesn’t have the space and I don’t like having to constantly switch between apps.

by NickBishop47

I think this is a 5 star level app, but it misses the ability to do 2 things!! So if u would could u please add in these two things:
1) the watch I have had the ability to recognize I’m sleeping and the ability to see hey I’m asleep, what zone I’m in and etc. so is there a way we can establish its ability to recognize my naps. I sleep 4 hours and then wake up almost every night. But then when I try to go back to sleep 30 minutes later or during the day it doesn’t document my sleep. I for this because my average sleep is at 3-4 hours, but I don’t know how much I’m actually sleeping. I’d appreciate you updating this, as I’ve also seen multiple people talking about this via the internet.
2) and I think this is the bigger of the two. The workouts don’t have enough options, it’s like u can run but u can’t run and swim. It’s like u can swim but u can’t swim and workout. I’ve been searching how to do this on the internet, but everything is just running or just swimming or just etc. I think if you added this in at the least I’d be extremely happy.
Thank you so much for reading my review and I’d appreciate you guys putting in these few features!

by Igottabigdisc

PLEASEEE. When viewing a completed activity, running, for instance, please add the ability to see the time for 5k/10k/half marathon. I always pull up the mile checkpoint review page to see mile times, i just would love to see another little stat between miles 3 and 4 that says the time in which i ran 5k, and further metric distances as well (i’m using statute by preference in the USA). I would also like to see the ability to gain the same badge multiple times. And at the end of the activity show you new badges as well as your new total of badges of which you have more than one. Annoying to only get them once. Okay cool you ran 10 miles here’s a badge. It would be satisfying and motivational to be able to accrue multiples of some of these. I imagine a lot of people would strive to collect a benchmark 100 5ks or something. Just some things i hope the developers consider.

After being suspicious of some of the pace times the display has been showing me, I decided to run 3 miles on a track at an even pace. The watch was almost a full 200m early in telling me I ran 3 miles. That really starts to compound on longer runs. Using ViviActive 3 Music.

by Kdiff

I’ve been a been a Garmin user for a long time and at times I really question my loyalty because their software updates for devices frequently cause new issues, loss of functions, etc. (Some issues have taken months to resolve, eg when Strava segments updates weren’t transferring to Garmin devices.) Why am I bringing up device software issues on an app review? It’s because GarminConnect has the same issues, eg I bought a Fenix 5 about 7-8 days ago and it was working great with GarminConnect, I had all the functionality that I was supposed to until I updated the Garmin app this morning. Now the weather and the Physio TrueUp functions aren’t syncing to the watch. All the rest of my software is up to date so it’s not another software issue. Stupid me, for forgetting how many times I’ve updated GarminConnect when everything was already good and only to have a month or two until it finally gets fixed. This cycle repeats itself with Garmin every few months. Apparently there is no testing before an update release. As such, I encourage all to ask “is everything working well? If yes, then do I really need to update GarminConnect ?”

by CRE33

I wanted a watch that was a tool to help monitor sleep, workouts, outdoor activities, heart rate, while also playing music without the need to strap my phone on somehow. I’ve already used the watch for several activities including row, run, walk and the metrics measures by the watch are better than I expected. I’m still finding the capability of the Connect app but I was looking into doing a 5k this spring and was surprised to find the 5k coach.

Battery life and the claim of 500 songs are why it’s 4 stars. I’m not seeing a way to get the 7 days battery unless I strictly use it as a watch and not monitor activities. Music storage is not what was advertised. Maybe advertise it can hold X amount of hours of music because I went to building playlists and it filled up in about 110 songs. I will be checking to see if the length of 1 list just cut out the whole thing and I’ll update if I increase the amount stored.

Overall I’m pleased with my VivoActive 3 Music watch and The Garmin Connect app and I’d recommend it to those looking for a multi tool kind of watch.

by Sbs1628

4 Stars - Jan 2020 update - In January my iphone upgraded to ios13 and since then my FR245 continues to disconnect from GarminConnect and I need to repair them every day. I used the instructions recommended, kudos to Garmin for acknowledging this problem. It’s a real hassle so far, not thrilled about it and haven’t fixed the disconnect on my phone yet.

5 Stars- GarminConnect provides tremendous amount of useful information. I enjoy the format compared to Fitbit in every way. GarminConnect is customizable to each persons preferences in terms of what you want to see and in what order. Works seamlessly with Strava and Myfitness Pal. I’m enjoying it very much and I find GarminConnect to be very satisfying.
-I love how as I read my stats, I can also read about what statistics mean and how Garmin calculates them so seamlessly in GarminConnect .
-I never quite figured out how to use the Garmin coach for marathon training plan in that... I was hoping for interactive videos and audio commands, haven’t figured it out yet and used other training plans for the Marathon. I may try it for a different goal I set for myself to be seen.

by Smytty YOW

I have Bluetooth connectivity problems every few weeks where it won’t automatically upload my roadies from my Edge 520. Not sure if it has to do with updates, or restarting the phone, or whatever. Usually, once I restart both my phone and my GPS, it connects up no problem.
I also use it for connecting to my vivosmart watch/ HR monitor. Works pretty seamlessly for tracking sleep, steps, activities, etc.
I use a Garmin index scale to track my weight, body fat %, hydration ,etc. and it works well to keep all that data together.
I use a different app (MyPlate) to track calories, and for some reason it doubles whatever I’ve burned. Typically, if I ride and burn 2000 calories, GC will tell my iPhone health app that I’ve burned 4000, even though it’s showing 2000 in GC.
If you’re a garmin fan like me, GarminConnect is a must have for stats tracking. However, it’s buggy and needs to be updated.

by Wheredidalldanicknamesgo

Latest update seems to have resolved all of the issues below. I am upgrading my rating to 4 stars since the auto syncing is working flawlessly again and when I manually sync it works exactly as intended. The only reason I’m not going a full 5 stars is due to the amount of time it took them to resolve an issue that wasn’t an issue to begin with.

Since the last update my FR945 has difficulty maintaining connection and syncing with iPhone. iOS 13 latest version. I have to turn off the 945 and restart just to acquire a connection. Then when I attempt to sync the status bar/circle will reach the halfway point and freeze and eventually fail. I have to repeat this process 3-4 times before getting a full sync. Last night it took over an hour to sync the data. Prior to the latest update there were none of these issues and everything worked great. Seems as though Garmin is going backwards? Oh, and I have gone through and adjusted all of the privacy and Bluetooth settings as Garmin has instructed since the latest release.

by Ankush407

I have been using Garmin 645 for about 4 weeks and I really like it. I primarily use it for running, so cannot comment on its utility for strength training. As regards running, I run around 20 miles a week and training for half marathon. I am using the ‘coach’ feature and it is really helpful. I don’t have to spend hours for planning the workouts. The ‘coach’ does it for me. It adapts the upcoming workouts based on current performance. I find the various statistics that Garmin provides useful. However, I doubt if a beginner would need them. They might get overwhelmed or bogged down with such info overload. I don’t think beginners use such sophistication. Until I started long runs (up to 10 miles) I was using Vi earphones. That’s the best thing happened to me in recent times. It was great motivator and made me coming for a run each morning. But it is not accurate and detailed as Garmin. So I switched and it’s a bitter sweet feeling. I am keeping one star because I feel Garmin can do better with the coach feature.

by Mr. Terrarian

I recently purchased a Garmin Forerunner 235, and I enjoy everything about it! It is so useful. It is lightweight, tells you your heartbeat, your VO2 max, recovery time, your aerobic training, and more. I didn’t realize all of the features I wanted were on the watch (there is no swimming, but I don’t really care). GarminConnect is what makes the watch so cool, and it makes it easy to see your mileage. Also, there are badges that you can get, and it makes the workouts feel like a game sometimes, trying to earn the badges. My mom now really wants one of these watches. I guess the downsides are that the watch dies after around three days, with you recording a workout session in all three days that last for around an hour. I don’t know how accurate the Garmin watch is, but I’m just glad that the features are there, because if I wanted more accuracy I would need to go and make myself uncomfortable for the day (heart rate while sleeping, deep and light sleep tracker, heart rate while running, etc). Sometimes it’s uncomfortable after wearing the watch snug for a couple of days. The “move!” Thing on the watch is a little annoying, but the pros outweigh the cons by far, and you even might be able to disable it.

All in all, this is a great brand, and if you are obsessed with health and working out, I would recommend this brand for a lot of people. I got my watch on Black Friday for $150, and I don’t regret it at all.

by Rynatat

I got a Garmin FR645 as a bday gift to myself last June: I run, swim, lift weights, boxing/MMA & just keep active in general. I never realized what I was missing until I upgraded from a FitBit Blaze to Garmin! GPS tracking is on point on the watch & app, training stats are amazing to see where & when I need to adjust intensity & history is great to see how I’ve improved with better tracking abilities from Garmin.
Yes, there are some glitches, but nothing to cry or scream about: pretty much everything tracks, monitors & gives guidance where needed. It’s great to pull up stats after a long run to see if VO2 Max is improving, cadence, HR Zones & pace (for those coveted negative splits!) & see how my cross training improves my running.
The only down side is sleep doesn’t seem as accurate - it’s shown me asleep when I was watching a movie, but I’m more concerned with the other athletic stats so as long as I’m scraping 6+ hours of sleep I know everything else flows well.
I was using MyFitnessPal to track calories consumed which it synced 99% of the time accurately which was nice to see the calories burned/consumed stats. I don’t track there much anymore unless I’m in serious training or trying something new to see how it may affect me but things usually flow between the apps well.
Garmin syncs to MyHealth which syncs to my smart scale so everything is together.
As long as I can keep active I’ll keep Garmin!!

by Koopz23

I use the Garmin Fenix 6 and I could not recommend it more. I’ve ran with it each day for 3 weeks and have also done kayaking and biking. I have only needed to recharge it twice, and the only negative has been a slight lack of tracking under even a few trees.

As for GarminConnect , I would give it 4.5 starts if I could, but have given the benefit of the doubt. All in all it provides very useful information about your performance and overall health, but is slightly lacking in User Interface as opposed to other activity apps. The graphs are often annoying because I have not found out how to choose a point on the graph to see a value, you can only see the trend roughly plotted and guess (this goes for paces from your runs and also things like your heart rate throughout the night). I also find the calendar view largely useless, especially when compared to something like Apple’s activity rings. Don’t get me wrong though, the data Garmin provides is second to none, but largely a function of which watch you have purchased.

In summary, Garmin provides as accurate and useful of info as any company does in the sports watch realm, but could stand to improve accessibility and aesthetics for some of that data in GarminConnect .

by Moeds89

My first Garmin was a Forerunner 610 and it was my absolute favorite watch. Marathons to long trail runs it worked perfectly until one day I hit a tree (embarrassing I know) but I cracked the screen a piece of the screen literally fell off. It still worked for another year! Finally it died and I decided to give the Nike watch a try. I wasn’t crazy about the way it looked and it randomly died on my twice. So I decided to give Fitbit a try... I like Fitbit however, their software on the device has way to many issues for me. And GarminConnect leaves your yearning for more.
Now this leads me to today. I have a fenix 3 hr and between the device and GarminConnect I couldn’t be happier. There are a lot of reviews on here saying about glitches in GarminConnect . The occasional slowness to update from my fitness pal is the only issue I have. And I wouldn’t really call it an issue typically I just have to close GarminConnect and open it back up.
Overall I’ve used a lot of devices that also have apps and this is the best one of them all.

by [OXA]maryjane93

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine talked me into participating in a sprint distance triathlon. Often I’d joke around with friends that my three least favorite activities are running, cycling and swimming. However, I am very competitive and very much into fitness. So I got talked into this triathlon. I knew I had to prepare but I had no idea how to. When all else fails, data is the key. While looking for the ideal fitness tracker, most of them seemed lackluster. When I found Garmin, and realized that they make much more than just GPS devices, I knew that it’d be worth a try. Ordered a Garmin Forerunner 735xt and the running sensor and off I went on my journey.
Everything about GarminConnect is awesome!
From the recovery advisor to the map of your run. The graphs that I show my girlfriend/trainer so that she can help me get better are easy to understand. It feels like it uses minimal battery in the background even when on constantly.
Solid app, great hardware, flawless connectivity so far and I recommend it to all my friends and training partners!

by Mathatalist

I’ve owned various Garmin devices for years. I never liked the “ANT” products. I never liked any of the software mobile/PC. My wife is a Triathlete and has all the Garmin “stuff” you can purchase. I saw from her experience how improved the Garmin software experience is. I own a iPhone X. She purchased the V4 for me Christmas. I was training for a February marathon. I have been very impressed with the software. In the past 2 months maybe 3 times I’ve had to do the full Bluetooth, Phone, watch, shutdown restart. I’ve seldom had to resync. The software I think is amazing. It tells, tracks, shows more than I could ever want. It is like an onion. It has layers and layers of information. My wife’s group included me in in one of their “Challenges”. That function works perfectly. I’ve never used the calendar but it seems to keep track of me to some degree anyway. I normally am a “Big Brother” is out to get me. I threw caution to the wind for the Marathon and turned on all the sharing with Apple Health and all the Garmin Connection software. There was a TON of bio data Garmin wanted. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the software running so well and keeping me up to date.

by JWB457

Overall I really like Garmin app & Garmin products. Am currently on my 5th Garmin watch over 7 year period. I currently use a Garmin 235 and am anxiously awaiting its replacement. I find Garmin Connect has been a very reliable application and has all the data I need. I find it has all features I need and several more that I’ve never gotten into. My only qualm with Garmin over the years is their heart rate measuring devices... to me it’s their weak spot. I have had issues with heart rate straps dating back to my first Forerunner 25 up through my Forerunner 620. I switch to wrist based on 235 and find it’s maybe 90-95% reliable - unfortunately that 5-10% comes at the most inopportune times! Like during the Boston marathon in 2017 or other critical races or workout. Actually it’s the Garmin Connect app that kept me with Garmin running watches. I know Polar does a better job tracking heart rate but I like the Garmin Connect app enough, plus have years of data on it. Am hoping that improvements to the 235 replacement will include better more reliable heart rate tracking...

by KOhio

Downloaded the latest update. Nothing has changed. Zero stars.

Another update WHY AM I EXPECTED TO SIGN IN EVERY DAY WHEN I POWER UP MY PHONE? I’ve figured out how to skip it since I don’t have my password, but then my step card and sleep card have disappeared and the card order is wrong.
Update: signed out/back in and the missing cards reappeared. Now waiting for the connectivity and sync issues to be fixed.
Have a Vivosmart 4. Downloaded app a few weeks ago on tablet. I’ve had to reorder the cards 6 times on my iPad already - I’m sure it would have been more if I logged into Connect on my tablet every day. Downloaded the new iOS on iPhone today. The cards on phone app aren’t in MY chosen order, but wait, I can’t reorder cards that are missing. I’ve gone to edit my day and there’s no sleep or step card. There’s no hidden cards showing either. Stats from both are still showing on the main screen however. Horrible. Otherwise takes too long to connect with Bluetooth, randomly switches between devices, floor count is completely off, hydration- glad to see it but why isn’t it a card?, I love being able to see the minutes of different sleep modes by moving my finger on the screen (Best improvement ever) but need this for hourly step count too.

by 333M333

Still really a terrible app. Much improved but still garbage. Does not sync correctly nor remember manually entered data reliably. Saves almost no data — if you want to know, eg, yesterday’s step count, GarminConnect needs an internet connection. (And it’ll then require a sync with your watch, which may take 60 seconds.) If you want to know the same information 60 seconds later, it needs an internet connection. (And it might want to sync with your watch again before displaying the info, so that’s another 30-60 seconds,) Why can’t it save a day’s worth of stats, at least? And it’s slow connecting too.
Stress detector is totally unscientific and stress-inducing and awful. It’s the worst. The methodology is opaque and you can’t adjust obvious errors. You can hide it but you can’t turn it off. So an inaccurate measurement of your stress level is always lurking.
Very limited sharing options. Basically you can share everything or nothing. If you want to share your course/route, you have to share your heart rate too and everything else. Since I don’t want to share my heart rate, I can’t share anything with anyone (unless I stop measuring my heart rate, but why not simply give me more reasonable sharing options ?)

by Flygirl1973

I had GarminConnect and wore the watch years ago (vivofit 2) but got frustrated with myself; self competition got old. My original review was a 1 star (after an update) because I couldn’t edit or find runs that came out as walks (9 min miles aren’t THAT slow) and my HR was missing most of the time. Fast forward to the last month where I’m back on a health kick and have moved to a farm, curious to see what my activity level is. GarminConnect is slow to sync, slow to look at different days and activities. It still shows workouts as as a walk or shows I walked 47 min only going .03 miles....I walk the perimeters of our fields with our dogs that I know are approx 1.5 miles depending on the route. So what the heck? Is it that GarminConnect is old, or the watch is old or that I’m on an iPhone 7 which seems to work fine with just about everything else. I’m still not satisfied with this product-5 years later. On the flip side I now know my general step count per day and a general idea of calories burned even if it doesn’t see my workouts and me sweating to the sound of my lungs collapsing under all this heat in TN!

by Macclthc

I am a Garmin Fan Boy. I have used their product both watches and bike computers for years. I like the Ecco system and I like the hardware functionality. However, the connectivity has been consistently and very disappointingly mediocre at best. I recently got the Garmin Edge 830 and it worked reasonably well and now I literally have not been able to connect the device to GarminConnect for a couple of weeks. This may finally be the straw that breaks the camels back and may return the Edge 830 and abandon Garmin devises for Wahoo. I hate that this is the case as I am very happy with the hardware but the software ecosystem is just plain and simple unreliable. It is Bluetooth and 2019 why can the software engineers not figure this one out. I know I am not alone. More and more people I ride with are abandoning Garmin because they can’t figure this out. I even had a bike shop that carries both Garmin and Wahoo tell me not to get the Garmin and to get the cheeper Wahoo because they are getting so many complaints about this. I guess I should have listened. This may be my first app review but it is so frustrating that I had to share.

by Kimnoberly

I love it! I’m on my 2nd one. Only because the first one fell off and I lost it. I did check each day and someone else was wearing it. Sad about that. And all the data was lost, I ordered a new one and I had to start all over again with earning badges and all the miles I had walked. That’s the only bad thing about it., plus it only lasts for about 2 years then you have to start all over again with a new watch. I wear mine every day and only remove for swimming and showering, even though it’s waterproof. I do like GarminConnect , but my one other Quam about it is, is you can add other activities but I sit and sew for 8 hours a day even though I’m not walking I’m still using a pedal. I have a new Fitbit when this one dies to wear that I won at work. But I wish there was a battery to replace so al the data logged wouldn’t be lost each time you have to get a new one.

by Nino876

I must start off by saying I love GarminConnect, it is my go to and probably the one I spend the most time in! Some improvements are still needed:

1. Allow users to customize sleep hours! My goal is 7 hours but Garmin doesn’t allow this setting to be modified! You only have 8 as an option I tend to never make this goal which throws off my daily card showing that I made all of my goals! My health and fitness team recommends 6-9 hours I’m not certain if this is a general health standard but Garmin should at least allow us to set it within this range!

2. The watch menus “in GarminConnect ” -can use a overhaul “Activities,Apps and More” should be collapsed as a single section which includes “data fields” and “widgets” currently they fall under appearance! I get it Garmin is trying to make it simpler for non-technical users however, I think with less menus and more grouping it would improve workflow! Btw, it used to be this way they changed it some time a go!

3. GarminConnect Store needs to be more integrated! It seems that Garmin should let GarminConnect include apps from the AppStore without launching a browser within GarminConnect ! I would suggest putting GarminConnect Store directly below the watch on the main menu, allow the api to talk directly to the store and have it better embedded into GarminConnect !

Overall I can live with GarminConnect without these features however it would be nice to see them in a future release!