Users can expect enhanced health monitoring, safety and expanded activity profiles with improved accuracy and user experience
New Delhi, 27th July 2022 – Continuing on their goal to provide better and more accurate data to their users, Garmin® International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) today announced substantial software updates across a wide range of their smartwatch. The new updates will allow the latest users to upgrade their health monitoring and safety features. They will further provide expanded activity profiles and optimized user experience.
Featuring Garmin’s proprietary Health Science data including advanced sleep monitoring, intensity minutes and fitness age, the new software update will deliver an expanded and enhanced list of sports activities, supporting more customer needs for varying active lifestyles and sports preferences. Additionally, the patch will also add a plethora of updates to the user experience for greater day-to-day usability.
Equipped with Firstbeat Analytics engine, Garmin provides advanced analytics for both wellness and performance. This also enables users to seamlessly utilize the data on their wrist to keep closer tabs on their health wellness and performance. The comprehensive suite of data allows the users to pick up on their own health trends, improve their training, and ultimately understand their body and health better.
Commenting on the new software updates, Sky Chen, Regional Director Garmin Southeast Asia & India stated “Accuracy of data has always been a focal point of our research. We want to be able to provide accurate data to our users and that is precisely what this new update is aimed towards. We consistently collect customer feedback on their user experience and how we can improve their experience. We use that information to consistently optimize our software so that we’re able to deliver the best possible user experience. That is also the reason we’ve insisted on improvements such as regular software updates so that consumers can use our smartwatches for longer durations. By doing so, we’re able to ensure that users can enjoy our products in more aspects of their daily lives.”
Here’s what’s new1 in the latest software update:
Health Monitoring Enhancements
- Advanced sleep tracking – Improved on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, new combined restlessness score and graph
- Intensity Minutes widget update – New Intensity Minutes widget for users to gauge their intensity minutes each day
- Breathwork Activity and Respiration widget – New Breathwork activity and Respiration Rate data field and Respiration widget in the Instinct 2 Series
- Body Battery Algorithm update – Enhanced algorithm in the Instinct 2 Series
- Fitness Age display – Newly added Fitness Age display to user profile settings
Safety Feature Improvements
- Incident detection update – Updated Incident Detection recognition across different activities including Walking, Hiking and generic use. Available in selected models
- Updated user experience for Safety and Tracking – Easily share a message with your live location with preselected contacts, or pre-designate an emergency contact so that in case of emergencies, your watch can instantly help call for help.
*When paired with a compatible smartphone. See safety and tracking features requirements and limitations.
Expanded Sports Activities List
- New sports activities including Horseback Riding, Tennis, Jump Rope across selected models
* Jump Rope download via Connect IQ App
- Added Green Contours support to Golf activity – Pair with the Garmin Golf app to see the slope direction of the green on selected courses right from your watch
- Enhanced Run/ Walk/ Standing detection – Enhanced algorithm to improve detection for stops during activities, and added Run/Walk/Standing detection to the activity summary page for running sports
- Updated Up Ahead – Updated Up Ahead feature to support imported GPX file for the latest outdoor range of watches
User Interface Improvements
- Garmin Connect App Real-time Settings keyboard – Newly added feature to modify settings in Garmin Connect mobile app across latest Outdoor models
- Additional metrics in post activity summary – Added post-activity metrics including Acclimation, Pace, Detailed Speed, Bouldering metrics, Strength metrics and Indoor Climbing metrics across corresponding activities
The Garmin smart watch user can download the updates via Garmin Express.
| Devices | Updates |
| Fēnix 7, Epix, Tactix 7, Quatix 7 | Newly added sports activities: Horseback Riding, Fishing, Jump Rope (requires download via Connect IQ)Added Green Contours support to golf. With your active Garmin Golf™ app membership, you can plan your best approach shot and sink your putt with green contour dataAdded Acclimation, Pace, Detailed Speed, Bouldering Metrics, Strength Metrics, and Indoor Climbing Metrics to post activity summary UIUpdated Up Ahead feature to support imported GPX fileAdded Run/ Walk/ Idle detection to the activity summary page for running activityAdded Goal Streak tracking to Steps widget. allow goal streaks for steps to sync between device and Garmin ConnectFitness Age display added to User Profile settingsAdded new watch face data field types: 3-item data fields, sunrise/sunset, calories, alternate time zones, Body Battery, stepsAdded Enhanced Strength functionality, which includes an improved workout preview with a muscle map, improved user interface in free and workout modes, and improvements to the Rep and Weight editing experienceAdded backlight keys settings adjustment using touchscreen or button controlsImprovements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, including a new combined Restlessness score and graphAdded Streak display to Steps widgetAdded ability to toggle smart notifications in notifications and alerts menuImproved ability to modify settings in Garmin Connect mobile appUpdated language translations and bug fixes |
| Fēnix 6, Marq, Enduro, Tactix Delta Solar | Newly added sports activities: Horseback Riding, Jump Rope (requires download via Connect IQ)Added Enhanced Strength functionality, which includes an improved workout preview with a muscle map, improved user interface in free and workout modes, and improvements to the Rep and Weight editing experienceUpdated Incident Detection to better distinguish between supported and unsupported activitiesAdded Run/ Walk/ Idle detection to the activity summary page for running activityAdded Goal Streak tracking for Steps and Floors Climbed widgetsAdded animation to progress arc when viewing the Intensity Minutes widgetUpdated support for Shimano Di2Updated support for Varia RCT 715 widgetUpdated inReach messaging to now allow the watch to send messages up to 160 characters in lengthImprovements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, including a new combined Restlessness score and graphAdded support for syncing resting heart rate across devicesOther minor improvements and bug fixes |
| Instinct 2 | Newly added sports activities: Horseback Riding, Tennis, Snowshoeing, Track Run, Pilates and Yoga, Breathwork, Jump Rope (requires download via Connect IQ)Added support for bike radar and lightsAdded the Respiration Rate and Active Calories data fieldsAdded the new Body Battery, new Intensity Minutes, Respiration widgetsAdded watch face data field options for Pulse Ox, Recovery Time, Training Status, 7 Day Load, VO2 Max, and Weekly Run/Bike DistanceAdded Run/ Walk/ Idle detection to the activity summary page for running activityAdded Goal Streak tracking for Steps and Floors Climbed widgetsAdded Fitness Age display to User Profile settingsImproved ability to modify settings in Garmin Connect mobile appAdded support for Hydration Tracking app (requires download via Connect IQ)Improvements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, including a new combined Restlessness score and graphImproved the Health Snapshot widget to allow hot keys when not in an active health snapshot readingOther minor improvements and bug fixes |
| Forerunner 945/745/ 245 Music(Forerunner 745 will update in August) | Newly added sports activities: Jump Rope (requires download via Connect IQ)Added Enhanced Strength functionality, which includes an improved workout preview with a muscle map, improved user interface in free and workout modes, and improvements to the Rep and Weight editing experienceImprovements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, including a new combined Restlessness score and graphAdded Run/ Walk/ Idle detection to the activity summary page for running activityAdded support for syncing resting heart rate across devices Added a new alert to notify the user that the Wrist Heart Rate Sensor is disabled. This alert will be displayed whenever accessing a heart rate-related glance while the wrist heart rate sensor is turned off on the deviceAdded new notification to inform user that Wi-Fi networks configured to WEP security are no longer supportedUpdated support for Shimano Di2Updated support for Varia RCT 715 widgetOther minor improvements and bug fixes |
| Venu 2, Venu 2 Plus Series | Added new activities: Tennis, Snowshoeing, Pickleball, and Paddle, Jump Rope (requires download via Connect IQ)Added support for syncing resting heart rate across devicesAdded Run/ Walk/ Idle detection to the activity summary page for running activityImprovements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging, including a new combined Restlessness score and graphImproved the user experience for Incident Detection and AssistanceAdded support for syncing step Goal Streak with Garmin Connect appAdded Voice Assistant volume slider to settings (Venu 2 Plus Only)Added additional Voice Assistant and Bluetooth calling improvements (Venu 2 Plus Only) Fixed a bug where music doesn’t pause when Voice Assistant is activated, and will now resume after the Voice Assistant is completed (Venu 2 Plus Only)Fixed a bug where users could get stuck on the call page if the phone did not respond to a hang up attempt (Venu 2 Plus Only)Fixed an issue where invalid distances could be shown on the golf front-middle-back pageOther minor improvements and bug fixes |
| Vívomove Sport Series | Improvements made to Safety Tracking featureAdded support for syncing resting heart rate across devicesAdded support for syncing step Goal Streak with Garmin Connect appAdded next pose/ move button in Yoga/Pilates activitiesRectified the syncing of the hydration value between device and Garmin Connect appImprovements to display smart notifications smoothlyAdded battery status when connected via USB |
