Garmin Connect is breaking smartwatches for iPhone users, but these fixes have worked for some

• A recent Garmin Connect update has disconnected users’ wearables
• The problem seems to be limited to iOS, with Android unaffected
• Solutions have been proposed, but they might not work for everyone

Garmin Connect has proven to be controversial since it launched, but that’s mostly been confined to how it locks certain features behind a pricey paywall. Yet now the discontent has broadened, as the latest update to the software has disconnected many users’ wearables and smartwatches from the service and left them unable to sync their progress.

The problem has been variously reported to have arisen with the 5.21 and 5.21.1 updates, and users are venting their frustrations across social media. Posts are flooding Reddit, for example, as spotted by Gadgets & Wearables. It’s left users exasperated with the disruption to their routines and with the inability of Garmin Connect to work with their existing devices.

Writing on Reddit, user Fantastic-Class-8252 explained that “I just updated my app on the iPhone, and now it says I have no watch connected to the app!!” That was backed up by other users, including PrimaryHuckleberry11, who said in another post that they “updated today on my iPhone and I lost all devices from the app.”

Incidentally, the problems seem to be confined to iOS, with Android users of Garmin Connect indicating that their app was running without issue. That suggests the problem lies with how the Garmin Connect app interacts with some element of iOS, and that the latest update broke this functionality.

We've asked Garmin if it's aware of the problem or has as estimated timescale for a fix to be rolled out, and will update this story as soon as we hear back.

What can you do?

Some users have posted solutions in the Reddit posts’ comment sections, with the claim that they were able to get things working again.

One user, for example, explained that they first needed to remove their wearable device from Garmin Connect’s web app. After that, they removed their wearable from the list of paired Bluetooth devices in the iOS Settings app. Once that was done, they were able to re-add their device in the Garmin Connect app.

For others, the solution was slightly different. This user suggested opening the Garmin Connect app then, while it is looking for connected devices, switching to the settings screen on your Garmin watch and heading to Connectivity > Phone > Pair Phone. This should make your watch appear in the app, whereupon you can set it up like a new device in Garmin Connect.

That said, not everyone has been successful with these methods. The issue also appears to affect a variety of Garmin wearables, so there’s no guarantee that what works for one product will succeed for another.

If you’ve fallen victim to this problem, it’s worth trying the methods mentioned above. But if you still can’t connect your wearable, you might have to wait for a patch to be released that gets things working the way they should again.

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