Related

Music Manager (Mac/Silicon) now on GitHub

RickyDive

GMM is a Mac app that sends songs, albums and playlists from your Music library to your Garmin over USB, no Garmin Express needed: it is meant for anyone having trouble with Garmin's current macOS app. It creates the folders, checks that every file arrived, avoids duplicates and rebuilds the .m3u8 playlists.

  • Custom Playlist: build, reorder, save, or edit a playlist already on the watch
  • Artwork from Apple Music, with optional online lookup and confirmation
  • Storage bar, counts, safe deletion of tracks
  • Mini player with AirPlay, Liquid Glass interface, Italian and English

Requirements: Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 26.6 or later, a Garmin watch with music. Tested on the fenix 9 Pro. Formats MP3, M4A, AAC; DRM, cloud-only and Apple Lossless tracks are excluded.

Status: 2.0 Beta 3. Built for Apple Silicon, in Xcode and with the help of Claude (Anthropic). It is independent and not affiliated with Garmin or Apple. The firmware update check is optional and, if enabled, sends the contents of GarminDevice.xml to Garmin.

A question for you: is there any interest in an alternative to Garmin Express for managing music? I'd like to know whether others would find it useful.

If there is enough response, I will open a GitHub channel to properly distribute the package and the setup instructions.

PS: Developed in 2 Weeks.....

MusicManager-2.1-Beta1-Info.pdf

  • 0

    Musical note Music Manager 2.1 Beta 1 is now on GitHub!

    Music Manager is a macOS app that transfers music, albums and playlists from the Music app to your Garmin watch over USB, and lets you manage what's on it.

    Package Download the app (DMG) and the full source code:

    https://github.com/RickyDive/musicmanager

    White check mark Requirements: Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 26 or later. No Homebrew needed: the required libraries are bundled.

    Warning️ The app isn't notarized (I don't have an Apple Developer account), so on first launch macOS will ask for a manual approval. Step-by-step instructions are in the README.

    test tube So far, the app has only been tested by me, my family and a few friends. From now on I'd really love feedback from a wider audience.

    Lock Privacy & safety
    • The app doesn't modify or delete anything already in your Music library. The only thing it can add to Music is a playlist, in its own folder, and only when you explicitly choose to save one.
    • Deleting files only happens on the watch, on request and after a confirmation.
    • No analytics or tracking. The only optional feature that contacts Garmin's servers (software update check) is off by default.
    • Diagnostic information is copied only when you ask for it, so you can read it before sharing.

    Beetle It's not perfect, and that's exactly why I'm asking for your help. If you hit a problem, please tell me:
    1. In the app: Help ▸ Copy Diagnostic Information
    2. Then Help ▸ Send Feedback, which opens the GitHub Issues page (a free GitHub account is required)
    3. Paste the diagnostics and describe what happened, which watch model you have and the steps to reproduce it. Help ▸ Show Log in Finder gives you the log file if needed.

    Bug reports, ideas and "it worked fine on my watch" are all welcome.

    Thank you to everyone who tries it!

    #Garmin #macOS #Music #Swift #OpenSource #BetaTest