Garmin Connect running in background in Android

Hi there,

I've just bought a VivoActive 5 watch, and I use it for sports mostly. I don't need or want the app on my phone to run all the time, I want to use the app only for sync and looking at results, but have no real-time use for the app at all. I even find it frustrating: it starts to give audio messages during my biking that I don't want, for example.

How to prevent the app from running in the background continuously? Is that at all possible? For me, this is not ok: it is my phone, I want to decide what runs and what doesn't. Else, I should uninstall/re-install it every time?

Any ideas/thoughts here? I've tried all settings in the Connect app, played around with app permissions in android and looked at battery settings also, but to no avail so far.

Kind regards, Hans

  • How to prevent the app from running in the background continuously?

    Just force-stop it.

    force stop an android app - Google Search

  • How about removing Garmin Connect Mobile completely from your phone? You can still use wifi on your watch to sync it, and use Garmin Connect Web on your phone to view results.

  • You can force stop it, but it is designed to be running in the background like many other apps so it will auto start. You need to make the operating system prevent it from auto starting. Usually that can be done in the battery saver on the phone.

    On my phone (Pixel 6 Pro) I can disable "Allow background usage" which will stop it from running in the background.

  • Ok,

    Just selecting to stop it from the running apps overview and then clicking '2 active in background' and selecting stop, that does not work: it restarts itself. I already did disable 'allow background usage'. If you go to settings and then under apps, you can actually do the 'force stop' as selected: I thought it was the equivalent of the other stop, apparently, it is not. So, it seems that is a cumbersome way to indeed get it to stop running in the background.

    I know other apps also do this. I dislike all this forceful behaviour, both on all kinds of notifications and on this background running behaviour. As a suggestion to Garmin: just ask me what I want upon installation, or even ask me first if I want to go with default settings or if I want to tweak behaviour and to what extend (simple, advanced). I just want control over my own phone and apps, and my phone talking to me when I use to watch to record a bike trip, that's just not ok for me without my explicit consent. I guess a lot of users like the convenience or just take it is it comes, but for me, I just want specific uses and not the whole shabang that I didn't ask for.

    Force stop, learned something here again, thank you e7andy!

  • my phone talking to me when I use to watch to record a bike trip, that's just not ok for me without my explicit consent

    You can disable that in the settings. It is the audio prompts.