Garmin Connect Android Notifications broken

7397559 13 days ago

Starting with the October 8^th 2025 5.18 Android release, notifications sent from phone to watch no longer vibrate the watch.

I wear a Garmin Forerunner 255 and use a Google Pixel 9A with the latest version of Android as well as the most up to date security release.

If I set a timer or alarm on the watch, it will vibrate at the conclusion of said timer/alarm, but all notifications received on the phone sent to the watch simply do not vibrate it.

It is not related to “do not disturb”, that setting is turned off.

I downgraded to the 5.17.2 and the watch started to vibrate on phone notifications again. Therefore, as far as I can tell it is a software bug with Garmin Connect version 5.18.

EDIT: This seems to be related to Androids own "Do Not Distrub", previously Garmin Connect would ignore Androids Do Not Disturb setting, but now it is following it.

I have tried to escalate this to the Garmin Android Dev team (reachable at [email protected] - I'd suggest people also try to reach out), but the person who responded to my emails was unable to understand the issue, even after pointing them to this forum post & others on social media.

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0 wxrocks 4 days ago

Add me to the list of people who think this change, which they say was intentional but not in the release notes, is an awful change. I want my watch behavior to be customized from my phone behavior, not a mirror.

0 wxrocks 4 days ago

So this change was intentional according to Garmin, but not in the release notes. I don't want my watch to mirror my phone. I want to be able to customize their behavior independently.

Put a toggle switch in the app. It cannot be that hard if a code change that wasn't big enough for the release notes could change it.

0 EndlessVoids 2 days ago

Glad to see there is a thread already made about this issue. I can't stand all the noises my phone makes without it being on DND. That's one of the main reasons I got a Venu 3 after my Fitbit died. My Fitbit had the ability to receive messages even through DND and I really enjoyed that function.

Just to clarify, is the android.dev email address who we reach to complain about this issue or do I need to contact someone elsewhere? I want to escalate this issue as well.

0 seilogramp 1 day ago in reply to EndlessVoids

EndlessVoids said:
do I need to contact someone elsewhere?

Easiest to start with Garmin Support , where you should see 3 options for contacting support. If you fill out the form, it will end up being an email dialog from Garmin. If you prefer to start with email, you can use [email protected]

0 EndlessVoids 1 day ago in reply to seilogramp

Thank you for your reply!

0 JonWallsten 1 day ago

Chiming in here. The watch has its own DnD settings, so why should they sync with the phone's DnD? Worst case, make it a user settings. This is clearly not a wanted behavior.

0 7635496 5 hours ago in reply to wxrocks

As far as I can see, the release notes for the app are ALWAYS:

"Garmin Connect is constantly working to improve your experience and help you beat yesterday. This version includes bug fixes to improve device functionality."