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mom & pop's for christmas

Will be spending the next week with my parents for the christmas holidays. If any updates come through for my Garmin stuff I'll have to wait till I get home to install as there's no computer here.

Has Garmin ever thought of enabling the Android GC mobile app to push firmware updates to suitable garmin kit i.e. those with wifi so users aren't slaved to their home desktop?

Merry christmas everyone!

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Yes, there are several Garmin products that update "over the air" via the Android app. Examples: the Vivofit and the Vivosmart. What specific product do you have a question about?

0 indyrunner over 10 years ago

I'd like to see all Garmin products that have the ability to update "over the air" do so. So that would include the latest versions of Forerunner, Edge, Fenix and Virb etc. Is there any reason why they can't or shouldn't be able to do this?

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Is there any reason why they can't or shouldn't be able to do this?

Technically, no, there isn't any reason why all firmware updates could not go over-the-air. However, some of these updates are rather large, and the decision whether or not to use BLE (bluetooth low energy) to update firmware on Garmin devices is a difficult one, because there needs to be a balance between "features" and battery life. BLE throughput isn't all that great, compared to WI-FI or classic Bluetooth. Over BLE, for example, it could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours (depending on a LOT of factors) to send a firmware update to a Fenix watch from an Android device. For the Fenix, this really isn't the best use of the BLE technology. For the vivofit and vivosmart, it is a good use of the technology.