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Garmin Connect Mobile Android Galaxy S6 - Vivosmart losing bluetooth connection

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Galaxy S6 - Vivosmart losing bluetooth connection

Former Member over 9 years ago

Greetings,

First of all - Thank you for the great product and the great app.

I had an OTA firmware update of the Android on my Galaxy S6 several days ago (to Lollipop 5.1.1), after the update it started to have constant "Bluetooth connection lost" issues between the Vivosmart and the Phone. I even did the "factory reset" on the phone but the problem persisted. It feels like it has something to do with the Connect app and S6 Lollipoop 5.1.1 compatibility, because the device was working smoothly before the OTA firmware update.

P.S. Even before the update of the firmware I had to re-grant permission to Connect app for the "Notification Access" after every night (I switch on Airplane Mode during nights). How normal was the regular permission authorization request? It feels like it should be only a one time request during the initial pairing.

Please advise,

V

0 Mase73 over 9 years ago

The same with Fenix 3

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I have the same issue with my Samsung Note 5. No issues betire with my iPhone 6, Samsung Note 4 or my Huawei Ascend 7 Gold mate.

0 AndySix over 9 years ago

Unfortunately it seems like quite a common issue for Samsung phones:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?300508-Samsung-S6-Edge-Compatiblity
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?320056-Samsung-Galaxy-S6-connection-problems
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?324328-Often-need-to-initiate-manual-sync-to-get-the-bluetooth-connection-up

Looks like the Samsung memory management kills the GCM app from memory. Starting the app will almost immideately reconnect.

I also have a Sony Smartband Talk that I have used with my S6 edge and it does not have this issue.

I hope Garmin developers will be able to figure out a way to make GCM resident in the memory of the phone at all times SOON!

0 markford1 over 9 years ago

I'm having the same notification problem with my Garmin Forerunner 620 and my Motorola Moto X. The 620 does not have any smart watch features or activity tracker (pedometer) -- so I do not need to keep it connected to bluetooth after my workout and I disconnect my watch properly! This connection lost notification is especially annoying!

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Continuous disconnects between S6 and vivofit

Apparently somehow the background processes of GCM on Galaxy S6 are getting killed when the app is getting killed by the OS. If I kill the app from the task manager I get the exact same behavior or if I open multiple apps.
Only if I restart the Garmin application it reconnects instantly and ask for notification access even though it already has access granted.

This is clearly something that can be fixed as I have installed PushBullet which has similar functionality (sends notifications to PCs) and it never gets killed.

It's really annoying to see this happening and knowing this can be fixed.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Apparently somehow the background processes of GCM on Galaxy S6 are getting killed when the app is getting killed by the OS. If I kill the app from the task manager I get the exact same behavior or if I open multiple apps.
Only if I restart the Garmin application it reconnects instantly and ask for notification access even though it already has access granted.

This is clearly something that can be fixed as I have installed PushBullet which has similar functionality (sends notifications to PCs) and it never gets killed.

It's really annoying to see this happening and knowing this can be fixed.

You are right, the S6 agressive Activity Manager kills the Garmin Connect app... here is what the eventlog reveals:
10-04 18:13:51.132 I/am_kill (23360): [0,17381,com.garmin.android.apps.connectmobile,1,stop com.garmin.android.apps.connectmobile cause SPCM kill lowestscore package!]

So, in other words the S6 thinks the Connect app is just trash that can be thrown out. Either Garmin has to make the app seem more of a priority or install a custom ROM on your phone that handles memory better. I've already tried Greenify and various RAM-handle apps without any result, the core issue has to be solved by Samsung on a deeper level.

0 TheoKaden over 9 years ago

Same here, S6 and Vivoctive

Hello,

Yes, it is really annoying, that nothing happens. I've used my Vivoacitve without any problems with my Samsung Galaxy S4.
Beginning with my new Galaxy S6 the Bluetooth Connection is'nt working anymore. If connected, short time later the watch it is disconnected again.
That is SOOOO bad from Garmin, not the error itself, but that nothing happens!

Theo

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I've found a solution to this problem with Galaxy S6 running 5.1.1. Unfortunatly it's not the best solution since it requires that you root your phone, which is easy but it breaks Samsug Pay if you're using that.
Until Samsung or Garmin patches the issue, this keeps SPCM (Activity manager) from killing the Garmin Connect app:

In the file .\system\build.prop, replace the following line:
sys.config.spcm_enable=true
with
sys.config.spcm_enable=false

Cheers!

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

so do we have so far any official information from Garmin... any ideas if they are actually working on a solution?

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

to admins: can we put this problem to the official list of "known issues"?
the Samsung Galaxy S6 is certainly one of the best-selling phones right now and it appears our garmins are rather useless without a fix :(