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Garmin Connect never stays connected to device for more than half a day

Former Member over 8 years ago

Device: Vivoactive HR, iPhone 5C.
Vivoactive firmware version: 2.6
Garmin Connect app version: 3.8.2.0
iOS version: 9.3.3 (13G34)

The Garmin Connect on my iPhone never stays connected to my Vivoactive HR for more than half a day after the last time Garmin Connect app is opened+. The Bluetooth icon on my Vivoactive HR just disappears and every widget that requires connection to Garmin Connect stops working. As soon as I re-open Garmin Connect on my phone, the Bluetooth icon on the watch re-appears and everything starts working again, but only for a few more hours (less than half a day) and the same problem occurs again.

The Bluetooth icon on the my iPhone is constantly displayed in solid white (indicating connection with another device), and since Vivoactive HR is the only Bluetooth device I have that is paired with the phone, I assume the hardware connection is just fine and the problem lies in the software connection between the app and the watch.

I've enabled background refresh for the Garmin Connect app and never close the app through the app list that shows up after double-clicking the home button. So theoretically it should be always running in the background and maintain software connection with the watch.

It's pretty annoying to have to keep re-opening the Garmin Connect app on my phone just to have the watch stay connected and the widgets working.

Anyone having the same problem?

0 lakaw over 8 years ago

I have not...
vaHR 2.6.0
GCM 3.8.2.0
6S+ 9.3.3

Only time I've seen the BT icon disappear from the vaHR screen is when I swim.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I would like to add that I've found the BT icon on my vaHR missing 100% of the time when I wake up in the morning (and my watch is right next to my phone the whole night).
So every morning I'd have to re-open Garmin Connect on my iPhone 5C to re-established the software connection.
The BT icon on my phone is still showing so I assume hardware connection is fine.
Or, another possibility would be that it's the watch that's failing the software connection.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I would like to add that I've found the BT icon on my vaHR missing 100% of the time when I wake up in the morning (and my watch is right next to my phone the whole night).
So every morning I'd have to re-open Garmin Connect on my iPhone 5C to re-established the software connection.
The BT icon on my phone is still showing so I assume hardware connection is fine.
Or, another possibility would be that it's the watch that's failing the software connection.

I'm seeing the same behavior.
vaHR: 2.74
GCM 3.8.2.0
iPhone: 6
iOS: 9.3.3

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Update:

GCM now connects just fine during the day.
However, 100% of the time, I wake up in the morning and find that the BT icon on the watch is gone.
Only after I re-open GCM on my iPhone does the watch's BT icon re-appear (the BT icon on the phone shows all the time).
Having to re-open GCM every single morning is really annoying.
GCM seems to have trouble "staying awake" in the background (frozen by the OS or crashed), even with background refresh turned on for GCM.
One of my theories is that the "Normal Bed/Wake time" settings in GCM is messing with the GCM background refresh, as the disconnection only happens between the Normal Bed Time and Normal Wake Time, at least it's been this way since I bought the watch a couple weeks ago.

Thoughts?

P.S. How frequent do Garmin engineers review this forum? If I can get into direct email contact with one, I'd be glad to help debugging. I really want this watch and GCM to be perfect.

0 ASmugDill over 8 years ago

P.S. How frequent do Garmin engineers review this forum?

I don't know, but it would be entirely at their discretion whether to visit/read this forum; they have no obligation – either to the company or to you – inherent in their position's job duties to review posts on here looking for things to do.

If I can get into direct email contact with one, I'd be glad to help debugging.

That's up to Garmin, but you can call or email Product Support in the first instance, away from open view.

I really want this watch and GCM to be perfect.

It will never be perfect, and it's a just a product on commercial offer, so all it need do is deliver enough. There will always be upgraded/superior models you can buy (which will still not be perfect, just ‘better’) when Garmin gets around to offering them in the market.