I am very disappointed in the changes Garmin has made to the Farmin Connect App. In order to continue use the Livetrack feature you have to sign over the access to all your contacts. This is nothing sort of a bulling data grab and Garmin should be assamed of this new policy.
This is unacceptable. It is invasive, and 100% unnecessary. Livetrack was a feature offered when I paid for this computer (520xt), and now, in order to continue using it you are demanding access to all of my contact files. Not just the ones I want to be able to follow me... ALL OF THEM.
The collection of my personal data to be stored on your servers is not needed to provide the service I paid for.
If you were giving away the computers for free, or dramatically subsidizing them (ala the way smart TVs are dramatically cheaper than they should be, because the manufacturer is monetizing the data collected), then a consumer could knowingly consider whether or not trading access to their data was worth a low price. But this wasn't free. Nor were the three Garmin watches I purchased in the last few years.
I specifically chose this computer because it had Livetrack. I paid for Livetrack.
My personal data is no more free than the products I have purchased from you were.
Guess what... I'm officially looking for a new bike computer and watch company.
Livetrack no longer works without my giving permission for Garmin to upload all of my contacts, close to 400 people, who have no interest whatsoever in my cycling. That's unacceptable. I would not want them to compromise my personal information like that and I have no intention of doing it to them. I've overlooked a lot of Garmin shortcomings throughout the years like monopolistic approach to crushing competition, ever increasing software flaws, lack of true innovation since the early 2000s, ridiculously high prices for what you get, the inability to use Garmin Connect to do a route without the website crashing, the current predicament in which this site is logging me off with no warning today as I write this comment, the constant need to prove I am not a robot on a forum that is almost useless, et al., but the harvesting of personal data is just too much. I am now evaluating Wahoo as a replacement to complete my divestiture of Garmin products. No way I' doing business with companies that act like Facebook and Google. You have no valid reason to use my personal information and the information of everyone I've ever had contact with in my life and profit from it. This message isn't really for Garmin as I know Garmin doesn't care. This message is for other cyclists like myself.
CyberRafale - I am sorry that you feel that you feel this way and I am sorry you have misunderstood how this feature has changed. You can find a response to a similar concern about contacts with LiveTrack here.
I had a perfectly functioning Edge 305, and bought a new Edge 520+ because my wife wanted to know where to find me if I crashed in a remote area, as there are many where I ride. She paid half of the cost of the 520+ in order to get this feature. Then it disappeared. No explanation, no ETA for a fix, and I still don't know if Auto Start is going to work.
In addition to constant problems synching with my Moto G phone, I am now sorry I didn't buy a Wahoo system. The arrogance and total disregard for your customers is appalling and disgusting, as well as being dangerous to us users. Absolutely incensed Garmin has chosen to be such clueless asses about this whole matter. I used to think you guys were the best thing since sliced bread.
The trust is gone. What isn't going to work next? If you're going to break something, SAY SOMETHING. Writ small, this is the Boeing 737 MAX issue exactly.
Sorry to spam this in various threads but there seem to be a lot in parallel. I finally after months of frustration got mine working reliably. I believe that the migration to the "new" contacts model had partly failed for me. I had local phone based contacts in live track and incident detection but connect was still trying to access my phone contacts list preventing the autostart and incident. When I disallowed access by the connect app to contacts in my iOS settings it all sprung back into life.
Livetrack no longer works without my giving permission for Garmin to upload all of my contacts, close to 400 people, who have no interest whatsoever in my cycling. That's unacceptable. I would not want them to compromise my personal information like that and I have no intention of doing it to them. I've overlooked a lot of Garmin shortcomings throughout the years like monopolistic approach to crushing competition, ever increasing software flaws, lack of true innovation since the early 2000s, ridiculously high prices for what you get, the inability to use Garmin Connect to do a route without the website crashing, the current predicament in which this site is logging me off with no warning today as I write this comment, the constant need to prove I am not a robot on a forum that is almost useless, et al., but the harvesting of personal data is just too much. I am now evaluating Wahoo as a replacement to complete my divestiture of Garmin products. No way I' doing business with companies that act like Facebook and Google. You have no valid reason to use my personal information and the information of everyone I've ever had contact with in my life and profit from it. This message isn't really for Garmin as I know Garmin doesn't care. This message is for other cyclists like myself.
I wonder how compatible this new "Contacts" grab is with GDPR? Should Garmin be asking all 400 of your contacts for permission before storing their data?
I was able to get LiveTrack to work again without access to Contacts using the work around in comment #17 also referred by Garmin in comment #25. I suspect most users will not be as persistent and just allow access. This work around is not intuitive at all but apparently does work.
