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Device Is Not Paired After Updating My Garmin Connect App (5.21) on iOS

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Hello everyone. Since the day I updated to iOS 26, my phone and my watch have not been able to connect to each other via Garmin Connect. I’ve tried everything that has been suggested on the forum, but I haven’t been able to solve the issue.

Should I be waiting for an update from Garmin or from Apple regarding this problem? I’m not even sure if I’m the only one experiencing it.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

!!!UPDATE!!!

Hi everyone,

After months of struggling with an issue, I finally managed to resolve it by working closely with both Apple and Garmin technical support teams.

I wanted to share the key steps here in case it helps others who might be facing the same problem:

  1. If you’re using any VPNs, remove all of them completely and restart your phone.

  2. If, like me, you manage your children’s Screen Time from your own phone, you’ll need to disable this temporarily. Screen Time must be turned off during the process. After disabling it, restart your phone.

  3. Under Privacy & Security settings, make sure that location permissions for the Garmin apps are enabled.

  4. When deleting the Garmin Connect app, make sure to delete Garmin Connect IQ at the same time. Then turn off Bluetooth and restart your phone again. After that, reinstall both Garmin Connect and Connect IQ and try pairing again.

Following these steps allowed my phone to successfully connect to Garmin Connect.

As I mentioned, this may not work for everyone, but it did the trick for me—hopefully it helps point some of you in the right direction.

Best of luck!

  • 0

    My Garmin Instinct will not synch to the Iphone after the latest upgrade.  I like the Garmin but may toss it and switch brands.  Any other smart watches work successfully with the latest Iphone upgrade?

  • 0

    New update out as of February 1, 2026. Does it resolve any issues or introduce new ones.

  • 0 in reply to TekRider

    Haven't had any connectivity issues to begin with, so I'm probably not the most relevant source of information, but also no (new) connectivity issues after this update either.

  • 0

    same issues as described here. Any solutions yet?

  • 0 in reply to 2824819

    I am having the same issue.  My phone and Vivoactive 4 will not connect no matter what I do. I think this started when I updated my Ios version.  Initially, like GEdstrom, I was getting notifications to my watch but my phone was not updating my stats.  Now, neither are working after updating my Garmin app.  Please resolve this!

  • 0
    • I have the same issue - bought a new phone and initially was able to connect the watch - once I installed the update it automatically disconnected from my connect app. I tried everything - rebooting, re-installing the apps several times over and still both phone and connect app won’t detect it. 
  • 0 in reply to TekRider

    Wanted to mention that Garmin Connect 5.21.2 (iPhone 17, iOS 26) resolved all issues for me and synching is even better and more consistent than before this debacle began. It looks like Garmin fixed older issues or optimized the code even more.

  • +1


    There is extended troubleshooting that can be found here.

    However, there's a new version of Garmin Connect (5.21.3) that should be available to address these issues.