Today Garmin announced the new fēnix® 7 series and epix (gen 2) series of wearables. All of the new devices are use API level 4.0.0.

There are 7 days in a week. And the fēnix 7 multisport GPS watch is built to go strong for all of them. Meet any athletic or outdoor challenge with cutting-edge training features, sports apps, 24/7 health and wellness monitoring and more. Use trusted button controls or a new touchscreen interface to access selections. Gain performance insights and metrics that help you manage your exertion and build stamina. Optimize recovery and overall wellness by monitoring heart rate, respiration, stress, sleep and more¹.

With epix, the premium active smartwatch, you can take on every day with the stunning AMOLED display, 24/7 health and wellness monitoring  and smart features. Train how you want with built-in sports apps that fit all the ways you move, performance metrics and Garmin Coach training plans. You can download global TopoActive mapping, or get it preloaded on Sapphire editions. Plus, Sapphire editions support multi-band GNSS technology for stronger, better, more accurate positioning in challenging environments.

Learn more about the Fenix 2022 personality in the User Experience guide, and use the SDK Manager to update your device library and add fēnix 7 and epix support to your apps. 

 

^{1See Garmin.com/ataccuracy}

Happy 2022! Today Garmin introduced the Venu® 2 Plus. This watch supports API level 4.0.0 and helps you understand your body better with advanced health and fitness features. Once it's paired with your compatible smartphone, you can enjoy the convenience of making calls from your wrist.

Use the Connect IQ SDK Manager to update your device library and add Venu 2 Plus support to your apps.

The policies of the Connect IQ store give the developers the opportunity to publish monetized content, and we want that content to make money for you. Here are some tips to consider when creating monetized content for the store.

No Surprises

As a user, there is nothing worse than being caught off guard that an app you downloaded is monetized. If your app requires the user to pay in order to use the primary features of the app, you should mark the app in the app detail description as requiring payment. Your primary features should be listed in the app description. Note that for watch faces, it is assumed that viewing the time is a primary feature of the app. This will show the "Payment Required" badge in the app store.

If you have secondary features that the user can pay for, like additional levels in a game, we do not require you to mark the app as "Payment Required," but your app description must make clear which features are free and which require payment to upgrade.

Good Payment Experience

The user should always understand how to purchase your app or pay for a feature. If there is a flow the user has to go through to pay for your app, you should provide user guidance to help them through it. Make an FAQ or video and put a link to it at the top of your app description.

Even if you have marked your app as requiring payment, it's always a bad experience to show a paywall without some kind of warning. If your app has a trial period, make sure to clearly communicate the remaining time to the user in your experience. With a watch face, it could be as simple as showing the time remaining in the trial at startup.

Putting a paywall up in a watch face can be frustrating for the user. Rather than display the paywall, guide the user to where they can learn how to pay for the watch face. Implement a payment flow using on-device settings.

Read the Guidelines

We updated our guidelines at GDVC this year, which you can read or you can watch a summary video. Some highlights:

• Use your or your company’s real name or an alias that does not impersonate another person or company.
• Keep your contact information up to date.
• Avoid claiming any partnership or affiliation with Garmin, unless we have given you express written permission.
• You must not perform or encourage any action that creates deceptive reviews or manipulates your app’s rating.

Violation of these guidelines could result in the removal of your app from the Connect IQ store.

We released version 4.0.7 of the Connect IQ SDK this afternoon, along with the VS Code 1.0.1 extension, which address several bugs. Of particular significance, this update includes fixes to address problems working with file paths that include space when using VS Code as your IDE. See the SDK release notes below for more details!

General Changes

• The minimum supported macOS is now 10.12.
• End the Visual Studio Code debug session if launching app failed or sim crashed.
• Show crash message in debugger if app crashes during startup.
• Fix a memory leak that would occur when using makeWebRequest on a Wi-Fi/LTE connection to download an animation manifest.
• Fix a memory leak that would occur when using makeWebRequest on a Wi-Fi/LTE connection and the response JSON included duplicated value strings.
• Reduce application memory usage when processing makeWebRequest responses from a Wi-Fi/LTE connection.
• Update Graphics API documentation to use the FontType typedef instead of the classes that make up the typedef.
• Fix broken link in WatchUi.IconMenuItem documentation.
• Fix parameter typing on Communications.registerForOAuthMessages().
• Prevent memory corruption when using small coefficient arrays with the IIR filter.
• Fix the PRG not getting pushed if its path contains a space.

Simulator Changes

• Fix AppBase.onAppInstall() not getting launched for the first app run in a newly opened simulator.
• Fix issue where the current day’s vigorous intensity minutes were used when calculating the total moderate intensity minutes.
• Fix memory leak with makeImageRequest for some simulated devices.

Compiler Changes

• Improve initialization checking on symbols that are confirmed to exist for an object using a ‘self has’ check.
• Add type checking to ‘object[:variable]’ syntax.
• Fix a type check bug that caused an error when using ‘NaN’.

Hosted this past October 13, the Garmin Developer Virtual Conference 2021 provided an inside look at ANT, Connect IQ and Garmin Connect Developer Programs. We hope those of you who attended enjoyed our State of the Union and Breakout sessions. 

Our breakout sessions provided educational content about our developer programs and an in-depth look at the latest updates and features announced during our State of the Union session.

Our breakout presentations are now available to watch anytime. Click here to view.

Our keynote presentation by Ray Maker from DC Rainmaker is also available to watch. Click here to view.

Today, Garmin announced Connect IQ System 5. This version of the Connect IQ system is focused on helping you make better, faster and stronger Connect IQ apps. Let’s take a quick look at some of the features.

Visual Studio Code Monkey C Extension 1.0.0

Last year, we announced the Visual Studio Code Monkey C extension and released the first beta. Today, we released version 1.0.0 with debugging support. With this release, we now recommend Visual Studio Code for Connect IQ development. The extension requires Connect IQ SDK 4.0.6, which you can get with the SDK Manager.

We are not deprecating the Eclipse plug-in at this time, but we also are not planning any future enhancements for the plug-in. All new development will be focused on the Visual Studio Code extension.

Improved App Settings

We know mobile app settings are important to your app experience, and we are giving you some new options for structuring your settings presentation.

Groups allow you to group a collection of related settings together. In mobile applications, they are editable in a sub-page, while in Garmin Express, they will be grouped together. You can also allow a group to be enabled and disabled by a Boolean setting. Groups can have a description string to explain the settings contained within.

Growable lists allow the user to edit a list of records. The user can add records up to a predetermined size or remove them from the list. In your app, they will show up as an array of dictionaries.

These features will all use the same back-end across mobile, Express and the Connect IQ SDK to reduce variance.

Here is some sample resources XML for how to use the feature:

<settings>

    <setting propertyKey="@Properties.recordInformation" title="@Strings.recordInformation">
        <settingConfig type="boolean" />
    </setting>

    <!-- 
        Here is the syntax for creating a group. This group has a
        dependency on the setting above being enabled with the
        "enableWithTrue" attribute.
    -->
    <group id="recordInfo" 
        title="@Strings.recordInformation" 
        description="@Strings.recordInfoGroupDescription" 
        enableIfTrue="@Properties.recordInformation">
        <!--
          The two settings are visually grouped together. In mobile
          they will be on their own page. In Express they are put within
          a visual grouping
        -->
        <setting propertyKey="@Properties.recordZoneGraph" title="@Strings.recordZoneGraph">
            <settingConfig type="boolean" />
        </setting>

        <setting propertyKey="@Properties.recordTimeInZones" title="@Strings.recordTimeInZones">
            <settingConfig type="boolean" />
        </setting>
    </group>

    <!-- 
      This is the syntax for a variable sized list group.
      In the properties.xml "customZones" is of type "array".
      The "maxLength" attribute puts a cap on how many items
      the user can create.
    -->

    <setting propertyKey="@Properties.customZones" title="@Strings.customZones" maxLength="6">
        <setting type="string" title="@Strings.zoneName">
            <settingConfig id="zoneName" type="alphaNumeric"/>
        </setting>

        <setting type="number" title="@Strings.speedCutoff">
            <settingConfig id="speedCutoff" type="numeric"/>
        </setting>

    </setting>

</settings>

Activity Simulation

We have revamped the simulation interface for the Connect IQ simulator. Now you can set where in your workout you want to add a simulation and have better control of the simulation events.

Profiler

We are also adding a new Connect IQ profiler to better measure app performance and see where to focus your attention. The profiler captures time spent in total within a function and for the code within a function and lets you examine the different call stacks profiled. The profiler is integrated into the simulator, and the devices will allow hardware profiling, as well.

New Guidelines

We want you to be able to make apps that feel native to the Garmin device experience. To help you design for all our products, we have revamped our user experience guidelines to document our device family personalities and help you make more native-feeling apps.

In addition, we’ve updated our app review guidelines to better help your apps get through review.

More Data

We are adding lots of new metrics and data access to the Connect IQ API:

In Toybox.ActivityMonitor:

• Body Battery
• Stress
• Remaining recovery time

In Toybox.UserProfile:

• VO2 Max
• Activity history

In Toybox.Sensor:

• Magnetometer
• Gyroscope

This gives more insight to the user and will look great on a watch face.

Coming in 2022 - Revamped App Store Analytics

Next year, we plan to give the app analytics in our app store a total overhaul. Once this update is released, you will be able to see your total installs, your installs broken down by version and device, and the estimated percentage of users that currently have your app installed. This feature will be coming in 2022.

Try it Today

You can get the beta of Connect IQ System 5 from the Connect IQ SDK manager. To try the new version, you will need to download the SDK, as well as the following devices:

1. fēnix® 6 Pro System 5 Preview
2. Venu 2 System 5 Preview

These downloads will let you try out the new APIs on simulated devices. We look forward to your feedback!

GDVC Breakout Registration is Open!

The Garmin Developer Virtual Conference (GDVC) is back on October 13, 2021.  Together, we’ll explore how the latest updates and features for Connect IQ, Garmin Connect Developer Programs and ANT can shape the possibilities for our developer community.

The event will start with a State of the Union Keynote Session, followed by a set of nine breakout sessions. The State of the Union session will only be available live.

Our live hosted breakouts allow developers to take an in-depth look at the latest updates and features announced during the State of the Union keynote session while offering developers a chance to engage in Q&A with the Garmin team. Breakout session presentations will be made available post-conference.

See what’s becoming possible with our three tracks: Intro, Connect IQ, and Business. The Intro track is intended for people new to the Garmin developer ecosystem; the Connect IQ track is intended for those focused on Connect IQ app design and/or development; the Business track is intended for individuals and organizations interested in partnerships with Garmin.

Register for multiple breakout sessions or view individual ones below.

 

	Intro Track	Connect IQ Track	Business Track
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CT	Introduction to the Garmin Developer Programs	Connect IQ User Experience Guide	Real Estate on Garmin Devices: Your Brand Experience
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT	ANT® Technology: Exploring the Basics	Connect IQ Tools and Performance Tips	Garmin’s Latest API: Enabling Training and Insights for Women
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CT	Garmin Connect Developer Program: An Inside Look at API Integrations	Connect IQ App Review Guidelines	Activity Profiles: Elevating the User Experience

For more information on the Garmin Developer Virtual Conference visit developer.garmin.com/GDVC

We released version 4.0.5 of the Connect IQ SDK this afternoon, which addresses several bugs. See the release notes below for details!

General Changes

• Fix typing issues with WatchUi.Bitmap.
• Fix Comm.checkWifiConnection not properly checking Wi-Fi connection is available.
• Add new Wi-Fi connection status enum values.
• Add Communications.startSync2().
• Improve typing of the BackgroundTimer sample.
• Fix a bug that prevented creating barrel projects in the Visual Studio Code Extension.
• Add documentation for application scope type checking, including information on how to disable the check if necessary.

Simulator Changes

• Prevent the simulator from locking up when launching a new app while debugging.
• Add the SEND command to mdd for sending files to the simulator.

Compiler Changes

• Apply the –Eno-invalid-symbol command line option to undefined symbol checking done during type checking.
• Improve type checking to update local variable types after if statements based on the if conditions.
• Improve how poly types are printed in compiler error and warning messages.
• Fix misspelling in compiler warning message generated when a Connect IQ project consumes a Monkey Barrel that supports languages unsupported by the project.
• Fix bug in try / catch block code generation which potentially caused accessing invalid portions of the stack.
• Fix a code generation bug for function calls followed by an array access that caused a Monkey C intermediate representation parsing error.
• Add if-splitting to while and for statements in the type checker.
• Improve if-splitting logic on nested if-else statements.
• Fix bug in type checker if-splitting logic, which was caused by not factoring in “else if” cases.
• Improve type check errors when a statement is not reachable and when a variable is not initialized in a try-catch statement.
• Fix type check error when assigning variable to itself in an if statement.

Join us in a virtual realm of possibilities. Register for the GDVC 2021 State of the Union, held October 13, 2021 at 9 AM CT.  

The State of the Union is the Garmin Developer Virtual Conference keynote event that provides an in-depth look at our developer programs. Together, we’ll explore how the latest updates and features for Connect IQ, Garmin Connect Developer Programs and ANT can shape the possibilities for our developer community. Similar to last year, the State of the Union will only be available for those who attend the event live.  

Register Now! 

Registration for Breakout sessions will open August 2021. Join our mailing list or register for the State of the Union to be notified when registration for Breakout sessions is open.  For more information on the Garmin Developer Virtual Conference visit developer.garmin.com/GDVC  

See you on October 13th!  

The winners of the 2020 Connect IQ Developer Awards have been posted. You can see the winners on the Garmin Blog. Congratulations to the winners!