Is Connect IQ actively designed to discourage new developers? An honest reality check.

In general, should an app with 10 downloads be more visible than one with 100k?

Many of my recent updates were to add new devices, like the Fenix 9  And that's important to users that got an f9 or are considering one.

Testing on real devices is a very important part of the process, and that includes debugging on the real HW.  Over time you learn the things that are different on the real device.  As one of the garmin folks has said "It's a simulator and not an emulator".   (they are different things)

Back when there were the in-person (at Garmin) developer summits, everyone was sent home with a new device.  There were also a couple of days of breakout sessions were you could get an in-depth view of things.  These days I pick up a new device occasionally

Fair point, Jim, but I think you’re mixing up two different things. Nobody’s saying a 10-download app should outrank one with 100k. That’s what Popular and Top Rated are for. “New” should just mean new, though. Right now a brand-new release gets maybe two days of visibility before it gets pushed off by apps that got a version bump. The one shelf that’s supposed to give new stuff a chance doesn’t really do that anymore.

Adding Fenix 9 support is legit, and people with new devices should see those updates. But that’s an update, not a new release. Give it its own “Recently Updated” filter and sort “New” by first publish date. Your updates stay visible and new devs get a fair shot, so everyone wins. And honestly, device support isn’t what bothers me. It’s the updates with no changelog and no visible change that clearly just exist to stay on the front page. Garmin can see that stuff and doesn’t do anything about it.

On the simulator: yeah, I know it’s not an emulator, and that’s kind of my point. If it behaves differently on real hardware, those differences should be documented somewhere, and bug reports should at least get acknowledged. “Over time you learn” works if you’ve been around since the early SDK days. For someone starting now, it means figuring it all out alone with zero feedback.

And the summit thing actually makes my point better than I did. Garmin used to give devs hardware, sessions, and direct access to the team. Now I can’t even get a reply to a support email. That’s exactly what’s missing.

Not trying to knock long-time devs here, the store exists because of you guys. I just think newer devs deserve some of the support you had back then.

Well, if we are going to look at “sort by” then also what does sort-by Ratings mean?

Why work really hard to produce a quality app that improves the user experience and overall ecosystem buy-in if it doesn’t get sensibly listed with something as seemingly un-subjective as Rating? Never mind that a modern widget doesn’t get listed under apps (does any user know the difference or even care?)

screen grab for demonstration purposes below filtered on keyword, app type and rating… just filtering on keyword and rating under ‘All’ returns such nonsense I almost wish for AI to be integrated. How can you create a sorting algorithm that does not sort?

Yes, a newly released app, even with zero downloads, should be more visible when I sort by "New Releases."

Jim is just an ignorant troll. Based on yesterday's conversation with him, I've come to the conclusion that we should just ignore him.