How to pair a VA-HR

The manual says:

"Go to Settings>bluetooth to manually enter pairing mode."

On the watch, Settings>Bluetooth responds "Searching for Garmin Connect Mobile", not an option to manually enter pairing mode as mentioned in the guide..

But then there is no further progress: the watch remains in the Searching mode and goes no further.

GCM is up and running on the iPhone with bluetooth enabled (tested by disabling BT and getting the warning). No other BT devices in the area.

VA-HR running 3.30

iPhone 5 running "latest compatible version" of GCM 4.19.1.1 and reinstalled this morning.

Both devices freshly re-booted.

I haven't had to do this for a year, and decided to explore the "Restore Defaults" option in order to assist a user with an otherwise unfixable app issue.

Is something broken, or am I just missing something obvious?

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago in reply to Alan.raceQs

When it's searching on the watch,

in GCM, try "Add Device" and select the va-hr. You need to use "Browse all compatible devices", and it's under vivo,

0 Alan.raceQs over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

jim_m_58 said:
in GCM, try "Add Device" and select the va-hr. You need to use "Browse all compatible devices", and it's under vivo,

Tried that... GCM failed to find the device.

0 OttawaDeveloper over 5 years ago in reply to Alan.raceQs

On my vivoactive HR, under settings bluetooth, i have: Status, smart notifications, connected alerts, pair mobile device, sync as options. They do not fit on the screen so i must scroll the screen up to see pair and following options. Sounds like yours is not like that.

I suppose you have tried powering off the watch and restarting. I sometimes find that helps for some of the connections to the device(ant, usb, BLE), but not sure specifically about this issue. No harm in also powering off the phone and restarting also.

0 Alan.raceQs over 5 years ago in reply to OttawaDeveloper

OttawaDeveloper said:
under settings bluetooth, i have: Status,

Yup, I think I have seen those in the past, but they aren't there now...GRRRR!

0 Alan.raceQs over 5 years ago in reply to Alan.raceQs

Alan.raceQs said:
in GCM, try "Add De

And GCM still shows vivoactive HR Not Connected.

When I tap the info icon, it offers the How to Connect scree with instructions "Enable Bluetooth technology on your vivoactive HR device and on your iOS device. They should then connect automatically"!!!!

I can't find any way for GCM to forget the device.;

0 OttawaDeveloper over 5 years ago in reply to Alan.raceQs

on the iphone, GCM, choose the VVA, 3 dots at top, remove device. then also check in the iphone settings, bluetooth, also ensure it is forgot there too.

0 Alan.raceQs over 5 years ago in reply to OttawaDeveloper

OK, working now.

I think the whole process was:

Watch: Restore defaults

GCM: remove device (from 3 dots menu - I missed that)

GCM: install new device from green + button. - screen advises new watch to be switched on, and a waiting display

Watch: Settings>bluetooth - screen shows "Searching for Garmin Connect Mobile".

GCM: starts the pairing process, watch displays 6-digit code, and process continues.

What a hassle.

Thanks for the assistance.