Am I just unlucky, or is developing apps just impossible?

Dear Garmin,

I'm writing to express my profound disappointment and frustration with the abysmal experience I've had trying to develop apps for Garmin watches. Your platform's draconian restrictions have turned what should have been a creative process into an infuriating nightmare.

The fact that developers are barred from updating essential user profile information (user weight) is nothing short of absurd. It's like you're actively discouraging innovation and user engagement. And don't even get me started on the absolute joke that is your refusal to allow apps to control screen brightness. I find it mind-boggling that your own torch app can do it, but third-party developers are left in the dark (literally).

This rigid approach is not only stifling creativity, but also pushing developers away. A more open and collaborative environment would benefit everyone involved, but it seems Garmin is content with creating a hostile space for developers.

It's disheartening to see a company with such potential shoot itself in the foot by alienating the very individuals who could contribute to the success of its app ecosystem. I sincerely hope you reconsider your stance on these absurd limitations before Garmin becomes synonymous with missed opportunities and frustrated developers.

Disappointed and frustrated,

Someone that will most certainly switch to android at the next chance

dpawlyk over 1 year ago

6601109 said:
The fact that developers are barred from updating essential user profile information (user weight) is nothing short of absurd.

Don't the devices already provide a way of updating user profile information? Why is it necessary to have other ways?

Anyway...

Garmin's approach with IQ is that the apps are secondary to the functionality the device itself. Thus, Garmin restricts what those apps are allowed to do in part because of the limitation of the devices and in part to be sure that the primary functionality isn't compromised.

The Garmin devices are much, much slower and have much less memory than Android or Apple devices.

There's little point in Garmin competing with Apple or Android.

Ultra over 1 year ago

You can control screen brightness, just not how long before the backlight times out.

flocsy🤠 over 1 year ago in reply to dpawlyk

actually they do compete in battery life and fitness, sport functionality

dpawlyk over 1 year ago in reply to flocsy🤠

They don’t compete (*) in the domain the OP was complaining about (what developers are allowed to do).

Clearly, IQ doesn’t give developers as many options as Apple or Android. It never will and Garmin is ok with that (for now). That’s something developers don’t always understand .

The thread I linked to had a video from Garmin explaining the battery life being a major consideration for IQ.

Outside of battery life, IQ isn’t going to match what can be done with the Apple Watch. It’s much more likely for the Apple Watch to match the fitness capabilities of the Garmins (that trend is already apparent).

————————

* Android on watches has been a mess for a long while. Maybe, that is starting to improve. The advantage of Android over IQ is that Android is a vast more used development platform.

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to dpawlyk

The way I've always viewed it is a Fitness watch with some smart capabilities (Garmin) and a smart watch with some fitness capabilities (Apple, etc).

Unless things have really changed, those other than Garmin have a much shorter battery life, where Garmin Devices can go days, or even a week+ without being charged

dpawlyk over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

Yes, pretty much. But you might be short-changing the Apple Watch a bit.

The much-longer battery life for the Garmins is a big deal (something that will be important to some people but not everyone).

Still, that isn’t the focus of this thread.

The problem is that the OP is expecting the same degree of “smartness” in IQ as exists in the Apple (or Android).

The fact is that IQ is much more limited (in a bunch of ways).

That fact has to be clear to any prospective IQ developer and they have to deal with what IQ is (rather than pointlessly complaining that it isn’t something else).