Background Network Communication Capability in Connect IQ

4780266 7 days ago

Hi Garmin Developer Community,

I'm exploring the possibility of creating a Connect IQ app for Garmin watches with Wi-Fi capabilities. My app needs to send and receive UDP or HTTP messages every few seconds continuously in the background to communicate with a customised router.

Could anyone confirm whether the Garmin Connect IQ platform supports continuous UDP or HTTP communication at short intervals (e.g., every 1-5 seconds) when the app is running in the background?

If neither UDP nor HTTP communication is supported in this scenario, I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations for alternative approaches or solutions on Garmin devices.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Best regards,

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the-ninth 5 days ago +1

4780266 said:
Could anyone confirm whether the Garmin Connect IQ platform supports continuous UDP or HTTP communication at short intervals (e.g., every 1-5 seconds) when the app is running in the background…
jim_m_58 5 days ago +1 verified

A background service can run at most every 5 minutes, and for at most 30 seconds each time.. You can't do UDP at all Just makeWebRequest/makeUmageRequest.

All Replies

0 the-ninth 5 days ago

4780266 said:
Could anyone confirm whether the Garmin Connect IQ platform supports continuous UDP or HTTP communication at short intervals (e.g., every 1-5 seconds) when the app is running in the background?

As far as I know, the SDK only supports HTTP communication — there's no support for UDP. Background services can run at most every five minutes, and apps typically communicate via the phone. While Wi-Fi is supported, you can't maintain a permanent connection, and as far as I know, it's not possible to establish a Wi-Fi connection from the background.

Could you share a bit more about your use case? What’s the goal behind sending data at such short intervals in the background?

+1 jim_m_58 5 days ago

A background service can run at most every 5 minutes, and for at most 30 seconds each time.. You can't do UDP at all Just makeWebRequest/makeUmageRequest.