Simulator App Settings down

I reported it as well here:  Simulator: Settings not available, Error 500
This has been happening for a few weeks, but usually trying to open the settings again a few times got around it. That doesn't work anymore since this morning.

Yes - same problem here!

Whenyou build an iq file, that includes json files used by app settings, and when app settings are used by the user, these json files are required.

That's why the internet is needed to get this from the app store.  It's the same reason you can't do app settings with sideloads.  See the New Developer wiki

jim_m_58 said:

That's why the internet is needed to get this from the app store. 

We understand that, but the issue here is that the Garmin server often does not respond or is unavailable. I am only able to access the settings about half the time.

I'm having the same issue - if it makes a difference I'm in Europe

Tim said:

if it makes a difference I'm in Europe

Me too…

same here

It's been unreliable for me for at least a week (Seattle, WA, USA)

mcinner1 said:

jim_m_58 said:

That's why the internet is needed to get this from the app store. 

We understand that, but the issue here is that the Garmin server often does not respond or is unavailable. I am only able to access the settings about half the time.

To be fair to jim_m_58, he was only addressing this part of the OP:

windfield said:

 Also, why does this even need internet access when I'm testing locally.  sigh.

I will also note that - as far as I know - the code for *rendering* settings in the simulator (i.e. for determining the look and feel of the settings) is also delivered via the internet. In the distant past, every platform for CIQ settings (simulator, Garmin Express, Connect IQ iOS, and Connect IQ Android) had its own dedicated code for rendering settings, and this led to many inconsistencies in the settings UI/UX across platforms.

If I'm not mistaken, at some point Garmin moved rendering of CIQ settings to the server side, which is yet another the reason that an internet connection is necessary.

NOTE: I am not claiming that this answers/resolves the main point of the thread, which is that settings seem to be intermittently unavailable. I am *only* addressing the question/frustration of OP about why internet is required at all for settings.

EDIT: also, I think jim_m_58's answer is incorrect, although I still think it was on-topic (just not on the main topic)

When things are working normally, I can access settings in the sim for a CIQ sample app (that was presumably not submitted to the store with the same UUID). I am 100% sure that I could create a new app (with new UUID) that has settings, run it in the sim and access the settings (when things are working normally).

In other words, when you access settings via the sim, it does not use app settngs metadata from the store. After all, why would it have to? All the information it needs about settings (other than exactly how to render them) is already available locally. (I mean the properties and settings XML.) The settings JSON that jim_m_58 mentioned is eventually built by the local compiler itself - there's no reason it couldn't also be built when you run the app locally in the sim - indeed, it is:

I think the real reason the sim needs internet access for settings is what I said above - the settings UI is rendered on the server side, even in the sim.

Once Garmin sorts this out, what I said can be verified by trying to access settings in the sim for a sample app (which has almost certainly not been submitted to the store) or a new app (which has definitely not been submitted to the store).

Honestly a dev who's been around since the beginning should know better, since we've all tested our apps in the sim before submitting them to the store. Notably, nowhere in the the dev docs or new developer faq does it say that an app has to be submitted to the store before accessing settings in the sim. It is absolutely not true that the situations for an app in the sim and a sideloaded app are the same, as far as settings go.