openWebPage on Fenix 8 Issue? Confirmation?

I'd think this is less related to the device and more on the phone app and the OS on the phone, or on the Bluetooth connection as you wrote.

crispgarmin said:

It could also be a localised issue with his Connect app comms permissions on iPhone or some Fenix-8 specific issue/bug where openWebPage tries to use LTE -- I don't know.

openWebPage() tells Garmin Connect Mobile (GCM) on the phone to open the webpage. That's all the watch is doing.

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/api-docs/Toybox/Communications.html#openWebPage-instance_function

"Request that GCM issue a phone notification that will open a web page."

crispgarmin said:

My concern is although only one user reported it, it could be endemic.

This doesn't make sense. That it's only one person (strongly) suggests that it isn't "endemic".

If this is a regular-use thing in your app, it being "endemic" is even much more unlikely.

For what it's worth, openWebPage() works from my F8.

dpawlyk said:

For what it's worth, openWebPage() works from my F8.

Thank you, very helpful.

FWIW use of openWebPage is only used by <1% of new users accessing license information so it’s not common but it is important so I wanted to understand if it was a local user issue.

As a comparable example, I did not understand that in China, “WePay” payments (the most common payment in a massive market) do not support subscriptions. I had many (hundreds) of users aborting payment pages by the downstream provider until one person contacted me and explained the payment situation. I could then add a fixed-term payment option. The issue was widespread but user behaviour is typically abort and not report so being reactive to clues and information can be really helpful in identifying potential big issues.

I’m still sticking with the position that it wasn’t likely at all to be a general problem. Much more than one report is needed to come to a contrary position. It doesn’t make sense to be “concerned it could be endemic” right off the bat.

If there was a general problem openWebPage() on a two year old watch, we would have heard about it here many times a while ago. That this feature is on all other devices (that haven’t had reports either) is more reason not to expect it’s endemic). We likely would have heard about the issues from multiple developers awhile ago. 

That openWebPage() doesn’t do much (which you didn’t appear to realize) is reason enough.

Your Chinese example isn’t enough either. It’s the intersection of much-smaller populations (Chinese users, paying users).

Sigh! - it was a great example of being reactive to a single user pointing out a widespread failure that everyone else didn't report. It's a 1:1 comparison.

Likewise a user who updates, for example, a Fenix8 to a new firmware option could be the canary-in-the-coalmine for something that is failing and just ignoring it is poor practice.  So you can't assume a 2-year old watch won't throw new issues; just look at the posts today with regards to Edge series and power data - changes boke things.

Again, we would have likely (almost certainly) from multiple developers already. The latest firmware has been out for a while already.

The Chinese example isn’t 1:1 because it wasn’t an “endemic” issue with openWebPage().

Pedant. It was an analogy for how one report can be representative of an endemic issue, obviously.

And FYI the Fenix 8 v24.x firmware in beta has been out for just 12 days as of 28 October 2026