Connect IQ App Development Discussion - Recent Threads

Has anyone got BLE PIN pairing working from Connect IQ?

Kernel Panic — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:44:42 GMT

I'm writing a Connect IQ app that connects directly to a Meshtastic radio over BLE. Everything works when the radio has PIN pairing disabled.

With a six-digit PIN enabled, Garmin never shows a passkey prompt. The first protected GATT operation just fails with STATUS_GATT_INSUFFICIENT_AUTHENTICATION_FAIL (status 18).

I tried CONNECTION_STRATEGY_SECURE_PAIR_BOND, but that reliably reboots my Venu 3S on firmware 17.05. A minimal default-strategy control connects normally; changing only to the secure strategy produces an RTL Trap. requestBond() also rebooted a D2 Mach 2, and I haven't managed to get a PIN prompt on a fēnix 8 either.

Has anyone successfully paired a generic BLE peripheral requiring a six-digit passkey from a Connect IQ app? If so, which watch/firmware and API sequence did you use? I'm trying to establish whether generic passkey entry is actually supported or whether I'm hitting firmware bugs.

I've submitted the Venu crash as a separate bug report: Venu 3S secure-pair/bond RTL Trap (currently awaiting moderation).

Paid CIQ Apps

DaveBrillhart — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:39:41 GMT

I've always offered my data fields at no cost. I enjoy writing them and get a lot of good feedback about the value. I just loaded a new watch face on my watch and actually like the way this guy handles his app... after a couple weeks, a little key flashes that encourages users to contribute a small tip for a code to turn off the key.

So I'm considering something like that. I've never setup a way to get paid. I just read someone's post about a "$99 Garmin Connect IQ Developer Account", and "Garmin’s Adyen Payment Portal". Sounds painful. If you've done something like that, is it working out for you? Any tips on landmines? I just saw this green banner on my account, so Step 1 must be good to go.

First Watch Face - Languages Support Please (Exact FR/ES strings)

SolasWorks — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 06:25:33 GMT

Hey Community,

I'm working on my first watch face in VS Code with the Monkey C extension and having fun. I want to make the watch face FREE and I am working towards adding other language support next.

I am English speaking and would like to add Spanish and French support next to my project.

I don't have any Spanish and French speaking friends with Garmin devices that can assist. Since my font is a custom-generated bitmap atlas (not the system font), I need to know the exact characters Garmin returns so I can include the right glyphs.
If anyone has a device set to French or Spanish and a few seconds, could you please run this and paste the console output?

using Toybox.System;
using Toybox.Time;
using Toybox.Time.Gregorian;

function debugPrintDateStrings() as Void {
var info = Gregorian.info(Time.now(), Time.FORMAT_MEDIUM);
System.println("day_of_week: " + info.day_of_week);
System.println("month: " + info.month);
}

I'm happy to help others if I can in the future.

Thanks in advance!

Also, please let me know if this sort of post is not allowed. This is my first time in the forum.

Is it possible to write Object Storage to the .dat file in the storage of my watch?

li2niu — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:22:11 GMT

I wanna write a bunch of objects to my watch.

Through the normal procedure which consumes lots of time.

Is it possible to write my key value to the .dat file in the storage?

Fenix 8 Microphone SDK and voice memo issues

Azure — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:28 GMT

I own a Fenix 8 and I really love the built-in Voice Memo (voice recording) feature. However, I've run into the following issues and would like to suggest some improvements:

Background recording / return to watch face: After starting a recording, there is no convenient way to go back to the watch face to check the time. Using the shortcut to return to the watch face immediately stops the recording. I would love an option to keep recording in the background while returning to the watch face (showing a small recording indicator on the watch face would be totally fine with me — I just don't want the recording to stop).
Compressed recording formats: Currently, recordings can only be saved as high-bitrate WAV files. I would really appreciate an option to record in a compressed format such as MP3 or M4A at a lower bitrate (e.g., 128 kbps). This would allow much longer recording time with the same amount of storage.

if Garmin decides not to implement these features officially, that's completely fine — but I noticed the current Connect IQ SDK does not expose any microphone/recording API to third-party developers either. If such an API were made available, I would be more than willing to develop a "Better Voice Recording" app for the Connect IQ store myself as a third-party developer.

Privacy Question - Can a watchface developer have my GPS data if it has permissions for my GPS Location? (But no internet access).

8973741 — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 07:08:36 GMT

Hello! I have a general privacy question about watch faces.

Can watch face developers save my personal information (like health data, GPS, etc.) without "Send/Receiver information from Internet" permission?
Can they save those personal information with "internet access"?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Downgrading SDK error

Sebastiaan — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:38:45 GMT

Hi everyone,

I recently started developing a new app on SDK 9.2. Now I want to try BLE but its not working at all so I want to try it on a lower SDK version.

I tried 9.1 and 8.4.1 removed all the devices and only downloaded the Fenix 7 but I get this error:

VM Region Info: 0 is not in any region. Bytes before following region: 4301373440
REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL
UNUSED SPACE AT START
--->
__TEXT 10061c000-10173c000 [ 17.1M] r-x/r-x SM=COW /Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Garmin/*/ConnectIQ.app/Contents/MacOS/simulator

I am on Mac and vscode.

In 9.2 the sim worked fine and when I go back to 9.2 the sim is good but everything lower das not work.

Can the nRF 52840-DK be used for ble testing?

Sebastiaan — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 02:27:32 GMT

Hi everyone,

I already own the nRF 52840-DK and I have been debugging the whole day to try and make it work but no results.

Has anyone made it work with the nRF 52840-DK dev board or do we need the nRF52 DK or nRF 52840 dongle?

makewebrequest returns -400 on json string

Fsallstrom — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 17:00:23 GMT

Hi, I use makeWebRequest to fect data from a web server on Internet. It consistently returns -400 (Response body data is invalid for the request type.), It seems QIC doesn't like the format of the response I get from the web server. When looking at the HTTP log in the simulator I see this:

It looks like I get a valid json string in the response body.

here is my makewebrequest code:

var headers = { 
			"Content-Type" => Comms.REQUEST_CONTENT_TYPE_JSON };
	
		var params = {
			"password" => password,
			"accountName" => username,
			"applicationId" => "d89443d2-327c-4a6f-89e5-496bbb0317db" };
		
		var options = { 
			:method => Comms.HTTP_REQUEST_METHOD_POST,
			:responseType => Comms.HTTP_RESPONSE_CONTENT_TYPE_JSON,
			:headers => headers };	
		
		Comms.makeWebRequest(my_URL, params, options, new Lang.Method(self, :getResponse));

Right now I have to put in a web proxy in between the Garmin client and the web server, to re-format the response to a json dictionary, like so: {"responseData" => "231fsddf-21sdfs3-2fsdf3-23dfs1"}.

Obviously that adds a lot of complexity and cost to my solution, why does not CIQ accept the json response from the web server directly?

thank you in advance!

Unexpected BLE connection problem

NVelev — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:55:02 GMT

I'm working on an app that uses data from a remote pressure sensor and I believe I got stuck because of a rather unexpected problem. My Garmin Edge 1030 device is not being able to discover the sensor during BLE scan.

As a background, I want to state that I've successfully used connections to several other BLE enabled external devices in other CIQ apps on the same Edge 1030 device. So it is not that I'm missing out how to do it in principle.

The problem now is that the list of results that are returned to the BleDelegate after initiating a BLE scan on the Edge 1030 device just don't contain the sensor I'm playing with.

All sorts of other devices can be seen there, but never this one.

Without discovering it via the built-in scan I cannot connect to it because the "pairDevice()" function accepts as a parameter a ScanResult object and a ScanResult object cannot be instantiated manually. It has to be created by the BLE scan..

Can anyone come up with a suggestion about why the sensor is not "visible" for the BLE scan that the Edge 1030 performs, while in the same time it is readily visible when I do a scan on my Android phone?

Thank you in advance!

Nikolay

ActivityMonitor.Info.steps update cadence in watch faces

kdoya — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 03:09:13 GMT

Hi,

I’m developing a Connect IQ watch face that displays daily steps using:

ActivityMonitor.getInfo().steps

On my real device, the step count appears to update only on the regular once-per-minute watch face update. Calling ActivityMonitor.getInfo() again after exiting low power mode does not seem to make the returned value any fresher.

I found this related unresolved discussion:
forums.garmin.com/.../get-step-count-from-activity-monitor-on-watch-face-to-update-faster-than-once-every-minute

The behavior described there seems similar: the simulator can reflect step changes quickly, while some real devices appear to update ActivityMonitor.Info.steps less frequently in watch faces.

For those who have worked with step counts in watch faces:

- Is this generally device-dependent behavior?
- Should ActivityMonitor.Info.steps be treated as a daily aggregate that may update only once per minute on some devices?
- Has anyone found a reliable way to know when the ActivityMonitor data has actually been refreshed?

If this is expected behavior, it would be helpful if the documentation made the freshness/update cadence of ActivityMonitor.Info fields clearer.

Thanks.

Closed

Luca_Federici — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:14:46 GMT

Solved. Developer found. Thank you everyone.

Passcode behaviour for ConnectIQ Apps

scotts — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:43:21 GMT

Hi,

When the Passcode option is active ("On" option) CIQ apps appear to be shutdown when the "lock" is activated. Does anyone have any experience with handling this in a CIQ app / what is the expected behaviour?

Also, is there a way to simulate the activation of the passcode for debugging purposes?

Thank you.

Beginner's mistake: manifest.xml': Problem validating the manifest file: cvc-elt.1.a: Cannot find the declaration of element 'iq:manifest'.

3659941 — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 09:10:21 GMT

I wanted to create my first data field for the Garmin Edge 1040.
I'm having trouble compiling the project.
Problem validating the manifest file: cvc-elt.1.a: Cannot find the declaration of element 'iq:manifest'.

* The terminal process terminated with exit code: 102.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>

<iq:manifest xmlns:iq="">www.garmin.com/.../connectiq">

<iq:application id="5a941133-1797-49b3-9a67-7e4fe617cf02" type="datafield" name="@Strings.AppName" launcherIcon="@Drawables.LauncherIcon" minSdkVersion="3.2.0" entry="MyDataFieldApp">

<iq:products>

<iq:product id="edge1040"/>

</iq:products>

<iq:permissions/>

<iq:languages/>

<iq:barrels/>

</iq:application>

</iq:manifest>

MyDataFieldApp.mc:

using Toybox.Application;

using Toybox.WatchUi;

class MyDataFieldApp extends Application.AppBase {

function initialize() {

AppBase.initialize();

}

function onStart(state) {

}

function onStop(state) {

}

function getInitialView() {

return [ new MyDataField() ];

}

Complications.exitTo custom CiQ App?

flogazo — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:11:07 GMT

Hi,
I'm looking into complications for the first time.

It is really unclear (to me) in the documentation if Complications.exitTo() called from a Watchface can also be used to launch custom CIQ Apps, or just built-in ones from Garmin.
Is this supported or not?

Thx,
Florian

Is the ERA system down—again?

mcinner1 — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 07:56:23 GMT

Since a week my ERA stays clean. No crashes reported.

But I know from 2 users, that one of may datafields crashes since the last update.

Anybody else?

Watch face silently removed ~1–2 min after selection on fenix 6 Pro — no error logged

DCLTDW — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:44:17 GMT

I have a published analog watch face (Monkey C, minApiLevel 3.4.0, no layout — the whole dial is drawn programmatically in onUpdate). One user on a fenix 6 Pro (Part 006-B3290-00, firmware 28.02) reports that the face installs and displays correctly, then disappears after about 1 minute; it can be re-selected, but the problem then recurs. Four other Connect IQ faces on the same watch work fine.

Key details:

The on-device error log / ERA report is empty — no exception is recorded for the silent disappearance. (An earlier "File Not Found / Failed invoking <symbol>" error on first launch was fixed in a prior release; this is a separate, silent failure.)
My onUpdate is fully wrapped in try/catch with a minimal fallback render, so a Monkey C exception would keep the face alive and be logged — neither happens. This points to a native OS-level kill, not a caught exception.
I cannot reproduce in the simulator (fenix6pro): it survives the sleep/low-power transition with no error.
When the user sets all data fields to Off (which removes my per-update SensorHistory/Weather/Activity reads), the face survives ~2 minutes instead of ~1 — i.e. reducing per-update work roughly doubles time-to-death. That strongly suggests a cumulative memory/budget issue in the low-power update path rather than a one-shot crash.
On MIP, my low-power onUpdate currently redraws the full dial (12 numeral text draws + 4 data fields + hands). It's a non-burn-in (MIP) device, so I do not take the always-on minimal path.

Questions:

Is a watch face being silently removed/disabled (no error logged) the known symptom of exceeding the watch-face memory or power budget in low-power mode on fenix 6–class devices?
Is the fix simply to render a much lighter frame in low power (hands + minimal text only, no full dial), even on non-burn-in MIP devices?
Is there any way to diagnose this without the physical device — e.g. force the simulator to enforce the low-power memory/power budget, or surface this class of removal in a log?

Any pointers appreciated — I don't have a fenix 6 Pro to test on, so I'm trying to confirm the cause before pushing another store update. Thanks!

FYI: CIQ apps installed in 2026 will stop working if unit is not connected to GC > 39days

Erik T7 — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 07:28:57 GMT

I could confirm on different units that any CIQ app or WF installed (or updated!) more or less after the beginning of 2026 will stop working after 40 days using the system w/o at least a short connection to GC (not GC-IQ to make that clear). After that period you still can connect to GC (as the failing app will tell you) and do a reset afterwards and the app will function for another 39 days.

This is independent from the software version you are on. I experienced that with 17.28 as well as 25.11 and 26.09 on different units (didn't touch my "production" system on 15.77 for a very long time and so I wouldn't know for 15.77 and I have no desire to find out.

Ofc. not many of you will run into this since most users are connected to GC all the time, but if you think you can go on an expedition > 39 days and bring your outdoor dumb phone only since it has a battery life > 20 days - you can't. No CIQ apps in this case anymore.

Only way to circumvent that is to have the .prg of the app or WF either older than 6 months or from a developer and sideload it.

Another example of how Garmin brings customers to follow their will forcefully with no real obvious need to do so.

I posted this in Fenix 7 forum around May 15th already since I'm not a dev and hence didn't think of this sub forum. A colleague of yours suggested, that I might bring it up here too, which I do hereby. For the short discussion we had (interupted by Garmin by blocking my posts 2x) pls. refer here,

RE: FYI: CIQ apps installed in 2026 will stop working if unit is not connected to GC > 39days

the problem was confirmed again with both systems during the next 40 days respectively and I took pictures just yesterday:

1. Example of Glance View <40days after connection to GC:

2. it switched exactly 40days 0 hours 0 minutes to (Picture taken after midnight, hence the Solar charge back to 0):

3. if a App/Widget is entered, the following message is shown:

4 And that's how WFs are shown now:

If switched the same message as in 3. is shown.

The problem is resolved by connecting to GC App if only for a brief second. The wise ass I'm I tried and connected to GC w/o any internet connection, this didn't work, so it needs the connection to Garmin via GC App.

Pls. see my replies in the F7 forum thread which were blocked all the time which is why I don't copy the content here, while I wouldn't know what triggered the block.

Reasons for signature check fail?

padefjord — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 20:17:56 GMT

I'm trying to upload a new version of my watch face Suuntish but get the "Signature check failed" error. I have reinstalled my computer since I updated it last, but I copied my developer_key file and put the location in Visual Studio Code settings, so it shouldn't have changed. Is there anything else that might cause this?

Edge 1040/50 fonts

Loukas — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:30:24 GMT

FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM vs FONT_NUMBER_MILD....

is there any way to use the FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM type with the FONT_NUMBER_MILD size? I prefer the typography of FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM, but its size feels too large for some fields.

App approval?

victorgillholm — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:23:31 GMT

Hi!

Where do I find the reason behind a rejection?
I have read all guidelines and I dont understand.

I have built a Mnemonic Seed BIP-39 generator. I think it is a great use of the watch to be able to generate that offline and dont have to rely on other apps RNG
The code is open source so everyone can review the code.

https://apps.garmin.com/apps/00032cdd-e384-42a5-a3bc-04a36b962fda?tid=1

https://github.com/gillmania/mnemonic-seed-connect-iq

submission

4620846 — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:53:03 GMT

Hello,

I submitted my application for review some time ago and I have not received any feedback yet.

I just wanted to check whether there is anything missing from my submission or if any additional information is required from my side.

I would appreciate any update regarding the review status when you have a moment.

Thank you for your time and support.

Best regards,
Pascal

Solution for "Error 71 (Protocol error) dispatching to Wayland display." on Linux

7285955 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:54:59 GMT

I was getting the following error when trying to install the SDK:

$ ./sdkmanager
./sdkmanager: /lib64/libcurl.so.4: no version information available (required by ./sdkmanager)
Gdk-Message: 15:47:15.166: Error 71 (Protocol error) dispatching to Wayland display.

I resolved it by launching it with the following option:

$ WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 ./sdkmanager

my App is not visible in the store outside my country - any reasons why ?

5638179 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:50:40 GMT

lauched a Free IQ App, worldwide - no restriction
was approved for the store

problem: no visible in US and Ukraine / any idea why ?

HRM 600 Running Dynamics not readable from a Connect IQ data field (AntPlus returns null) — FR965

Leonid Mesentsev — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:32:57 GMT

Hi all,

I'm writing a data field (Monkey C, SDK 9.1, Forerunner 965) that streams live activity data over BLE. I'm unable to read Running Dynamics from a HRM 600 strap, even though the watch's native Running Dynamics screen displays them correctly during the run.

What I tried:

Toybox.AntPlus.RunningDynamics in polling mode — getRunningDynamics() always returns null.
Push mode with AntPlus.RunningDynamicsListener.onRunningDynamicsUpdate — the callback never fires; getSensorPosition() also returns null.
Confirmed the AntPlus.RunningDynamics instance is non-null (constructed in onStart), the activity timer is running, and Activity.Info shows valid cadence/speed while running.
Manifest has the Ant permission (the only one required by Toybox.AntPlus / Toybox.Ant).
Tried pairing the HRM 600 as ANT+ on the FR965 — it only ever connects as BLE Secure; there's no option to choose ANT+ (open) anymore.

My understanding from other threads is that the HRM 600 broadcasts only HR over ANT+ and sends Running Dynamics only over BLE Secure, while Connect IQ has no API to read RD over BLE. If that's the case, AntPlus.RunningDynamics (and a generic Ant.GenericChannel on NETWORK_PLUS) can't work because there are no RD pages on ANT+ to read.

Questions:

Can someone confirm HRM 600 Running Dynamics are simply not accessible to Connect IQ on current firmware (platform limitation, not a code error)?
Is there any supported way to read them in real time from a data field with the HRM 600?
If not, do HRM-Pro / HRM-Pro Plus / HRM-Run / HRM-Tri expose RD over ANT+ such that AntPlus.RunningDynamics works with them unchanged?

Device: Forerunner 965 · SDK 9.1.0 · Strap: HRM 600 · App type: data field.

Thanks!