Connect IQ Store page: https://apps.garmin.com/apps/f3c3d2d3-6efa-49da-bdab-329cdf37b70f
Manual: https://pixelpathos.co.uk/crystal-reborn/manual
FAQ: https://pixelpathos.co.uk/crystal-reborn/faq
It's been seven short years since the original Crystal came out; since then, Garmin hardware and of course Connect IQ have both moved on in leaps and bounds. I felt I owed the community an updated version of Crystal, so here it is: Crystal Reborn. I've tried to keep everything that was loved about the original: the clarity, efficiency and customisability, but there is so much that is new. It started off as a light refresh, but I've ended up writing a lot of new code, and significantly refactoring much of the old:
- Crystal Reborn's much more colourful, and yet still easy on the eye. The icons themselves are brand new, and the time now has a colour gradient, even on MIP devices. AMOLED devices also get gradients on the move bar and side meters.
- The side meters have been completely modernised while maintaining the auto-scaling. There's actually now two levels of sub-divisions for larger values e.g. for 5,000 steps, there are small gaps every 500, and larger gaps every 1,000.
- The AOD is completely new, and is in full colour (rather than the monochrome of the original). The hours font changes to an outline, the move bar and side meters get thinner, and the target values are hidden. You can now choose which elements to hide in AOD mode, so you can everything from the full display, down to time and date only.
- I've added a lot of new complications; there are over 30 listed in the manual, including the much-asked-for body battery. Long press to launch a widget works as it should. Crystal now uses Garmin Weather by default, but can still use OpenWeather if you supply a free API key. If using OW, you'll get a small coloured dot to tell you about the update status, just like Lumeo.
- Finally, there's a full settings menu on the watch, so you'll only need your phone if you want to enter an OpenWeather key.
The original Crystal will stay in the store, and stay free, as it maintains support way back to some of the earliest devices, and I wouldn't ever want to take that away. Crystal Reborn looks to the future, so only supports devices going back to System 4 (CIQ 3.2.0). For devices that don't support Garmin Pay, there will be a KiezelPay version of Crystal Reborn soon.
As always, thank you for your support and feedback, as it really helps me improve my apps for everyone. I hope you enjoy Crystal Reborn.