TidalFace (watch face)

Troubleshooting:

Due to the fact that TidalFace interacts with a third-party web service, many things can go wrong that is unrelated to TidalFace.
When it comes to connectivity issues where TidalFace doesn't update, I urge you to troubleshoot the issue yourself, because most often it is caused by something beyond my control.
That said, I am still available for support if you believe it is directly linked to some issue with TidalFace.

Do NOT contact me saying that your tides are incorrect.
I am not the owner of the data.
You can troubleshoot this yourself by browsing the www.worldtides.info site and try out different coordinates and datums for your area.
If you still believe that the information is incorrect, then you can contact worldtides.info and take the matter up with them.

I have put together an exhaustive self-help list to assist you to troubleshoot and fix connection issues yourself, which may get you up and running quicker than trying to contact me:

• 1: no gps
  
  You may see this message on initial launch of TidalFace after a fresh install. It means you need to acquire a gps fix or configure manual gps override values in the settings. Once you have correctly configured that, TidalFace will update within 5 minutes.

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• 2: Debug View
  
  If, after 5 minutes of completing step 1, you still don't see data, you can enable the Debug View in TidalFace's settings. Debug view is a utility that I added to expose the internal values and show the state of scheduled updates as well as the result of the last update. This view will give an indication of any potential causes for not updating.

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• 3: Bt = true
  
  The first thing to check on Debug View is whether you have a successful connection to the phone. Bt = true means you are successfully connected. If not, then ensure your device and phone are properly paired, and most importantly, Garmin Connect Mobile (GCM) app must be running on your phone. You cannot close it and still expect TidalFace to work. An actively running instance of GCM on the phone is required for any communication between your device and the internet.

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• 4: N Tide and P Tide
  
  N Tide is the next tide and P Tide is the previous tide. As long as you see this, there is still valid tide data available from a previous request. Further down there is 1 or 2 lines that start with Tide:. These show the future tides that follow N Tide:. All these lines will become blank when the tides pass and data starts to become stale. This is an indication that TidalFace hasn't updated in the last 12 or more hours.

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• 5: P Up
  
  P Up is a colored line, either green for a successful previous update, or red for a failed previous update, and it shows the time and date of the previous update as well as the response code C. You can compare this date and time with the current date and time to get and idea of the duration between the previous update and the current time.

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• 6: C: Response code
  
  C mentioned in step 5 is a great indicator of what may have caused a failure. It is 200 in the case of success, but can be anything else when the previous update has failed.
  The most common failure codes are:
  
  • -104: There was no bluetooth connection available at the time it tried to update. This could be because bluetooth is disabled on either your device or phone, or GCM app is not running on the phone.
  • 400: World Tides responded with an error message. A 400 error means you have to resolve the matter yourself. Most likely it could be that no tide station could be found for your location ("No locations found"). You have to provide coordinates close to the coast. Any location further from the coast are likely to return this error.

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• 7: N Up
  
  This indicates when the next update will execute. It is very helpful to know when you can expect to see an update, especially after you have applied changes to settings like gps override values or the datum. Due to restrictions by Garmin, the quickest the next update can run, depends on how long ago the previous update executed. As explained in the introduction, TidalFace schedules 5 minute updates for changes to gps override values and the datum. Changes to colors etc does not affect the update schedule. If the N Up value is larger than 5min, then you know that it is on a 24 hour schedule. You can force that to 5 minutes by making a change to any of the two aforementioned settings. For any previous update that failed, it will keep retrying updates on 5 minute intervals until a successful update occurred, after which it will resort to 24 hour updates.

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• 8: Dtm
  
  The value of the datum that you configured in settings. This overrides the default datum that is applied by World Tides. If it is empty, then the default value MSL is used. More info about datums can be found here.

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• 9: Loc p
  
  The preferred gps coordinates that are used to retrieve tide data. If no GPS override values are configured, this value will be the same as Loc a, the automatic GPS coordinates if available. If GPS override values are configured in settings, the preferred location is set to the same as the override values, regardless of the existence of Loc a

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• 10: Loc a
  
  The gps coordinates that are automatically retrieved from your watch. Automatic GPS coordinates can be determined if a recent GPS fix was acquired. To acquire a GPS fix, all you need do is to open an activity that supports GPS, and wait for it to lock on a signal. After that when you return to TidalFace, you will see that this value is automatically set. If no GPS override values were configured, then Loc p also point to same values as Loc a

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• 11: la
  
  Location available is a condition that must be true before an update can be scheduled. If it is false, you will see a yellow message at the bottom of the main screen of TidalFace that tells you "no gps".

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• 12: Pct
  
  The percentage of the water level displayed in TidalFace between low and high tide.

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• 13: Debug Logging
  
  You can enable logging on the device as follows:
  • Plug device into computer
  • Browse to <USB DRIVE>\GARMIN\APPS
  • Determine the *.PRG file name of TidalFace this is tricky since you get a system generated PRG file name when downloading. Usually I clean all PRG files, then install the app so there is only one PRG file
  • Once you are sure which PRG file is that of TidalFace, copy that file name without the PRG extension.
  • Create a file with this name and a TXT extension in <USB DRIVE>\GARMIN\APPS\LOGS
  • Eject the device and let TidalFace run.
  • Connect to computer after a while
  • Browse to <USB DRIVE>\GARMIN\APPS\LOGS and open the TXT file.
  • You should see some debugging information printed in the file.

When seeking support, please make sure that you include

• a screenshot or photo of the Debug View from your device
• the log file as explained in point 13

This will enable me to better understand what is happening inside TidalFace on your device

Changelog

From 4.3.0 to 4.4.0:

• Added support for
  • Fenix 6 series
  • Vivoactive 4/4S
  • First Avenger and Captain Marvel
• Added a setting to override unit for tide heights

From 4.2.0 to 4.3.0:

• Added support for the Forerunner 245, 245 Music and 945

From 4.1.1 to 4.2.0:

• Added support for the MARQ series
• Added support for Vivoactive 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection

From 4.0.0 to 4.1.1:

• Improved accuracy of tide data by minimizing the maximum distance of tidal stations from your location
• Added a setting to override the default maximum distance of 5km. This is only to be used after consulting me first. It affects your daily quota of 3 requests, so contact me first before trying to change it.

From 3.15.0 to 4.0.0:

• Added settings to correct tides that are offset by a couple of minutes

From 3.14.0 to 3.15.0:

• Added support for the Vivoactive 3 Music LTE.

From 3.13.0 to 3.14.0:

• Added support for the Descent Mk1.

From 3.12.0 to 3.13.0:

• Fixed issue where error code "sig" could prevent data requests
• Small fine tuning to battery level: First bar drops when battery level at 80%, and not 79%

From 3.10.0 to 3.12.0:

• Added support for the D2 Delta series: D2 Delta, D2 Delta PX and D2 Delta S
• Fixed a small issue with the data request scheduler

From 3.8.0 to 3.10.0:

• Added an option to change the color of the water based on the direction of the tide, rising or falling.
• Added missing v and f characters to the font used to display the station name.
• Added a workaround to notify a user to restart his watch when the watch is in a bad state that breaks internet communication for ConnectIQ apps. This is caused by a bug in the firmware / bluetooth module and has already been confirmed by Garmin.

From 3.7.0 to 3.8.0:

• Added a workaround to make it possible to configure TidalFace using Garmin Express.
  (Express has a bug that caused the settings of TidalFace 3.7.0 and earlier to be indecipherable and impossible to configure)

From 3.6.0 to 3.7.0:

• Added display of station name to easily verify location. Set its color same as background color if you do not want to see it.
• Added support for Fenix Plus series, Vivoactive 3 Music and Vivoactive HR.

From 3.4.0 to 3.6.0:

• Fixed a small bug with the background process that fetches the data.

From 3.2.0 to 3.4.0:

• IMPORTANT: Upgrade TidalFace to version 3.4.0 as all previous versions cease to function with immediate effect!!
• Fixed a bug on Fenix 5X that caused data to stop refreshing after a day or more.

From 2.5.5 to 3.2.0:

• Improved internal stability and minor bug fixes.

From 2.4.0 to 2.5.5:

• Changed datum setting to a dropdown list for more intuitive use

From 2.1.0 to 2.4.0:

• Added back anti-aliased font for Fenix 5X (Requires firmware >= 7.00)
• Added back anti-aliased font for Approach S60 (Requires firmware >= 3.71)
• Fixed issue with wrong version in app settings after an upgrade

From 1.1.10 to 2.1.0:

• Added better error feedback when no station found for your coordinates. Typically when location too far from the coast.
• Fixed issues for vivoactive3

From 1.1.9 to 1.1.10:

• Added support for Descent
• Temporarily disabled font antialiasing for the Approach S60 to work around a bug introduced by Garmin

From 1.1.8 to 1.1.9:

• Temporarily disabled font antialiasing for the fenix 5x to work around a bug introduced by Garmin in latest firmware update 5.30 or 5.40

From 1.1.7 to 1.1.8:

• Added support for Approach S60 and vivoactive 3!

From 1.1.6 to 1.1.7:

• Fixed an issue with the display of the water fill at an extreme tide. The color would incorrectly swap to the low tide color when the high tide extreme is reached, and vice versa.
  
  This is a highly recommended upgrade!

From 1.1.5 to 1.1.6:

• Added a workaround for a bug in the device firmware which causes the background process to not be stopped in certain scenarios.
  
  This bug caused redundant requests to the worldtides service, which could unnecessarily drain and completely exhaust your monthly call budget within a few days.
  
  This is an urgent and highly recommended upgrade!

Fair Usage Policy

TidalFace is a community funded project that relies on donations in order to provide a relatively free service to everyone.
Without your contributions, I won't be able to keep it operational, so any contributions are highly appreciated: paypal.me/hermot

In order to prevent abuse and keep operational costs low, I have put a fair usage policy in place that works as follows:

You are allowed to make up to 3 changes per day to your GPS coordinates and datum (I may reduce that to 2 at a later stage).
Once you've reached your quota, your device will request its next update only 24 hours later.

If you need to test datums and coordinates and check the data you get back, I recommend that you don't use TidalFace to do that, as it will unnecessarily exhaust your daily quota.
Instead, you can browse to the website www.worldtides.info and try out the coordinates and datum you'd like to use with TidalFace.
Once you are happy that the data you get back for your area and chosen datum, you can configure it all at once in TidalFace settings and save it.
Once saved, a single request is scheduled and counts 1 towards your quota of 3.

If you are trying to make changes to TidalFace but you don't see any change after 5 minutes, you may want to enable the debug view through settings and check what the response code is (please see this)
If the response code is "thr", that means your request has been throttled because you've exceeded your daily quota.
You will then have to wait at least 24 hours before you can check the change.

Privacy Policy

TidalFace collects the following non-identifiable information in Google Analytics:

• Unique identifier: Id generated by CIQ inside the app and is used to track the number of requests sent from TidalFace to help detect and prevent any abuse of this free service.
• Device name: For statistical purposes. Helps to identify popularity amongst different devices.
• Language: For statistical purposes and to determine the feasibility of creating translations for this app in the future.
• Mobile OS: For statistical and troubleshooting purposes.
• Firmware version: For troubleshooting purposes.
• TidalFace version: For troubleshooting purposes.
• Monkey version: For troubleshooting purposes and feature feasibility studies.
• Country and City: Google Analytics derive this information from an anonymised version of your ip address. It does not store any ip addresses.

Collection of the above-mentioned information is for my eyes and use only.
The main purpose is to enable continuous improvements and maintenance of TidalFace to provide a free and fair service to all.

GPS coordinates passed to the worldtides.info service to fetch data, are in NO way tracked or stored by me.
Google Analytics prohibits tracking data of this nature, and I fully comply with their rules.

I am not affiliated to the worldtides.info service, and therefor I am not liable and responsible for any potential tracking, storage or usage of data by the worldtides.info service.
You should consult worldtides.info 's privacy policy too.

I love it!!! Its works perfectly.
If you could make a widget similar to that watchace would be incredible, instead of hour a wave or something similar.