Glance - phone dashboard widget with Android companion app

Hello,

I’ve seen requests on the forums, often from former Pebble users, asking for an app/widget on a Garmin device to provide a simple dashboard interface for their paired phone. To aim for that goal, I’ve created the Glance widget.

Glance acts as a secondary display of general information from your paired mobile phone, displaying user-selected fields (battery, network, wifi, etc) while also allowing the issuing of some basic commands to the phone. Ideally, the widget allows you to leave your phone in your pocket or on the table more regularly for basic scenarios.

The information that displays on the watch and the available actions that can be performed on the watch are configured via a simple Android companion app, called Watch Partner (note: the name is a little generic - I intend to use it as a companion to additional watch apps in the future). The companion app also allows selecting which devices (known devices setup in the Connect IQ mobile app) use the Glance widget and should be communicated with. The currently available fields that can be displayed, and actions that can be performed, are listed here:

• Battery
  
  • Battery % Remaining
    
  • Battery Health
    
  • Battery Power Source
    
  • Battery Status
    
  
  
• Phone Network
  
  • Phone Signal Strength
    
  • Phone Network
    
  • Phone Data Set
    
  • Phone Network Type
    
  
  
• Wifi
  
  • Wifi SSID
    
  • Wifi State
    
  • Wifi Link Speed
    
  • Wifi Signal Level
    
  
  
• Ringer
  
  • Current Ringer Profile
    
  
  
• Phone Alarms
  
  • Next Phone Alarm
    
  • Time Until Next Phone Alarm
    
  
  

The following actions on your phone are available to be initiated from the watch:

• Adjust Wifi radio (toggle, enable, disable)
  
• Mute or unmute volume
  
• Set Ringer profile (normal, vibrate, silent)
  

For more information, and a walkthrough of the functionality, see the product page here:
https://www.pedlarstudios.com/glance




UPDATE: The apps have reached version 1.0 milestone.


Thanks!
Brandon

==================================

Notes

Android app URL

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pedlarstudios.watchconnect

Garmin Connect IQ app URL (when approved)

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/fdf8ebec-559b-4949-ac35-432385f2318b

Supported Android Devices

Android 4.3 and up

Supported Garmin Devices

• D2 Bravo
  
• D2 Bravo Titanium
  
• D2 Charlie
  
• ForeAthlete® 230J
  
• ForeAthlete® 235J
  
• ForeAthlete® 630J
  
• ForeAthlete® 735XTJ
  
• ForeAthlete® 920XTJ
  
• Forerunner® 230
  
• Forerunner® 235
  
• Forerunner® 630
  
• Forerunner® 735XT
  
• Forerunner® 920XT
  
• Forerunner® 935
  
• f?nix® 3
  
• f?nix® 3 HR
  
• f?nix® 5
  
• f?nix® 5S
  
• f?nix® 5X
  
• f?nix® Chronos
  
• vívoactive®
  
• vívoactive® HR
  
• vívoactive® 3
  

The watch app design is a little rudimentary at this point. I considered going with more of a “dashboard” style with icons for battery, wifi, cell signal, etc, but I’m not sure exactly what fields will be most popular, or what info may be added in the future. I'm looking for user feedback here!

Also, let me know what other data/actions you are interested in, and I will see what's possible within the limits of the Android.

I've thought of creating an iOS companion app as well but it would not have nearly the same functionality as the Android companion app due to iOS limitations and restrictions at this point in time. Probably the most it could do would be display the phone’s battery and basic wifi/phone network info.


Future updates I’m considering

• Additional data fields or actions
  
• Customizable colors/themes in the watch app
  
• Customizable field display names
  
• Adding a watch app in addition to the widget, if this would be useful
  
• Other feature suggestions brought up by you!
  

Known issues

• Certain older Connect IQ devices (version 1.x) may get into a state where they cannot send data from the phone to the watch (described here - https://forums.garmin.com/forum/deve...eports/158068-). I'm hoping to hear back from Garmin on a workaround or a Connect IQ fix.
  

DEBUGGING HELP

If you are experiencing issues/crashes of the widget (for example, seeing IQ! icon), please connect your Garmin watch to your computer and add empty text files as follows:

GARMIN/APPS/LOGS/CIQ_LOG.TXT
GARMIN/APPS/LOGS/PHONEP~1.TXT

Crashes and errors should write some information to these files which you can send me to aid in debugging the issue.

You may also go into the settings in Watch Partner and check the box for "Enable debug log". This will start logging detailed information in the app regarding communication with the watch. You can then click "Copy Debug Log to Clipboard" and paste the contents into an email, sending it to [EMAIL="[email protected]"][email protected][/EMAIL] community.garmin.com/.../1265684.png community.garmin.com/.../1265685.png community.garmin.com/.../1265686.png