Acknowledged
4 months ago

Global issue with GPS files in latest update?

There are stories bubbling up on the socials and in the press that there is a problem with Garmin watches crashing globally in the past few days.
I have one user reporting my app has been unable to connect to GPS on a F8 for the past couple of days that I can't resolve.
DC Rainmaker is usually reliable and seems to be across an issue with this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz0nt6RLc1U

Is it a problem?

Alan.raceQs
  • 4 months ago in reply to Richard.ConnectIQ

    Are you able to offer any advice for this F8 user of my app with whom I have been working for the past two weeks to get my app to connect to GPS. He's using the latest version on a F8, and none of my other  F8 users are reporting the issue. We have been through the restart/reload/reset procedures recommended by Garmin and DCRainmaker.I don't have a F8, so don't stand a chance of reproducing the fault:

    "Thanks for the e-mail and the support.  I'm definitely interested in pursuing this to get a solution if you are.
    Regarding the other apps.  there was another app that stopped working essentially the day before all of the garmin crashing reports happened.  i thought it was just that one but when i went running i saw that it was other apps as well related to gps.  When i did the full boot restart everything was back to normal except raceqs is still stuck looking for a gps signal."
    Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
  • 4 months ago

    Connect IQ apps using GPS would have also been affected by the same issue as native activities. There should not be anything you need to fix with your app.

  • 4 months ago

    I do think that if the “big Garmin GPS bug” can cause apps to crash back to the watchface or even go into an endless boot loop, it’s somewhat plausible it might affect CIQ apps in other ways, as in the other thread where someone encountered an Invalid Value error in an ERA report when passing ActivityInfo.currentLocationAccuracy to setData() for a UINT8 field (after a null check, of course.)

    I do think it would be pretty hard for Garmin to confirm or deny that the big GPS bug is the cause of your specific user’s app woes tho. One thing that might help is asking the user if they’re having similar issues getting a GPS fix with a native activity.

    Unfortunately (or fortunately), this problem (as it relates to your app) will probably go away completely in a few days or so.

  • 4 months ago

    > Is it a problem?

    Yes.

    Garmin has already acknowledged the problem in multiple places (including the Connect app and website), it's been discussed by users in many channels (social media, reddit, Garmin forums), it's been reported on by DC Rainmaker and many mainstream journalism sites, what else are you looking for here?

    Are you actually asking if this is the same problem that is affecting the users of your app?

    Obviously it is very hard for anybody, including Garmin to confirm or deny that, especially since the problem has been resolved now. And especially since, as you mentioned elsewhere, your users aren't experiencing the exact same symptoms as everyone else. (I think you mentioned that the app doesn't crash and the watch doesn't reboot.)

    Obviously your choices are:

    - point users to Garmin's resolution instructions (which I think you have already done)

    and/or

    - wait and see if people stop reporting this issue

    Given that there is a prominent banner about this problem in the Connect app and on the Connect website, I don't think you have to worry about any of your users being unaware of this issue, unless they aren't actively using their devices (in which case they wouldn't be using your app, either.)

    I would say that if a few days or weeks go by and your users still report this issue, and following Garmin's resolution steps doesn't help, then perhaps it is a different problem.

    If the reports go away after awhile, then maybe it was this problem after all.

  • 4 months ago

    There have been message on the number of the Garmin forums about this, Here's the latest from the f8 forum:  Seems in some cases the device would crash with GPS, and in some cases there was a boot-loop.  I say the boot-loop on the 965.

    "We have resolved the underlying issue causing some devices to be stuck on the start up screen or a blue triangle. If you are still experiencing this, please click here for steps to resolve the issue."