I'm about at the end of my rope here. I have an inreach mini 2, galaxy s22 ultra (new) and s8+ (old) smartphones, and a couple of Windows PCs.
- I had the mini working fine with my S8+ and Explore. I just want to pair it with Explore and Messenger on my new s22 ultra. All Garmin software is current on the S22. Bluetooth is enabled and working fine with my Fenix 6X in Connect.
- I can initiate device search in Explore, select "pair phone" in the mini settings, and click the 'InReach Mini 2" entry that appears on the Explore pairing screen. But it fails to connect, just times out.
- If I unpair and re-pair in android settings, I can get as far as the passkey exchange, but no farther. I fired up the old S8+, and the mini sync'd successfully in Explore. I quit that app, unpaired it from bluetooth settings, and then turned off the s8 bluetooth radio just in case pairing with the old phone was an issue. No dice, still same behavior when pairing with the S22.
- I tried installing Messenger on s22 next. It connects to the mini & says the device requires a software update. But the update always fails to transfer. My s22 is on a 500 megabit fiber wifi network or strong 5G, and the devices are literally touching.
- I then tried plugging the inreach into two different PCs using different USB cables and ports. I know the USB data connection is up, because the mini appears as a browsable mass storage device in the Windows filesystem (win 10, win 7). But Garmin Express (yes, it's up to date!) will not connect to it, just searches endlessly. It can see my Fenix 6X when I plug that in, but not the mini.
I'm stuck. I've rebooted. I've retried. I've waited. I can't update the device software, if that's the issue. After returning an Index S2 "smart" scale that absolutely refused to recognize my profile via Connect, I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that Garmin software is a confusing hodgepodge of overlapping functionalities & unintuitive UX that couldn't network its way out of a proverbial paper bag with both hands and a static routing table. What am I missing here?