Garmin not respecting AutoUpdate OFF settings bug

Former Member
Former Member
In brief: Garmin ignores its own settings AutoUpdate = OFF, and despite the settings autoupdates the device.

In details: Today with Fenix 5+ and Garmin Express with all AutoUpdates switched off I was forced to auto update the following way:

My settings and versions were:

F5+ (fw ver5.58beta - complete including all minor files as GPS etc.):
Settings > System > Software Update > Auto Update = OFF

GE (ver 6.9.1.0):
Settings > Schedule > Update Schedule > Automatically download device updates = Never

What happened:

When I opened GE witch F5+ attached, the GE immediately claimed I am on the 6.00 firmware
(which was not true at the moment as in the watch was installed still the beta above)
and uploaded the following ver 6.00 files into the F5+ folder structure:

\GARMIN\GUPDATE.GCD (firmware ver 6.00 file)
\GARMIN\RemoteSW\gup3014.gcd (sensor hub ver 2.30)

I was able to stop that process by:

1/ copying these two files above to the PC backup folder and
2/ delete them from the device before I dettached the device, so I remained on my untouched firmware as above.

My settings - to not AutoUpdate stayed in the devide as described above.

After that I reconnected F5+ again and GE did the same - (and I willfully allowed the update).
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    What IMO should happen / should be the correct software behaviour:

    The GE should not touch the device and if there is any need from Garmin to force people to update, there should be some fancy (red/yellow/black triangle) blinking dialog with a warning, that update is highly recommended and not possible due to the settings - maybe with YES/NO option to fix this "problem" to keep a good behaviour -- i.e. respect both:

    1/ users will
    and
    2/ device settings

    which are both ignored in this scenario described above.

    This behaviour unfortunately is nowadays IT standard for some companies and as we can see Garmin now unfortunately is part of this "crew".

    This should be considered as a crime by a law and not possible to allow via any license agreemens (which of course does not allow using a product if not fully agreed).

    The opposite -- the upredictable changing behaviour of products and things which we rely on is not acceptable as it make us unable to be reliable and it brings chaos to our lives.

    We do not need perfect products. We need predictable products with accurately enough defined behaviour. Even if some functions will be faulty - predictable faulty with predictable results, so we can do and use workarounds.

    Well, now I know I need to be carefull everytime when I will update and sync using PC, to capture/block/delete updates which I have not time to test (whether they will break some functions I use and I rely on).

  • Wow! ‘Crime by law’, ‘chaos to our lives’, ‘perfect products’.

    Would it not be a good idea to return your Garmin device and buy one that avoids this criminal behaviour that brings chaos to your life while providing a perfect user experience?

    BTW, if you think this is a bug, why not report it to Garmin support? This forum is not the proper channel to do that.
  • So, you choose to install beta fw, but go furious when production fw is accidentally installed on your device because you’re afraid it will not function properly? I would understand the reaction (not the overreaction) if it was the other way around of course.

    I’ve never experienced this myself, but I guess your experience is just part of not having perfect products. At the end of the day, bugs like this are just what keeps our products from being perfect isn’t it?

    I agree with philipshambrook: please report the bug to Garmin support. Ranting around in here will probably not solve anything.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    I am not furious, but I have commented some facts about the product and industry from my perspective as 50yo guy with 30y IT dev experience.

    I have F5+ for 5 months and do not have a problem to accept its bugs and to use betas.

    I do not expect stable fw version of F5+ until summer 2019 and anything better is great. If we use a product as "early adopters" we inevitably face its immaturity - it is industry fact.

    I think this forum is dedicated for sharing our experiences and observations about product behaviours and for sharing our tips and opinions on that, including related topics.

    It is industry proven fact, that updates including official releases can bring problems which can cost us at least our time.

    Source of a problem can be update process itself or some incompatibility even the installed new version would be nearly perfect, so sometimes it is simply better to stick with old know buggy version than install new nearly perfect official release. Not knowing or not respecting that is just inexperience or carelessness and, well, it many times is a way how things goes today.

    There are different kind of bugs - some are just annoying, some are problematic, but this is special one -- this is a gate for ANY bug of ANY kind and unfortunately it is not sure whether it is bug or whether this is by design - feature (to ignore that settings in some cases). And maybe even if this is by design, I think that good discussion (without offensive mistaken assumptions about others) can change that from feature (by design - not to be fixed) to a bug (bug to be fixed).

    To other users - do you also consider this a bug, or you think you can accept it as a feature?
  • First of all, I don’t disagree that this is a bug (and/or bad design if done deliberately)

    You say you were not furious when writing your second post in this thread, and I’m sorry if I insulted you, but I don’t think I’m the only one that read it as coming from - if not furious - at least a quite angry man with irrational tendencies.. (crime by law, chaos to our lives etc. - come on, we’re talking about pushing firmware to consumer wearables, not life supporting hospital equipment)
  • It's not something I worry about as I have always updated to latest released versions, sometimes installing beta versions if there is a feature of specific interest. Over the years I've rarely had problems that have not been rapidly rectified. It's a fact of life that there will be bugs with electronic products. You can either accept that or go back to a purely analog watch.

    Have you reported this 'bug' to Garmin through the proper channels?
  • As a software and firmware guy, I say its a bug also. And even a serious one. And sometimes frustrating. But this is a watch after all...