Offline capabilities

Former Member over 8 years ago

I was just wondering which features are impacted by having no active internet connection on the paired smartphone. It would be great if someone could chime in tell me what I missed or if there exist some workarounds.

1) ConnectIQ apps cannot be configured (even if they are already installed on the watch). This makes zero sense - why would I need internet to change the background color or a couple of data screens on an already installed app.
2) Data sync. Obviously activity data cannot be sent to the Garmin servers. But it seems it isn't even sent to the app for caching. This adds more questions - how much memory is there available? Can I somehow see the free memory on the watch? How often do I need to sync to not lose 24-hour stats like heartrate? Will Garmin Express store that data locally on a laptop without internet access to be synced later?

I appreciate any hints on how to best use my Fenix while on the road without any internet. :)

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Interesting topic. I would concur on some of the points. My biggest gripe is that there is no syncing possible at all as soon as there is no internet, the app will load on the 'phone, but will perform no jobs and will not sync with the watch, including, indeed, downloading activity data.
On the settings issue, my feelings are a little more relaxed: most settings I need, I can change directly on the watch, the only concern being that any such changes may well be overwritten when the phone next goes online and syncs...

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

To chime in:

I really don't get why you cannot sync your activities with your phone when offline... It always can sync with the servers later on when online again. Also, It makes absolutely zero sense, that I cannot see my past activities and stats when not online. Why not store the data on the phone? I cannot always be online for several reasons. This is the only thing makes me sometimes think if it might be better to switch to another brand. Though to be honest, I haven't yet researched how Suunto or Polar handles this issue.

polar i know had it 3 years the V800 but any polar with the polar flow app can sync when your phone is offline and you can see your activity.it really suck on garmin that it has not this feature.

0 jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

The data is actually synced through your phone to the garmin servers. If you have more than one devices, that makes sense as your data is what happened between multiple devices and not specifically one device. Physio True Up also allows your activities and physio data to sync between multiple devices.

Also things like the sleep data analysis is actually done on the servers, and not the watch or phone.

0 Boban100janovski over 6 years ago

I spend my time using the device 99% in urban areas, but when i go out hiking/running in the mountains for weekends or longer the device performs as expected and everything works just fine.
I can see my stats on the watch it self, if i don't have 4G, so it doesn't bother me much that the mobile app can't sync while having no internet.

Enjoy your time out, forget about your phone.

0 Scorp1981 over 6 years ago

The data is actually synced through your phone to the garmin servers. If you have more than one devices, that makes sense as your data is what happened between multiple devices and not specifically one device. Physio True Up also allows your activities and physio data to sync between multiple devices.

Also things like the sleep data analysis is actually done on the servers, and not the watch or phone.

True, and I'm not saying it doesn't make sense that it syncs with a cloud. All I'm asking is to have a offline sync capability when not online. Next time I'm online, by all means, it should sync with the cloud. But please(!) let me see and have the data also when offline, on the device I'm currently paired with.

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

The bottom line is that about 4-5 years ago Garmin Connect Mobile did work work offline. It clearly changed as Garmin were finding that processing the data on their servers and then just ‘displaying’ that info back through a simpler app was the best way ahead. I agree that it would be lovely to have all of the features in GCM work offline, but that would require a larger and far more complex app with an exponential increase in the chance of bugs; there’s enough challenges with bugs as it is, without intentionally making things worse.

Now, if you want to try a ‘light’ offline sync app by Garmin, the Explore app will sync your GPS activities whilst offline. It does only show you the GPS track and elevation profile (no HR or other data, so no good for indoor activities), but at least offers something until you get to an internet connection and can sync with GCM again.

0 JSRUNNER_ over 6 years ago

Crispin_Ellisdon you could try sportablet app - I used to use this to synchronise with my phone by ANT before I had a wifi/bluetooth enabled watch. It does hold the data on the phone and gives you a basic view of the data

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

you could try sportablet app

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look for this up, but I suspect it won’t ‘talk’ to the modern Garmin devices. Looking through change log notes for the beta software on Garmin devices, there is often tweaking to make things work with Garmin’s own GCM app, let alone a third party one.

Edit: Sportablet is only available on Android (no iOS version) and it only works with older Garmin devices http://www.sportablet.com/answers.html

0 JSRUNNER_ over 6 years ago

Crispin_Ellisdon it uploads the tcx or fit files so it should work but it will provide the sort of view of Garmin data that you see in Strava - so won't have all the additional proprietory stuff - just depends what you want to be able to see. You Can try it for free to see if it works.

0 WillNorthYork over 6 years ago

ConnectStats (free) for iPhone and iPad syncs with GC and caches all your activities and stats as well as providing a bit more analysis. Not exactly what was asked here, but the closest I’ve seen to offline access for Garmin data.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/connectstats/id581697248?mt=8