Is a firmware update available or not?

The Earthmate app on my Android phone tells me a firmware update is available, but the Synch app on my computer applies no update.

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Garmin-Leslie over 2 years ago +1

3334728 The best thing for you to do is go ahead and sync and update it using the inreach sync desktop app. Updating inReach Firmware and Syncing Account Changes with inReach Sync.

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0 twolpert over 2 years ago

Is the device an Explorer or an Explorer+?

According to the release notes, 2.16 is current for the Explorer. 5.2 is the latest release for Explorer+. Neither of these is particularly "new".

Explorer release notes: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=8VKhyXAh3R3VFQNYECJkS7

Explorer+ release notes: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=IBu1vwkeOR3adZNyKcYFH6

Note that the release notes on the web sometimes lag reality

The "2.5 Explorer v3...." line appears to be a version number for the Explore app on the phone? I don't use Android, so I'm not sure. In any case, does not appear to have anything to do with the f/w version.

+1 Garmin-Leslie over 2 years ago

3334728 The best thing for you to do is go ahead and sync and update it using the inreach sync desktop app. Updating inReach Firmware and Syncing Account Changes with inReach Sync.

0 3334728 over 2 years ago in reply to twolpert

The Earthmate app correctly identifies my device as an Explorer. That part of the app, at least, is working. The version number of the Earthmate app is shown on the About page:

0 3334728 over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin-Leslie

Of course I had already done that but OK I did it again. The Earthmate app is still telling me a Firmware update is available.

0 Garmin-Leslie over 2 years ago in reply to 3334728

I would recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the earthmate app and pairing the device again.

0 3334728 over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin-Leslie

I unpaired the device, uninstalled Earthmate, reinstalled Earthmate, downloaded some maps, and paired the device again. The 'My InReach' page of the Earthmate app still advises that a firmware update is available. The version of the Earthmate app now is the same as before: 2.15.3.616998. I don't know how this thing is architected, but I imagine that Earthmate interrogates some table or rest api or something that Garmin maintains in the cloud somewhere which lists the current firmware versions for each of the various devises. Somebody probably made a typo or something in the maintenance of that.

0 twolpert over 2 years ago

I would believe the desktop sync program before I considered ANYTHING that the Earthmate app reports.

The sync app interrogates the Garmin servers for the specific device (by IMEI). That's about as specific as it gets. Sync produces a log. On a normal Windows PC, you can find it here:

"C:\ProgramData\Garmin\inReachSync\sync-log.txt"

It's not really intended for consumption by mere mortals. But you can usually tell what's going on. The log is cumulative. Latest traffic will be at the end.

0 3334728 over 2 years ago in reply to twolpert

I think it's clear at this point that the Earthmate message is spurious. In the sync log I see stuff like

2022-02-18 19:05:16,859 UTC [3] INFO inReach.Sync.SyncManager - No firmware update exists, going ahead and executing all steps without requiring interaction...

and

2022-02-18 19:05:16,904 UTC [4] DEBUG inReach.Sync.SyncDevice - Deleting all from "SyncData"
2022-02-18 19:05:16,933 UTC [4] INFO inReach.Sync.SyncManager - Executing step 'FirmwareServerUpdate'
2022-02-18 19:05:16,933 UTC [4] INFO SyncRestClient.RestHttpClient - Calling "">sync.explore.garmin.com/.../Current by "POST" with ""{}"" for "[redacted]

0 4991661 over 2 years ago

I am also having exactly this issue. Same inReach Explorer device showing firmware update on earthmate.