Garmin How-To - Public Beta Program

Hi,

Same process for all eligible devices

The public forums will remain as is.  A place for anyone to have a conversation about their given products.

However, we will no longer post beta updates in those forums, or monitor them for bug reports.

  • BETA update type
    • First type : OTA - Over The Air, WiFi / Garmin Connect Mobile (GCM) or OTC - Over The Cable, Computer / Garmin Express (GE)
    • Second Type : Side Load --> Manual installation

- Enroll to Beta Program

Public Beta software will only be delivered to those individuals who have signed up to receive them via their Garmin Connect Account.  This software will be delivered via our traditional paths (Garmin Connect Mobile, Wi-Fi, Garmin Express).

      1. Sign into Garmin Connect - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/
      2. Click   in the upper right
      3. Click Device Settings to the product you want to enroll
      4. Click Join Beta Software Program
      5. Read and Agree to the terms

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/w/beta-wiki/112/how-to-enroll-for-public-beta-program


- Return to Live software / Backdate

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/w/beta-wiki/145/how-to-return-to-live-software

"When you exit the beta software, it will remain on your device until the final version of the software is available"

Otherwise you can backdate to public System version using the backdate version included in archive on the announcement post

  • Please note that backdating software will always clear all settings on your Garmin product.

- Direct link to Public/Alpha space (search for your model)

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/


- Discuss and report Beta issue, report, etc. only in the relevant device's forum

https://forums.garmin.com/beta-program/fenix-6-series/bug-reports/

If you observe any bugs related to the Beta software, post a detailed report of the issue in the appropriate bug report thread below.  Refer to the help article here for details regarding the kind of information needed when posting a bug report.

If you see that your bug is already reported, be sure to +1 the bug report and add any relevant information to the thread that may be helpful in further troubleshooting the issue.


- Compatible Devices, 2023-11-18

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  • it's on the way, the file is ready on my personal computer.

    Beta will be erased from the changelog because there are too many overlap. I made a quick compare and find some additions and suppression (lack of fix) but i need to do deeper verification.

    Software Version* GPS Version Sensor Hub Version Wi-Fi Version (Pro) ANT/BLE/BT (Pro) ANT/BLE (non-Pro)
    21.00 5.30 18.02 4.01 6.15 3.01

    Added support for Connect IQ system 5.
    Added new alert to display after this SW update to inform user that wifi networks configured to WEP security are no longer supported.(Pro models)
    Added a new tip to inform the user each time a new emergency contact is added from Garmin Connect.
    Added a new tip that will recommend the user to reboot the device if the GPS is unresponsive while waiting for a fix before an activity.
    Added a new tip to notify the user that the Wrist Heart Rate Sensor is disabled. This tip will be displayed whenever accessing a heartrate-related glance while the wrist heartrate sensor is turned off on the device.
    Added the Horseback activity.
    Added the new Easyhunt feature to the DogTrack app.
    Added the Resting Heartrate True-Up feature. RHR data now gets trued-up so that all devices tied to the same account will have the same RHR value.
    Added enhanced strength functionality, which includes an improved workout preview with a map of muscles that will be used, improved UI in free mode and workouts, and improvements to the rep and weight editing experience.
    Added animation to progress arc when viewing Intensity Minutes widget.
    Updated incident detection to better distinguish between supported and unsupported activities.
    Updated inReach messaging to now allow the watch to send messages up to 160 characters in length.
    Updated support for Shimano Di2.
    Improvements made to on-device sleep detection and sleep staging.
    Improvements made to Run/Idle detection algorithm, particularly when detecting when the user has stopped.
    Fixed an issue when setting timer alerts on the Track Run activity.
    Fixed an issue where one could preview workout videos for user created workouts.
    Fixed an issue where inReach menus are available while in Expedition mode. These menus are no longer available when in Expedition mode.
    Fixed an issue where the time of day would intermittently get cut off on the lap alert.
    Fixed an issue where the lap banner would not go away when on the music player.
    Fixed an intermittent issue where the backlight would not turn off in Expedition mode.
    Fixed an intermittent issue where graphical data fields would not render properly.
    Fixed an intermittent issue where the wifi setup page would show the same network multiple times.(Pro models)
    Fixed an intermittent issue where the golf round summary would display an incorrect net strokes value.
    Fixed slight UI delay when accessing widgets from the watch face.
    Fixed UI issue on the golf last round widget.
    Fixed potential issue causing 0 pool swim distance. [Sensor hub 18.02]
    Connect IQ stability improvements and bug fixes.
    Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

  • sadly i can't register for beta fenix 6x :-( bin trying for hours...

  • this is so lame. i have no interest in running beta software, but i have GREAT interest in looking at the changelog to see what's on the horizon. how's this possible now?

  • Sadly I am not able to join with muy Fenix 6S Pro currently running v20.86 firmware.

    I get a message saying there are now beta firmware anymore or there are already too many people enrolled.

  • I have a second-hand fenix 6S Pro, which is obviously registered to the account of the previous owner. Sadly, therefore I cannot join the beta program and trying to do so just triggers the message

    Unable to Complete Enrollment

    This device cannot be enrolled in the Garmin beta software program at this time. It may no longer be receiving beta software, or the maximum number of enrolled users may have been met.

    Can't you really do anything to this, Garmin? With this policy you will loose many valuable testers which have been beta testing previous software versions up to this point.

  • I might be a 6S Pro problem? (have a look at my post above yours)

  • That is a good point - hopefully that is the case and they will fix it soon. I assume you are the first and only owner of your 6S Pro? 

  • Will it be possible to rollback to previous stable versions?

  •  although you wrote that you won't monitor the forum, i hope this feedback will get to you and even higher in Garmin:

    PLEASE MAKE THE BETA FORUMS AVAILABLE AT LEAST AS READ-ONLY TO EVERYONE!

    1. Big plus to Garmin for making the beta experience more user friendly (GC instead of copying files)

    2. Even bigger minus for reducing the already low enough transparency to lows we didn't see before. I don't know why and who decided to do so, but it was a bad decision. Please don't force some of us to enroll in beta just to be able to see what problems others reported! I mean: some of use were waiting to see that certain problems get fixed before jumping in to try the beta (or even the released production version) Now you're either locking us to whatever old version we have (or trust) and to total darkness regarding more recent versions and info about their problems/fixes or forcing us to become a beta tester, when we don't even know if downgrade is possible (not to mention the how...)