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Samsung phone does not find watch at all - other Android phones detect the watch fine

Ben
11 months ago

I had to reset my Samsung Galaxy phone. My Fenix 7 was previously paired to this phone. Now, after trying to pair it again, the phone simply does not detect the watch. I checked and triple-checked all settings (like making sure detect nearby devices is switched on, restarting phone and watch, removing watch from Garmin Connect, Bluetooth off and on again etc etc) - no joy at all.

The watch does also not appear in the Bluetooth settings of the phone. However, I can pair other Bluetooth hardware (like headphones) without any problem.

Other phones detect the watch fine - I tried to different phones, they both detect the Fenix 7 instantly.

Any help would be much appreciated, I am getting fairly frustrated here :-(

  • 0 11 months ago

    You have to pair the watch with the Garmin  Connect APP, not with the bluetooth settings of the phone. My last 4 Fenix watches never had issues with pairing to any of my Samsung Tablets or phones.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to RunR

    Sure, I know. That's what I tried for two days now - in the connect app. I just wanted to stress that the watch does also not appear in the bluetooth scanning menu of the phone. I also never had any issue with pairing before, had 4 Fenix watches now, and I think I know a thing or two about phones & watches... So in short, really weird that I am unable to get this to work.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to keiw72

    Thanks. Thought of that as well though - and double checked it. Localization is correct....

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Ben

    At what point and how does it fail the pairing? Does it detect the Fenix and show a passcode or not at all?

    I don't know if this issue is similar, last time I switched phones the pairing process failed with invalid passcodes every time. I had to remove my Fenix 7 from my account, wait a day for that change to sync to the relevant services (I guess), add it again and then it paired in no time.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Data

    It shows absolutely nothing -. it does not detect the watch. I tried like 50 times, in various constellations (mobile, connection, different wifis etc). Really weird.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Ben

    Mysterious. Have you been able to exclude that your Fenix is not trying to pair to another phone or tablet when you set Pair Phone on? I suppose you already restarted the Fenix and the phone.

    I guess it's time to call Garnin Support (although they are likely to conclude the problem is with the phone).

    To exclude possible influence of other devices nearby you could take phone and watch outside, restart them (just turn off/on) again, ensure the phone has cellular internet and try again. Garmin Connect should respond as soon as you set the watch in pairing mode. 

  • +1 11 months ago in reply to Data

    Mysterious indeed. I had tried your steps already - and tried them again now. No joy.

    Anyway, I solved the issue - I reset the watch, and boom, instant recognition by the phone.

    Unfortunately, I had reset the phone first, which made no difference, other than me having to spend hours setting up the phone. I wish I had reset the watch first and see if that helps, saving me a lot of work.

    No idea though why resetting the watch solved it. My best guess: Somehow the watch thought it was already paired to the phone (although I had removed the watch completely from my Garmin account). Really weird, and countless hours of trying to solve it. :-(

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Ben

    Happy days, glad to hear it is sorted! 

    Could be that the watch had a cache of recently used BLE addresses that needed clearing or that it geneated a new address for itself... never got around to studying that Bluetooth stuff in detail.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Data

    Could be, sounds very plausibel to me. I only wish there was a way to clear that Bluetooth cache, rather than having to reset the watch to factory settings.