Title: [Tactix 7 Pro] Two Firmware Bugs After 26.09 Update — Sleep Detection Failure + Connect IQ Watch Face Boot Regression
Device: Garmin Tactix 7 Pro
Firmware Version: 26.09
Platform: iOS
Status: Both issues reproduce consistently and without fail on every occurrence
ISSUE 1: Sleep Tracking Completely Wrong — Multiple Nights in a Row
Sleep detection has been grossly inaccurate since the 26.09 update. The device is recording only the tail end of my actual sleep window and missing several hours of sleep onset entirely.
Night 1:
• Actual sleep: ~11:00 PM – 7:15 AM (~8h 15m)
• Recorded by device: 6:29 AM – 11:11 AM (4h 42m)
• Hours missed: ~7.5 hours
Night 2:
• Actual sleep: ~11:00 PM – 5:30 AM (~6.5 hours)
• Recorded by device: ~3:30 AM – 9:45 AM
• Hours missed: ~4.5 hours
What I have already tried — none of it fixed the issue:
• Verified Sleep Time window in Garmin Connect is correctly set and bracketed both nights’ actual sleep
• Verified Sleep Time setting on the watch itself matches the app
• Confirmed watch was worn before sleep with solid wrist contact
• Synced Garmin Connect before bed both nights
• Performed a soft reset (power off, 30 seconds, power on)
• Toggled sleep-related settings off, synced to watch, toggled back on and re-synced
• Performed a full factory reset (issue persisted on the fresh setup)
This is not a Sleep Time window misconfiguration. The window was set correctly and bracketed the actual sleep period on both nights. All standard troubleshooting has been exhausted.
Impact: Body Battery recovery calculations, HRV Status, sleep score, and Sleep Coach recommendations are all materially wrong on the days following each affected night. This is not cosmetic — it corrupts the entire daily health metrics picture.
Suspected cause: The sleep onset detection algorithm appears to have a regression introduced in 26.09 where it is either ignoring early biometric signals (HRV drop, reduced movement, heart rate decline at sleep onset) or applying an incorrect time-based gate that prevents onset from being registered until hours into the actual sleep period.
ISSUE 2: Connect IQ Watch Face Install Notification Fires During Boot Animation + Wrong Watch Face Loads on Every Cold Boot
Every single time the watch is powered on from a fully powered-off state, the following sequence occurs without fail:
1. Normal Garmin boot animation begins
2. Mid-animation, a Connect IQ notification appears on screen stating that the most recently installed Connect IQ watch face has been installed
3. I must press BACK to dismiss this notification for the boot sequence to continue
4. Once the watch fully starts, it has switched to that most recently installed Connect IQ watch face — regardless of which watch face was active when the watch was powered off
This happens every single cold boot, without exception.
Key facts that confirm this is a firmware bug, not user error:
• Behavior is 100% reproducible on every cold boot — not intermittent
• The watch was powered off while displaying a stock Garmin watch face, not a Connect IQ face — it still boots into the Connect IQ face every time
• This behavior survived a full factory reset and immediately reproduced on the fresh setup with a completely different Connect IQ watch face from the one installed before the reset
• The watch behaves completely normally in all other respects once fully booted
• This behavior began after the 26.09 firmware update
Suspected cause: The Connect IQ installation routine appears to be persisting in a startup queue and re-executing on every subsequent cold boot rather than being flushed on shutdown. This is overwriting the stored “last active watch face” register with the most recently installed Connect IQ face during the boot sequence, instead of restoring the watch face that was active at power-off. The install confirmation notification firing mid-boot-animation is direct evidence that the install queue is not being properly cleared on shutdown.
Partial workaround: None found. A factory reset did not resolve the issue. The behavior reproduces immediately after fresh setup.
Request to Garmin engineering: Please review the Connect IQ installation queue flush behavior on device shutdown and the watch face state persistence logic on cold boot. The install confirmation notification should not be executing during the boot animation sequence under any circumstances.
Is anyone else seeing either of these issues on Tactix 7 Pro or Fenix 7 Pro after 26.09? Particularly interested in whether the sleep regression is confirmed on other units.
