fēnix 7 Series - Recent Threads

Garmin Fenix 7 Solar – Smart Notifications stop working while Bluetooth connection and synchronization remain active

konkee — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 08:44:04 GMT

Hello,

I would like to report what appears to be a software issue affecting Smart Notifications on my Garmin Fenix 7 Solar.

Device Information

Watch

Model: Garmin Fenix 7 Solar
Device ID: 3400696541
Serial Number: 70Q000883
Software Version: 26.09
Host: 26.09 (82d435d)
GPS: 14.01
Sensor Hub: 35.10
Connect IQ: 5.2.0
Wireless Version: 28.27

Phone

Xiaomi POCO X5 Pro 5G (256 GB)
Android 14
HyperOS 2.0.14.0 UMSEUXM

Garmin Connect

Version 5.25

Issue Description

For the past several weeks, Smart Notifications have intermittently stopped working on my Fenix 7 Solar.

The issue affects all notification types, including:

SMS
WhatsApp
Viber
Gmail
Alarm/Clock notifications
Booking.com notifications

When the issue occurs, no new notifications are delivered to the watch.

However, at the same time:

Bluetooth connection remains active.
The watch shows the phone as connected.
Activity synchronization works normally.
Activities upload successfully to Garmin Connect.
"Phone Connected" and "Phone Disconnected" alerts continue to work correctly when moving in and out of Bluetooth range.

This indicates that Bluetooth connectivity itself is functioning correctly, while Smart Notifications stop working.

Observed Behavior

When the problem occurs:

New notifications are no longer delivered to the watch.
The Notifications widget on the watch still contains old notifications.
These notifications may include SMS, WhatsApp, Viber, Gmail, Booking.com, and alarm notifications.
Opening and reading the notifications on the watch does not remove them.
The watch appears to retain old notifications even after they have already been viewed or cleared on the phone.

At one point, the notification list contained approximately:

8 notifications displayed with the SMS icon,
2 email notifications,
1 WhatsApp notification.

While these notifications remained in the watch's notification list, no new notifications were being delivered.

Troubleshooting Performed

1. Phone Restart

Disabled Bluetooth.
Restarted the phone.
Re-enabled Bluetooth.

Result:

No improvement.

2. Watch Restart

Restarting the watch immediately restores Smart Notifications.

After a restart:

Alarm notifications work again.
SMS notifications are delivered again.
Email notifications are delivered again.

Result:

Temporary improvement only.

3. Factory Reset

I performed a full factory reset of the watch and paired it again from scratch.

Result:

The issue returned after some time.

4. Android and Garmin Connect Settings Verification

Verified:

Notification access permissions.
Application permissions.
Battery optimization disabled for Garmin Connect.
Phone notifications enabled in Garmin Connect.

No configuration issues were found.

5. Garmin Connect Cache Clear

I cleared only the Garmin Connect application cache on the phone.

Sequence of events:

The watch displayed a message indicating that it was waiting for synchronization with phone data.
The old notifications were still visible initially.
After a short time, the notification list on the watch became empty.
New notifications immediately started arriving again.

Result:

Smart Notifications started working again without restarting the watch.

This behavior suggests a possible synchronization issue between Garmin Connect and the watch notification database/state.

Additional Notes

The issue has now occurred multiple times.

A factory reset of the watch did not permanently resolve it.

The most significant observation is that clearing the Garmin Connect cache caused the watch notification list to reset and immediately restored notification delivery.

Based on the behavior observed, it appears that:

Bluetooth communication remains functional.
Activity synchronization remains functional.
The issue affects only Smart Notifications.
Old notifications appear to remain stuck on the watch.
New notifications stop being delivered.
Restarting the watch or clearing the Garmin Connect cache temporarily restores functionality.

Could you please advise whether this is a known issue with Software Version 26.09 or whether there are any diagnostic logs that I can provide to assist with troubleshooting?

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Łukasz Konkol
Garmin Fenix 7 Solar
Serial Number: 70Q000883
Device ID: 3400696541

"In desired zone"

runny — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:59:54 GMT

Hi all! I set up a structured workout as follows:

warm up 600m 9:30-10:30/km

run 1250m 6:00-7:00/km

recovery 300m 9:30-10:30/km

run & recovery 6 times

cool down 200m 10:00-11:00

At the end of the 4th run, I saw a message on the F7x screen as the image below:

What zone is referred? almost any phase of the workout was targeted (run & recovery always targeted)

Thanks for your help!

Is creating a new activity without it registering as an existing activity possible?

glenas — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:50:48 GMT

I have a large yard where I do a lot of work, including using a push mower to cut all the lawns, which usually ends up with my logging 3km or so of walking. I created a new activity by copying "Hike" and called it "Yard Work", but it still shows up as Hike in both the connect app and connect web.

I'd like to be able to run a report and see how many km's I cover over a time period doing "Yard Work", but I can see no way of setting this up - so is this even possible?

Or do I have to just pick an existing activity for this purpose and remember that it's not actually what it says it is.

I didn't want to choose Walk to copy because I'm concerned it will skew my V02 Max

Thanks in advance.

Is it ever worth upgrading a fenix 7x from 17.26?

Mark C — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 17:57:02 GMT

Checking in to see if any other fenix 7 users have found any value and/or stability beyond the most stable release I know of 17.26. I need my watch for 100 milers and I can not accept high battery drain, crashes, or other unusual behavior but am also curious if there are any features im missing out on.

Alert for updating of Max HR

runny — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:47:53 GMT

Hi all! I got today an alert, after my activity, that HR is now 180 instead of 179, but the alert was so fast that I didn't read it all.

Do you know where can I retrieve this alert on the watch or on Connect?

Thanks

Navigation doesn‘t work

Mickl11 — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:31:05 GMT

After the new 26.09 Update Navigation does not work! Route calculation canceled with error Message! Had the same problem with the Venu X1, where it was fixed with the newest Update. It is really annoying that it does Not work anymore for the Fenix 7.

Cycling vo2 max showing on wrong date on watch, correct date in Connect

pfblack — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:38:46 GMT

Hello, I have a Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar, 26.09 although the problem has been occurring on previous firmware. I am using the Peloton integration through Connect and am noticing that the watch is reporting cycling v02 max updates a day before the workout date where Connect will show it on the proper day, e.g. I finished a ride yesterday that got a vo2 update, the phone app says the update was yesterday (Tuesday) and the watch shows the update was Monday. Does anyone else have this problem? If riders are using the Garmin power meters are the updates off on the phone also?

Garmin - GPS time synchronisation - not reliable - bug?

1851058 — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:17:17 GMT

I was boating on the sea, in the international waters.

The watch (Tactix 7 amoled, 25.11) made time auto synchronisation and showed the time of Tunis, GMT+1.

**I was thousands miles from Tunis and from GMT+1 time zone.**

The map app and navigation app showed the correct location.

My inReach showed incorrect time as well i.e. GMT+1.

After leaving the international waters, after synchronisation the watch showed the correct time and time zone.

Can someone more experienced explain that?

My f7x assumes the phase is complete when in fact there are about 100 meters left

runny — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:36:07 GMT

Hi all! I created a structured workout with phases of run (1.25km) and recovery (0.3km) repeated 6 times.

At the 3rd recovery, when I was about at 2/3 of the recovery, I turned around and headed back to the starting point of the activity and as soon as I did this, my fenix stated the phase was completed and switched to the next 4th phase of run. It sounds like going back to the start cancelled 1/3 of the recovery time. And 0.25km of the 3rd run, was done in 2 tenths of a seconds!

How can we explain this ?

Thanks

way points on my Fenix 7 sonar,

1412201 — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:45:53 GMT

how do I turn of way points on my Fenix 7 sonar, it's driving me mad, I have turnd of the alerts but still, every few hundred yards it goes off again.

Tides widget - intermittent data loading failure

dugeem.david — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:50:51 GMT

Running Fenix 7 Pro with latest 26.09 firmware.

I have 3 locations configured in my Tides widget.

When I attempt to update the location specific data I am getting intermittent failures.

Usually after multiple retries (with a bit of delay) the loading succeeds.

Is anyone else seeing this issue?

JBL Live Buds 3

7042406 — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:06:40 GMT

I can connect to any device but to my watch.

Did all the updates/factory resets but it will not connect to my watch. It picks up and shows the the headset but will not connetc.

Any fixes or anyone else have similar problem.

Thansk

steps on Fenix 7 not jiving with connect one day and then adding 10300 while sleeping the next

2166192 — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 20:08:28 GMT

Two days ago my Fenix 7 had less steps than connect and the editing the sleep times put me in a different time zone on 26.09. I chatted with Garmin and he noted the watch should catch up by the end pf the day. This morning I woke up to that number seemingly applied at 2:30 am while I was sleeping. I started the day with 10,300 and 41 intensity minutes. Chatted with Garmin again and a new person said he thought it was a one off and put in a ticket to remove the extra steps and said should take a few minutes. So far (hours later) I am still at the incorrect number. I have rebooted phone and watch, turned on and off blue tooth, everything is running at up-to-date software. The only thing I can think of us connect express updated a few days ago. I have plugged in to see if it would fix the weird sleep times

Fenix 7x pro sapphire The compass is not working properly

4721652 — Fri, 29 May 2026 20:25:57 GMT

Fenix 7x pro sapphire. La brujula no funciona correctamente

Version 26.09

The compass is not working properly

Akkulaufzeit nach Update auf 26.09

7117195 — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:46:11 GMT

Mein Akku hält nicht mal mehr einen Tag. Wlan kann nicht verbunden werden. Reset, Werkeinstellungen helfen nicht. Habt ihr Tipps?

No GPS tracking for outdoor variant of activities on Fenix 7 Pro Solar

1789058 — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:02:33 GMT

Hello,

since 26.xx update, I have a problem with activities with outdoor/indoor option, such as football, tennis, skating etc. Before, when I chose outdoor, GPS tracking automatically turned on. Now, GPS does not start, I have to go to settings and turn it on manually. It is really annoying. Interesting is, that sometimes, it just works automatically, 1 out of 10 tries approximately. I tried to restart the watches, no change.

Tactix 7 fw 26.09 is unable to work with HRM 600

Dan_Lukes — Wed, 27 May 2026 20:36:28 GMT

I can pair it via BLE, but it can't download the activity data:

But no way to pair in ANT mode:

It offer "Yes" only. No way to "keep using ANT because BLE can't be used".

Conclusion ? It can be paired in BLE mode only, but data can't be downloaded using BLE. It can't be connected in ANT mode.

So how to use the expensive sensor with expensive watches ?

Tactix 7 sleep tracking wrong and boot animation issue

4396528 — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:20:42 GMT

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.

Fenix 7x pro sapphire solar map restarting watch

2908068 — Tue, 26 May 2026 08:56:29 GMT

Every time I choose map-around me and select target a watch restarts. Software ver. 26.09

Fenix 7x pro sapphire solar map restarting watch

2908068 — Tue, 26 May 2026 07:59:18 GMT

Every time I choose map-around me and select target a watch restart. Software ver. 26.09

Fenix 7x pro not pairing with phone

Ryex — Mon, 25 May 2026 22:59:14 GMT

So I have been reading through the forums looking at all the older messages for fixing this issue, and no dice.

So I have a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and I recently purchased a Fenix 7x Pro.
I've been using the Fenix 6 for years without issue, and tried pairing the 7xPro, but it can't find it.

I have gone through the wickets on troubleshooting. On the android settings I can see the device and connect too it, but the app refuses to connect.
I have restarted, paired, unpaired, cleared cache, cleared data, uninstalled app and reinstalled app. No dice on the Garmin Connect app.
On the watch I have, reset all data, toggled airplane mode, downgraded the firmware, upgraded the firmware, wiped all files on the watch's MTP storage. You name it, I've tried it, even trying different devices to try pairing.

As it stands right now, most I can do is sync over WIFI or plug into a computer to sync. Though I can't install any apps or custom watch faces, and I would like to do that... as well as use the ECG feature. There's a lot of missing stuff without the app, since I can't do anything with the desktop program.

I did go though the debug folder after the firmware rollback, and there is an err_log file and it has this.

```

4376 (fenix 7X Pro) SW ver: 1934
Build Type: RELEASE
Commit:8aebc8bf433754c3cb318284566336fc210aba20
ESN: 3483194421
11/21/24 03:06:10
RTL
errnum: 0x021
r0: 0x38a0e5b8
r1: 0x38745a64
r2: 0x188a4a23
Stack frame PC, SP: 0x10001b11, 0x38a0d860
Call Stack - SP at 0x38a0d860:
	0x100006ed
	0x100044dd
	0x188a4a23
	0x188a4a23
	0x188a4a23
	0x1003f767
	0x18a7e20b
	0x1019e765
	0x101a4215
	0x10006059
	0x100060b1
	0x1019ce73
	0x1019ce73
	0x101a6949
	0x10006681
	0x10007121
	0x10002201
	0x186e8ab3
	0x10002225
	0x1000262b
	0x10002937
	0x186e8ab3
	0x186e6105
	0x18b92ead
	0x18b92ead
	0x10000001
	0x186e50ed
	0x186e50ed
	0x18d600fb
	0x18b91f85
	0x18d600fb
	0x18b91f85
Uptime: 51863

So I'm pretty sure, there is a physical defect on the device, but I'm not sure.

Since I purchased the device in store and it was the last of leftover stock, I can't really return it too the store. So is there any way to fix this, or do I have to hope Garmin can do an RMA on an older device?

Wrong tide times

2021713 — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:05:52 GMT

Tides times are totally wrong for my location (Mauritius) Tried all the recommended fixes but to no avail. Now what?

Fenix 7 formato 24 H dopo ultimo aggiornamento

elgluc — Sun, 24 May 2026 18:48:16 GMT

Dopo l'ultimo aggiornamento non compare l'ora in formato 24 ore ho provato a riavviare e connettere al GPS ad impostare nelle preferenze di sistema ma non cambia nulla, come risolvere?

Fenix 7

elgluc — Sun, 24 May 2026 18:45:21 GMT

Dopo l'ultimo aggiornamento non compare l'ora in formato 24 ore ho provato a riavviare e connettere al GPS ad impostare nelle preferenze di sistema ma non cambia nulla, come risolvere?

Fenix 7 solar loop reboot

2782550 — Sat, 23 May 2026 11:06:39 GMT

My fenix 7 solar reboots in loop every 5 sec or so.

the fenix 7 screen appears/disappears in loop. there is no blue triangle of death !

I tried to hard reset (I can hear the bips) , I has no effect.

Sometimes I achieve connecting it to PC as USB. I can clean up files if needed (no GPS.bin found)

when access to watch content is granted, is there any possibility to install a file to force reinstall sw ?

can anyone help ?