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Garmin Fenix 8 Gesture Activation Issue

3767564
4 months ago

I’ve been noticing a strange issue with my Garmin Fenix 8, and I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has a solution.

When I enable the gesture to activate the watch face (raise-to-wake), it works fine most of the time. However, I’ve observed that if the watch isn’t detecting my heart rate at the moment (e.g., loose strap or not snugly fitted), the gesture often fails to activate the watch face and show the time.

It seems like the watch heavily relies on heart rate detection to process the gesture. Is there any way to tweak the settings so that the gesture works independently of heart rate detection?

It’s frustrating when I just want to glance at the time, but the watch won’t respond because it can’t detect my heart rate. I’m open to suggestions or tips if anyone knows how to fix this.

Thanks in advance!

Top Replies

  • 4 months ago +1 verified

    Hello

    You are correct. The watch requires the Wrist HR detection for the gesture function. So being loose on your wrist, or even tattoos in the area you wear the watch will limit the HR reading…

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  • +1 4 months ago

    Hello

    You are correct. The watch requires the Wrist HR detection for the gesture function. So being loose on your wrist, or even tattoos in the area you wear the watch will limit the HR reading. And this will impact the gestures. 

  • 0 4 months ago

    For me it seems to be working like this: 

    Gesture is always on! 

    a) Screen: off Setting  --> Screen is off and it can only be turned on by tapping the finger on the screen. Gesture ist not working. 

    b) Screen: on --> Screen turns dim and will be turned bright by gesture of hand. 

    c) Screen: on and DND: on --> Screen turns off and gesture is working. 

    How do I get it to work without using DND as a workaround? 

  • 0 1 month ago

    I had to turn off the heart rate monitor for the wrist gesture to work 100% of the time. With the monitor on, my tattoo would stop it from activating 50% of the time which was annoying. I was probably not getting great readings to begin with having the tattoo mostly blocking it so it doesn't bother me much having heart rate off and I wear a whoop strap on my opposite wrist which is not tattooed.  I could just wear the watch there, and did for awhile, but ultimately I hate wearing a watch on my dominant wrist so I gave up on that.