phone connectivity (problems/solutions)

I've got a Pixel 3 and have Bluetooth connectivity issues as well. I can delete the edge using the GCM app, delete the phone from the edge, and forget the edge in my Bluetooth settings. After that, I can reconnect to the edge and it seems to work fine for a ride or two but then it fails and it will not connect via Bluetooth. 

I tried having the GCM app open before I turn on the edge but it doesn't seem to help. I've also tried turning Bluetooth off and back on the phone and the edge to no avail. Anyone else have suggestions?

No, it is hopeless. The Garmin software is obviously a failure. It will pair intermittently, maybe even for weeks, but then ultimately fail and you will have a lot of frustration trying to get it pair again. It is the Garmin software - total failure. They need to find some smarter people to do the programming. They don't have anyone who can figure it out as evidenced by the massive number of people who complain about it yet garmin refuses to even try to fix it. 

I've been having problems with my new 530, while with my previous Edge (520) there would be no problems.

I've found out that if I enable the GPS on my Android smartphone that it facilitates the Bluetooth connection. It doesn't always fix the problem and I don't know why, but nowhere is explained that we need the smartphone GPS on.

I noticed exactly the same behavior. My Edge 530 couldn't connect to One Plus 6T until I enabled GPS on it. It so ridiculous to force enabling GPS on smartphone to connect to GPS tracker. It's definitely a software issue which Garmin doesn't seem wants to fix

I have an edge 530 since end of 2020. I still have connection problems with my phone (oneplus 6). I did serveral steps and resets but the problem still pops up. If i turn on the edge, sometimes it connects directly to my phone but most of the times it takes 5 min or more.

I see many people with connection problems, also in other forums. I tried all the tips from users but connecting with my phone doesnt improve.

Why is garmin not solving the problem? from a product that costs more then 250 euros and a brand like garmin I expect more!

Hope garmin is coming with an solution soon.

I'm glad to see someone answered just recently but not glad it's not been resolved.  I did a double century yesterday and lost the phone connection around mile 68, family was concerned and kept pinging me since I was doing this solo.   This is the first time it's disconnected but of course it happens on the one time I really need connection.

same problem....just switched from samsung s8 (worked fine) to iphone 12...does not reconnect consistently.  have to forget bluetooth connections on phone and then go through the whole reconnect before every ride....so annoying.  where's the garmin support?

I'm adding to this to show Garmin there is obviously an ongoing issue. I am experiencing the same with an iPhone 8. I had them side by side and it couldn't connect then i opened the app on my phone and it connected instantly. I have only just started using this unit and i am enjoying it but to echo what someone said previously it seems ridiculous that a GPS unit of this price need additional Mobile connections in order to use GPS.

If its a software update thats needed, please roll it out

I've been experiencing something similar with my Edge 530 and I think I've figured it out in my case at least, so I'm sharing here in case it helps others too. Hope it all makes sense.  Keen to hear if anyone else has found something similar.

Sorry its a bit of a long post, there is a bit going on here.

Short version:

Make sure you have Location Services (on iPhone, or whatever it's equivalent is on Android) set to "Always" for the Connect app on your phone, and that the Connect app hasn't been recently updated.  If you do have Location Services on, then check its set for the Connect app to "Always" not "While Using" (or whatever the equivalent settings are on Android). 

This is just a theory I have, but it seems to hold true over the last week and a bit of using my Edge most days, whereas before I seemed to have the issue most days.  Read long version below for explanation of why Location Services seems to matter.

Long version:

For me the initial pairing worked fine with my iPhone XS. However when I go for a ride sometimes the Edge would find my phone straight away, but most other times it would get stuck on "Searching" (when I was looking at Phone section on the Status screen on the Edge).  I'm reasonably sure it used to be more reliable when I first bought it 15 months ago and then connection reliability started getting worse sometime within the last year.  Also worth noting I rarely open the Connect app before a ride, or even after a ride (because I have Connect auto syncing to Strava and thats the app I use to review my rides).

I started to notice that on those rare days I did open the Connect app first, ie before powering on my Edge, the Edge/Connect connection would always work just fine and would usually last the whole ride. 

Whereas if I'd powered up the Edge and noticed the phone connection hadn't worked, I began to notice it was always when I hadn't opened Connect on the phone recently.  In these cases I'd have to get my phone from my pack, unlock it, open the Connect app, then use the iPhone way to close the app (swipe up on the Connect app from the running app list screen), and then reopen the Connect app, then the Edge and Connect would find each other, lock phone again, put it back in my pack.

The other thing I'd noticed was that sometimes it wouldn't sync with my phone automatically at the end of my ride.  Most of the time this was when I realised belatedly, ie after my ride, that I hadn't checked it was connected at the start of the ride.  Other times this was despite it connecting fine at the start.  I can't remember for sure, but it could've been those rides were more than a few hours.

Through some of my own trial and error, and from a bit of reading these forums and Garmin's support pages, I think there are several things at play here.  This might explain why we're each having seemingly similar random disconnects but in various different scenarios (and also might explain why it's a little tricky for any us or Garmin to work out what is going on).

For all my disconnects that have been at the start of a ride ie when I first turn on my Edge and it will fail to connect to the phone (ie stuck on "Searching"), I noticed one of 2 things have been true:

- Connect app hasn't been opened for at least a few hours

- Connect app has been updated (either manually or in background with auto update) since I last had it open

I can't remember for sure, but I think all my disconnects mid ride, or failures to sync at the end of a ride, it has been more than a few hours since having the Connect app open.

My working theory is if you have any of the Connect weather features enabled or any kind of live tracking enabled, this means you have to have Location Services enabled with "Always" in the phone's Privacy settings for the Connect app, so that these features can continue working when the Connect app is running in the background on your phone.

There are two weather related features in Connect in the device's General settings for my Edge 530, "Weather" which checks the current weather when Edge first connects to Connect, and "Weather Alerts" is where Edge and Connect check regularly for live weather updates during the activity.  I read somewhere on one of the Garmin manual pages that these Connect features both need to use the phone's location services to get the weather.  I don't think I have any kind of live tracking on my Edge 530, but I assume that kind of feature that some people mention would also use the phone's location services during the ride to report your location.

Putting 2 and 2 together, so to speak, when you turn on the Edge before your activity and it is trying create a new connection to the Connect app on the phone, or during your ride when the Edge is checking in periodically with Connect on the phone, in both cases if you have any of these features enabled then perhaps the Connect app must also need to use the phone's Location Services.  If the phone's location services are turned off or blocked because Connect is running in the background for a while, then Connect is unable to get all of the things it needs to report back to the Edge. 

My theory is that when this happens it kills the existing connection between the Edge and the Connect app, or refuses the initial connection in the scenario where the Edge has just been powered on.

You might think "But I've got location services turned on" or "But I'm getting my phone notifications while it is supposedly disconnected"

WRT Location Services - at some point during an iOS update, Apple changed the default for Location Services from "Always" to "While Using".  Not only did they do that, but I think they also reset all current installed app's Location Service setting to this new default of "While Using".  "While Using" means the Location Services are blocked for that app while it is not running in the foreground or has not been running in the foreground recently (not sure what the timeout threshold is for this).  In other words Location Services are blocked when Connect has been running in the background for a while.  There is either a time out before the phone blocks Location Services when the app is in the background, or the Connect app is caching the data for a certain period.  Or both are happening.  I think this also explains when things work at first but only for a short while if you've had the Connect app open on the phone recently.  The change in default Location Services settings, and the resetting of the Location Services setting for all existing installed apps during an iOS update probably also explains, in my case at least, why this used to be reliable, and then became unreliable at some point.

WRT to phone notifications (text messages, calls etc) still working when the phone shows as "Searching" in the Status screen on the Edge - from what I've read, the phone notifications feature on the Edge is separate from the Connect app. I think the Edge hardware/firmware itself has the appropriate Bluetooth capability to get these basic notifications directly from the phone without needing the Connect app.  Related to this, again from what I've read, and confirmed with my own setup on my iPhone at least, when the Edge tries to connect to the iPhone over bluetooth, it has two bluetooth connections - one lower energy connection (shows as "(BLE)Edge530" on iPhone) and one full bluetooth connection for the higher bandwidth data (shows as "(BT)Edge530" on iPhone).   I suspect the phone notifications feature works over the lower energy one, and the Connect app seems to use the main higher bandwidth one.  You may see both connection active in the phone's Settings -> Bluetooth screen when the Edge first tries to connect to the phone.  When the Connect/Edge connection bombs out, the lower energy one stays connected, in my case at least.  I've also noticed sometimes the main Bluetooth connection stays connected at first in the phone's Settings screen when Connect has failed to connect to the Edge and then disconnects sometime later.

Some other thoughts:

- Alternative solution, you might try disable the 2 weather features and any other Connect feature that needs Location Services.  I haven't tried this myself so I can't say if it will also work.

- I have had the connection fail on powering up the Edge once this week, however I had just updated all the apps on my phone, and the Connect app was one of the apps that had just been updated.  I hadn't opened the Connect app since doing the update.

- I'm guessing this only applies to the more recent models of the Edge, eg from 530, 830, 1030 onwards, that have these weather or any kind of live tracking features.  I assume the older models that seem to work perfectly for people probably don't have one or all of these weather or live track features?

- Assuming my theory holds true, I think Garmin could update the sections in their manuals and in their support web pages to note that the customer needs to set Location Services for the Connect app to "Always" if any of these features are enabled.

Currently another thread about LiveTrack that is related:  https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/cycling/f/edge-530/262638/livetrack---is-it-now-reliable/1256930#1256930