Bluetooth not staying connected

I will DM you so we can troubleshoot the issue. 

Same. Removed from Iphone BT device list but it immediately locks up saying don't do anything to the watch until repairing, adding code.

Hello All. One step we need to be sure of is we are pairing the Garmin device directly to the Garmin App. I may have confused a few people, I apologize. Some users will attempt to pair the device to the bluetooth settings and this will cause issues. The device will end up still showing up under the bluetooth settings of the phone after the device itself has been paired to the Garmin app. What we do not want is for you to pair the device first to the bluetooth settings. If the device only shows in the Garmin app as "registered to this device" then please remove the Garmin device from the bluetooth settings of the phone. Force close the Garmin app and reopen it. Place the Garmin device in pair mode first then add the device in the Garmin app. Then once you have this device paired you can then use the workaround until we get this issue of automatic connection corrected. 

Open your Settings app > Bluetooth and tap on the name of the device (not on the (i) symbol, but on the name of the device itself). This should cause it to reconnect with the watch. Note that this will not permanently resolve the issue, but should cause the phone to reconnect, after which it should stay connected for a while. 

I hope this clears up any confusion. 

I removed the device from both the ios BT settings and the Garmin App, which was tricky because a popup window kept trying to force me to add a code to pair it.

Currently it is not paired either in ios BT or in the Garmin app HOWEVER, it is still showing "connected" over and over in the BT ios settings. It is stuck in a loop. Is this normal? I will try to pair it in the Garmin app now, but no matter what I do, it is staying "connected" in the ios BT settings, which is very odd, but it has no blue "i" symbol, just "connected".

(FYI Vivoactive 4 is not in the list of devices on the Garmin app... just Vivoactive 3)

BTW I want to thank you for your time in trying to help with this issue. After so much time, I did not expect anyone actually read these posts.

I had exactly the same issues as described by Denise. At one time I could connect via Connect, when I had the watch in pairing mode, but as said it appeared again in my iPhone BT list.

Hi Amber. Thank you for flagging our problem as an issue in need of an official fix. I would imagine it will come in form of a software update pushed to the watch. Is there any timeline we could expect this fix to come through?

I must admit that my VA3 worked flawlessly for years, so I upgraded to VA4. But having to daily (many times in a day) reconnect my VA4 with the iPhone definitely takes away the smart in a smartwatch. 

Thanks.

Hi everyone. My watch downloaded a new bluetooth software update today and it seems to have fixed the problem. I don't want to speak to soon now, but I've been walking away from my iPhone and intentionally breaking the connection, and the watch has automatically reconnected again by itself when back within the phone's range. Fingers crossed this is the fix we've been waiting for! Thanks Garmin crew for getting this done!

Mine is also staying connected. I was not aware of any update being made to it though. Lets hope this issue is fixed once and for all.

Is it a version past 4.60? I got that update a couple weeks ago and unfortunately I am still facing frequent disconnections.

I find that if I open the app, it usually (usually!) connects. If I minimize the app and go back, it disconnects. I have to force close the app and restart, then it will reconnect until next time.

4.60 is the GPS version, and yes, I also got that update about the same time you did. What you want to find is ANT/BLE/BT version. Mine is 6.11, but just a couple of days ago it was 6.06