Garmin 955 and Pixel 7/7a Connection issues

40% of the time, upon completing a pool swim acitivity, the watch loses its pairing with Garmin Connect. The 955 is deleted from GC and it requires re pairing the phone/watch and re-entering the settings.

This began happening in mid June.

I reported the issue to Garmin Taiwan Sept 23 and they have been working on it since. Garmin claims the issue is related to bluetooth specifically with the Google Pixel 7 and 7a phones. They claim to be working on a solution, but 7 weeks into this problem, there does not seem to be a solution on the near horizon. All customs settings are lost each time the device un pairs itself and this happens several times a week, making the watch not nearly as useful or enjoyable to use.

I am wondering if others have experienced these issues, either with Google Pixel 7 or 7a phones, or with other phones?

Thanks all!

0 sdantasbvi 8 days ago

I have a Pixel 6 and a Garmin 955 Solar. No disconnection issues...

0 Orienteering runner 8 days ago

I have Pixel 7 and FR955. But I didn't record any activity in the pool. I mainly run, ride a bike, trek. I didn't observe any problems with BT pairing. The connection is very stable, better than with my previous Redmi.

0 sandopolus 7 days ago

My Garmin 955 has been unpairing with my Pixel 7a for the last few months at various points. Not been able to figure out what causes it, but seems to happen more often when my phone is far enough away from my watch that the bluetooth disconnects from each other for a while.

I have just upgraded my Pixel 7a to android 15 today to see if that has any impact, but won't know for a few weeks.

0 sandopolus 2 days ago in reply to sandopolus

Had my first unpairing last night after my phone was away from the watch for a short while

So looks like upgrading to Android 15 hasn't fixed the issue on the Pixel 7a

0 parentoft 1 day ago

Hi

It is not a Garmin App issue but a Pixel 7/7a/Pro issue. Pixel 6-versions does not have this issue as they are using a different chip/version.

Generally users with a pixel 7 are reporting that also headphones are dropping out, all the time and users with HRM gets disconnections too.

I myself also had zillions of disconnections when using the Zwift Companion App. So I have simply decided not to use the phone and switched back to an Apple Iphone that just works.

0 5407156 1 day ago

Interesting. I had an unpairing problem immediately after the most recent Android security update (November 2024). I had to factory reset the watch and re-pair it. I have a Pixel 7a.

0 parentoft 1 day ago in reply to 5407156

I believe that it is a OS/hardware issue that Google are trying by all means to fix.

Having said that if you go to support sites like Zwift, Sonos and Googles own supportsite. Even Google Pixel 9 is having issues. If you google a bit then you see that it include issues with terrible range, static sound, annoying sound dropping, random disconnections and problems with Android Auto.

So the list is unfortunately very long with various issues :(

0 Orienteering runner 1 day ago

That's strange, as I wrote I haven't encountered any problems with BT so far. I only use Pixel with a smartwatch and headphones. Recently there was an update with Android 15 and so far still ok.

0 5407156 1 day ago in reply to parentoft

Thankfully the only problem I've had was this one instance of the watch losing pairing, and this is the first time I've had to factory reset the watch in 2¼ years. The recently introduced backup/restore facility was a time saver.

If anything Android Auto has been more reliable for me recently.

There always seem to be problems with newly released Pixel phones and the Pixel 9 is no exception. My preference is to not get a new model until at least six months after it was released.