On my Garmin Forerunner 955 (non-solar), there is a glitch in the Breathwork activity animation -- the smoothly growing/shrinking blue arcs which are synchronized with breath instructions. Every breath cycle, there is a jarring animation jump; this works against the design to be a relaxing, smoothly moving object to gaze at and synchronize breathing with. Sounds minor and silly, but it really can get in the way of the "relax and focus" aim of the activity.
Comparison video: Right before posting this message, I saw that this glitch has also been seen on Fenix 8, here's a post with a comparison video of glitchy on a Fenix 8 vs. smooth on a Fenix 6 The is the same glitch I see on the Forerunner 955: https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-8-series/412919/bug-jittery-in-breath-animation-in-breathwork-activity-in-15-31 . I'll still make this post here in the Forerunner section, in case the software teams are monitoring separately / a separate ticket would need to be created for the product line.
This glitch is not present on two other Garmin watches I've worn (Vivoactive 4, Forerunner 645M). The Breathwork animation is consistently smooth on both of these watches, and consistently glitchy on the Forerunner 955 (across power cycles, even a couple of software upgrades). The Forerunner 955's firmware is: "Software Version Bundle: 26.08".
The animation glitch comes at the start of the cycle between "Hold Breath" and "Breathe In". At the "Breathe In" vibration, a full arc segment blinks on suddenly, instead of the slow radial grow/shrink pulsing seen for the rest of the cycle.
Does anyone else see this, on Forerunner 955 or other Forerunner models?
Sure, there are workarounds like "don't look at the animations, just follow the vibrations" (not ideal), but this doesn't help on those rare occasions -- which have happened -- when this activity is a convenient focus for someone else in need of some guided breathing. "Look at this and breathe along with it" should work well for a first-time user.
