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Install new watchface without fw update

sandeep.krishna

I have not updated my 965 fw for a long long while. I'm still on 19.18 - which In happy with. Battery life/ performance etc. I know I might be missing some new features added, but I have what I need. And would rather not update to the latest fw which have bunch of issues recorded on this forum - primarily battery life and worst HR issues. 

However I came across a watchface recently that I'm tempted to install. The Garmin connect IQ though, said that I will need to update the fw to be able to install. 

I want to check here, is there a wait around this? Does the update only need (say) context IQ version updated , an element that could be updated without the whole set of Fw? Or does it need a full update - which I will not update at this point of time. 

If anyone has experience or ideas of this, please share. 

Thanks much

  • 0

    As a user downloading from the store, no.

    As a developer with the source code available, yes. There are certain files you can edit before building for a device to have it compatible with an older firmware, but it could cause issues if the code uses features that are not available in the older firmware.

  • 0

    From version 19.80 to 26.80 were fixed many, many problems and bugs and also upgrade some features and added a few new functions. I am on version 26.80 and my watch works very well on this version. I think that you are on the old version of CIQ, current is 5.2.0 and because of old version you cant install all of apps and watch faces.

    I have my procedure before and after update of Software and never have single problem after update:

    1. Full backup of the watch (settings/sistem/backup and recovery)

    2. Restart the watch (press light button for 20 sec, after 1min turn it back on)

    3. Check for new updates and update to the latest software

    4. Emediatly after update I made a SOFTWARE REINSTALL ( settings/sistem/about and then press 8 times LIGHT button and chose SOFTWARE REINSTALL)

    This is it... after this procedures I never have any problems with my watch and accuracy of sensors and my battery life is 12 to 14 days... if I workout, run, hike in nature, mountines... it lasts around 8 to 10 days ( with GPS).

  • 0 in reply to Gogi

    I think one of the concerns is HR accuracy, which seems to have become worse for some people with firmware updates.

  • 0 in reply to Jacquers

    The HR accuracy depends on many factors... collour of skin, outdoor temperatures, ....  

    I made a lot of interval training, like HIIT, and in the past with older versions of SW I noticed that watch has some problems with HR accuracy (most of watches have this problem with interval trainings).. then after version 22.xx I start with my procedures of updateing and noticed a big improvement of behaviour of my watch, especially in intervall training HR accuracy.... it is not perfect, but it is very good now... this is my experiance...

  • 0 in reply to Gogi

     Thanks  for sharing your elaborate process!! 

    Lots of complaints about HR accuracy as shared by   and I am not keen to be debugging these for a Watchface update. Hence my thought to check if a shortcut exists to only update the CIQ version.

    I agree a lot of fixes have come up from 19.80 to now, but I am happy with the FW19.80 and the bugs (that might exist) are not conflicting with my usage. Hence my reluctance to attempt latest FWs with unpredictable behavior.


    Any other options to only update CIQ version? 

  • 0

    Maybe (haven't tried) if you can somehow get the org file from another device and you side load it onto your device. I don't know if the enforcing if the FW version is only before downloading or even when the app starts

  • 0 in reply to flocsy🤠
    flocsy🤠 said:
    I don't know if the enforcing if the FW version is only before downloading or even when the app starts

    I'm fairly sure the firmware check is only at download time (within the CIQ store) since it's based on information in a manifest file in the IQ package which isn't written to the PRG or garmindevice.xml (which has metadata about installed CIQ apps).

    I don't think the check applies to sideloaded apps.

    Ofc it's always possible that the app actually needs something in a newer CIQ version and didn't bother to do a runtime check because they're relying on the "static" firmware check.

    flocsy🤠 said:
    Maybe (haven't tried) if you can somehow get the org file from another device

    It's basically impossible to get PRG files from currently supported devices now (i.e. any device ofthe FR255/955/Fenix 7 "generation" or later which is still receiving beta software updates), as they've all been updated so that all PRGs are "hidden" (completely inaccessible) from the end user now. (Some of these devices started out with certain types of PRGs being visible.) Maybe you could find a FR955 or FR965 with old firmware that was never updated, but then ofc you'd have the same problem where you're unable to install the watchface that you want.

    One conceivable way would be to get the PRG file from a super old device (like maybe FR935 *), but then ofc the watchface probably wouldn't work properly as all of these old devices are from before the AMOLED era, so it's almost guaranteed that the watchface will not be displayed properly due to mismatch in screen resolutions between the old device (which would be MIP) and the actual FR965 (which is ofc AMOLED).

    [*] if the app is even available for such a device, and you know someone who is willing to install the app and send the PRG to you

    sandeep.krishna said:
    Does the update only need (say) context IQ version updated , an element that could be updated without the whole set of Fw? Or does it need a full update - which I will not update at this point of time. 

    It's impossible to update the Connect IQ version of your device without also updating the entire firmware.

    Besides, I'm fairly sure that the check in question is based on the firmware version anyway.

    sandeep.krishna said:
    is there a wait around this?

    You could contact the developer and see if they're willing to send you a PRG file for sideloading.

    Some issues here:

    - They probably won't do it (not because they're mean but just because they probably don't have time to fulfill requests like that)

    - Even if they are willing to do it, you will lose out on functionality like app updates and app settings (the kind of settings that are modified in the Connect IQ store app on your phone, not on the watch itself)