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So it IS possible to add new activity types (such as cycling or tennis)...

carl.andersson
over 9 years ago
Well.... I'm about 80% sure it's possible to add new activities to the watch, but it requires someone with programming skills, which just isn't me.

Activities are stored on the watch in a folder GARMIN\SPORTS
This is where you'll find the Running, Indoor Running and "Other" activities stored in .FIT files. And before they were wiped out by the most recent updates this is also where you'd find the cycling activities.
Now people have already proven you can add the cycling activity back in by putting a copy of the .FIT file into this folder.

In theory, if you were to download the FIT SDK (https://www.thisisant.com/resources/fit) and compile it correctly (https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/3872/) you'd be able to take one of the current .FIT activity files and modify it to create a new profile - e.g. one for Tennis or Snowboarding for example.

Anyone willing to give it a try? :confused:
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    I had a similar idea and tried to do this with my FR230. It appears that the watch is looking for predefined file names. The new edited sport file I created was removed by the watch. After that I gave up and did not try to edit one of the existing files to see if I could change the activity type.

    See post #18 in our FR230 discussion https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?334880-Activity-types
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    I would love to have Tennis on my watch :)

    Yesterday I copied the Indoor Cycling in the folder SPORTS. After disconnecting the watch said it was updating and then Indoor Cycling was available. I don't do indoor cycling, but I was curious to see if it works.

    The file was posted here: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?336850-Follow-these-Instructions-to-get-a-stable-FR235-(Must-Read)&p=769196#post769196

    The question is, if the watch/FW knows which profiles are "allowed" so it's possible that even a correctly compiled "Tennis" activity would be disregarded.

    EDIT: the easiest would probably be, having someone who has a Fr630 create a new profile and try to copy it to the FR235 to see what happens.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    I had a similar idea and tried to do this with my FR230. It appears that the watch is looking for predefined file names. The new edited sport file I created was removed by the watch. After that I gave up and did not try to edit one of the existing files to see if I could change the activity type.

    See post #18 in our FR230 discussion https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?334880-Activity-types


    Did you convert the fit file to csv, edit it and then convert it back? I'm wanting to know if you got a bunch of "unknown" field types, and what you did with them?
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Did you convert the fit file to csv, edit it and then convert it back? I'm wanting to know if you got a bunch of "unknown" field types, and what you did with them?


    That is exactly what I did. The only parameter i changed in the file was the sport name and the code for the sport type and subtype. I go not errors on the re-encode. Just the watch did not keep the new file. Like I said. I did not try to save it over the top of an existing file.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    That is exactly what I did. The only parameter i changed in the file was the sport name and the code for the sport type and subtype. I go not errors on the re-encode. Just the watch did not keep the new file. Like I said. I did not try to save it over the top of an existing file.


    Could you please share your CSV file here? When I ran the conversion tool my csv file had a lot of "unknown" fields.
    I suspect to add other activities we might also have to modify the watch settings fit file, but I can't do anything if I keep getting "unknown" field errors.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Weird that they removed indoor cycling. Long time since I have done that, but still strange.

    You can download hike as an app. That's cool. Hope some people will make more apps with different activities. The "other"-function is luckily there anytime.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Have got Bike Indoor on mine. Check Settings, Activity Profiles and see if it has been hidden.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    The bike indoor file has been posted in this forum somewhere... I didn't have it, but after copying the file to my watch it is available now.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Same here. My 235 arrived with 3.20 already installed, and there was not an indoor bike. The 3CBIKE_.FIT file wasn't on the watch. I'd snagged it from one of the threads here and copied to the watch, after which I had the Bike Indoor activity available. I'd dig around here and see if you can find the file again. I'm unsure of the IP policy here so am reticent to post it as an attachment without an okay to do so.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Same here. My 235 arrived with 3.20 already installed, and there was not an indoor bike. The 3CBIKE_.FIT file wasn't on the watch. I'd snagged it from one of the threads here and copied to the watch, after which I had the Bike Indoor activity available. I'd dig around here and see if you can find the file again. I'm unsure of the IP policy here so am reticent to post it as an attachment without an okay to do so.


    I did the same thing to get the indoor bike profile. I haven't used it yet, but with all the rain forecast for the next week I might give it a try even though the bikes at my gym don't have any speed/cadence sensors on them.