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Bluetooth pairing issues, and Connect forgetting my watch completely.

Former Member
Former Member over 6 years ago
Just got a 645 Music, very excited for it! But right out of the box I'm having bluetooth pairing issues with my phone. I have a Motorola Droid Turbo.

Using Connect, the app seems to find the watch quickly with no problem. It goes very quickly from searching to "Completing Set-up" etc. etc. in the pairing process, but then it almost always goes to "Pairing failed". I have tried turning BT off then back on while in the Connect app. I have tried trying to connect through Connect and then quickly going to my BT settings and trying to pair with the watch there (if it shows up, which is not always the case), kind of a double-barreled shotgun attempt. I've tried having Connect search for a default "Forerunner 645 Music" and also set up my watch with a specific name in Connect on its own, then tried to find my named watch.

I have been able to pair the phone twice. Both times, I turned the connection off to save battery on the watch, and could not get it to connect again. Both times, while trying to get it to connect again, the watch literally disappeared from my Connect app. All the troubleshooting in the video Garmin provides starts by saying "let's see if you have a green dot, red dot, or no dot!" but Connect is literally forgetting my watch so I can't even have no dot. The second time I believe I was able to pair it soon after hard-resetting the watch, but now on trying to re-connect the watch I couldn't and Connect totally forgot the watch - again.

I have:
-uninstalled and reinstalled Connect on my phone
-hard reset the watch
-updated the watch software (to 3.4) by connecting it to Garmin Express through my computer
-tried turning bluetooth off and on, dozens of times
-turned the watch off then back on

The watch connects to my bluetooth headphones just fine (Otium) with only a little clipping due to the watch-left-hand headphones-right-hand deal if I keep my hands down and am not running and pumping my arm. So the watch seems to have a fine bluetooth signal? My phone can also connect via bluetooth to the headphones or other devices.

This isn't exactly a heartbreaker problem - I still can sync via wifi and go from watch to Connect, and from Connect to my phone, basically. But it's a frustrating thing to have happen the very first day you get a new product.

Anyone have any advice? I've put a support ticket in, but I'd love to be able to solve this on my own without having to send the watch in or wait for a replacement.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    I read somewhere that Google's "Play Protect" sometimes causes problems with Bluetooth pairings, turned it off. No luck. I tried chat support and the woman there said that most likely it's just the phone - Droid Turbo is "low compatibility" with Garmin watches, especially newer ones like the 645. The official list of compatibility does not include the 645 or 645/music yet, but it does show Droid Turbo as compatible with all other Forerunner models, all Fenix models, etc. but I guess "low compatibility" is different than "no compatibility".
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Update: I have factory reset the watch and cannot get it to pair again. I tried downloading Garmin Connect version 3.20.3 as recommended elsewhere, and that did not work. My phone (again, a Droid Turbo, if anyone else has successfully paired with it let me know) can see the watch when the watch is in pairing mode - I can see it on the bluetooth list.

    So the phone, and Connect, can find the watch. But then when communicating with the watch to "complete set-up" it just hangs and never completes, and eventually fails.

    I'm not sure if this is a 645 issue or a Connect issue or a Droid Turbo issue at this point, so if a mod wants to move the thread somewhere more appropriate, feel free.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Update again! I managed to get it paired. I went into the system settings on the Droid Turbo, and tried messing with all the permissions I could find for both Connect and any Bluetooth (there are two, Bluetooth Midi Service and Bluetooth Share). There is one permission called "draw over other apps" and one called "modify system settings". Allowing Connect and the bluetooths that show up to be able to do both, I did get the phone and watch to pair.

    I sat there infinitely happy for three minutes before wanting to test if I could turn it off and on again. Bad idea. I turned the phone pairing off of my watch, OK, watch still shows up in Connect just with no red or green dot. Turn the phone pairing back on the watch - nothing. Within a minute the watch literally disappears from Connect, without me touching anything. Now I can't get the watch and phone to pair again at all.

    So, no full answer yet sadly.
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    Garmin 645 has many bluetooth issues. I have posted a couple times now in hopes it is fixed but not yet. Anytime i walk away from my iphone 8 and i lose bluetooth signal, the watch never re-pairs to my iphone. My fr235 was so smooth and seemless it was never ever an issue. My garmin 645 gets restarted at least 2-3 times a day to re-pair to my iphone. Utterly annoying!!!
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Interesting, and good to know! So it may not be only the phone. Maybe the 645 has a bluetooth stack that uses less power but is therefore less powerful? And that paired with an older/less powerful bluetooth stack on a phone causes issues?

    I thought it was just my phone but if people are having many issues with multiple phones, maybe it's just something in the watches themselves. Not a defect but something related to how the watch bluetooth was designed/implemented.

    That doesn't help us find a solution though, sadly. Unless they improve it in a future update.
  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I've had a 645M connected to my Galaxy Note 8 (running Android 9) for 6 months with no issues.

    Two days ago the 645M did an automatic software update to v6.50, now it looses connection and does not reconnect to the phone.

    The only workaround is to remove it from the Garmin phone app and delete it from the phone's Bluetooth device list. Even then this only works once, and the process has to be repeated. I've tried all the same things listed on this post (and others) without success. Really frustrating as I use the smart notifications a lot.

    Interested if others have the same problem with software update 6.50???

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to simonalbery

    I'm  having issues right now with this.It worked flawlessly for months until a few days ago. If I "forget" the device from the bluetooth settings and add it back, it works until I get out of range, then nothing again. No need to remove it from the GC app. Very frustrating.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    I have the same problem as Former Member. I've had the watch for over a year and initially Bluetooth connection with my Huawei P20 Pro was rock solid. You have to turn off the Android power management etc but thereafter it worked really well.  I would leave my phone at home for a run and a few minutes after returning the activity would sync. 

    A couple of months ago, however, it started losing the connection if the phone went out of range: it would rarely reconnect automatically.  

    The workaround I have found is to open the Connect app, turn off Bluetooth, wait a second or so for the red warning to come up in the app that Bluetooth is off and then turn Bluetooth back on again.  A few seconds later, the app will find the watch again, reconnect and sync. It's a real pain though and sometimes I miss calls because I forget to check that the watch is repaired if I have gone out of range of the phone. 

    If I had to guess, I suspect this is a problem with Android or the Connect app, rather than the watch.  If anybody has any suggestions for fixing this, please do post them here. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to simonalbery

    I have a similar problem but it started before v6.50.  I suspect it is to do with either a sensor hub update (which happened at a similar time but Garmin never give a change log) or the Connect app or an update to Android. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to George

    Tome turning off and then on Bluetooth doesn't work. I really need to remove and add back the device in the Bluetooth settings. I have a Galaxy S9+.