back to article Garmin Connect outage leaves folks unable to share their fitness virtue signaling

Fitness app Garmin Connect got knocked down but got up again, after an unexplained outage that left fitness extroverts flummoxed. There's no need to panic: Garmin's watches appear to be still recording data but the Connect platform used to correlate fitness data, and share it with others such as Strava, took a dive early on …

  1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

    I use Connect because I've got a Garmin watch. The watch is great for my use and I think that the steaming pile of dogshit that is the Connect app is probably better when it's borked than when it's working.

    1. tip pc Silver badge

      Means to an end

      The connection app is a jeans to an end.

      There are loads of 3 parties that can integrate with connect cloud and you can consume your data there.

      Connect is the conduit that connects your activity to a wider ecosystem, loads are free some are paid for.

      Many just use connect to get their data to Strava.

      https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918057-Garmin-and-Strava

      1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

        Re: Means to an end

        The Connect app on iPhone is just a way of presenting Connect website data and it does nothing without an internet connection. If there's no internet then I can't synch my watch to the app even though the synch is direct device-to-device bluetooth. All the post walk calculations have to be done online, in spite of the app running on device capable of doing them. I can create courses on the website but, in spite of having 80GB of free memory on my phone, I can't download them to the iphone via Connect app, so if I want to add a course to my watch I have to wait for and internet connection. It's lazy app development at its finest and, given that I only use my Garmin watch for Munro bagging it's a pain given the lack of internet in many of the areas I walk in.

        The Connect website itself is clunky as fuck. No bulk editiing, no folders to organize courses, terrible presentation and overlaying of data and no integration with the other Garmin websites like Explore or the standalone Mac app.

        I don't want to share my data with anyone, so the wider ecosystem of connectable sites is of no interest to me.

        If the watch wasn't such a good piece of kit for walking then I wouldn't bother with Connect and Garmin at all, although I've talked to DC Rainmaker and he says that Garmin's web offerings are pretty good compared to the competition; God only knows how rubbish they must be.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Means to an end

          The Connect App and Connect website ppear to be developed by two completely different teams that do not talk to eachother. Some functionality is only available in the App and some only in the Website. But then this is fairly typical. Strava is another good example. In the app you cannot upload a GPX file, but can on the website. Infact banks are just the same. They all push you to use their app, but then you need the website for some stuff.

          Shame FirefoxOS never took off on mobiles. Might have helped unify the customer experience.

          1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

            Re: Means to an end

            I think that the Garmin software environment is the best example I've ever seen of something that has been specced and developed by people who, if they use it at all, do so only superficially. It's so hard to understand why a company that has such good hardware doesn't seem to give a shit about its software products.

        2. Sam Jelfs

          Re: Means to an end

          I use Garmin, but my OH is a Suunto user, and that really is awful, makes Garmin look amazing by comparison! I basically never use the app, it's just there to sync my watch to other sites, fetcheveryone.com for analytics, and plotaroute.com for creating routes (Favourite a route on plotaroute and it gets automatically sent to garmin connect and then onto compatible devices)

          1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

            Re: Means to an end

            +1 for Plotaroute.

      2. Philo T Farnsworth Silver badge

        Re: Means to an end

        > The connection app is a jeans to an end.

        Well, you know what they say. . . the end justifies the jeans.

        1. Korev Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Means to an end

          Levi it out!

        2. Headley_Grange Silver badge

          Re: Means to an end

          et tu Brutus.

        3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Means to an end

          Error 501 Not Implemented

      3. weirdbeardmt

        Re: Means to an end

        In the spirit of links: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/11/stravas-changes-to-kill-off-apps.html

        1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

          Re: Means to an end

          I think they are mainly anticipating an AI-driven future where someone gets a Strava account and only logs in once to set it up, after which AI does all the work. synthesizing whatever reports the user wants from it and dozens of apps that suck Strava's data and Strava's advertising revenue goes through the floor.

  2. I am David Jones Silver badge

    As we all know

    If the run isn’t broadcast to your mates by Garmin/Strava, then it didn’t happen. So mop up the sweat and tears and get back out there, biatches.

  3. tip pc Silver badge

    Running non stop.

    They’ve been running non stop without an outage for 4 years or so so need a lay down some time.

  4. ecofeco Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Spyware not working?

    Oh the humanity!!

  5. IGotOut Silver badge

    Americans panic ..

    ...as the Health Insurance Overloads have them down as not running on the 8th of Jan, so now are facing having insurance declined for any issues for the next 15 years.

    1. Korev Silver badge

      Re: Americans panic ..

      As an experiment I let my insurer see some overview stats from my Garmin as they offered a discount for exercise. They were really dumb and only looked at steps, I'm someone who cycles a three figure number of KM each week so only walks a few thousand steps each day. I cancelled it pretty quickly...

      1. jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid Silver badge

        Re: Americans panic ..

        "They were really dumb and only looked at steps..."

        I know someone who shares their activity with their insurer to get discounts and freebies. They need to upload an activity lasting a minimum duration for that to happen, even if that activity is actually doing nothing.

        1. DancesWithPoultry
          Happy

          Re: Americans panic ..

          > They need to upload an activity lasting a minimum duration

          fnarr fnarr

          Have a guess what data we would choose to upload if some American company tried doing that in Blighty!

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