Wearables
Garmin smartwatches experience bug
29th January 2025
Caitlin Gittins
Smartwatch brand Garmin has received a series of complaints from its users who have said their devices have not been working, as the result of a bug.
As reported by the BBC, user complaints centered around seeing a blue triangle appear when they tried to turn on their watch and others mentioned being stuck on its start up screen.
On its website, Garmin acknowledged the issues, which it said were affecting the following models:
- Approach Watch
- Forerunner Series
- Vivoactive 4 and 5
- Venu 3 and 3S
- Edge Cycling Computers
- Epix Watch
- Fenix Watch
- Instinct Series Watch
Users have been advised to avoid attempting to start activities like GPS-related functions, and the brand has suggested resetting devices and syncing them back up with a Garmin app. If that doesn’t succeed in resolving the issue, users have been directed to its support page.
The smartwatch brand’s history dates back to 1989, when it was founded in the US. In addition to the consumer segment, its devices are used in the aviation, marine and automotive industries.
In the smartwatch market, Apple currently occupies 49% of market share, while Samsung has 15% and Garmin, 11%, according to figures reported by Canalys from August 2024. Smartwatch shipments were buoyed up by momentum from Garmin and other players in the market, including Samsung, Huawei and Google, offsetting Apple’s decline, as it experienced negative 5% growth.
It’s been suggested or theorised that the affected devices, which are dependent on GPS technology, are experiencing the inability to communicate with GPS due to a bad update. Garmin has yet to confirm the source of the issues and its silence has stoked anger among users.
