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Garmin Connect IQ Announces New Features and Apps/Devices

Last week while at the annual ANT+ Symposium, Garmin announced a pile of new features for Connect IQ, and in the process, also lit up a bunch of partner apps and devices.  I had a chance to get a run-through on all the new features, as well as see three of these new 3rd party apps and devices in person.

In addition to that, there were two other tidbits of news around both a dedicated Connect IQ book this fall, and developer conference next spring.  Plus of course, some interesting metric stats on downloads/devices.  Everyone loves numbers!

Oh – if you’re not a data/dev geek, the best section to skip to is probably just the 3rd party devices section.  It’s got a nifty video that shows three partner apps/devices.  That makes all the code-type stuff a bit more real-world.

New Functionality:

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Connect IQ already saw a bit of a major update this past summer, with Connect IQ 2.0 being launched.  That brought with it numerous new features, including most notably the ability for 3rd parties to record and display data directly into the .FIT files.  That data is then passed on to both Garmin Connect as well as 3rd party platforms (about which I managed to hold court with not one, but two separate discussion groups while at the Symposium, including with your favorite platforms like Strava and Training Peaks…more to come there).

This addition has been a core turning point for me in actually using Connect IQ apps myself, as I think it really opens up the door to unique sensor solutions down the road.  Up until this point, much of the data being shown in Connect IQ was more transient in nature.  I wrote about this change in more detail back this summer here.  Of note in the demo this week though was Stryd (the running power meter) pumping in more than just running power to Garmin Connect, but also their advanced running metrics as well:

hill-run-garmin-4

So what’s new in Connect IQ 2.2?  Well, three specific features.  Actually, more like three and a half.  They are as follows:

Generic ANT Bursting: This allows CIQ apps to burst a string of high speed messages in quick succession to devices/sensors.  Typically ANT+ broadcasts upwards of four times a second, but often the same message repeated. In this case, you’re bursting at far higher message rates, to allow for transmission of longer data types quickly.  The easiest example is the Nokē lock below, where they’re transmitting a long authentication key and want that transaction to be virtually instantaneous.  This allows the app to burst the key (which wouldn’t otherwise fit in a single ANT message) such that the entire unlock sequence happens the instant you press unlock on your Garmin Edge.

ANTPlus Module: This new software module (it’s not a hardware thing) gives apps deeper access to the sensors that are already paired by the host device.  Meaning, today if you pair on your Edge 520 ANT+ lights, the Connect IQ apps have a specific level of access.  They’re allowed certain operations, but not quite all the native operations that are capable by Garmin themselves.  This aims to rectify that by giving far greater access to apps to paired sensors, such as the Bontrager lights.  This is different than a Connect IQ app making a specific ANT connection to a sensor.  Further, it doesn’t take up any additional ANT channels on the device, since it’s leveraging the existing ones.  This is being introduced initially for ANT+ Power & Lighting Control, but will expand beyond that.  It’s also being introduced first on the Edge series units that support CIQ2.0.

Downloadable Content: No, you can’t download Netflix videos to your Garmin. Well, not yet anyway.  However, what this allows apps to do is to download content to device memory/storage, versus downloading to app memory.  The benefit of this is that not only can other apps access this content, but so too can Garmin native apps.  So this allows one app to download something like a course or route, and then pass it to a different app (or even the native Garmin routing engine).  You’ll see this below in the Join app example.  CIQ downloadable content supports data types like Waypoints, Courses, Routes, Workouts, and Tracks.  Each of those acts slightly differently depending on the device type (e.g. Edge vs handheld).

Intent: This one is the ‘half’ I spoke about earlier.  Intent simply allows apps to open each other, and to pass arguments to each other.  Not like a Hilary-Trump argument, but rather a set of instructions.  This allows one app to tell another app what to do, such as to open a specific file, or to even open another app.  So one app could be a unique warm-up/stretching app, that in turn passes to the running app.

So who’s getting what?

Well, all of these above changes come to Connect IQ 2.0 capable devices, as part of Connect IQ 2.2.  As with any software platform, there will be cases where older devices won’t have the ability to run these new functions.  Said differently: Some devices will get the short end of the stick.

Right now Gamin’s list of Connect IQ 2.0 capable devices are: Edge 520, Edge 820, Edge 820 Explore, Edge 1000, Edge 1000 Explore, Forerunner 735XT, Fenix Chronos, and Vivoactive HR.  This explains it and the levels in more detail.  Notably excluded is the Fenix3/Fenix3HR lineup.

You’ll remember two years ago when Garmin first announced Connect IQ that they announced platform capabilities before devices that could leverage those.  That’s more or less the same thing here as well where there are obvious device gaps in the CIQ lineup for 2.2 going forward, but it’ll take some number of months or longer for all those gaps to fill in.

New 3rd Party Apps and Devices:

PowerPoint_Slide_Show_-__ANT_Symp_2016_CIQ_v3_

It’s without surprise that the number of 3rd party Connect IQ apps and integrated devices continues to grow.  Garmin has now shipped 3 million Connect IQ capable devices, which puts their platform pretty high up the list in terms of wearable app platforms.  The above is a chart of all the current Connect IQ capable devices…except the Epix unit.  Because it didn’t fit in the chart (much like Epix’s life in general).  That’s 21 units in total that support Connect IQ today.

Many of those thousands of apps are watch faces and other hobbyist type apps, which is great.  But at the same time, Garmin continues to try and attract more and more mainstream companies to the platform.  For example, GU just released an app last week (that’s the gel company).  Sure, it’s a long way from having an Uber app on your Fenix3, but even having the Uber app on my Apple Watch, I almost never end up using it.  Instead, pulling out my phone is my preferred method for that particular interaction.

Still, there are many cases where larger name 3rd party developers are investing in the platform, and Garmin had three on-hand at the Symposium to demo their wares.  While I’ll briefly cover them in photos/text below, this video I shot gives you a quick 60-second demo of each of the three that were featured.

Looking at them outside the video, first you have Nokē.  This company makes connected bike locks.  Previously those were done via Bluetooth Smart to the phone.  But now with their 2nd generation units coming out by the end of the year they’ll be having dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart in them.  Yet another in a growing list of companies that just gets that it’s so cheap to add in dual ANT+/BLE components, that it opens up numerous use cases versus locking customers into either platform.

This gives that Nokē the ability to interact with the Garmin devices via Connect IQ.  However, in order to do that they needed some method of authentication and authorization with Connect IQ.  So with CIQ2, they were able to use OAuth to complete that.  The Connect IQ app will work to initially authorize your specific device to open that specific lock, via a web service that Garmin Connect Mobile handles for your device.  This ensures that it’s only allowed to unlock your specific lock, and not others.

Once that’s done, you can simply tap the screen on the Edge 1000 to unlock your bike lock.  It takes a split-second and you’re good to go.  No keys, pulling out your phone, or typing in a code.  Just tap and go.  The app uses the new bursting capability to send the authentication key to the lock with virtually zero delay.

DSC_2086

The Nokē locks run $69 for the padlock version, and $129 for the u-lock version.

Next you’ve got the Bontrager smart lights.  These ANT+ enabled lights have actually been out for some time, and are somewhat similar in concept to Garmin’s lights.  While these lights have mostly worked with the Edge 520/820/1000 series for a while, Garmin made that a bit more official back in September by actually specifying in the release notes support for these lights.  Both the Bontrager and Varia lights follow the ANT+ Lighting Control standard, making it easy to support in head units.

However, what Bontrager did here is to offer a data field that you can add on your Edge device to get quicker control over the Bontrager lights.  So instead of having to dig through a menu, you can just swipe left/right to the set data page and then change brightness/lighting settings.  Further, with Di2 control, you can even do that directly from the handlebars (as I showed in the video):

DSC_2098

Finally, we’ve got the Join app, which was formerly known as CycleWE.  This app allows you to find group rides as well as routes nearby your current location.  What’s unique about this from a Connect IQ standpoint is that they’re using the new downloadable content and ‘intent’ functionality.  The app will download routes from their platform, and then pass that .FIT file (with routing instructions) to the Edge’s native routing engine to start your ride.

Now Join is unique in that it’s a widget, so you swipe down from the upper menu to get started, and then swipe from the side to access the widgets.  So you’ll start from the generic screen here, and then swipe to the right to access the widgets.

DSC_2100

You’ll notice next it’ll actually leverage the GPS on the device itself to get your location, which it then passes through your mobile phone to a web service to grab routes and rides:

DSC_2102 DSC_2103

From there you can pick a ride, and then immediately save the route to your Edge for routing:

DSC_2105 DSC_2107

Pretty cool stuff.  As I noted above – all of this is within the video in a bit more detail.  Of course, as you might expect, all of these apps are beta and not quite available yet.  As such, none of them worked perfectly 100% of the time, but again, it’s just beta at this point.  I don’t have specific release dates for any of these apps at this time.

Further, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other cool apps out there.  In fact, there are tons (i.e. DWMap).  These were just the three that happened to be at the Symposium and had a few spare minutes to shoot a video while I froze my ass off standing outside in shorts with the temperature at the freezing point.

Garmin Connect IQ Summit & Book:

CIQDevSummit

Next up, Garmin is launching a Connect IQ book.  Well, actually, technically it’s an independently written book, though Garmin is working hand in hand with the author (Brian Jepson) to ensure accuracy/etc.  That book will be published by O’Reilly, though Garmin will offer it for free on their site.  Free books are the best type of books.  As those in technical circles know, O’Reilly books are often supported by the company that makes the product (Garmin in this case), so that developers get free and higher quality learning content.  Which is basically what’s happening here.

That book will be available in November.  And again, free.

image

Last but not least, Garmin will be hosting a Connect IQ developer summit in Olathe, Kansas next spring at their corporate headquarters (that’s my behind the scenes post if you’d like to kill some time).  The goal of this is a 2 to 2.5 day developer-focused conference with Connect IQ workshops, demonstrations, and other CIQ goodness.  The target audience for this particular conference is kinda like the ANT+ Symposium in that it’s aimed more at businesses/industry than hobbyist, however Garmin says that hobbyists are more than welcome, it’s just that unlike the book, it will not be free.  The sessions at the conference will be covering both dev-focused topics as well as business-focused ones.

The exact dates are still being finalized, but it sounds like it’ll probably be roughly aligned around the Garmin Marathon in Olathe, Kansas.  That event also has shorter-distance options as well (the running race, not the conference).  I suspect if you hit up that subscription link above you’ll get the date information once it’s finalized.  I’d love though to see Garmin offer 1-2 free spots for hobbyist type apps that are unique and doing innovative stuff in the field (and well downloaded), such as DWMap.

Phew, ok. Lots of stuff packed in there!

I’ll talk a bit more about Connect IQ in my ANT+ Symposium presentation, which I hope to have posted in the next day or two (as soon as I receive the video files).  I talk about some of the pros and cons of the platform, and what it means to the future of Garmin wearables.  Of course, I talk about craptons more in that presentation about all sorts of stuff (actually, two presentations and a round-table).  So stay tuned there!

Thanks for reading!

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133 Comments

  1. Josh

    Sounds very cool, but still no way to own two different watches and have all of the data from one watch seamlessly be on the other watch should you choose to change devices during the day?

    • Yup. Albeit unrelated to Connect IQ, that’s on the ‘arriving very shortly’ list. It was previously promised by end of year, and it sounds like they’ll easily make that commitment.

    • Josh

      Terrific, that just made my night. Thanks Ray!

    • Will

      Ray, will this feature work with Edge devises as well? I currently own a Vivoactive HR and an Edge 520. When I record an activity with my Edge it does not sync to my Vivoactive under activity history.

    • Hmm, not sure on that piece. Will try and poke some.

    • Greg M

      Hi,
      Curious if you have any news on this? I have an Edge 820 & a Fenix 3 HR – and it would be fantastic to see my rides sync up from the 820 to the Fenix. Currently I have to record twice to see my total daily distance/etc in the Fenix rather than just using the 820.

  2. Gregory

    Does it mean, that F3 gets already deprecated? In favor of Chronos? As it does not get new api?

    • It means the F3 doesn’t get Connect IQ 2.0, though, that was already announced this past summer. Garmin did however cover the majority of 2.0 base features for the Fenix3, so they’ll get them even though they won’t officially be 2.0.

      Note that this doesn’t directly impact things like firmware updates, as the Fenix3 continues to get those (albeit, new features have been slim lately).

    • Scott Buchanan

      Is that a thinly veiled hint that a Fenix 4 is round the corner?

    • gingerneil

      As far as I know, Ray has never been the source of a leak. That would be simply stupid considering he needs to feed his family and a major part of his brand is his impartiality and integrity.
      It doesn’t take a genius to look at garmin’s release schedule in the past, and take a punt at a Q1/2 2017 release for a Fenix 4 that would support the new CIQ capabilities. Even if this is updated hardware based on the chronic core and nothing overly obvious to the everyday user. Maybe a Fenix 3 SE!? 😉 Personally though, I’d expect to see things like music support (although I’m a pebble core backer so have that base covered somewhat, and don’t want Bluetooth headphones)

    • As Ginger said, the historics of it are silly-simple.

      Garmin is actually really predictable when it comes to new product launches. So, perhaps they won’t be predictable this year, but looking at the Fenix announcements previously:

      2014: Fenix2 announced in early March, available immediately
      2015: Fenix3 announced at CES (January), available Feb-March
      2016: Fenix3 HR announced at CES (January), available Feb-March

      (In case you’re wondering, the Fenix1 came out of the blue in the summer the first year it came out, and was available almost immediately)

    • Eli

      But the Chronos complicates things as that was recently released and the F4 can’t have better hardware if garmin doesn’t want to piss off users thinking they were getting the highest end device. At best its the Chronos in a plastic or some other cheaper shell is my guess

  3. Oren

    I really don’t get why the Fenix 3 and 3HR aren’t supported for CIQ 2.XX
    Those are flgaship-level products, one generation old, and in the case of the 3HR, not even a year in the market.
    Plus the Chronos supports CIQ 2.xx and as far as I can tell, it has the exact same hardware as the Fenix, with a more fancy casing (and pricing).
    So why is Garmin leaving this watch hanging?
    Any explanations? Guesses? Anyone?

    • Dan

      Chronos does not share hardware with the fenix 3. 4 times faster processor and more memory.

    • Andrew

      That’s why I buy garmin devices from rei- if they decide to start abandoning them, you have a one year return window. My Felix 3hr is only a few months old, but if they announce the 4 for anywhere near what I paid for it, in that window, it’s going back

    • Matthew

      I agree – even if the Fenix 3 hardware isn’t the same as the Chronos, it’s newer than the Edge 1000 that *did* get support. It’s like Garmin really, **really** wants me to go buy an Apple Watch now that they’re swim proof and still getting WatchOS updates.

      Like Andrew said, should’ve bought this Fenix3 HR from REI so I could return it now.

    • Przemek

      That is exactly what I think. I don’t know yet if I buy Apple Watch (completely different device, what is awesome- I could run without phone and listen music) but I am pretty sure that I will not buy another garmin device.
      To be honest, I love Fenix 3, it is great Watch, but this is wearable/electronic, not traditional Watch, so if garmin abandons their top level device after 1-2 year it is shame. it wasn’t cheap, I paid for it more than now apple Nike version costs. So 4-5 year support as in apple case should be minimum.
      And as someone wrote Fenix 3 HR does not have even 1 year…

    • Tim Grose

      920 is not included either but it’s also 2 years ago. Not quite what some mean by abandoned? Does your watch not now do what you wanted it to do when you got it? Short of sending your watch back in for the hardware to be replaced not sure how one can expect to receive all the latest stuff forever? Apple aren’t offering free upgrades to a watch with GPS in it are they?

    • Przemek

      We are speaking about software support, not hardware. Of course, apple does not give hardware upgrades for free, but it gives full software support for 4-5 years. So first apple watches got watchOS 3 support.
      But garmin will not improve anything in connect iq 1.1.3. I have some watch face created and there is no possibility to use connect iq 2.0 on my watch.

    • Dom

      Thing is, though, it isn’t just an arbitrary decision to stop supporting specific devices. It’s a decision to stop supporting devices with small amounts of RAM, because the base requirements for RAM for CIQ 2.0 and up are too large to do anything much useful any more. See here for details. The Edge 1000’s support continues because it has much more RAM than the F3 series.

      Frustrating, and suggests lack of foresight for how demanding CIQ was likely to become, but at least they’re squeezing all the features they can into the 1.3.x releases. The people who have really been left out in the cold here are not the F3 owners (it’s a two year old design and things are moving fast; even the F3HR was the same hardware with an optical HR crammed in, really) but the 630 owners who have a watch which really was completely new to the market barely a year ago, and wasn’t cheap.

    • giorgitd

      @Tim The FR 920 is shown in the pic as a ‘compatible device’. Is there something in the text that reverses or qualifies that?

    • giorgitd

      @Tim Responding to my own comment… Now I see…that deceptive graphic shows CIQ 1.0 capable HW, not CIQ 2.0. What is that image doing in a CIQ 2,0 story, Ray? If anything, I’d have Photoshopped in a red ‘X’ over the CIQ 1.0 devices that are *not* CIQ 2.0…

    • It’s simply all Connect IQ devices. It was in relation to the text below that talks to the 3 million CIQ capable devices across 21 units (and whereas I noted only 20 were shown in the pic, but 21 including Epix).

      Hadn’t thought about red X’s…

  4. Majeed

    My wife just gave me a fenix 3 HR on Friday for our anniversary (she’s awesome, btw)… but I’ve already got a Vivosmart HR, so I’m not lacking a device for basic tracking, and my trusty edge 810 for my rides.

    Would it be prudent to practice some patience and wait for a new fenix or similar device that supports the new features or do you think it will be a while before we see an update to the fenix line?

    • It’s not a case of waiting for an update to Fenix any more, we have that. It’s a case of waiting for a low end Chronos with plastic case at the Fenix 3 price point.

      I’m surprised people are that bothered, most of this is aimed at cycling and I’ve yet to see a killer app for Fenix 3 anyway. The Chronos is so similar in functionality if you need a watch for training the 3 is perfect.

      Poor Epix, there was room for the aquatic, D2 and Tactix which are all Fenix 3’s. Clearly Garmin want the Epix to die quickly so they don’t get awkward questions at CES 🙂

  5. Rich

    Any idea when JOIN app will be released? This looks great

    Rich

    • Sean Ormerod

      Where does JOIN grab the routes from?

    • Sean Ormerod

      Okay I read this without my first coffee of the day! I see where JOIN is pulling routes from. Now I guess what I’m hoping for and I would expect are others is a widget/app that will allow you to pull routes and data from RWGPS.

  6. Karim

    Any thoughts on how this could potentially play into a widget for the p1 pedals maybe some form of advanced metrics etc? Or not?

    • It definitely could. It’s one of those things that’s actually a bit more complex on the backend in terms of where those metrics show up. So it’s ‘easy’ for PowerTap to create a data field that records that data and pipes it into FIT 2.0 Developer Fields.

      But what’s less easy is getting apps/platforms to display said data. I think it’s clear from my conversations with two of those platforms* that there’s really no plans to allow such flexibility in displaying whatever the user records. I think that’s going to be an opportunity for other platforms to be more competitive there.

      *Note: Garmin Connect will display it, but not others.

    • Gunnar

      So, just to be clear, there is no Connect IQ that can show power say on a Vivoactive and have that power data show up on Strava?

    • Eli

      Ray can clarify in case they changed it but so far Connect IQ can only save to developer fields and not existing standard data fields. So currently the answer is no.

    • CIQ can save to developer fields in FIT2, and you can have an associated normal field with it (i.e. regular power, or HR, etc…). This helps apps figure out *some* of the ‘creative’ developer fields companies will come up with. It doesn’t solve the majority of use cases though.

  7. Matt

    Does this have anything to do with the recently announced auto-start feature for Strava Beacon and Garmin LiveTrack? Just curious of when we can expect this. Thanks!

  8. Stuart

    How about API access to our data in the Garmin Connect platform? Any progress on this?

    • It’s there today as part of the paid Garmin API for pulling (receiving technically) .FIT files. There isn’t a method for companies to push .FIT files to Garmin Connect. Nor are there other programmatic API’s to access Garmin Connect data in a way like you might access Strava data.

    • Niall

      While Garmin do offer an API, the barrier to entry is fairly high. The Garmin Connect API at $5000 is a bit much for individuals or open source projects to even thing about going near!

      While I’d be the first to argue that an API is not free, there is a massive amount of value add to opening up the API and letting other projects leverage it, thereby making the your API more valuable. All you have to do is look at the Strava Developers Challenge 2016 to see what people have come up with.

      Fitbit also offers a fairly decent API which makes it incredibly easy for individuals to quickly grab their “intra-day” data with minimal fuss. For the equivalent “Wellness API” in Garmin, you basically need to give a whole business plan before they even consider your application!

    • Niall

      Should have read: “thereby making the your product more valuable” 😀 Also, just saw your reply further down on the subject 🙂

  9. Yury Y.

    > So with CIQ2, they were able to use OATH to complete that.

    I’m pretty sure it should be OAuth

  10. Can’t find a download link for the Bontrager data field. Where to get it?

  11. gingerneil

    Shame about fenix 3 support, but that’s old news. I do hope that third parties jump on this. I’ve been suggesting to runscribe for some time that they need to be looking at real time metrics on the watch through connect IQ – stryd had proven this is possible.
    I’m assuming a new fenix will come out around Feb time, even if it’s just a hardware uplift with no great improvement in software features others than connect iq

    • Yeah, RunScribe came up repeatedly during the conference as probably the perfect example for something like this. The reality is that RunScribe’s customer base is nearly 100% overlapped with people who buy advanced GPS running watches. So getting those two converged more just makes a lot of sense.

    • gingerneil

      Fantastic. Hopefully hear more detail if / when the various sessions become available on YouTube.
      I’ve just received the new runscribe hardware – the second version is certainly more polished and it looks like the battery issues are sorted. Perfect launch pad for new software integration features.

    • JimL

      The new generation of RunScribe is so much more useable as well. It’d be a great integration, if only the 920xt were included.

      If any product is feeling long in the tooth, its the 920xt with it’s recent lack of updates/inclusion

    • Just to be clear, the conversation about RunScribe was everyone else talking about them. They weren’t party to the conversations.

    • gingerneil

      Shame.. lets hope they have sensitive hearing… 🙂

  12. Neil

    So where is the 920xt replacement? 735xt doesn’t really cut it for Ironman distance – and the 920 can’t deal with this latest update……….

    • I would argue that it doesn’t exist yet.

      Since CIQ2.X doesn’t work on the Fenix3, Fenix3HR, or 920XT, it seems clear to me that there will eventually be replacement watches for those (whether that’s one or multiple units remains to be seen). Next year seems like a logical timeframe for that. It’s now too close to Christmas to see anything new.

  13. Wouter

    Is this recording/display functionality free for anyone who is willing to develop a new data field to be recorded?

    Some background … currently I have a Suunto Ambit 2 with some custom metrics such as one mimicking the idea of the Polar Running Index, implemented in the form a Movescount app (basically a simple formula which is calculated and recorded every tick/time point). The nice thing about these Suunto apps is that this data is recorded in the resulting file on the watch, and uploaded on the Movescount platform (I can see these metrics over time in an activity on the website). If I understand this article/announcement well, Garmin now similarly allows to record such a custom formula also in the resulting fit file, as well as it to be displayed on the Garmin Connect site/activity page? Is this free for any user/developer, or do you need a sort of payment fee to enable this (when I previously looked into this, there was a fee that I mainly as end-user am not willing to pay)?

    If that’s the case, I and many others have plenty of reasons to switch over from Suunto to Garmin 735xt.
    (we could even consider to make a simple suunto app compiler to the garmin app platform)

    • Dom

      Yes, using Connect IQ is completely free. Yes, the recent updates do allow you to save and display your calculations in the FIT file. (As a former Ambit 2 user myself, this is something I missed in the earlier versions). No, the large fee you’re thinking of is to interact with the API for the Garmin Connect website, which you don’t need to do for this.

  14. Joez

    Still no ANT+ FE compatibility ? (for connecting Concept2 rowing machine) like in the old garmin devices.

    • Gregory

      CIQ is just software for getting watch fancy, ANT+ FE-C is not on chipset or not in the software making watch work.

    • Marek

      This is what I once got as an answer from Concept2 support … asking about if it will be at some point possible to get for example power reading from a rower to FR230 …

      “… Thank you for your email. We are currently working on a Garmin Connect IQ app vor a Garmin ForeRunner 230 watch, which will be able to receive ANT+ FEC data which is the new standard introduced early this year. At the moment due to its recent release not all functions are fully implemented yet but Garmin are planning to release more support for the connection protocol throughout this year. Then we will be able to release our application. ”

      So .. this is a good news … the only problem is that I got this answer 6 months ago … and still nothing.
      But I still hope … Concept2 Android app is great .. but I would still prefer to get all the data straight to Garmin.

      In a way it is just power, speed and cadence, that would be all. Like from a bike trainer. Not sure why this is no problem to get from Tacx trainer to Fenix3, but it is such a problem to get from Concept2 rower or skierg.

      Best,
      Marek

    • It’s always been a bit surprising nobody has created an ANT+ FE-C app*. I know Kinomap had looked at it last fall, but never quite happened. I suspect because the data recording pieces at the time would have made it kinda useless. Nowadays though, it’d be much easier to do.

      *And no, previous units having gym control is not the same as ANT+ FE-C functionality, it’s a different beast altogether and simply isn’t the same.

    • Joez

      Yes, FE-C it’s another beast, but I was talking about the “old” Ant-FE that was available on former garmin watches (pre 920xt I think) and just used the rower as a cadence/power sensor. But with FE-C starting to rise, I don’t except anything on that side. Just waiting for an app or a new watch with integrated FE-C capability (my FR230 not being compatible with CIQ 2.x)

    • Yeah, old gym control be definitely dead.

      But I agree with you – I think we’ll see someone come out with an app. And indeed, someone contacted me off-line yesterday about trying out their beta app…

    • JEROME

      I am currently beta testing one (as rowing geek tester not developer)
      With Edge 520 pairing with C2 Pm5 is direct (but Edge is FE-C ready); with VAHR near ok but needs some workaround with Ant+ Sensor search; with Fenix3 no hope.
      Edge and VAHR are under CIQ 2.0; F3 is under 1.3 + has a Ant+ Sensor search time out very short ( few sec.)
      Once paired the App is very robust : HR, Power, speed, cadence & distance are there : even I can record R-R data on my EDGE!

    • Marek

      I don’t get it … why can you get power, cadence, speed from a bike trainer like Tacx to Fenix 3 … but you can’t get that from Concept2 rower or SkiErg?! Makes no sense … maybe a firmware upgrade on the PM5 would be necessary to send the data by a different way/protocol … but in principle this should be possible, no?

      In a way … it would be nice if Concept2 allowed export of an activity to a .tcx .gpx and .fit file for an easy import to Garmin. Or if their ErgData app could connect to Garmin. That would be good enough for me 🙂

    • JEROME

      C2 PM5 FW V22 already provides ANT+FE-C profile (and basically BLE).
      I have no problem to get real time C2 rowing data in .tcx or .fit format through IOs APP such as 4iiii (using Fitness Equipement and Viiiiva HRM ANT+/BLE bridge) or Beta Painsled. Both receiving on BLE.
      But To receive C2 data on Garmin watch/device under ANT+ FE-C, some IQ App shall be implemented.
      Pairing is the current big issue as Garmin watch/device have different level of ANT+ Sensor pairing capability and CIQ (1.3 or 2.0) implemented. EDGE is successful as it is already ANT + FE-C “ready” & CIQ 2.0, the other pairing success varies a lot (even almost no pairing with F3).
      I also tried Rowpro software using custom workout (such as interval) but Rowpro commands are often misinterpreted by the IQ App > even it can freeze or crash the IQ App.

    • Eli

      Wouldn’t the official forums give more data? link to c2forum.com

  15. Rabbit

    “except the Epix unit”

    There wasn’t any official words or announcements from garmin, that the epix did not get further fw updates etc. Only your announcement, that garmin told you so. That is a really poor treatment of the epix users/buyers through garmin- they even sell the epix…

    That really sucks, garmin!

  16. Any progress on them dropping the crazy fees for integration with Connect? I know this is a CIQ post, but it’s nice to keep reminding them they are being antisocial and harming their own ecosystem 🙂

    • It’s something I chat about every…single…time…I see them. Even after just going to the bathroom mid-chat, I’ll bring it back up again when I return.

      Essentially they’re waiving it for most bigger companies, or giving opportunities to waive it. For example, anyone who attended the CIQ Dev workshop at the ANT+ Symposium both this year and last year got the $5K fee waived for their company.

      Still, I think it’s stupid. Just offer a ‘limited-support’ option for folks that want to be able to leverage the Connect integration but not pay the fee. Put in contractual restrictions like Strava does, and call it done. Makes community happy, costs almost nothing, and generates not only good will…but lots of exposure. As Team Sky says: It’s all about marginal gains*.

      *And, as Team Sky has done, they’ve now come to depend on a roughly one-man app (VeloViewer) built on the Strava API’s.

    • Good effort! I knew you were bothered about it too so glad you’re still pushing them on it. Hopefully they’ll remember which decade it is soon and open up 🙂

  17. Nathan Budd

    Hi Ray,

    You mentioned that the CycleWE app uses your Garmin’s positioning, and sends the info via your phone via bluetooth which forwards onto a web service.

    Following your hands-on with the Lezyne Super GPS, I was seriously considering selling my 520 and picking one up, as I really like the live-mapping that is being computed via your phone.

    Could someone theoretically reproduce this functionality using ConnectIQ 2.2?

    • Hmm, that’s a tricky one. The thing that makes that specific Lezyne functionality so cool is how quick and seamless it is, but specifically how quick and seamless it is if you’re already mid-ride.

      I’m not sure how easy (or even possible) it would be for a CIQ app to pass that that route mid-ride to the Edge’s native routing engine. It may be possible, but I’m just not deep enough in CIQ to know for certain.

  18. JP Kellams

    Noke really should be ashamed of themselves over that U-Lock Kickstarter.

    Originally scheduled to ship over a year ago, with their last update to backers at the end of August, but announcing new features to DC Rainmaker before letting backers know.

    A couple of weeks ago, I requested and received a refund for backing, but this is really a slap in the face to those who funded the development of the U-Lock.

  19. Josh

    I hope that Strava jumps on this fit file integration. I would love to be able to download a route straight from Strava to my Edge 1000!

    • Christof Damian

      I agree, it is so silly that this isn’t supported already.

    • MR TOMMY HAYWOOD

      This

    • I’d highly encourage more folks to jump in if they feel this is important…as I don’t think we’ll see acceptance/integration of it otherwise by the company.

    • MR TOMMY HAYWOOD

      Can you encourage Strava please 🙂

      Route syncing would be great. GC route creation sucks.

    • Marcel

      Agreed! But there are year-old threads about this on Strava already, asking for something better than what’s on offer now, and Strava continues to fail epically. Not holding my breath for it.

    • mucher

      Yeah, the current way of sending routes to Garmin is way unsatisfactory. Unless you use Garmin’s editor in GC, there’s no way to upload this to an Edge unit etc.

      For me the obvious use case is event organizers provide GPX with route / trackpoints – and there’s no way of getting it to a Garmin short of using an USB cable.

  20. Brian

    Am I to assume that the Fenix 3 HR, which is less than a year old, will be obsolete by Christmas? That is sad. I was looking for the ultimate multi-sport watch for the next several years with optical.

    • Why’s it obsolete?

      According to the Dictionary: “no longer produced or used; out of date.”

      It’s still produced, still used, and is still the current generation unit.

      The thing with any development platform is that you have to be ahead of the hardware curve. For example, when I worked in the datacenter space there was often cases where software companies would develop technologies that were only available in 1-2 hardware types (if at all) at time of release. It would take potentially 12-18 months until they were widespread. It’s a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario.

      Now that said, there are aspects where Garmin could likely plan better in terms of watch unit specs, to minimize that down the road. For example, I could see where if they were to add NFC in future units, then obviously, that’s something that existing units simply didn’t have. Whereas aspects like memory if a piece there that should probably have been evaluated for the F3HR (since remember that the F3 was announced before Connect IQ even hit general availability).

    • Memory should have been addressed in the original Fenix 3. Even when that was announced most people’s reaction was WTF?! Megabyte with an M Garmin? Like the 90s? It’s a balance of power usage rather than cost I think but still we could all predict that 32MiB wouldn’t be enough 2 years ago, and I can’t see a bump to 64 or 128 taking an hour off the life of a device with a colour screen and backlight!

    • Przemek

      Fenix 3 HR was available before connect iq availability, but not before they started to develop it…
      I completely understand, that if something in hardware has been changed, there is no chance to do it using software on older devices. But they should support connect iq on e.g. fenix 3/HR but limited functionality. E.g. you cannot use some classes/function etc on older devices, but you can use everything else.
      There was a moment some time ago, that Garmin introduced function to draw circles, before that thay, everyone who wanted to draw a circle on watchface, the had to do it “manually”.
      So drawing a circle does not need special hardware, if e.g. Garmin will introduce some similar other usefull functionality in future connect iq updates, I would like to have possibility to use it on fenix 3, not only on chronos…

    • “But they should support connect iq on e.g. fenix 3/HR but limited functionality. E.g. you cannot use some classes/function etc on older devices, but you can use everything else.”

      But…that’s exactly what they did. I mean, to the letter exactly what they did.

    • Przemek

      Not exactly or I am missing something(?) Connect IQ 1.1.3 is the last one from “1” series. Now it is new connect IQ 2.x.
      If you compile your project, e.g. watchface using connect iq 2.x, there will be no possibility to use it on Fenix even with newest firmware. So ciq 1 is no more developed.

    • But are you looking at features, or dev-aspects?

      Meaning, with the Fenix3, even though it doesn’t get the CIQ2 branch, it gets the core features from it. Thus, from an end-user perspective, it gets a lot of those same features.

      Now…from a developer perspective, that’s obviously different…

    • Brian

      What I meant by obsolete was whether we can expect a next generation Fenix 3 HR (Fenix 4) coming in the next 3-6 months so I should wait on purchasing since it is their best multi-sport watch that I am looking for.

    • Given they’ve basically announced software capabilities that can’t be taken advantage of on their most popular selling watch model lineup ever, I’d say it’s a safe bet something is in the pipeline. I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t available by spring.

      Keep in mind however that historically speaking things that are announced at CES in January aren’t often available until the Feb-April timeframe (be it from Garmin or otherwise, for that matter).

    • Eli

      Just to clarify, the core functionality of 2.x was added to 1.3 so devices that support 1.3 got some of the new functionality that way

    • Przemek

      Ray, I should correct my last statement about support for Fenix 3 from developer (occasional) perspective.
      It is possible to compile applications using new Connect IQ 2 for Fenix 3. I have recompiled my watch face using new Connect IQ and after some modifications it works on my Fenix 3. So no new functionalities are added for older devices, but if there are some improvements in existing, there is possibility to use them for older devices.

    • Nikola Radulaski

      I don’t quite understand this. I recently got hold of a Fenix 3 and would like to do some development. Does this mean that I can develop on ConnectIQ 2.2 SDK or do I have to do it on both 1.3 and 2.2 to have the app compatible with Fenix 3 and future devices?

  21. Ezechiel2517

    Just wondering, will my FR235 ever be able to connect to a powermeter through a CIQ app? Natively the FR235 doesn’t support powermeters but I guess software is the only limitation here, right? Thanks

    • At this juncture it’s 100% simply a case of someone just writing an app to do so. I know there’s one for the Vivoactive, but I haven’t looked for the round-watch face units.

    • brent

      There is sort of an app that I can see but no data field so you can record it like a normal file. If only I knew how I would do it myself.

    • Brian

      There’s one for the Vivoactive? What’s it called?

      Of course, I just bought a lezyne after your post on that device, so it’s almost a moot point anymore…but I waited a long time for power to come to the VA.

    • Eli

      Currently no connectiq app can record power the same as a device that natively supports power can record power. They can only save data to a custom field.

  22. Oleg

    Ray, thanks for overview.
    With new connect IQ is it possible to have sm02 (bsxinsight, moxy) metric into FIT file?

  23. Kevin Brice

    Thanks for your reviews! I just purchased the Bontrager Ion 800 RT light. I would like to be able to control all of the possible light modes from my Edge 520 computer. Where can I find the Bontrager light control data screen like you show in the photograph that would allow me to change modes? All I can find is the general light data screen that can display the current mode and battery status. Thanks for your help.

    • That app (data field) isn’t available yet.

    • mandy

      Do you know when it would be available for Edge 1000 users?

    • Tucker

      different direction – I’m looking to buy a ANT+ light to pair with my Edge 1000. Based on your video, can you tell me how was the Bontrager light was mounted? I couldn’t see if the light was mounted via a quarter turn Garmin or a stand-alone mount. and when do you anticipate the app(field) will be available?

      great reviews Ray.

    • It’s a standalone mount.

      I don’t unfortunately know on when Trek plans to release the data field. I’ll try and poke and get an answer.

    • Tommy

      They make their own stems and mounts that go with them. An expensive option. It is possible to get a helmet mount for it. That includes a gopro mount that can then be mounted on the underside of an out front mount.

  24. MikeDozer

    I cant understand why Epix was abandoned :/ Still better for long runs and hiking in wilderness than fenix3.
    They even dont want to fix those damn old bugs and structured workouts still not working :/
    Maybe they will announce something for that watch? they need to have something for exchange for epix on warranty…

  25. marvin

    Oops placed the question in a reply sorry about that.

    Uhmm a question because i see the group ride “Joop Zoetemelk Classic”. On which location were you testing this? Having a group ride show up from the Netherlands near my home and you living in paris, france is like 650 kilometres(yes i speak some words french) apart from each other.

  26. Marcel

    Great that Connect IQ is being improved. Tough luck for those of us with watches who can’t handle it, but enough has been said about that.

    What I am really interested in, of course, are the applications. Sure, some people can’t wait to have a connected bike lock, but as someone who at one point was not able to enter his office because the battery of the door lock was empty, I’d say this is not something that is going to rock my world.

    I do love the join-ability, and being able to download routes on the go would be totally amazing. More of that kind of stuff!!!

  27. Joseph Brescia

    Hello. I have a question about if the Bontrager headlight will work like the Garmin headlight by changing intensity based on speed traveled. Thanks!

  28. Ian Grant

    All cool stuff, but I’d like to see Garmin do the boring stuff and deliver a more complete CIQ API.
    There is lots of basic functionality missing, such as lap quantities, that the native Garmin apps/fields have access to. Sure, they released some limited methods for doing stuff with laps that allows developers to now compute lap quantities themselves, but it takes memory to do this and as we’ve seen, the limited memory available (especially on CIQ 1.x devices) compromises the CIQ experience. The lap quantities are being computed anyway by the watch, they just need to be exposed in the CIQ API.
    Also, bugs like workout steps not triggering laps for CIQ apps (but they do for native), and other small things like being able to get the current profile colour, or draw polygons without filling them, i.e. there is drawRectangle(), fillRectangle(), fillPolgyon(), but no drawPolygon().
    Missing sensor information in the ActivityInfo class, blah, blah, I could go on…

  29. Eli

    Any chance you can report on the discussion behind changes to Ant+ profiles that was happening there? I know I saw mention of heart rate and power profiles.

  30. Matthew

    Ray, is there a reason that the VivoActive HR is going to be supported but not the original VivoActive? Since the essentially the same watch minus the HR. With the recent addition of Workout genius and Workout Builder the original VivoActive is an amazing watch!

    Any news would be great.

    Thanks

    • Dom

      It isn’t quite as much the same watch as you think it is. The HR has more RAM available for ConnectIQ apps, see the table on this Garmin blog post – it’s an essential hardware difference.

      All the devices supported by ConnectiQ 1.3 but not ConnectIQ 2 are not supported for the same reason.

  31. Adrian

    While IQ is Fi alky starting to make sense, my expectations are really low on adoption and support. It has been more than two years that Garmin released the HRM-SWIM and TrainningPeaks still does not support it. It support the HRM-SWIM but not the swim.

    As new sensors and metrics start popping as a result of IQ 2.0, they will be meaningless if these cannot be integrated and incorporated to existing analytical tools. Garmin is a great repository but a terrible analytic engine.

  32. frank andreasen

    any idea when this will be released ??

  33. Alejandro

    Any news on the Bontrager IQ?
    Garmin officially launched the IQ 2.2.

  34. frank andreasen

    i dont get it ?? still dont see any change in connectIQ is it released or not ??

  35. With this update performs the inicial base to the future smart edge devices, i still waiting and waiting…for the next garmin edge 1010 or whatever that will call it, because at the moment there are a lot of technology to make better devices. I hope that in the CES of this January Garmin launch a new device pleaseeee!!!

  36. Tommy

    FYI the Bontrager app (data field) is now out for edge 1000 (and maybe others)

  37. Steven

    Shouldn’t this let RideWithGPS make an app to send a route to a Garmin while out on a journey?

  38. Maxie

    Hi there,
    long time reader, first time poster, the blog is great and am ever grateful for the information and valuable advice 🙂 Was just trying out my new Stryd Summit with my Fenix 3. All looks to be working ok, however I cannot get the IQ fields to display in the Connect Website (per your picture here: link to dcrainmaker.com). All the Stryd fields show up in the Stryd PowerCenter portal site which is pulling from Garmin Connect, so it appears the data is saving to the FIT file. My Fenix3 is running the latest firmware (8.20) as is the Stryd (1.1.0) Is there a trick or quirk to getting this to work, or is the picture linked above doctored and the Fenix 3 is not capable of displaying this etc?

  39. Sheila Miller

    I’m an professional working woman who wants to track activities and calories and would really like to see my Garmin vivoactive hr have some “normal” Activities like bowling as a choice. Yard Work was great to see. Vacuuming can work up a sweat, too!

  40. Karsten

    Would I be silly choosing the F3HR over 735xt now if I want the hiking-functions and apperance of the F3? I am do not really understand what I would be missing when F3 is not GCIQ2 compatible.