Garmin today has announced a new WhatsApp integration that lets you compose and reply to WhatsApp messages/threads directly from the watch. The integration is done via a new Connect IQ app, which can be loaded on more recent Garmin watches.
I had a chance to give it a whirl, so I figured I’d outline what works (and what doesn’t). With that, let’s dive into it.
Download and Setup:
First up is seeing if your watch is on the list. In short, if your watch was released in 2025 or 2026, you’re good. But unless it was the Fenix 8 in 2024, you’re likely out of luck. Here’s the list as of launch (which I don’t expect to expand to older devices):
D2 Air X15
Enduro 3
Fenix 8 Series
Fenix 8 Pro Series
Fenix E
Forerunner 570
Forerunner 970
Tactix 8 Series
Venu 4 Series
Venu X1
Vivoactive 6
Once you’ve passed that gate, the install process is pretty quick. On your phone navigate to the Connect IQ app, and you’ll see WhatsApp at the top of the list. Or, you use this link. Within that, it’ll install it to your watch. It’s installed in a similar place as other full apps/sport apps (like Garmin Share), rather than a widget/glance.
Once installed, you’ll open it up. Again, it’s found in the same place as if you were to go start a sports activity, but scroll down:
From there, it’ll ask you to link it up using a QR code. Interestingly, you’ll do this twice, seemingly as a double-confirmation that you are who you say you are:
Once that’s done, you’ll be logged in, and you’ll likewise see it as a connected device within the WhatsApp app on your phone.
With that, we can start using it.
Using WhatsApp:
Once opened up, you’ll see your 10 most recent conversation contacts, and then within that, the 10 most recent messages for each one.
You can open up a conversation to read text messages, as well as reply/compose a new message.
When you do that, you’ll see the option to type out a message using the mini-keyboard, or, choose from a list of six quick replies.
Meanwhile, when new messages come in, they’ll first show up as a WhatsApp message kinda like before. Except, now there’s an option to open it up:
When you choose to Open, it’ll open up the message within the WhatsApp App on your watch, where you can then see the full message and reply accordingly. This works fine, though is somewhat of a double-open step that takes a moment.
When it comes to the message content, it appears only text comes through. All other imagery is ‘unsupported’ including photos from my phone, stickers, GIF’s, and then photos taken from the camera within the WhatsApp app (I tried, just in case it was different):
To me, this is kinda the biggest disappointment. Given Garmin watch users on iOS are unable to see regular text/iMessage photos (due to current Apple limitations), this would have sidestepped that. After all, Android users can do so without issue on Garmin watches (including replying). But here, the lack of imagery is sorta a big gap in my opinion. Or, maybe I just like pictures.
Finally, the other gap is that this doesn’t work over LTE on Garmin’s Fenix 8 Pro series of watches, which have a built-in cellular connection. All of this *requires* your phone be connected to your watch and nearby, else it just hangs/circle. Still, this can be useful for answering quick texts in the shower (e.g. yes/no), which tends to be the only time I answer something from my watch (mostly on my Apple Watch). Else, I’m going to default to my phone.
Wrap-Up:
Having some level of WhatsApp integration with Garmin has long been asked for, and now that’s finally here. I suspect the usefulness of this will depends a bit on how much you use WhatsApp (versus native messaging apps, primarily on iOS), and then how you use WhatsApp. If you tend to have threads with lots of photos, you might not find this as valuable. Whereas if you just want quick text replies, this can be handy when your phone is slightly out of reach (such as in a backpack on a hike, or when you’re in the shower, perhaps in the swimming pool at the end of the lane line, etc…).
I’m hoping/optimistic that this is just the first step of this integration, and some of the limitations will go away. I’d love to see this work over Garmin’s LTE connection, since having apps work over that would unquestionably be the future of the company. After all, that’s what consumers expect.
Still, it’s good to see movement on these types of integrations that favor more the smartwatch-side features, just as it is good to see other new features that favor the sports integrations.
With that, thanks for reading!
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I suspect I know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway.
My Garmin 965 has a touch screen. Is there any technical reason it cannot support this or is it just the usual crap customer experience that Garmin gives in comparison to Apple?
One would expect that newer watches have more powerful hardware platform that enables more complex apps like WhatsApp.
@marklemcd: FR965 is on the previous software/OS platform.
@ Pavel Vishniakov No, FR965 is basically on the same CPU/SOC platform as the newer devices. It is a software issue, not a hardware one.
Why aren’t the 965 and Epix Pro included? A giant middle finger to customers.
I have an Android phone and able to see a preview of an image in the “old” setup.
Once I open the message, the photo is not supported anymore.
Would be nice if it would show up.
I kinda expected Meta to play smart here and offer more features on third-party watches compared to Apple Watch, but it seems like it’s exactly the same features as the WhatsApp for Apple Watch that was released a while ago (and quietly forgotten).
What a joke… thankfully I don’t even use WhatsApp, but how is it not on most watches in the last 5 years? Makes no sense. There’s zero reason an app that big shouldn’t be supported across the board. A Fenix 7 or Epix Pro which sold for $1000 just few years ago cannot get new apps either, unreal.
It’s already annoying enough when companies hold back updates, but what’s the point of having an “app store” on these watches if half the apps only work on a couple models?
Imagine if WhatsApp only worked on the last two iPhones… people would lose their minds.
So if someone sends you a message with a pic or link you only see a limited part of the message on your iPhone and you are maybe missing important informations and or don’t understand the context of the sent message – so you are still forced to use WhatsApp on your iPhone to get/see the complete message. So not useable/helpful for me, have deleted it.
Maybe i am missing something here, but wasn’t WhatsApp messages showing up on garmin devices (and responding to them, at least on android) working the same way like Signal or sms, incl pictures, emojis,… All the time? What’s this app adding… Beyond being able to open the last ten conversations and starting a conversation, not only responding?