7 ms·

Garmin Connect services were down

83 points by 0x000042 2y ago

0x000042 2y ago
All Garmin Connect services are currently down. This affects most (all?) Garmin fitness products such as the popular Fenix watches. The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. I guess this also means that at some point in the future when Garmin discontinues the servers an enormous amount of watches becomes useless worldwide.
- redleader55 2y ago
  Last time this happened, there were two effects: on one hand people making fun of not being able to upload their activities to Strava and on the other hand, and more seriously, people not being able to use their aviation navigation systems. Can someone comment if the Garmin aviation devices are affected?
  - ramses0 2y ago
    Likely they are, likely it "shouldn't" matter, as all their advertising says: "Not FAA approved [wink]" ...like, in an emergency it's cool to be able to click a button on your watch and see the closest airport, but you're supposed to have paper maps, a flight plan, a checklist, etc, etc.
  - briandear 2y ago
    Garmin glass cockpits don’t depend on Garmin services at all. Perhaps updating charts but that’s a monthly thing generally and it’s not done while airborne. The “not FAA approved” isn’t a thing — there are devices that go in uncertified (experimental) aircraft, but those also don’t depend on live connections to Garmin services.
    - xattt 2y ago
      How would an aircraft be able to reliably “stream in” maps while in flight? That argument makes no sense, other than a red herring saying “durr, glass cockpit bad”.
      - HappyJoy 2y ago
        They don't. Glass avionics have a charts database that's physically updated about every month
  - jayelbe 2y ago
    Try visiting their FlyGarmin services at - https://fg.garmin.com https://fg.garmin.com - certainly looks to be down.
    - duxup 2y ago
      What indicates it’s down on that site?
      - jayelbe 2y ago
        It was loading a blank white page. Looks like it's back now though!
- mvdtnz 2y ago
  My Connect app (Android) still shows current steps, heart rate data, body battery etc. Only the online portions are affected.
  - 2716057 2y ago
    Same for me; "completely useless" is a bit exaggerated. Workouts can be recorded and synchronized, they just don't end up in the cloud.
  - Szpadel 2y ago
    interesting, when I first checked the app I got all panels as "no data available" but after reading your comment I checked it again and indeed content showed up. I guess it might need second refresh to properly fallback to local mode
  - clarionbell 2y ago
    Even my antique vivoactive is doing fine. I wouldn't know anything was off if not for the announcement.
  - tallanvor 2y ago
    Yeah, it seems they've finally added some local caching to the app. Previously when their services were down the Connect app was completely useless, but now even though the graphs aren't updating, I can still see a lot of information.
- wslh 2y ago
  > The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. Yes, I think it was so obvious from their UX/UI because it has lags when you use the application which is very common on basic UI front-end consuming remote APIs as its where local. I would say that it even feel slower than great web apps that also depend on remote services.
- blackbear_ 2y ago
  > an enormous amount of watches becomes useless worldwide Not necessarily, some (many?) of these watches are usable without being connected to a phone. Besides being a funcional watch, including timers and alarms, all the fitness tracking and activity recording features work fine, even those that use GPS, at least on my Venu 2.
- MattBearman 2y ago
  > The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. Not the case, I can see all the local data from my watch in the app and still sync the two, just missing cloud backups and online specific functionality
  - DebtDeflation 2y ago
    Are you sure about that? I have a Garmin Fenix 6 and the Connect app on Android. While it's true that all data is stored locally on the watch and it doesn't need to be tethered to a phone to work, I'm pretty sure that syncing the watch to the Connect app does require the Connect app to be connected to the server. I have experienced this multiple times, after completing a hike in a remote area and I try to sync the Hike Activity to Connect it fails due to not having a cellular connection despite the watch being connected to the phone via Bluetooth.
    - pandemicsyn 2y ago
      I could swear I've also gotten data sync's while in limited connectivity situations, but to be fair could be that occasionally it was just able to phone in enough to do its thing. Service is back up, so just testing real quick, at least on IOS , turning off wifi/cellular (not airplane mode) - my fenix at least seems to still be streaming heart rate data to the app. Not entirely sure what else will update from local data though (if anything).
      - DebtDeflation 2y ago
        Ok, I just tried again. Turned off WiFi and put phone into Airplane Mode. Verified that Bluetooth is still connected to the watch. Go into the Connect app. There's a big red box that says "No Internet Connection." Heart Rate is transmitting to the Connect App in real time. However, if I try to run a Sync from Connect, it hangs and then fails. Turn on WiFi and take phone out of Airplane Mode. Run a Sync from Connect. It completes successfully. Confirmed - If you complete an Activity and want to sync your watch to your phone with the Connect app, your phone must have an Internet connection.
- ABS 2y ago
  it's always been possible to connect via USB and manually copy the activity files to analyse them with countless 3rd party tools. They certainly can change that in the future but they haven't so far
- ck2 2y ago
  You can still read and parse FIT files via many many utilities and services. The problem that happened last time is the satellite shortcut files for GPS were never updated for weeks and went stale, so GPS took minutes to lock instead of seconds. However it is well known now after years how to create the GPS files for mediatek chipsets. What's never been documented is how to make them for the SONY GPS chipsets. EPO.bin (mediatek) vs CPE.bin (sony) this paper lists other potential sources for those files https://fruct.org/publications/volume-29/fruct29/files/Vin.pdf https://fruct.org/publications/volume-29/fruct29/files/Vin.p... ADDING: aha! this is the url for direct download of CPE.bin which you should put into the \GARMIN\REMOTESW directory on your garmin watch/device that has SONY GPS (not mediatek) #(save as CPE.bin into \GARMIN\REMOTESW ) # https://api.gcs.garmin.com/ephemeris/cpe/sony/lle?coverage=WEEKS_1&constellations=GPS,GLONASS,GALILEO,QZSS
- aquatica 2y ago
  > It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. I can still see and navigate through everything
teleforce 2y ago
All wearable devices should implement local-host functionality and capability by default, failure to do so it's not acceptable from the perspective of Murphy's Law [1], [2]. [1] Local-first software: https://localfirstweb.dev/ https://localfirstweb.dev/ [2] Murphy's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law
- hbbio 2y ago
  Unlike the Apple Watch, or Fitbit (Google), the Garmin watches function properly without being tethered to a phone. You can setup a watch without a phone and without ever activating the online services. They are here only for backup and additional features like social sharing. You can also backup locally with open source software if you want. That's why I chose one and it's one of the best products I ever had.
  - vincnetas 2y ago
    This makes me wanna buy from garmin. Do they embrace opensource tools or are they reverse engineered and Garmin just does not fight them?
    - jamwil 2y ago
      Garmin makes solid products but I will say to be prepared for non-intuitive UX across everything. I am only guessing about watches specifically, but having used an InReach and a Zumo XT motorcycle navigator extensively, I will posit that they are much more an engineering culture than a design culture.
    - hoseja 2y ago
      From older experiences I'd expect Garmin to try and fight them, unsuccessfully.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - stevesimmons 2y ago
Nabati 2y ago
I wonder if this is another ransomware situation
- baxtr 2y ago
  It is definitely a so called "business interruption situation". Ransomware might be the underlying cause though.
- bob1029 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin#July_2020_outage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin#July_2020_outage
- altcognito 2y ago
  Already back so I don’t think so
wsdookadr 2y ago
People who rely on maps would have them downloaded onto their navigation devices. Nobody needs Garmin to be up 100% of the time.
- phartenfeller 2y ago
  Well, nobody needs anything 100% of the time besides oxygen. But if you pay a lot of money for a watch because it has certain features backed by services, I would definitely hope that I can actually use them when I want to.
  - neuroelectron 2y ago
    Garmin watches are specifically engineered to be off-grid devices.
  - zild3d 2y ago
    and nobody can guarantee 100% uptime of online software services. Not to give a free pass or excuse downtime, but you shouldn't expect 100% uptime if its not in an SLA you are paying for, which would be quite expensive
- Mainsail 2y ago
  I haven't looked at what is directly impacted yet, but this is an oversimplification. Assuming it is all Garmin services down, I've personally used my inReach for the following situations that have no real map involvement: - Coordination of supply drops during multi-day backcountry ski tours. - Weather updates in the Rocky Mountains where weather can change in an instant. - Contacting a personal dispatch POC over messaging during an avalanche injury that required SAR without having to hit the SOS button. Additionally, my wife relies on her inReach mini every day as a safety net as a biologist in remote areas of Colorado. Most people I encounter in the outdoors space rarely use their Garmin for navigation. Instead they use an app akin to onX, Gaia, CalTopo, etc.
ck2 2y ago
My activity still uploaded via PC and I can see it on the web via PC It may just be mobile services? Hopefully they were not hacked again and wiped out like last time where the had to do a full restore for a month.
altcognito 2y ago
It was back up about 45 minutes after this was posted.
notachatbot123 2y ago
https://gadgetbridge.org/ https://gadgetbridge.org/ ahoy sadly only few Garmin devices are supported so far
mabedan 2y ago
Who do they need a platoon of cookies for a user checking out the status?
avg_dev 2y ago
Tangent: is it possible to use a Garmin watch without turning Bluetooth on on my phone and still get the data synced somehow?
- darrenf 2y ago
  Yes, some (many?) Garmins have wifi which it can use to sync activities. For example my Venu 2 supports syncing with Garmin Connect over wifi: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-D93137A9-B374-4A24-8A4D-A66C9AC91265/EN-US/GUID-7089BCD7-BBA9-4AB1-BE0C-3FA4A2FAE861.html https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-D93137A9-B374-4...
  - avg_dev 2y ago
    thanks!
- lukeschlather 2y ago
  What's the motivation behind keeping Bluetooth off? If you're just trying to avoid Bluetooth, I would just turn on Bluetooth, it works better than the Wifi sync and at the end of the day it's doing exactly the same thing, just with your phone as a bridge. Another option for syncing is the desktop app, or just manually copying the fit files to somewhere. I sometimes copy the fit files and convert them to gpx to upload GPS traces places. Also I can view the GPX files in e.g. gpxsee which shows them on a map.
- thefz 2y ago
  Most do USB just fine
_spduchamp 2y ago
We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. It works pretty well but communication is delayed and sometimes not reliable on rainy days. When we first got it was very unreliable, but after contacting Garmin support, the did some sort of test over the network, made some change, and it was working much more reliably after that. I have no idea what they adjusted to get it working. We're pretty happy with it.
- TacticalCoder 2y ago
  > We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. How does that work? Does the watch have its own SIM card? Does she need to carry a phone for the Garmin watch to work? Asking for I bought a cheap chinese watch but it's a standalone watch that takes a SIM and, James Bond style, allows to pass and receive phone calls (without needing a lame iPhone in your pocket: the watch is really standalone). The phone feature is really fine but sadly the battery empties quickly (in a day) and the location isn't very accurate.
  - _spduchamp 2y ago
    We pay a $150/yr fee for the connect service from Garmin. No phone required.

83 points by 0x000042 2y ago

All Garmin Connect services are currently down. This affects most (all?) Garmin fitness products such as the popular Fenix watches. The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. I guess this also means that at some point in the future when Garmin discontinues the servers an enormous amount of watches becomes useless worldwide.

redleader55 2y ago
Last time this happened, there were two effects: on one hand people making fun of not being able to upload their activities to Strava and on the other hand, and more seriously, people not being able to use their aviation navigation systems. Can someone comment if the Garmin aviation devices are affected?
- ramses0 2y ago
  Likely they are, likely it "shouldn't" matter, as all their advertising says: "Not FAA approved [wink]" ...like, in an emergency it's cool to be able to click a button on your watch and see the closest airport, but you're supposed to have paper maps, a flight plan, a checklist, etc, etc.
- briandear 2y ago
  Garmin glass cockpits don’t depend on Garmin services at all. Perhaps updating charts but that’s a monthly thing generally and it’s not done while airborne. The “not FAA approved” isn’t a thing — there are devices that go in uncertified (experimental) aircraft, but those also don’t depend on live connections to Garmin services.
  - xattt 2y ago
    How would an aircraft be able to reliably “stream in” maps while in flight? That argument makes no sense, other than a red herring saying “durr, glass cockpit bad”.
    - HappyJoy 2y ago
      They don't. Glass avionics have a charts database that's physically updated about every month
- jayelbe 2y ago
  Try visiting their FlyGarmin services at - https://fg.garmin.com https://fg.garmin.com - certainly looks to be down.
  - duxup 2y ago
    What indicates it’s down on that site?
    - jayelbe 2y ago
      It was loading a blank white page. Looks like it's back now though!
mvdtnz 2y ago
My Connect app (Android) still shows current steps, heart rate data, body battery etc. Only the online portions are affected.
- 2716057 2y ago
  Same for me; "completely useless" is a bit exaggerated. Workouts can be recorded and synchronized, they just don't end up in the cloud.
- Szpadel 2y ago
  interesting, when I first checked the app I got all panels as "no data available" but after reading your comment I checked it again and indeed content showed up. I guess it might need second refresh to properly fallback to local mode
- clarionbell 2y ago
  Even my antique vivoactive is doing fine. I wouldn't know anything was off if not for the announcement.
- tallanvor 2y ago
  Yeah, it seems they've finally added some local caching to the app. Previously when their services were down the Connect app was completely useless, but now even though the graphs aren't updating, I can still see a lot of information.
wslh 2y ago
> The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. Yes, I think it was so obvious from their UX/UI because it has lags when you use the application which is very common on basic UI front-end consuming remote APIs as its where local. I would say that it even feel slower than great web apps that also depend on remote services.
blackbear_ 2y ago
> an enormous amount of watches becomes useless worldwide Not necessarily, some (many?) of these watches are usable without being connected to a phone. Besides being a funcional watch, including timers and alarms, all the fitness tracking and activity recording features work fine, even those that use GPS, at least on my Venu 2.
MattBearman 2y ago
> The Garmin Connect app seems to be completely useless without the Garmin Connect servers being up. It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. Not the case, I can see all the local data from my watch in the app and still sync the two, just missing cloud backups and online specific functionality
- DebtDeflation 2y ago
  Are you sure about that? I have a Garmin Fenix 6 and the Connect app on Android. While it's true that all data is stored locally on the watch and it doesn't need to be tethered to a phone to work, I'm pretty sure that syncing the watch to the Connect app does require the Connect app to be connected to the server. I have experienced this multiple times, after completing a hike in a remote area and I try to sync the Hike Activity to Connect it fails due to not having a cellular connection despite the watch being connected to the phone via Bluetooth.
  - pandemicsyn 2y ago
    I could swear I've also gotten data sync's while in limited connectivity situations, but to be fair could be that occasionally it was just able to phone in enough to do its thing. Service is back up, so just testing real quick, at least on IOS , turning off wifi/cellular (not airplane mode) - my fenix at least seems to still be streaming heart rate data to the app. Not entirely sure what else will update from local data though (if anything).
    - DebtDeflation 2y ago
      Ok, I just tried again. Turned off WiFi and put phone into Airplane Mode. Verified that Bluetooth is still connected to the watch. Go into the Connect app. There's a big red box that says "No Internet Connection." Heart Rate is transmitting to the Connect App in real time. However, if I try to run a Sync from Connect, it hangs and then fails. Turn on WiFi and take phone out of Airplane Mode. Run a Sync from Connect. It completes successfully. Confirmed - If you complete an Activity and want to sync your watch to your phone with the Connect app, your phone must have an Internet connection.
ABS 2y ago
it's always been possible to connect via USB and manually copy the activity files to analyse them with countless 3rd party tools. They certainly can change that in the future but they haven't so far
ck2 2y ago
You can still read and parse FIT files via many many utilities and services. The problem that happened last time is the satellite shortcut files for GPS were never updated for weeks and went stale, so GPS took minutes to lock instead of seconds. However it is well known now after years how to create the GPS files for mediatek chipsets. What's never been documented is how to make them for the SONY GPS chipsets. EPO.bin (mediatek) vs CPE.bin (sony) this paper lists other potential sources for those files https://fruct.org/publications/volume-29/fruct29/files/Vin.pdf https://fruct.org/publications/volume-29/fruct29/files/Vin.p... ADDING: aha! this is the url for direct download of CPE.bin which you should put into the \GARMIN\REMOTESW directory on your garmin watch/device that has SONY GPS (not mediatek) #(save as CPE.bin into \GARMIN\REMOTESW ) # https://api.gcs.garmin.com/ephemeris/cpe/sony/lle?coverage=WEEKS_1&constellations=GPS,GLONASS,GALILEO,QZSS
aquatica 2y ago
> It is not even possible to see local data on the phone. I can still see and navigate through everything

teleforce 2y ago

All wearable devices should implement local-host functionality and capability by default, failure to do so it's not acceptable from the perspective of Murphy's Law [1], [2]. [1] Local-first software: https://localfirstweb.dev/ https://localfirstweb.dev/ [2] Murphy's law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law

hbbio 2y ago
Unlike the Apple Watch, or Fitbit (Google), the Garmin watches function properly without being tethered to a phone. You can setup a watch without a phone and without ever activating the online services. They are here only for backup and additional features like social sharing. You can also backup locally with open source software if you want. That's why I chose one and it's one of the best products I ever had.
- vincnetas 2y ago
  This makes me wanna buy from garmin. Do they embrace opensource tools or are they reverse engineered and Garmin just does not fight them?
  - jamwil 2y ago
    Garmin makes solid products but I will say to be prepared for non-intuitive UX across everything. I am only guessing about watches specifically, but having used an InReach and a Zumo XT motorcycle navigator extensively, I will posit that they are much more an engineering culture than a design culture.
  - hoseja 2y ago
    From older experiences I'd expect Garmin to try and fight them, unsuccessfully.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - stevesimmons 2y ago

Nabati 2y ago

I wonder if this is another ransomware situation

baxtr 2y ago
It is definitely a so called "business interruption situation". Ransomware might be the underlying cause though.
bob1029 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin#July_2020_outage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin#July_2020_outage
altcognito 2y ago
Already back so I don’t think so

wsdookadr 2y ago

People who rely on maps would have them downloaded onto their navigation devices. Nobody needs Garmin to be up 100% of the time.

phartenfeller 2y ago
Well, nobody needs anything 100% of the time besides oxygen. But if you pay a lot of money for a watch because it has certain features backed by services, I would definitely hope that I can actually use them when I want to.
- neuroelectron 2y ago
  Garmin watches are specifically engineered to be off-grid devices.
- zild3d 2y ago
  and nobody can guarantee 100% uptime of online software services. Not to give a free pass or excuse downtime, but you shouldn't expect 100% uptime if its not in an SLA you are paying for, which would be quite expensive
Mainsail 2y ago
I haven't looked at what is directly impacted yet, but this is an oversimplification. Assuming it is all Garmin services down, I've personally used my inReach for the following situations that have no real map involvement: - Coordination of supply drops during multi-day backcountry ski tours. - Weather updates in the Rocky Mountains where weather can change in an instant. - Contacting a personal dispatch POC over messaging during an avalanche injury that required SAR without having to hit the SOS button. Additionally, my wife relies on her inReach mini every day as a safety net as a biologist in remote areas of Colorado. Most people I encounter in the outdoors space rarely use their Garmin for navigation. Instead they use an app akin to onX, Gaia, CalTopo, etc.

ck2 2y ago

My activity still uploaded via PC and I can see it on the web via PC It may just be mobile services? Hopefully they were not hacked again and wiped out like last time where the had to do a full restore for a month.

altcognito 2y ago

It was back up about 45 minutes after this was posted.

notachatbot123 2y ago

https://gadgetbridge.org/ https://gadgetbridge.org/ ahoy sadly only few Garmin devices are supported so far

mabedan 2y ago

Who do they need a platoon of cookies for a user checking out the status?

avg_dev 2y ago

Tangent: is it possible to use a Garmin watch without turning Bluetooth on on my phone and still get the data synced somehow?

darrenf 2y ago
Yes, some (many?) Garmins have wifi which it can use to sync activities. For example my Venu 2 supports syncing with Garmin Connect over wifi: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-D93137A9-B374-4A24-8A4D-A66C9AC91265/EN-US/GUID-7089BCD7-BBA9-4AB1-BE0C-3FA4A2FAE861.html https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-D93137A9-B374-4...
- avg_dev 2y ago
  thanks!
lukeschlather 2y ago
What's the motivation behind keeping Bluetooth off? If you're just trying to avoid Bluetooth, I would just turn on Bluetooth, it works better than the Wifi sync and at the end of the day it's doing exactly the same thing, just with your phone as a bridge. Another option for syncing is the desktop app, or just manually copying the fit files to somewhere. I sometimes copy the fit files and convert them to gpx to upload GPS traces places. Also I can view the GPX files in e.g. gpxsee which shows them on a map.
thefz 2y ago
Most do USB just fine

_spduchamp 2y ago

We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. It works pretty well but communication is delayed and sometimes not reliable on rainy days. When we first got it was very unreliable, but after contacting Garmin support, the did some sort of test over the network, made some change, and it was working much more reliably after that. I have no idea what they adjusted to get it working. We're pretty happy with it.

TacticalCoder 2y ago
> We got a Garmin watch for our daughter when she started walking to school on her own. How does that work? Does the watch have its own SIM card? Does she need to carry a phone for the Garmin watch to work? Asking for I bought a cheap chinese watch but it's a standalone watch that takes a SIM and, James Bond style, allows to pass and receive phone calls (without needing a lame iPhone in your pocket: the watch is really standalone). The phone feature is really fine but sadly the battery empties quickly (in a day) and the location isn't very accurate.
- _spduchamp 2y ago
  We pay a $150/yr fee for the connect service from Garmin. No phone required.