It’s so annoying. You’ve just spent hundreds of dollars on a new Garmin Fenix 8 or Forerunner 970, only to find out you might have to hand over even more money to get the full Garmin experience. Earlier this year, Garmin introduced Connect+, a subscription element to its Connect companion app earlier. It stirred up its user base in the worst possible way. I visited Garmin’s headquarters in Kansas not long after the announcement and it was clear; Connect+ is here to stay, and there’s a team now dedicated to bringing more features to sit behind that paywall.
Currently, anyone can try Connect+ for free for a month before deciding whether there’s anything worthy of the $7 monthly subscription, or $70 yearly fee. I’ve been using Connect+ for five months now, while testing pretty much every new watch Garmin has launched in that period.
With seven core features currently available, I’m going to tell you about the ones I actually found useful, highlight the ones I didn’t, and tell you whether you really need another subscription to add to your monthly outgoings. If none of these appeal, be sure to check out our guides to the Best Fitness Trackers or the Best Smartwatches for more.
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AI Insights
Photograph: Michael Sawh
Let’s start with Active Intelligence, which is the most prominently featured of all Connect+ features inside the app. These are personalized training insights and recommendations that you’ll spy at the top of the home screen tab. These are powered by AI, and analyze data like workout history and performance metrics captured by your Garmin device.
The idea here is that the more data that can be analyzed, the more personalized those insights should become. In the first weeks of using it, Active Intelligence’s insights were pretty rudimentary. My last swim improved my aerobic fitness. Great. I could see that simply by looking at the data from that logged swim.
Five months later, I’m getting a better sense of what I think Garmin hopes this feature can be. I’m now told that my ground contact balance during runs is suboptimal and I should consider some strength training and to work on my running form. However, the app doesn’t suggest what that training should entail, or the exercises that could help to address that suboptimal GCT. Maybe that’s to come. Given this is the one Connect+ feature tagged as a beta, I imagine it could look different in a year’s time.
Real-Time Advice
Photograph: Michael Sawh
If you’re on exercise equipment that’s lacking a display, or you don’t want to pause a workout to look at your watch, Live Activities lets you mirror real-time metrics from your watch to your phone. It’s especially useful for strength training sessions, to make editing reps less fiddly.