Garmin Connect App; Hints and Tips

When it comes to tracking and reviewing your workouts on your Garmin smartwatch, Garmin Connect is where the magic happens. Available as both a smartphone app and a web service, Garmin Connect is a powerhouse of features, tools, and analytics that will help you to become faster, stronger, and healthier.

From keeping tabs on your heart rate to creating routes and keeping a historical overview of your workouts, this app is going to become your new best friend before, during, and after your training sessions.

In this guide to using the App, let us show you some of the hidden features and settings that will help you to get the best from your Garmin watch. From connecting to Strava to creating new routes, you’ll learn a few hints and tips that you can use for every workout.

How to Install Garmin Connect

Whether you are setting up a device for the first time or reinstalling from scratch, you’re going to need to download Garmin Connect. Here’s how:

Head to here

Download the Android or iOS version of Garmin Connect depending on your smartphone.

Download Garmin Express for your computer.

How to Login to Garmin Connect For the First Time

During the installation process, you will have been prompted to create an account and login details. Use these details to log in. Before connecting to your watch, you will need to enable Bluetooth and pair your watch with Garmin Connect. The instructions for this will depend on which Garmin watch you are using.

Check your manual if you are unsure of how to do this. During this process, Garmin Connect will ask you for specific information about you, such as gender, height, weight, and birth date.

How to Create a Training Plan

The app comes with a number of pre-built training plans to help you hit your fitness goals. Plan types include running, cycling, and triathlon. However, what is great about Garmin Connect is that it also allows you to create your own training plans.

To create a custom workout, go to Training → Workouts, and select a fitness category such as run, bike, cardio, or swim. From here you have access to some pretty nifty settings such as setting up warmup and cooldown intervals and all of your fitness goals in between.

You can even get more specific by setting the heart rate zone, calories burned, and speed. Once you have customised your workout, you can schedule it just as you would with a regular workout.

How to Make a Route

Garmin Connect also lets you map out your own customised routes around your desired location? Got a bike trail near you that you want to try? Perhaps you want to plan a road run on the streets near your home. Garmin Connect gives you six specific sports to choose from, including:

• Road Cycling
• Mountain Biking
• Gravel and Unpaved Cycling
• Running
• Trail Running
• Hiking

Using an interactive map on the app, you can choose to follow specific roads, go off-road, or freestyle your own route. You also have the option to loop back to the start, out and back, or to reverse direction.

How to Connect to Strava

You can also set your Garmin Connect app to automatically sync to Strava. To do this, sign in to Garmin Connect and do the following:

• Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled.
• Go to Settings → 3rd Party Apps → Strava to link to Strava.
• On the first sync, Garmin will automatically sync your past 90 days of activity to your Strava account.
• Going forward, your activities will appear on Strava a few moments after they have been uploaded to Garmin Connect.

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How to Export From Garmin Connect to Strava

While automatic syncing works well between the App and Strava, there may be times when you want to export historical data from one to the other. Here is how to export data from the App to Strava:

• Login to Garmin Connect → Select Activities to see your uploads
• Select the activity you would like to export, click the Export link, and choose the TCX option. Save the file to your computer
• Go to the Strava website and click the + icon in the right-hand corner.
• Select the .tcx file you just saved and select Upload Activity.
• You can also run a bulk upload, uploading up to 25 files at once.

link for more information.

Can I Connect Two Devices?

Garmin Connect allows you to register any number of devices with your account. However, the Garmin Connect mobile app can only manage and sync five concurrently connected devices. If you have multiple tracking devices, you will need to set one of these as your preferred activity tracker. If you have more than five devices that you wish to connect, you will need to disconnect an active device first to allow another to sync. The five device limit is actually quite generous and there won’t be many scenarios that call for more connections.

How Do I Connect My Garmin Heart Rate Monitor?

If you have a Garmin chest heart rate monitor, such as the HRM-Dual, you will need to pair it with your device. You can do this using the following instructions:

• Put on the heart rate monitor.
• Bring your device within 3 m of the heart rate monitor.
• You should see the heart rate monitor appears in the list of available devices.
• Select the heart rate monitor.
• Your device should now pick up readings from the heart rate monitor during activity.

How to Remove a Device

To remove a device, simply follow the instructions below:

• Open the Garmin Connect app.
• Select the Menu option on an Android phone and More on an iOS device.
• Scroll down and select Garmin devices.
• Select the device you wish to remove and click Remove.

So that’s the guide and that’s a wrap. Garmin Connect is incredibly powerful.  The more you use it, the more you will tap into even more incredible features.  And remember, Garmin regularly updates this app so always keep this app updated.

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