Garmin CEO Officially Confirms That Garmin Connect+ Will Have New Features Added Behind the Paywall
Earlier this year, Garmin introduced Garmin Connect+, a new premium service designed to offer users enhanced health and fitness tools. Garmin owners and industry observers alike have universally criticised it, this site being no exception.
During the company’s first quarter 2025 earnings conference call, Garmin executives elaborated on the rationale behind this launch. They indicated their plans for the future of the service, confirming that new features will indeed be added to this premium tier.
Garmin Connect+ was announced as "a premium service offering AI-based health and fitness insights, enhanced live tracking and exclusive achievement badges“. This move follows a period where Garmin had “been saying for a while that we are evaluating opportunities to have a premium offering on Garmin Connect“.
Garmin’s Rationale for the Paywall
A significant factor prompting the launch now was the “developments of AI and particularly around AI-based insights for our users“. Garmin felt it “was important to recognise the value for the investment that it takes to do” such features. With a “very strong user base,” Garmin felt “it was the right time” to launch the service.
Long-Term Strategy for Connect+
Crucially, Garmin views Connect+ not as a short-term venture, stating, “This is a long-term thing for us“. It is “a very important part of our fitness segment going forward“. Looking ahead, the company explicitly stated, “We’re going to build on where we started” with Connect+.
While emphasising that the standard Garmin Connect service will remain free, with broad features available to everyone, and that no existing features are being taken away from users who don’t subscribe, Garmin confirmed the strategy for future feature development within the premium tier. They noted “certain ones we will likely reserve for premium offerings“. This confirms that new, potentially advanced features will be placed behind the Connect+ paywall as the service evolves.
The initial customer reception has been good, with Garmin claiming that “so far the response has been positive“. Garmin is not measuring the service’s success in the short term, reinforcing its commitment to its long-term development.
This strategic move underscores Garmin’s intent to leverage advanced technologies, such as AI, and continue investing in its software ecosystem, positioning Connect+ as a growing component of its fitness segment moving forward. Plans are in place to add further value through exclusive premium features.
Take Out
There is no big surprise here. It was apparent that Garmin would and needed to change and expand Connect+ to make it worth the money, as the current offering is wholly overpriced and offers little value. Perhaps the surprise was that the Garmin Executives seemed to think the launch had gone so well. Either they have information we don’t, or they are deluded.
Sadly, there is almost no way to stop Garmin from increasing the features behind the paywall, as we are all too apathetic to do much about it other than make the occasional comment that we will switch to Apple, Polar, Suunto, or [insert other watch company name here].
Quotes in the article are from Executives at the recent Garmin Earnings Call, and this article is a refreshed version of an earlier one, comments below are copied here.
https://test.kothea.com/2025/04/03/savefreegarmin/
Fenix 8 is likely to be my last Garmin. My earliest Garmin watch was a 310XT. Think it’ll be fun trying something different, a Suunto maybe.
I ditched Suunto long time ago when they switched comm protocol from their proprietary to Bluetooth without backward compatibility, rendering all their sensors useless with newer watch models.
As a Suunto user I do not know the words you are saying so this must have been a long time ago. It is all BLE now and Suuntos work like any other watch.
to be fair to Suunto, they supported with the Ambit1&2 the open Ant+ after a firmware update, that was before the greedy guys from Kansas bought ANT for themself…
Suunto has been a fun new adventure for me. It is a totally different mindset though and does take a minute to acclimate to. Garmin being so infatuated with competing with Apple has added a lot of “stuff” over. the years where Suunto has been very slowly adding new smart features to their watches.
I see countless posts on Body Battery and other Garmin proprietary but not backed by solid studies metrics all the time. Garmin and Apple have kind of done a disservice to athletes taking a lot of the thinking out of “How do I feel today”. So many people rely on Garmin and Apple to tell them how they feel or how they should train today. Reddit and the Suunto forum are full of people that want Suunto to Garminize their watches and that is not really their philosophy.
Geat, that just makes it easier for me to switch.
I would gladly PAY Garmin if this Connect+ will Allow / Enable certain Features from Higher model to Lower / Mid tier models. Most features anyways are supposed to be Hardware capable but deliberately block by Garmin.
Imagine if you could have Training Load, Ratio, Focus and all sort of training metrics to elegant body of Venu 3. I will definitely pay those features as I dont want the bulk of Fenix line.
What you all think?
I agree.
While your idea is quite charming, it has one fundamental flaw: it would allow users to keep or even get older generation watches and “upgrade” them. People would be even less incentiviced to buy a new Fenix every or at least every other year. Not sure that this is what Garmin has in mind when it talks about Connect+.
Another way for Garmin to give the owners of older models certain new features, like the rucking app (still don’t get the hype, but whatever…), they could sell the app in their IQ store for 5-10$ per download (per device, in case you have more than one watch).
Anyway, I will refrain from buying anything MSRP from Garmin in the future and I know for certain that a few of my friends look into other options to deal with this mess too. People might realize at some point that they don’t really need the features Garmin provides and the Suunto or Polar or Coros give them enough for less!
it’s a nice thought but it isn’t going to happen
I think the main problem is that Garmin asks us a premium price tag AND a subscription fee.
Their watches are obviously designed with planned obsolescence, the expected life of a Fenix or Forerunner before noticeable battery deterioration does not exceed 5 or 6 years, and when you divide the extra paid price by this lifetime you realize that we are already in a sort of “subscription” model.
I’m waiting to see what they will come out with the FR970. If the price will not exceed the current FR965 and they will offer at least 2 years of C+ I will probably upgrade my current FR945LTE, otherwise I think I’ll consider the Suunto Race S or simply keep my current watch and see…
agreed.
garmin batteries do last longer than apple ones (in terms of years) as they have fewer recharge cycles
no way will you get 2 years of connect+ with a new watch! sorry. that negates the whole point of conenct+. Garmin wants your money, not your gratitude.
Well… They risk to loose both.
When I compare a Fenix 8 43mm to a Suunto Race S the premium price that Garmin is asking exceeds 500€. 2 years of C+ cost less than half of it, and then the chances to convince me to continue paying for the subscription fee would be definitely higher than the current 0%.
Different story of course for the models with a lower price tag. For those I agree that including a long free C+ period would not make sense.
I’m not sure if I’d call battery degradation after 5-6 years “planned obsolescence”. That’s just regular obsolescence. There’s no such thing as a rechargeable battery that lasts longer than 5-6 years without degrading, it’s just a fact of life, not some Garmin corporate greed conspiracy.
Planned obsolescence is when a company intentionally sabotages the quality of their product over time to force people into upgrading. One could argue that Garmin does that in other ways (namely by not adding new features to older models), but the battery life is most certainly not part of some planned obsolescence scheme.
I did not question the quality of the batteries, but making them not replaceable is planned obsolescence.
I’m not that apathetic. Collecting my new Wahoo ROAM 3 this afternoon and my Forerunner 965 will be my last Garmin watch.
great stuff!
there are too few people like you in this world 🙂
think about Wahoo RIVAL as a sports-only watch then an apple watch for 23×7 usage. (posisbly discontinued tho, im checking)
I have been using the Suunto Race S for activities and a Oura for 24×7. I also use HRV4Training to confirm. But I really am trying to move towards not needing three layers. Many days my HRV will tell me to “take it a little easier today” and I still go out and have a great normal workout. I am not a triathlete, so that might be why, but as a distance trail runner many of my workouts are in zone 2 for endurance anyway so I am not doing a ton of VO2 max training.
I have also tried Coros and it is a good vanilla substitute of Garmin, but I question some of the metrics it produces and while they are good tools they do not have the premium feel of a Garmin or Suunto.
A game changer for me and it might sound silly has been sitting in the morning while drinking coffee and doing a body scan/check in. It has been much more valuable than anything a watch has told me to date. The issue I had with the Garmin Morning Report is that it hits you in the face before you even get out of bed and I found it found influence my motivation for the day if it did not give me the information I wanted for that day. Also it will never tell you you have DOMS or other setbacks. So many times it gave me a “go for it” score, but my body was still super sore with DOMS from sprints the day previous or a weight training session. While I am super excited about what the future of sports tech might hold, sleep tracking, HRV, and HR are just not even close to a “whole picture”.
yes,
hrv4training addresses some of those issues that garmin doesn’t with Morning Report
Tactix 8 will be my last Garmin. Already bought a Coros watch and put the Garmin up for sale. Hopefully I can sell the overpriced Tactix 8
I think this will be damaging to Garmin in the long term. I’m quite sure that very few people would pay a subscription on top of the high price they pay for Garmin hardware. It’s greedy.
i agree and i hope you are right but i sadly suspect not. there are lots of people with cash to burn.
But if garmin will put more and more features behind the paywall while still charging premium prices, more people will look for alternatives or maybe buy second hand for half the price…..unless the free features will become more and more reduced, useless and dated. I guess we have to wait a few more years, but it doesn’t look too good.
that is one risk
another that i highlight is that existing features are ‘tweaked’ and put behind the paywall eg new VO2max behind the paywall, old vo2max widely avaialble. this would be a better strategy for garmin, from their point of view. but annoying from our point of view.
I find it a little disturbing that I pay 1.000 USD for a watch, and then need to pay “a subscription” to use the full potential.
The problem I see is that the 21st century business models are all going in the same direction, make the customer constantly pay.
Sad but true!
I sold my 965 for enough to buy a Suunto race s. Glad to leave the buggy software, uninterested support and quantity over quantity focused company behind me.
I guess you meant quantity over *quality*, and I agree.
How does it go with the Race S?
The single show stopper preventing me to change is the lack of Spotify app.
Yes, quantity over quality. Thanks for correcting.
Spotify, or any music is a no go. But I didn’t used that on my garmin anyway. I mainly listen to hardcore dj sets and stream them via my phone on long runs.
Just for sport (I run at an athletics club twice a week and 2 longer runs a week by myself + some biking) there isn’t much difference. The raise to wake works better on my suunto. That is nice. Gps is fine on both watches (but gps has been fine for me since my ambit 3, ages ago). Optical heartrate sensor isn’t usable on both for me. The map is easier to see on the suunto.
Main difference is in settings. Suunto you can set an alarm for 1 day, workdays or everyday of the week. But I work 4 days and suunto’s workweek is 5. Garmin can do this. For some stupid reason, when you set the gnns settings a bit lower on the suunto, the map is also disabled.
The touchscreen on the suunto locks after some time, which I find very good. Showers caused disabling of alarms on my 965 multiple times, due to water on the touchscreen.
Garmins are geat if you believe the pseudo scientific marketing talk of garmin, want to collect as much data as possible and want to quantify your life to the max.
In all other cases, you can save a lot of money and still get a great sportwatch with a suunto
Currently using my trusty venu 3 for over 3 years still works well expect for the clogged up speakers. Planning to switch to closed ecosystems, maybe samsung or other brands very soon.
tend to disagree with the 5k runner here: the fact that Garmin – as nowadays a subscription based company – didn’t released any subscribers numbers at all here: neither the free trial ones nor the ones who decided to pay after the trial expires – means the result was probably devastating for Garmin subscriber base.
It could be that the launch of connect plus (Mar.27) and the earning call (Apr.30) was not giving them enough time to conclude this but the simple fact that Garmin didn’t even mentioned any subscriber number speaks waves…
On top of it: the constant drum beat in the earnings release word phrases like “we are here for the long run” and “we work there we started” sounds not optimstic but rather devasting for the early expected result of connect plus. Probably more a failure then a success. Good thing: Garmin can’t run this hide&wait tactics for long, latest in the 2Q they will be pressed for subscribers numbers black on white written…
yes it will be interesting if subscription numbers are mentioned (or not) i nthe next earnings call.
the take up of Connect+ could have been ‘quite good’ because it was free for a month. would be good to know who is actually paying
I am failing to understand whether Garmin will move some of the existing features behind the paywall or they will be adding completely new features that will be Connect+ exclusive. If it is the later, I don’t care since I already have everything I need in the regular Connect. If they start charging for the existing features, I will start exploring alternatives.
garmin will not move existing features behind the paywall (they say)
they seem to say new features (but not all new features) will be added behind the paywall
the grey area is what happens to updated features.
What do you mean by “Updated features”? Could you please provide an example?
Thanks
an example would be RECOVERY TIME or VO2max.
I beliee they are existing examples where older gen devices use a different algorithm to later getn devices.
An update to those metrics might only be accessed as a premium feature. the old ones would still work but, as the new one is better, the old ones are inferior.
that kind of thing.
That’s my perspective also. I switched to Garmin first time with FR965 and am actually really happy with the devce and free Connect offer.. Watch has superb batter life even on max accuracy GPS, running every day with music. Love the Spotify integration and maps l so no need for phone. GPS is extremely accurate. As for Connect there is more than enough data in the free offer and I am not tempted at all with the premium. Time will tell if Garmin weakens the free offer or alternatively actually creates enough value behind the paywall to make it worth subscribing for some portion of the user base.
I have had several Foreunner watches going back to the 910 and Garmin connect has always been poor. I’ve always used SportsTracks. I imagine hunders or thousnads of Garmin owners also pay £5 a month for Strava so if Garmin want to do the same to get users to use their ecosystem, I really dont see the problem. Once the Forerunner 970/975 hits the shelves no one will really care – and if Garmin have any sense they will bundle 12 months free Connect+ with it.
Garmin *needs* a continuous stream of new features outside the paywall. Or rather: a continuous stream of new features outside the subscription paywall, but behind the “get a new watch” paywall. Any launch of a new device that does not come with a new cloud feature or two gets ridiculed by the “why upgrade?” blogosphere.
But some features have real per-user cost (or per use). Stuff that requires serious “ai” runtime, as in seconds of rented hardware instead of milliseconds. Stuff that requires connection fees. Stuff that involves some third party licensing fees on a per user base. Things like that can’t be gifted to millions of watch buyers, at least not without making the watches even more expensive. Now that Garmin has a platform to sell features of that kind to those willing to buy (no matter how few…), they can start developing new stuff even when they don’t know ahead of time which end of the cost per user spectrum it will end up on. Before +, a feature that turned out too costly (per user or per use) would have had to be given up. Now they could salvage it by assigning it to connect+. And if it turns out cheap? Yay, one more goodie for that next Fenix.
Of course that’s assuming that they can resist the lure of putting more behind the paywall than strictly necessary. But the possibility exists, the possibility of a connect+ that’s good even for those who never subscribe (i.e. almost all of us)
To be fair, the Connect app is so poorly designed that I almost never use it. I prefer to look at the watch and Runalyzer for stats. I almost not noticed the Connect Plus until I read about it and entered the app and voila, it was there. Considering the poor experience I’ve had with Garmin software, there’s no way I will pay to use an app I don’t like. I think Garmin broke all the bridges withe the community by insisting on changes nobody asked for and half-baked software. I bet in a couple of years they will abandon the wearable market after sales will plummet. As usual, they will blame marker conditions instead of their own failures.
I agree, Garmin Connect is a terrible app. Viewing a workout on Garmin Connect is not intuitive and it does not get information across in a simple, elegant or useful way. You have to dig dig dig to find what you are looking for.
Personally, I’d be up for paying for Garmin Connect if they made it decent. The problem for me thought isn’t lack of features or AI. It’s basic functionality.
The Garmin Connect UI is a mess, with multiple different ways of getting to information, mostly depending on when the feature was added rather than any logic.
Rather than investing in AI-BS that seems unimpressive so far, here’s an idea… Make Garmin Connect more intuitive and useful, particularly the social element which they’ve totally failed at.
If fixing that costs money, so be it. But it’d probably have a better ROI than AI.
Not a fan of the pay wall everything has a subscription now. It’s greedy especially with how expensive these watches are. I’ve owned practically every other fenix and tactix throughout the years and will most likely not purchase another one. I’ve been waiting for an LTE/Satellite communication version but seems that’s not going to happen anytime soon and that would be the only thing I would pay for after spending 800+ on a active watch.
you are not alone!
there is a good chance of a new Garmin LTE model this year. an outside chance of satellite.
If it means that they are sleep tracker would actually start being accurate and learn the users sleep patterns, if they would not call physical activity, that isn’t a challenge or recorded activity like biking, a stressful situation. And tell the user everyday that they are going to be irritable and didn’t recover from the stressful day they had the day before… Clearly their AI programming previously has been done by a 28-year-old white male that has no idea what a 55 plus woman going through menopause is experiencing with her heart rate etc
I think you are being generous saying that it’s a 28yo, probably their 10 year old kid. Point taken.
the whole sleep tracking thing with many vendors is smoke and mirrors, with nice-sounding metrics just not based on either good science or good data from the onboard sensors. Get those two wrong and even the best AI will struggle with interpretations
I always come to the 5Krunner for quality no bull analysis, other well known reviewers are too afraid to piss off the big G. Garmin and others are just doing what the medical establishment and drug companies figured out decades ago. I.E manage normal, never fix anything, just maintain patients with regular scheduled appointments and ongoing prescriptions of drugs with often dubious “benefits”. It’s so entrenched now, everyone is on the bandwagon. Garmin hardware has always been pretty flakey for the price. The charge cables are a joke, unreliable and need constant changing and maintenance, could and should have gone wireless or fixed but too much money in the cable sales. At least apple were forced to drop lightning cable profiteering and add usb C to its devices, Garmin should have been forced to fix this also, and its laughable that we all put up with this for so long. Garmin software updates often break devices in weird ways, seldom a good clean update. Athletes and serious recreational runners etc like to keep long term stats, and that generates brand loyalty when you look over 10 or more years of work on an ecosystem etc. But once you threaten that continuity, then migrating to other platforms seems less painful. Maybe the 5k runner can do an article about how to export all the Garmin details and history while it’s still accessible, archive it, and then import it into new ecosystems. This would go a long way to helping users migrate to other companies that resist the subscription “improvements”. My Fenix 7x pro solar is going on ebay, just like I dumped Strava when they paywalled even your own user comparative results. Once a company has a nice Garmin import tool front and centre with no subscriptions, buy their shares lol! Thanks for the insights 5k!
thank you for the kind words
Garmin Charging Cable – don’t get me started. I’m currently happy having woken up. thinking of those cables will spoil my day
I also don’t understand why Garmin never changed their charging system!!!
I think the Google Pixel Watch 4 has a good solution.
I would have been happy if Garmin had started offering at least L-shaped charging ports for their charging cables 3-4 years ago.
I’m counting on the5Krunner to tell me if any of these paywall features “juice” are worth the $$ “squeeze” going forward. I suspect none of them will be.
value is personal
i’m not subscribing for me but i might for the site from time to time.
So far I still don’t see Connect+ as anything comparable to the paywalls restricting access to stuff that had previously been funded by ads (in the good times on the web, when everything was free and Google actually did live by “don’t be evil”, before shareholders decided that this wasn’t good enough).
It’s a platform for Garmin to do stuff that has too high per usage cost (or per user cost, which is similar but not quite the same) to just hand it out with devices and add the cost to the “BOM plus services”.
Only because ChatGPT offers a generous free tier to end users does not mean that there’s no cost on the backend and if Garmin wants to do “ai stuff” if that’s more than using ai for statically tweaking conventional formulas. They have to be ready for costs, and that kind of cost is very much per user (or worse per usage). Perhaps a more tangible example are extended livetracking features: sure, SMS aren’t *that* expensive, but when you roll it out to millions of watch buyers, it sums up. If they are locked into a pattern of free for all of not at all for every new feature, there’s just a lot of stuff they can’t do, but others can (those who sell subscription platforms instead of or in addition to hardware
“Free for all or not at all” implies that some feature ideas just can’t be explored. “This looks like it might be too expensive to run at scale, don’t put any hours into it”. When they have Connect+ as a third option, they can explore those features and can decide where to offer it when it’s done. Because predicting operation cost is not always easy. When Garmin has both tiers, Connect+ and handed out with hardware, they have a much larger solution space to explore for new features.
Garmin has a huge motivation to add new features to the “free with hardware” tier, because they put out me device generations at a fixed schedule even when the hardware does not really change much and they always try to package some new software/service features with the new hardware, to make nice headlines. That pattern of not backporting to old hardware that’s lamented by so many? It’s what keeps almost everything outside the subscription option.
When was the last time by the way that you people complained that Wahoo does not include SYSTM with their hardware? (or the premium tier of “App”, as it now seems to be branded)
it seems fair to charge a subscription for a service that is discrete from the main platform
eg wahoo SYSTM
eg Garmin MAPS+, inReach.
if garmin connect was rubbish and they introduced running dynamics tomorrow for the first time, sure that would warrant subscription (not that many would use it)
Running dynamics costs exactly the same wether you roll it out to one user or to one million users. But if you have an idea for some feature that buys half a cent worth of LLM tokens whenever the user hits refresh, you either stay the hell away from that idea or you’re one of those companies that never ever turn a profit and perpetually hope for yet another funding round to keep the lights on. Or you offer some subscription and keep that feature off the free tier. Garmin is one of those old-timey companies who identify more with profits than with growth. If they don’t have a place for the things that turn out costly, that’s not always clear in advance, they have to stay clear of anything that might be. And no, that’s not what you tell shareholders.
Yes, Garmin is getting greedy.
Especially when it comes to the retail prices of their watches.
But ultimately, buyers decide with their wallets.
If people rush out and buy the Forerunner 570/970 and Fenix 8 series at these prices…
Some fitness enthusiasts should resist and not buy them.
Currently, Garmin offers a lot of features without a subscription.
That’s enough for me and many others.
I don’t think it’s so much that they offer a subscription that’s problematic, but rather what they offer in return.
Apple’s fitness subscription also costs money.
Google is also launching its new Fitbit Health Coach (soon to be in beta in the US) on a subscription basis only.
However, this will offer a personal coach based on scientific findings, and I believe this is the future of fitness:
a personal fitness/health coach who takes your own health data into account.
I think that’s pretty cool.
Apple is also reportedly working on a Fitbit Health Coach counterpart called Health+.
That will probably cost money too.
Gymondo costs money, Training Peaks costs money…etc.
It just goes to show that people are willing to pay if the service is right.