Garmin Connect Plus is a success – Garmin doubles down on its commitment.
Garmin’s CEO confirms that the company’s paywalled subscription service, Connect+, is doing well, as is its broader efforts to increase subscription revenues. He said this:
…subscriptions are a growing part of our business. We, of course, haven’t triggered the 10% threshold to disclose that yet. So we aren’t providing specifics on it, but I would tell you that in every segment, we’re looking for opportunities to build subscription and service revenues. Outdoor has been a big driver of that with our inReach system. Fitness has been increasing a lot, both with our kids’ Bounce wearable as well as Garmin Connect Plus. And then aviation is another one where we offer subscription services for content for the cockpit that is in growth mode. So we’re growing across the whole business, and, of course, we’re driving towards as much as we can grow there. [C. Pemble, CEO Garmin]
Through this recent comment from the CEO, Garmin has confirmed that it actively pursues subscription opportunities across its entire business. Those hoping that the Connect+ services would be reversed or that the subscription paywall would go away will be disappointed, though perhaps not surprised.
Garmin Acquires MyLaps – what this means for our watches and bike computers
Garmin subscriptions are here to stay.
Garmin is aware of disclosure requirements for publicly traded companies when subscription revenues or service revenues meet certain thresholds. This information is highly sensitive and has fundamental impacts on share price valuations.
Of course, as customers, we don’t see that. All we see is an overly greedy company charging a premium price for its watches and attempting to eke out an overinflated monthly revenue stream that it knows many of its buyers can afford.
Garmin fitness watch users might not be aware of the importance to Garmin of its services and subscriptions. For example, the company has SOS-like services from inReach, special map subscriptions over and above those provided free with some devices, and Garmin Connect+.
Clifford specifically states that Fitness subscriptions have been growing a lot. That comes from Bounce, Connect+ or both. I suspect Connect+ has been more successful than I and regular readers here might like to acknowledge. Anyway, you know my thoughts.
Garmin could draw further revenues from 4G LTE or 5G RedCap data services on some of its wearables or other devices – such a move seems obvious. As Clifford says explicitly, “we’re driving towards as much as we can grow there”. I think they must be considering expanding LTE capabilities. His statements were issued officially around the latest, spectacular quarterly earnings, and CEOs must be clear and truthful in these circumstances.
Take Out
Garmin Connect+ is here to stay.
Garmin has LTE on the way.
At least that's my take.
https://test.kothea.com/2025/04/01/garmin-u-turns-on-connect-subscription/
And as a long time Forerunner/Fenix owner for nearly 20 years, my Fenix 8 will be the last wearable of theirs that I’ll own. And if they follow suit with their cycling computers as well, there are several alternatives on the market when it comes time to upgrade my Edge 1040. I’m not paying for a subscription for anything that already has a premium price.
Yes the garmin fenix 8 will also be my last garmin because of subscriptions
Being a Fenix user since Fenix 2 my belief is that, all these fitness companies are indeed really greedy. If not wrong they have a huge data from their watch users that they can use apart for the improvement of their devices, also as a workbench for a numerous other applications. Guess that there are quite a few out there that are keen to have Garmins’ data and may pay a good amount of money for that. Thus since all of us are kind of guinea pigs for them it’s not justified or maybe unfair to pay the extra amount for an already premium priced watch.
I have a Fenix 7 and it’s nearly perfect. I’ll pay the inreach because unlike spot they let me pause subscription during months with no use. Honestly their cellular connectivity like the bounce is nearly useless since it only works inside it’s app. Half the time I don’t notice when my kid is trying to contact me. I may grab the Enduro 3 and then keep that forever.
Considering that Connect+ basically offers nothing that really cost them any money to produce, I guess if there’s even just a handful of customers who forgot to cancel their free trial then Garmin could call it profitable and a success.
I pay for Garmin Connect+. Why? Because I travel for work (airline pilot) and I spend the bulk of my training (zone 2) and because of my work, I am in hotels 12 nights a month. As a result, I use treadmills. A lot. Therefore, I appreciate having the heart rate readout on my phone (in the app) so that I can look down at my phone to see my heart rate and I don’t have to look at my watch (I wear a Garmin chest
It’s undoubtedly a great feature, but it’s absurd that Garmin paywalled it. It’s totally offline, and really a very basic feature that should have always been included in connect for free. Many of us have been begging for the feature for a decade and then they finally get around to it, but paywall it. Frustrating.
why would you ever pay for such feature a monthly fee? Use a decent sport app that has voice readouts (there are many free ones Whaoo, Nike, Polar Beat, RG etc.) and stop justifying subcription cost for such a tiny feature that is standard elsewhere
Subscription’s are fine as long as the stuff on connect that they previously (currently) comes for free in the app when you purchase the watch (which is all just a minimum expectation from customers considering the high price of the watch itself) remains free (that is, covered by the cost of the watch itself). Add more features & put those behind a subscription paywall, sure, but don’t take away health support from those of us least able to pay for it.
If you wear a chest strap, just take the watch off and prop it on the treadmill. You can keep the savings 😀
I think Garmin is hiding their connect+ subscribers numbers, there is no SFC rule that forbids you to announce subscribers number below 10% of your business income and remember Garmin for years was publishing their Marine business separate from their other endeavours even it was ranging between 5 to 9 % of Garmin’s total revenues att eh time. More interesting is actually the fact what they say between the lines:
“…both with our kids’ Bounce wearable as well as Garmin Connect Plus”
so read in clear type: connect+ is competing revenue wise now on a similar same level as “Bounce” a product line that is 4 years old and has exactly two products alive… tells you a lot how “successful” connect+ really must be.
they are hiding the numbers. and wont disclose unless mandated
i guess connect+ subscription growth is infinite compared to a year ago;-)