Garmin Connect+ – the Future – A More Thoughtful Take

I’ve just posted my rant-like thoughts on the new subscription service linked to Garmin Conenct+. Let’s say it involved swearing, and I’ll leave it at that.

Connect+ is the first step by Garmin on the road to somewhere more interesting and exciting, hopefully offering more valuable features to us Garmin owners. Garmin had to release ‘something new’ to justify any subscription fee. They overpriced it at launch, but it will evolve. What was the option? Release the new features throughout 2024 and then put them behind a paywall today? No, that would have caused even more outrage.

I was slightly annoyed as I already have an article about what Garmin will do with AI. I planned to post it by coincidence yesterday and was perhaps overly hopeful of what Garmin could achieve with AI.

Anyway. Connect+ shows us areas where Garmin believes it can further develop value-added features. Perhaps the most interesting observation is that these features are wide-ranging in scope, i.e. Connect+ is more than just a training platform, more than just an AI addon, more than an analysis tool and offers more than enhanced security. It’s planned to appeal to many Garmin owners, ranging from the more serious athletes to those seeking the latest badge.

Connect+ will likely be the vehicle for a whole raft of new features primarily built in-house by Garmin rather than Garmin’s current subscription services like Maps+ that involve 3rd parties.

Garmin Active Intelligence

This will almost certainly expand in scope. It has to.

The existing AI engine behind the current feature likely serially determines new insights for user after user before pushing the insight out to them. This will have to change to be a conversational AI run whenever YOU want it to, and, like Whoop Coach, Garmin’s AI will need to combine its knowledge of your data with sports and wellness science to support those conversations.

Coaching Guidance

There are still gaps in Garmin’s existing coached plans and daily workout suggestions. Multisport events and training, for example, are not catered adequately for right now.

I suppose we could see advanced multisport coaching come behind this paywall. The impending arrival of the Forerunner 975 (now tentatively leaked) suggests ominously coincidental timing.

The guidance could become more intelligently focussed as Garmin’s AI becomes better. For example, after each workout, current tools could suggest areas where you’ve done well or need to improve, but the coach could support those one-line suggestions with deeper articles or links to supporting science.

Badges, Challenges & Watchfaces

Suppose Garmin wants to add more exclusive badges, watchfaces and challenge opportunities for subscribers – the paywall will easily enable that. It is easy enough to think of new challenges to add, but it is still easier to dump them behind a paywall.

I question whether it’s right to exclude people in this way.

That said, perhaps making every official Garmin watchfaces available to subscirbers would be a nice move. Some of them are great, but most are a bit rubbish. I want the great ones.

Live Track 2 enhancements

$6.99 for features linked to an LTE/5G service would probably represent fair market value if it included the data plan (it won’t). So, we could hope and expect that new messaging and services supported by direct-to-satellite (Fenix 8 Pro) or 5G are heralded by the fact that Live Track is being enhanced for some purpose. Maybe it’s just been slightly enhanced for this subscription (unlikely).

Perhaps your Live Track profiles could be expanded to become a morphed version of Apple’s FindMy, adding other, richer data. (Probably not #privacy #security)

Performance Dashboard

The Performance Dashboard is more interesting. It’s looking to me like Garmin intends to add more ’tiles’ in the future. Each tile reflects some specific kind of analysis. That analysis is currently limited to different ways of slicing and dicing Garmin’s existing metrics. New tiles can be added to support new metrics, or each new tile could be used to analyse the relationships between existing metrics.

Garmin has always shied away from ever intending to provide deep analysis. Even the new name ‘Performance Dashboard’ implies the company aspires to more significant and complex insights. Where previously 3rd party platforms like Xert, Golden Cheetah, Stryd or IntervalsICU could rely on Garmin, never competing with them. Connect+ could signal a shift in Garmin’s intentions.

Live Activity

This is a more interesting one.

You can see with your own eyes the people in your gym who use phone apps and watches. From my experience, those using phone apps are far more inclined and motivated to log a complete and correct workout (reps/weights/stations/muscle groups). So, on one level, this might draw those people closer to the Garmin ecosystem.

I think that’s not the intention.

I suggest that the end game here for Garmin (with Live Activity) would be something similar to Fitness+ or Peloton. The Garmin watch would integrate with a trainer’s live or recorded video workout. This would increase the targeting of Garmin’s non-traditional sports – gym classes, yoga, and pilates have Garmin wearers. Still, I suspect Garmin want a more prominent presence here, especially with the female demographic, to counter one of Garmin’s historic weaknesses.

Take Out

Garmin Conenct+ is a statement of intent by garmin to offer premium subscription services. It’s not going away.

The hopeful end game will be that Garmin delivers new features to all but puts parts of the new features behind a paywall. The more likely eventuality is that whole feature sets go behind the new paywall to justify the pricing, perhaps also bundled or linked to other Garmin subscriptions involving maps or data/satellite plans.

It’s not hard to imagine Garmin making some very significant plays, like these

• fully featured sport/wellness-focussed AI
• fully featured analytics platform
• Fitness+/Peloton-like service (maybe even buy Peloton)
• Extended free Connect+ subscription period with a new watch
• Exclusive discounts with partner services and Garmin accessories

The other aspects of Connect+ may well turn out to be the less interesting ones

• Revamped coaching but just completing and fleshing out what’s already there
• a slightly improved personal location and emergency service, leveraging new connectivity tech – 5G/satellite
• Some more badges

thoughts?