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Welcome, Garmin fans! After yesterday's announcement of Garmin Connect+, the new premium tier available in the Garmin Connect app, we've seen a big conversation begin to take place online.
Some Garmin users are furious, stating they want to "take a stand" against the company for introducing a paid tier. Even though the existing free features will remain free, user sentiment is generally that this is the beginning of a slippery slope for Garmin, and more and more features will be added to Connect+ instead of being available on the app's free tier.
Especially egregious is the price of the best Garmin watches, some of them numbering among the most expensive smartwatches ever, and having to now pay still more on top for the whole package.
Want to make your voice heard? Email us at matt.evans@futurenet.com, and we'll feature your reply here as part of this live blog. Stay tuned!
What is Garmin Connect+, anyway?
For those not in the know, Garmin Connect+ is Garmin's new premium tier available for its previously-free Garmin Connect app, costing $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually, with a one-month free trial available.
For this privilege, Garmin Connect+ will supply Garmin users with new features on top of their free ones, including AI-powered insights dubbed "Active Intelligence" which puts all your stats into context, a Performance Dashboard that allows you to view historic graphs, and improvements to Garmin’s LiveTrack service, including a text-based alerts system.
This isn't the first time it's charged for a service (it also charges for an Outdoor Maps+ subscription plan) but this is a service aimed at all Garmin users, not a specific subsection or service.
Why has this angered Garmin users?
Existing Garmin users are angry, in part, because they feel like their app is going to slowly get taken away. While Garmin has been very careful in its messaging, insisting that everything currently free will remain free, users believe they will eventually have to either leave the platform or resort to paying for a usable version of it.
Even if all current features remain free, as new ones are added and older ones are no longer supported, the existence of a Connect+ tier invites the possibility that future features will only be available to premium subscribers, a galling prospect if you bought an expensive smartwatch with the expectation it would be supported for years to come.
One of the top comments on the video above reads: "No. Bait and switch. We pay premium prices, like my £800 for my Garmin Descent Mk2s, with the understanding that the extra price is subsidising the Garmin Connect platform and its development. Now with just the existence of this, there's little to no chance we'll see any meaningful updates to the free Connect platform from now on. Class action anyone?"
Another commenter puts it more succintly: "Is this the beginning of the end?"
Garmin Reddit is furious
With 7,100 upvotes at the time of writing, this thread has prompted an enormous outcry from the community determined to make their voices heard. Here are a few comments from the 431 and counting:
Comment from r/Garmin
Comment from r/Garmin
Comment from r/Garmin
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadar
We took to TikTok to ask Garmin users what they thought about the changes, and got quite a few comments there. One user writes "This is bad news. All new features from now on will be behind a paywall. And in few years, then the initial rage settles, they will move more and more features behind paywall like strava did."
Another said: "wow! I love paywalled AI which tells me the most basic of information which I could gather my self easily."
However, in the interest of balance, not everyone is irate about it. Another TikTok user writes: "If the current features are to stay free then nonworries, pay for the new stuff if you want them if not, don't."
"A greedy company"
The emails have begun to roll in. Remember, if you want to get in touch, email matt.evans@futurenet.com. This one's from Michelangelo:
"I'm writing this email to show Garmin what they are risking by being a greedy company... We have probably around 20 devices from Garmin. We just like the quality and the details you get from a premium device.
"This is why I'm so vocal right now. If Connect+ goes on, I'm definitely done with Garmin. I'll buy another watch for my SO (I was planning for one in May) and I will start doing the opposite of what I've been doing since receiving my original watch. I'll start discouraging people from buying Garmin and propose a valid, European, alternative.
"Tread lightly Garmin, people hate subscription models, especially on PREMIUM products!
Sincerely, A very, VERY, angry customer."
Garmin's AI-powered insights
What exactly is "Active Intelligence", anyway?
Similar to Strava's Athlete Intelligence (also on a premium tier: AI's apparently expensive to run), Garmin's Active Intelligence will offer personalized in-app advice based on your training metrics.
The example above is a good indication of the kind of AI-generated advice you can expect: top-line, general, quick-fire tips to guide your training based on past and current performance, rather than anything too granular and concrete like a workout plan. You'll reportedly be able to get these messages multiple times a day as your activity and recovery levels change.
It's worth noting a Garmin representative emailed and confirmed that the AI was built with user data security in mind. Garmin's aware how sensitive health data is, and the need to keep it secure – especially after a high-profile cyberattack five years ago.
More messages coming through
An email from Vasil says he'll switch away from Garmin if the decision isn't reversed. "Even though I have been a fan of the brand for over 10 years and always buy the latest Fenix model, if the paid version of the mobile application is introduced, I will change the brand!"
Meanwhile, a new comment on TikTok simply says "How do you sign up to it?". Sounds like someone's convinced!
The Garmin subreddit is not taking this well
Garmin is getting rid of what makes it special from r/Garmin
The Reddit post above has some particularly poignant things to say.
"They were different than smartwatch companies locking you to a specific phone. They were different than smartwatch companies forcing you to pay a monthly fee just to use the watch. Heck, they were even different than gaming companies providing you games on a platform and then being able to ban you or change the rules after the fact.
"They felt like one of those companies you loved being associated with.... Yet another great company losing track of its identity and tacking on or removing things that just don't speak to its customer base."
Below are some more examples of negative, highly-upvoted feedback from the subreddit.
I paid $700 for a fenix to avoid the subscription bullshit from r/Garmin
It’s the beginning of the end for Garmin. from r/Garmin
I mean, you've got to laugh...
Me buying my first Garmin watch 2 days ago and joining this sub from r/Garmin
Is the panic overblown?
If you're a new Garmin owner, don't panic. Garmin users aren't going to suddenly see the bottom fall out of their watches' ecosystem; as of now, pretty much all the features on your watch remain unchanged. You can still create routes, generate plans, get your Fitness Age, Body Battery, Endurance Score, workouts, and all the rest of Garmin's goodies as well as ever, without paying a subscription fee. Garmin was keen to emphasize this in all communications about Connect+.
Most of the fear is hypothetical, and based on a term coined by blogger-activist Cory Doctorow called "enshittification". This refers to the process of platform decay, as those in charge of online platforms make things worse for users in order to maximize profit.
We see it with social networks, media websites, online stores, gaming and all other rmanner of online platforms. Garmin users are afraid that their free experience will eventually get worse, as the company attempts to move more of its users onto the paid platform. We've seen it happen enough times that these fears are not unfounded.
On his Pluralistic blog, Doctorow explains it best: "Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification."
Has LiveTrack changed?!
More discourse in our TikTok video, with one user sounding very optimistic: "Probably not for the AI, but I would be interested in the Live Track, I use it anyway as I cycle a lot in the mountains, so would be keen to see what the difference is".
The updated Live Tracking service offers a personalized LiveTrack profile to share with followers (useful for cross-posting on Strava, for example) and the ability for family and friends to be notified via text when a workout has begun, along with the usual link to share your current location that you get in the free version.
However, our Homes Editor (and former Fitness Editor) Cat Ellis, herself an avid user of the Garmin Fenix 7, uses LiveTrack a lot, and told me her LiveTracking recently changed. The LiveTrack text messages to show auto-starts and finishes used to be part of the free version, but seems to have been removed this week ahead of the GC+ announcement.
Check out her screenshot from this Monday, then swipe to check out Tuesday's:
While Garmin mentioned that all features currently free will remain so, this may indicate a feature was changed shortly in advance of the announcement, which is very disingenuous if so. TechRadar has reached out to Garmin for comment, but email in and let us know if this has changed for you.
Two very different reactions with the same sentiment there
How much does Garmin Connect+ cost, and what do you get?
Garmin Connect+ will cost $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually, with a one-month free trial available.
For the price, you're getting those Active Intelligence AI messages, the LiveTrack texts mentioned below, exclusive badges and challenges not available to free-tier Connect users (something which isn't helping quell the ire of badge-hunters unwilling to subscribe) new social features and a Performance Dashboard which allows you to customize how you view historic data.
This is confirmed to be different to the Performance Stats tab in the free version.
Our reader Corrie emailed in, voicing her concerns:
"I’m a long term Garmin user recently replacing my Enduro 3 with the Fenix 8, both premium watches. Strong advocate of Garmin to anyone who will listen.
"My concern is that new content will go with the new premium paid service and our current content will be eroded to the point where you have no choice to switch either to a new / alternative provider, or to add the subscription."
I'm seeing this sentiment a lot: most people aren't worried about the premium tier as it is now, but what may happen later down the line.
A disappointed reader
Another reader, George, emailed in with this to say:
"I feel like this is Garmin really pushing their luck, they're the dominant player amongst runners in particular and I believe most of us were under the impression that you pay a premium for Garmin devices to keep the backend services free and available for everyone.
"It's especially annoying for those of us, myself included who are well-invested into their ecosystem. I have a Garmin watch along with some of their accessories like the running pod as well as an Edge cycling computer, which allows for integration between the two devices and Connect.
"I feel like when my watch packs up, which probably isn't too far off as it's 4.5 years old, I will likely move over to Coros. Garmin seems to want to be more like Whoop now and I feel like they've lost their community's trust."
While I've always been a Garmin fan, I think Coros make superb watches. The Coros Pace 3 tops our best cheap running watch list thanks to its absurdly long battery life and powerful insights.
In the Garmin subreddit's megathread on the issue, one user had this to say. It really hammers home the argument some users have about the high price of the base watch, then being expected to pay more on top:
Comment from r/Garmin
We rated Fitbit Premium very highly in our review, but it's worth noting the base Fitbit devices are much cheaper than Garmins, and tend to come with a six-month subscription to the service rather than one month. However, this is offset by the fact that Fitbit lock more features behind the paywall than Garmin do, and faced a very similar backlash when the Premium tier was implemented.
We're wrapping up this Liveblog now, but you'll still be able to read all the historic posts below without paying an additional fee.
Thanks for joining us as you start your weekend, and keep sharing your thoughts via emails and comments! We want to know if this is the end of the road for you and Garmin, or whether you plan to give the Connect+ a free trial a go, in order to see what all the fuss is really about.