What’s New

• New data options added for fields 3-10, 13-16:
  
  
  • Stress
  • Body Battery
  • Respiration
  • Time to Recovery
    
    
• NOTE:
  
  
  • These are only available on devices running Connect IQ ‘System 5’, API Level 3.3.x or higher
  • You can check the Connect IQ version on your watch by going to the watch menu ‘System -> About -> SW Versions’
    
    
• According to Garmin’s documentation, these devices are expected to support the new features:
  
  
  • Captain Marvel
  • D2™ Air
  • D2™ Air X10
  • Darth Vader™
  • Descent™ Mk2 / Descent™ Mk2i
  • Descent™ Mk2 S
  • epix™ (Gen 2)
  • First Avenger
  • Forerunner® 245
  • Forerunner® 245 Music
  • Forerunner® 55
  • Forerunner® 745
  • Forerunner® 945
  • Forerunner® 945 LTE
  • fēnix® 6 / 6 Solar / 6 Dual Power
  • fēnix® 6 Pro / 6 Sapphire / 6 Pro Solar / 6 Pro Dual Power / quatix® 6
  • fēnix® 6 Pro System 5 Preview
  • fēnix® 6S / 6S Solar / 6S Dual Power
  • fēnix® 6S Pro / 6S Sapphire / 6S Pro Solar / 6S Pro Dual Power
  • fēnix® 6X Pro / 6X Sapphire / 6X Pro Solar / tactix® Delta Sapphire / Delta Solar / Delta Solar – Ballistics Edition / quatix® 6X / 6X Solar / 6X Dual Power
  • fēnix® 7
  • fēnix® 7S
  • fēnix® 7X
  • MARQ® Adventurer
  • MARQ® Athlete
  • MARQ® Aviator
  • MARQ® Captain / MARQ® Captain: American Magic Edition
  • MARQ® Commander
  • MARQ® Driver
  • MARQ® Expedition
  • MARQ® Golfer
  • Rey™
  • Venu™
  • Venu™ 2
  • Venu™ 2 Plus
  • Venu™ 2S
  • Venu™ Mercedes-Benz® Collection
  • Venu® Sq
  • Venu® Sq. Music Edition
  • vívoactive® 4
  • vívoactive® 4S
    
    
• If your device is on the list above, but the Connect IQ version on it is below 3.3.x, or does not feature the “System 5”, you may need to wait for a firmware update from Garmin

• This update brings more flexibility in the data configuration which allows simultaneous display of more information:
  
  
  • The top and bottom data fields now include the option to show the Active bar.
    
    
  • A configurable date option was added for the data fields 3-10.
    
    The date field is fully configurable using Garmin app and can display all the data that were previously possible in the fields 13-16, in any order, plus additional characters to separate the data (e.g. space, /, -, . , etc.).
    
    To configure the date, you need to enter any of the following letters in the ‘Date format’ setting:
    
    d = day number without leading zero
    D = day number with leading zero
    m = month number without leading zero
    M = month number with leading zero
    y = 2-digit year
    Y = 4-digit year
    n = day name (according to system language)
    N = month name (according to system language)
    w = ISO week number without leading zero
    W = ISO week number with leading zero
    a = AM/PM
    
    Any other character (e.g. – / : . []) will be displayed if it is available on the watch.
    
    For example, you can use the following formats:
    
    “n N d” → Fri Aug 24
    “n D.M” → Fri 24.08
    “d/m [W]” → 24/8 [34]
    “Y\M\D” → 2018\08\24
    “m-d-y” → 8-24-18
    “n D (w)” → Fri 28 (34)
    
    
    The highlight/line for the date field shows progress towards the end of the week, according to the ‘first day of the week’ set in Garmin Connect User Settings.
    
    
  • To make space for a long date you can set the opposite data field to “Off”.
    
    
  • This way of showing the date frees up the data fields 13-16 for other information. The available options (depending on the device) include:
    
    
    – Notifications counter
    – Active alarm counter
    – Calories
    – Active calories
    – Floors
    – Active minutes (day)
    – Active minutes (week)
    – Wrist HR (updated once a minute)
    – Wrist HR (updated once a minute or every second on gesture)
    – SpO2
    – Internal sensor temperature
    – Humidity
    – Chance of precipitation
    – Battery %
    – Solar charging %
    
    

• Beaufort wind speed unit has been added.
  
  
• On round watches, if one of the top or bottom data fields is set to “Off”, the icon of the opposite field is shown in the middle, not on the side as before.

What’s new:

• More weather related data
  • wind speed (m/s, kph, mph, knots) and direction
  • humidity
  • chance of rain
  • observation location
  • observation time

• All premium features work without an unlock key if the Ukraine color theme is selected

New HR features

hr graph

There are two graph options:

1) HR graph
Shows the graph with the current HR reading that is updated once a minute (less battery drain).

2) HR graph + live
Shows the graph with the current HR reading that is updated once a minute or every second on gesture (more battery drain).

The graph time span is adjustable between 1 and 4 hours (this setting is only available through the Garmin app).

The graph level adjusts dynamically to the current minimum and maximum recorded over the selected time span, so it is easy to see the variation.

hr range

This shows the minimum and maximum HR reading during the graph time span selected.

hr average + resting

This shows the average HR value calculated over the graph time span plus the resting HR, which is either a seven day average resting heart rate (on CIQ 3.2.0 or higher), or the resting heart rate available before CIQ 3.2.0.

Wide data fields

If a data field is set to ‘Off’, the opposite data field will take the whole width of the screen.

Epix style time font on other AMOLED devices

• Internal sensor temperature with offset

The offset setting is only accessible through Garmin app.

• Barometer

There are 4 options provided, using different Garmin API:

1) raw: Ambient (local) barometric pressure as measured by the internal pressure sensor. The data is the temperature compensated information read directly from the internal sensor.

2) ambient: Ambient (local) barometric pressure as measured by the pressure sensor. The data is smoothed by a two-stage filter to reduce noise and instantaneous variation.

3) sea level: Barometric pressure calibrated to sea level. Since pressure varies dues to several factors, a GPS-based altitude must first be obtained, then the ambient (local) pressure is measured by the pressure sensor before conversion to a calibrated barometric pressure value.

4) history: Pressure read using Sensor History Iterator. Garmin does not seem to specify what kind of reading this is (or I have not managed to find it in the documentation), but based on empirical tests it is likely to produce closest results to Garmin’s barometer widget readings.

The pressure unit setting is only accessible through Garmin app.