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Garmin watches

Compatible Garmin watches work as a companion to the RaceRanger phone app on both iPhone and Android, with the same penalty submission, incident submission, and approval workflow as on Apple Watch. Garmin Connect Mobile must be installed on the phone — that's the bridge RaceRanger talks to the watch through.

Requirements

The Garmin integration is off by default for every user. Before the first pairing attempt you need:

  • A compatible Garmin watch (any Connect IQ–capable device — most modern Forerunner, Fenix, Epix, Venu, and tactical models).
  • Garmin Connect Mobile installed and signed in on the phone the watch is paired to, with a working Bluetooth link to the watch.
  • The RaceRanger watch app installed on the watch via the Connect IQ Store inside Garmin Connect. The pairing dialog detects this on Android and will deep-link to the Store listing if the watch app is missing.
  • The Enable Garmin watch link toggle turned on in the pairing dialog (see below). This is the per-user kill-switch — until it's on, RaceRanger doesn't talk to any watch, doesn't run the background service, and doesn't accept inbound submits from the wrist.
  • For approvals: a role with penalty approval permissions.

iPhone leaves the watch-app-installed state as "unknown" because the Connect IQ SDK doesn't expose it on iOS — so on iPhone you'll just see Pair Garmin even if the watch app isn't installed yet. If pairing succeeds but the watch screen stays blank, install the RaceRanger watch app from Connect IQ on the watch itself and the link will come up.

Pairing

Open your profile and tap Garmin pairing. The dialog walks through five states depending on what's currently happening:

The dialog opens with the Enable Garmin watch link toggle off. Nothing else is actionable until you turn it on — only a Done button to close. Flipping the toggle starts the bridge (and the Android foreground service that keeps the link alive); flipping it back tears everything down again. Toggle state is per-user, persisted in your profile, and survives sign-outs.

Pair your Garmin (unpaired)

After enabling, the dialog reads Pair your Garmin with a Pair Garmin button. Tapping it switches you to Garmin Connect's device picker — pick the watch you want RaceRanger to talk to, then the system brings you back to RaceRanger automatically (via the raceranger-ciq:// URL scheme on iOS, or the Android task switch).

Waiting for Garmin Connect…

While Garmin Connect's picker is in the foreground, RaceRanger shows a spinner with Waiting for Garmin Connect… and a Cancel button. Tap Cancel if Garmin Connect doesn't come back (rare on real hardware, more common when testing). Otherwise the dialog flips to the next state automatically when the native bridge fires.

Watch app not installed (Android only)

If the device is paired but the RaceRanger watch app isn't installed via the Connect IQ Store, the dialog reads Watch app not installed and the primary action becomes Install on watch. Tapping it opens Garmin Connect on the Connect IQ Store listing for RaceRanger. Install it, return to RaceRanger, and the dialog flips to "ready" on its own.

RaceRanger is ready (paired + connected)

Green check mark, RaceRanger is ready, and a line showing your device's friendly name (e.g. Forerunner 965), the last six chars of its device ID, and a "connected" / "last seen X ago" timestamp. The primary button becomes Manage devices — re-opens Garmin Connect's picker so you can pair another watch or remove this one from RaceRanger's allowed-devices list.

Garmin paired, out of range

Amber warning, Garmin paired, out of range, same device-meta line as above. The watch is paired but the BLE link is asleep — wake the watch (any button press) or open Garmin Connect and the dialog flips back to RaceRanger is ready automatically.

Submitting a penalty or incident

Open the RaceRanger watch app and you land on the per-race action picker. The header shows the current race / stage; under it sit the Penalty, Incident, and Approve entries.

Garmin watch action picker — Penalty / Incident / Approve under the current stage

Pick Penalty (or Incident) and the watch advances to the athlete number entry. Use the up/down arrows on touchscreens or the device buttons / rotating bezel on button-only models to dial the number in.

Garmin watch athlete-number entry — Athlete # 101 with up/down arrows

After confirming the number, the watch shows the reason picker — the same list of penalty / incident reasons your role has on the phone (Drafting, Blocking, etc.).

Garmin watch reason picker — Drafting and Blocking

The final screen summarises the submission: kind (PENALTY / INCIDENT), athlete number, reason, and a Tap to submit OK confirmation. On touch-enabled Garmin models, tap the green OK disc to send it; on button-only models, press SELECT.

Garmin watch submit confirmation — PENALTY #101 Blocking, Tap to submit OK

The submission goes out over the BLE bridge through Garmin Connect to the paired phone, which writes it to Firestore exactly the same way a phone-side submission would.

Approvals

The Approve tab lists penalties pending approval; when there are none, it shows a Nothing to approve screen.

Android — background notification

While you're in race mode on Android, a persistent RaceRanger watch link active notification appears in the notification shade. It's how Android lets RaceRanger keep the watch connection alive on devices that otherwise kill background apps within seconds (common on Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei). The notification clears automatically when you leave race mode.

iPhone doesn't need this — iOS keeps the bridge alive via the system's own connected-device APIs.

Supported models

Forerunner 165, 245, 255, 265, 570, 745, 945, 955, 965, and 970; fēnix 6, 7, and 8; epix Gen 2; Venu 2, 3, 4, and X1; vívoactive 4, 5, and 6.

What's not available on Garmin

  • Voice submissions
  • Watch face complications