10 Life Hacks Every Garmin Watch User Should Know

Garmin fitness watches are such powerful tools that you can use them for months or years without discovering some of their best hidden features. Here are 10 life hacks every Garmin user should know, from setup steps you might have missed to little-known features you wish you’d discovered sooner.

These tips apply to Garmin Forerunner series watches (such as the 570 and 265 , which are among my favorites). Other Garmin models may have different features, but most of the features described below will still work. For example, the Vivoactive 6 has fewer buttons than the Forerunner, but you can still customize shortcuts for the two buttons it does have.

Customize shortcuts for touchscreen lock and more.

Save time by avoiding menu searches (or waiting for features to activate automatically). By going to the Settings menu, selecting “System,” then “Shortcuts ” (formerly “Hotkeys”), you can assign functions to long presses or combinations of button presses. For example, on my watch, I hold down the DOWN button to bring up music controls and the BACK button to toggle the touchscreen on and off. You can also assign shortcuts to display the weather or stopwatch, save your current location, enable Night Shift mode, and more.

Download a more convenient watch face

Garmin watches come with a few watch faces pre-installed, but you can find more in the ConnectIQ store. My favorite is the Big Easy watch face, with simple text and customizable data. (Mine displays sunset time and weekly mileage, among other things.) Other popular watch faces include Segment 34 , Quatro , and this Fenix ​​8-like one , which can be installed on almost any Garmin watch.

Customize your favorite activities, summaries, and dashboard.

When you start a workout, you’ll see a few “favorite” activities to choose from—for example, running and cycling. If you find yourself constantly scrolling through a list of activities you don’t need and looking for ones you really want, take a minute to customize this list. I always delete outdoor cycling (I don’t do that), but I make sure strength training and trail running are at the very top of the list, as I do them often.

To remove an action from your favorites list, tap and hold it (or tap and hold the left middle button). You can also reorder an item in the list using the same method. To add a new action, scroll to the bottom of the list and select “Add.”

You can also customize the “quick views” that appear when you scroll down (or swipe up) from the watch face. If you don’t want to see your running results or calories burned, you can remove them from the list. If you want to see the moon phase directly on the screen, that’s also possible. Long-pressing on a view allows you to delete or reorder items, and swiping down adds new ones.

The control menu works similarly. It’s a round app dial that opens with a long press of the top-left button on the Forerunner. Long-press an app or the middle-left button to edit the list. Conveniently located here are apps like “Wallet,” “Calculator,” “Stopwatch,” and modes like “Battery Saver.”

Use Garmin Share to sync routes and workouts with friends.

If you’re running with a friend, you can both upload the same workout or route to your watch. Simply go to the bottom of the workout list and select “Garmin Share.” From this screen, you can receive the files you share or scroll down to select the file you want to send.

I have a handy library of workouts and routes on my watch (more on why below), and I share them often. If my husband wants to do an interval workout, I can send him one of my favorite routes. You don’t need a phone for this—it’s a “watch-to-watch” feature that can be activated a few seconds before the start of your run.

Setting up LiveTrack

I often run alone, so I like using LiveTrack. When LiveTrack is enabled, my watch transmits GPS data to my phone, which in turn sends that data to a private Garmin website and shares a link with my trusted contacts. This way, my husband can see when I’m almost done running (without disturbing me), and if I get injured or need pickup, he can pinpoint my location.

For LiveTrack to work, you need to be running with your phone (which is what I do) and have it accessible where you’re running. In the Garmin Connect app, select “More,” then “Safety & Tracking,” then “LiveTrack.” I prefer to turn on auto-start so I don’t forget to launch LiveTrack every time.

Turn notifications on (or off) while you perform actions.

I hate getting phone notifications on my watch, but for some people, notifications are the main reason I have one. And regardless of your preference for everyday wear, your experience during workouts may be different. Perhaps you need notifications during workouts so you don’t have to constantly check your phone, or maybe your workout is a time when you don’t want to be disturbed.

Luckily, this is easy to set up. Go to Settings, then “Notifications & Alerts” to access all notification options. However, the settings for active time aren’t here: you need to go to “Focus Modes,” then select “Activity,” and customize how your watch behaves during activity. In the “Smart Notifications” settings, you can change whether notifications arrive at all, as well as whether they vibrate or make a sound. You can also adjust other activity settings here, such as screen brightness.

Create your own workouts

The Garmin Connect app lets you create workouts, which can be a bit confusing at first, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes a few minutes to program the Norwegian SUV to work on your VO2 max or set up that new fartlek workout you just dreamed up this morning.

To get started, tap “More Details” in the Garmin Connect app, then go to “Training & Planning,” “Training,” “Create Workout,” and then select an activity type (e.g., “Running “). From there, I usually start by tapping “Add Repeat,” which starts a cycle where I can add intervals—for example, 4 minutes of hard effort and 3 minutes of easy effort for a 4×4 workout. You can set a target pace or heart rate for each interval, or even record an audio clip with instructions.

I especially enjoy creating workouts on Garmin for time-based strength training, such as the EMOM (Every Minute) workout. I also really enjoy using it to track rest times in traditional strength training : if I tell the watch to rest for three minutes between squat sets, it beeps and starts the set when the timer is up.

Make a training schedule.

If you want to follow a training plan created on your Garmin device, you’ll likely choose to use one of the built-in plans . This is perfectly natural, but you have other options. You can set up a third-party app, like Runna , to provide you with a training plan and sync your workouts with your Garmin calendar. You can also plan your own workouts.

Let’s take the 4×4 workout mentioned above as an example. It’s an interval run that I might want to do once or twice a week. After creating the workout, I can view it by tapping the three-dot menu and then selecting “Add to Calendar.” If I schedule it for tomorrow, when I start my run tomorrow, the watch will ask if I want to do the 4×4 workout, since it’s the workout of the day. Even without a formal training plan, I find this feature handy for planning the upcoming week.

Connect LiftTrack for more effective strength training.

Garmin’s strength training features can be useful, but it’s not the best app for tracking progress over time or creating workout plans with details like sets, reps, and weight. LiftTrack is a third-party app that offers many features Garmin lacks . If you want to track strength training on your phone, do yourself a favor and set it up instead of using the Garmin app alone .

Download routes (even if you don’t have maps on your device).

Some Garmin watches (more expensive ones) have built-in full-color maps, but even the most basic models can follow a route and navigate home. This is a much more useful feature than it might seem, especially if you enjoy trail running or want to plan routes for specific distances.

To get started, you’ll need a GPX file. You can create one in Garmin Connect by going to “Training & Planning,” then “Courses,” and then “Create Course.” Tap the points on the map, and the app will show you how many miles the route you’ve drawn is and how hilly it is.

You can also download GPX files from other apps like Strava or RunGo, or ask a training partner to send you one—either via Garmin Share or another method like SMS to your phone (just open the file in the Garmin Connect app and sync it to your watch from there).

This way, you can track your route using your watch. It will show you how many miles remain, and you can access the elevation profile to see if you have a big climb ahead. The watch will remind you of upcoming turns, and you can see if you’re off course. With or without maps, this set of features is incredibly useful for navigating trails or new running routes.

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