Getting a newGarmin watchis an exciting time. These highly capable devices offer a lot of features andcustomization optionsto help you focus on your fitness and overall wellness so that you can progress and work towards your goals. However, all of those features require a bit of setup. It can be confusing to decipher what’s worth doing right away and what is okay to skip.
When you first turn on a new Garmin watch, it will prompt you to set up a handful of required items. These include settings to help you use your watch and data that will help Garmin build the baseline for the health and fitness tools. The exact setup will vary based on your particular watch, but typically, these required steps include selecting a language, entering your height and weight, bedtime and wake time, designating which wrist you’ll wear the watch on, and pairing it with theGarmin Connect app.
How do you pair a Garmin watch with a phone?
Pairing your Garmin watch to your phone will allow you to get the most out of your powerful fitness watch.
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar
The Garmin Forerunner955 Solar is an advanced running watch full of useful features for those focused on training.
Garmin Instinct 2S Solar
The Garmin Instinct 2S Solar is a compact adventure watch with epic battery life and a small form factor for small wrists.
Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition
The Garmin epix Pro Gen 2 Sapphire Edition is a robust outdoor watch capable of handling whatever you throw at it.
1Finish Garmin’s suggested setup items
Get these tasks done first
Once you complete all the tasks the watch walks you through when you first turn it on, the Garmin Connect app will suggest a handful more optional items to help you get the most out of your new watch. Depending on your particular Garmin watch, the app will give you a list of setup items like Garmin Pay, Wi-Fi, Music, and LiveTrack. All of these need to be completed in the app, not on the watch, though you may need your watch for some steps as well. Garmin does a great job of walking you through each step, making the process easy.
These optional tasks don’t have to be done immediately, but the app will pop up reminders later if you don’t complete them. When the first reminder comes up, you’re able to turn future ones off, but it’s still best to finish all setup tasks right away. You’ll get a lot more out of your watch if you do.
How to set up Wi-Fi on your Garmin watch
Connecting your Garmin watch to Wi-Fi will unlock important features and functionality.
2Enter your emergency contact information
Make safety a priority with your new watch
We all hope nothing happens to us when out and about, but it’s better to be prepared just in case. Many Garmin devices offer Incident Detection, which can detect if you’ve been in a crash or fall. Then, provided you have your phone on you, Garmin will send a message to your emergency contacts with your current location. You can also manually alert your emergency contacts should you be in an unsafe situation and need a subtle way to call for help.
To use the safety features, though, you first need to fill out your emergency contact information. Here’s how to enter your emergency contact information.
3Customize your goals
You aren’t stuck with Garmin’s goals
Having access to goals on your watch can be very helpful for staying consistently active. Garmin will automatically set a daily step goal, floors climbed goal, and a weekly intensity minutes goal, but those may not fit your needs or lifestyle.
The Auto Goal feature is enabled by default for daily steps, which allows your step trends to modify the goal when you sync. However, you can change this to a specific number if you would prefer consistency. Likewise, you can adjust the goal for the number of floors you should climb and the weekly intensity minutes, making it much more personal to your needs. To adjust your goals, follow the steps below.
4Adjust your activity profiles
Setup the activities you participate in
Garmin watches come preloaded with various activity profiles for tracking common sports and workouts. These typically include running, walking, hiking, biking, and more. However, depending on your watch, you likely have access to a lot more profiles than just the ones preloaded on it. So, if you participate in an activity that isn’t the most common, you aren’t necessarily out of luck in terms of a profile for tracking it.
The list of options isn’t endless, of course, and it depends on your particular Garmin model. But, most offer all the most common activities, along with some more niche ones. For instance, theGarmin Lily 2offers specific dance profiles for different types of dance. You can find all sorts of team sports, racket sports, motorsports, and more. Some even offer gamin or e-sport profiles.
By adding and rearranging your activity profiles right away, you can be sure that you aren’t fumbling around trying to add them right before starting an activity. Speaking from experience, it isn’t very fun, especially if you discover that there is no profile for that activity after all. To adjust your activity profiles in the Garmin Connect app, follow the steps below. If you’d prefer to make the changes on the watch, checkout the article below for even more help.
How I personalize my Garmin watch with activity profiles for every sport
Tackling an activity that’s not on your Garmin Watch? You may be able to add a profile for it.
5Change your data screens
Customize what you see during workouts
Once you’ve set up the activities you want to track, it’s also a good idea to customize what is displayed during those activities. Garmin allows you to customize the data screens for your workouts so that you have the information you need upfront. For example, the default Walk profile didn’t show the current time on the first data screen, but I frequently need to be back at a certain time when I’m walking my dog, so having the time available at a glance is important. Luckily, I could customize the activity to show the time on the first data screen.
Customizing the data screens allows you to adjust the information you have access to for each unique activity. It can improve your workouts and is worthwhile to do right when you get your new Garmin watch. Here’s how you can customize your data screens.
6Customize your Glances
Put the information you want front and center
Scrolling down from your Garmin watch face (the main display) will reveal a range of glances, also called widgets. These can share health and fitness information, smartwatch notifications, and much more. The default options may show stats you don’t care about, though. Or you may want different information at the top, so you don’t have to scroll down whenever you want that information. For example, I frequently check the weather on my Garmin watch but had to adjust my widgets so that the weather app was at the top, giving me faster access.
Luckily, the order of those widgets, along with what ones you see, is very customizable. Customizing those widgets right when you get the watch can make for a much better experience right off the bat. To adjust your glances, follow the steps below.
7Link your watch to your other accounts
Connect to Strava, TrainingPeaks, and more
While Garmin’s platform offers many useful health and training tools, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of fitness apps. Garmin watches are able to connect to a handful ofthird-party appsso that all the information you record gets shared with other relevant places.
For example, if you want the social component of Strava, you don’t need to track an activity in Strava and on your Garmin watch. you’re able to simply connect the two to automatically upload your activity data to Strava once your watch syncs. Similarly, if you work with a coach on the TrainingPeaks platform, your Garmin watch can automatically sync there so that your coach can see data from your workouts without any manual input on your part.
