Want to test Garmin’s new features in preview? Here’s how to join their beta program

You may see them spending from time to time. The public beta of software integrated with smartphones allow access to updates which will be deployed a little later on these devices. However, it is necessary to expect, beta versions oblige, that they suffer from a few bugs, fortunately often minor. In the case of iOS 26 for iPhone, for example, a public beta will be available from July 2025, and will succeed a beta reserved for developers (or daring users). But mobiles are not the only ones to take advantage of these beta: connected watches are also affected.

Garmin, specialist in smartwatchs, offers his customers to access his public beta, such as that he intends to his Fenix 8 (AMOLED, Solar and E) and Enduro 3. The opportunity for these models to access features inaugurated by connected watches just formalized: the Forerunner 570 and 970.

The procedure is very simple, but requires going through a web browser, on PC or smartphone. Just connect to your Garmin Connect account, which you normally had to create when you connected your watch to your smartphone.

From the browser, therefore, click on the watch icon located at the top right of the screen, then click on your model. You will land on a screen of this type:

Simply click on reaching the beta program. It’s over!

You can then download the public beta made available by Garmin to your watch, as long as you have thought of configuring a wifi network on your tocante. If no notification indicates the availability of a new version, you can, from your watch:

• Go to the menu Parameters
• Select Systems
• If a beta update is offered to you, click on Install

Remember that beta can be synonymous with dysfunctions or deactivated options; In the case of the most recent software version made available by Garmin, the Fenix 8 are thus deprived (temporarily, of course) of their ECG function. So remember to check on the Garmin forum the implications of each download! In the event of regret, and failing to wait until a new version, you will be able to return to an earlier version of the software, for a few more tedious manipulations and, most often, a reset of the watch. Patience or prudence, therefore!