Garmin Connect app update: Everything new from the major design overhaul

Garmin has delivered something users have been craving for years - an overhaul of the Connect app.

After first appearing earlier this year for some beta testers (including ourselves), the Android/iOS app has been refreshed in hopes of making the sea of metrics and insights easier to digest.

After a couple of minor tweaks since soft launching, the complete dashboard redesign is now rolling out to all Garmin Connect users. 

Below, we'll provide an in-depth look at everything new - and clear up what Garmin has kept the same.

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The initial setup: All About You

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Once you accept the latest update on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, you'll immediately be taken to screens that ask you to rank your priorities and goals.

It's like starting from scratch so Garmin Connect can help better display information from the main dashboard (though you can edit this easily later).

This only takes a couple of minutes to complete, and you'll be able to select up to four goals before scoring a set of features from 1-5 in importance. 

The all-new Home section

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Once you've completed that initial setup faff, you'll be shot directly to the all-new Garmin Connect. 

Much of the in-depth data and insights have remained, with the major change being delivered to the 'Home' section. Instead of a stack of cards, this will now be split into the four richer sections shown below.

Today's Activity

This one is fairly self-explanatory. Nothing will appear here if you don't complete an activity in the day, but, if you do, the activity bubble allows you to quickly jump in and analyze a recent workout. 

These remain categorized the same as before - so, run workouts will be orange bubbles, while something like yoga will be a blue bubble - and you'll have to swipe left to view a second (or third) activity if you record one.

In Focus

This is where things get interesting - and much improved, in our opinion, from what we had before. 

Instead of the uniform bubbles we had before, In Focus now provides a rich set of cards you can swipe left through. Instead of just your Training Readiness score and grade, this now includes the six factors that decide the score, for example.

The idea here, we'd guess, is to shorten the journey for users. Whether it's Training Readiness, Training Status, or Body Battery, you no longer have to tap multiple times to see the more in-depth elements of each feature.

It works well - and is easily customizable once you scroll to the bottom and tap 'Edit Home'. The only downside we've found is that you have to work a bit harder to view more data points, rather than it being presented in one big list. 

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At a Glance

If you continue scrolling past the first two sections, you'll be met with more of Garmin's metrics. In 'At a Glace', as you would expect from the name, they're not as in-depth as what you'll see above.  

These are kind of like reformatted versions of the old horizontal bubbles. They're a definite improvement, however, and you can add up to eight of them. 

Again, it's all about streamlining the experience and saving you time. Looking at the graph of your last four weeks of HRV no longer requires three taps, for example - it's all right there on the Home dashboard.

Events, Training Plans, or Challenges

If you have an ongoing plan with Garmin Coach or you've set up or entered a race or challenge, it'll appear on the new dashboard in this spot.

There's not a ton of information here - and, again, the screens that appear once you tap through haven't changed - but it has been neatened up. 

Considering this wasn't previously accessible from the Home section, we like that something like the race countdown is now easy to view. 

Garmin Connect web app

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It's not just the Garmin Connect app for iOS and Android that's received the new look - the web app will also match the new layout and your 'In Focus' and 'At a Glance' cards.

When you change something on the web app, this will be replicated on the mobile app - and vice versa. 

It's just the old dashboard and daily summary that's been removed here, we should note. All the other menus and screens remain as they were before.

What's unchanged?

Garmin has tweaked very little from the beta to the full rollout - at least from what we can tell. And that means this 5.0 update is very much limited to the Home section being given a makeover.

Everything you would typically seek out from the 'More' tab or tap through - Health Stats, Performance Stats, Gear, Settings - is the same as before.

Even Garmin Coach, the Calendar, and News Feed tabs have remained in place, so, again, this update is mostly focused on revamping the Home dashboard to be more digestible.

Wareable verdict

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After a few months of using Garmin Connect 5.0, our experience has been largely improved.

Garmin has changed what it needed to (the main dashboard) without watering down the experience by simplifying the secondary menus.

We spent so much time in the old version of Garmin Connect that we began to accept the slightly clunky, endlessly scrolling nature of the dashboard, but there's no doubt the richer cards are an improvement.

Ultimately, Garmin faces a relatively unique challenge with Connect; presenting such a massive amount of data and tracked metrics is difficult to do so in a digestible fashion. And that's especially true when everybody's priorities are slightly different.

Outside of Apple Health - and perhaps Google Fit - no other wearable companion app boasts the level of insights, but this update does move Connect closer to something easier on the eye - not unlike Strava.