Around mid-November, a Reddit post complaining about the Connect IQ app quickly gained traction because it pointed out bad experiences with the software on Garmin watches. In particular, users mentioned crashes on various watch faces.
According to one Reddit user, their favorite watch face crashed at least 1-2 times a week from July to August, and restarting would temporarily fix the issue, but it would keep coming back, annoyingly. According to a more detailed report on Tech-Issues Today, multiple users reported that their watch face kept crashing, displaying the “IQ!” logo with an orange exclamation mark.
The issue appears to affect a variety of watch models, including the Venu 3, Forerunner 965, and several others. The issue started occurring after recent firmware updates, causing frustration for both developers and users.
Many Garmin watches are experiencing unusual crashes and freezes. (Photo: Reddit)
The core of the issue is a system bug related to the Storage.setValue() function on Garmin's Connect IQ platform. The developers say the bug occurs when an app or watch face attempts to save data using this function. When the bug occurs, affected watch faces will freeze and sometimes cause other watch faces to crash until the device is restarted. However, even after restarting, the problem often recurs.
The bug is no small one. One developer said they’ve seen nearly 400,000 crashes in just one app since August. The issue isn’t limited to one or two devices, with reports of the Venu 3, Fenix 7, and Forerunner 265 on firmware versions 11.16, 20.29, and many others mentioned on user forums.
The hangs are not consistent, making them even more frustrating. Some users report their watches crashing after receiving notifications, while others experience random crashes during normal use. Even restarts only temporarily fix the problem, and often return, sometimes affecting other watch faces.
Garmin acknowledges the issue and is actively investigating. “ The team is aware of the issue and is investigating ,” said Kyle.ConnectIQ, a member of the development team.
Another member, Richard.ConnectIQ, further explained:
“ This is a particularly difficult bug to reproduce and determine the root cause. We have source code for some Connect IQ watch faces that occasionally cause this bug, but not consistently. Any additional information, such as the watch face you are using or the source code involved, would be helpful .”
Developers are encouraged to share project details and logs to assist Garmin in identifying the cause.
Currently, restarting the device is the only available solution, although it's not very effective. The developers suggest that switching to simpler watch faces might reduce the frequency of crashes, but this doesn't address the core issue.
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