What’s new in Garmin’s Connect IQ System 8 Beta?
Almost like clockwork, one year after the last generation, Garmin is making available the Connect IQ System 8 Beta for developers. It’s packed with tools and updates to make creating apps for Garmin devices easier and more fun.
For those not in the know, Garmin Connect IQ is basically a playground where developers build apps for Garmin devices like smartwatches, bike computers, and outdoor handhelds. Think of it as the go-to spot for fitness and outdoor adventure software, offering things like health tracking, cool maps for your hikes, and ways to tweak your device’s interface. They usually roll out major updates in the Fall or Winter, with smaller updates popping up throughout the year.
If you remember Connect IQ 7, it introduced major improvements, including Always On, Always Bright, using luminance to extend screen-on time without burn-in. Expanded communication APIs improved cloud integration and BLE pairing, while optimized coding tools reduced code space by up to 30%. New Tuple types, enhanced Array features, and standardized resource identifiers added flexibility and streamlined resource management.
What’s cooking in System 8?
This time around, Garmin is cranking things up with new tools to save time and open up more creative options. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new in System 8.
Visual Studio Code extension
If you’re into coding, this one’s big. Garmin added a Monkey C extension for Visual Studio Code, and that should allow for writing better apps faster. You’ll get real-time error and warning alerts, so no more endless debugging marathons. Autocompletion makes writing code quicker and less painful, and there are cool navigation tools like “Go to Definition” and “Find All References.” You can even fold up parts of your code to keep things neat.
Watch face customisation
Watch faces just got way more interesting. If you’ve got one of the recent crop of high-end watches, there’s now an on-device watch face editor. You can tweak product watch faces, save your favourite versions, and even offer users a ton of customisation options. Think different styles, fonts, colors, and data fields.
Bigger app space
Ever run out of room while adding features to your app? That’s less of an issue now. System 8 adds up to 16MB of extra code space for devices that support it. This lets you go bigger and better with your apps without worrying about hitting limits. Just slap the :extendedCode annotation on functions or modules, and you’re good to go.
Better sensor pairing
For apps that work with sensors—like heart rate monitors or cycling gadgets—sensor pairing is now smoother. The updated Sensors.SensorDelegate API makes it easy to plug into Garmin’s built-in pairing flow, whether you’re using ANT, ANT+, or BLE. No more clunky workarounds or frustrated users trying to connect their devices.
Notifications
Background notifications are another cool addition. With the Notifications module, apps can now send alerts for things like incoming messages or events. These are actionable, too, so users can respond directly without diving into the app. It’s a handy way to keep people connected without being glued to their devices.
For a comprehensive understanding, the full change-log is available on Garmin’s website. It is still early days, but a few watches already have access to the CIQ System 8. Firmware update 20.10, which was announced a few hours ago, is compatible with the upgrades. This is for the Fenix 7 and 7 Pro, Epix 2 and 2 Pro, Enduro 2, Quatix 7 and Marq 2. No doubt, other watches will follow soon.
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