Polar Vantage M3 gets POI & Find My Phone with latest firmware
A few handy new features have just landed for Vantage M3 users. Firmware 4.1.1 throws Find My Phone and Points of Interest into the mix, along with a few other additions.
Navigation gets smarter with Points of Interest
Let’s start with the new Points of Interest feature. This lets you locate nearby landmarks such as shelters, cafés or shops directly from the watch. You can also set custom locations and navigate to them with real-time distance tracking.
The only catch is that your maps need to be up to date. Older map files won’t show POI data, but the watch will prompt you to download new ones if needed. Once set up, POI works both during and outside of workouts, which makes it useful for training sessions as well as casual outdoor use.
Find My Phone and PIN protection added
Another key addition is Find My Phone. It shows your phone’s last synced location and lets you trigger a sound alert if it’s within Bluetooth range. You can launch this from the Quick Settings menu or during a workout via the Settings screen.
For privacy-conscious users, there’s now an option to lock the watch with a six-digit PIN. Once enabled, the watch will lock itself when taken off your wrist and require the code to unlock.
Better training flow and recovery tracking
Cardio Load Status now includes a new “Recovering” zone. Previously, the watch might jump from “Overreaching” to “Detraining” too quickly, especially when users were starting fresh or returning after a break. This change smooths that curve and makes the load feedback more realistic.
There’s also a new post-workout route overview. After outdoor sessions, you can now view your completed route directly on the watch. For pool swimmers, summaries now include stroke-by-stroke breakdowns with distance, pace, SWOLF and duration for each style.
Training start and pause views have also been reworked. Icons for sport profiles are smaller, making scrolling faster. The GPS lock status is now more obvious, with a colour-coded start button that switches from orange to green when ready. Access to the settings screen has been streamlined in both pre-training and pause states.
Smaller fixes and usability tweaks
The update introduces five new watch faces: two analog and three digital. These come with redesigned capsule-style widgets that offer a slightly different layout for time, date and data fields. It’s mostly cosmetic, but adds some personalisation options.
Heart rate dropouts during workouts should now be less frequent. There’s improved support for map zooming outside of sessions, and a clearer way to recalibrate the compass mid-workout if needed. If you’re navigating with “track up” orientation, the watch now sticks with that view instead of switching to “north up” when you pan the map.
Turn-by-turn directions now work for all routes, not just Komoot ones. If you join a route midway, the watch recalculates from your current location instead of trying to steer you back to the start.
Other small changes include a brightness boost option during workouts, a better fix for 3D speed variations during hilly runs and more accurate swimming distance tracking.
More details about firmware update 4.1.1 can be found on Polar’s website.
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