Garmin Connect 5.21 update leaves iPhone users struggling to sync watches

The latest version (5.21) of the Garmin Connect app for iOS is causing trouble for some users. Watches that were previously paired are now showing up as disconnected, with sync and re-pairing attempts failing entirely in certain cases.

iPhone users report watches no longer appear in Garmin Connect

Posts on Reddit and other forums suggest that something in the latest Garmin Connect update is interfering with how the app recognises previously paired devices. A number of iPhone users say their watch disappeared from the app altogether after the update. For others, the Connect app loads but fails to detect the device, even when Bluetooth is on and the watch is sitting nearby.

The issue doesn’t seem tied to one specific Garmin model. Reports include the Forerunner 965, Enduro 3, Fenix 7 series and others. Some users say the device still shows as paired under iOS Bluetooth settings, but it doesn’t show up inside the Garmin Connect app. Others find that the watch vanishes from both.

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This appears to be affecting only iOS users for now. There are no consistent complaints from Android users in the same threads, and no signs that it’s related to watch firmware.

Several fixes have worked, but results vary

The most common workaround being shared is a full reset of the Bluetooth connection. That means unpairing the watch in iPhone settings, deleting the watch from your Garmin Connect account via the web interface, and then reinstalling the app before re-pairing the device from scratch. Some users report success with this method, but not all.

A few say reinstalling Garmin Connect alone was enough to re-establish communication. Others suggest initiating the pairing process from the watch itself, using the settings menu under Connectivity. That forces the watch into pairing mode, which sometimes prompts the app to detect it correctly again.

But there are also users who’ve tried all of these and still can’t reconnect their watch. The app just spins endlessly looking for devices, or connects briefly before dropping the sync again.

No official fix from Garmin yet

The 5.21 update just started rolling out yesterday, so you may want to skip on installing it for now. As of now, Garmin hasn’t posted anything public about the issue. That will surely change in the coming days, particularly if more users escalate the problem.

It’s worth noting that iOS Bluetooth issues are not new for wearables. Changes to Apple’s background permissions and Bluetooth handling sometimes break connections temporarily. But in this case, the Connect app update is obviously the trigger.

Until there’s a proper fix, anyone hit by this bug may need to go through the full unpair and re-pair process or wait for Garmin to push another app update. If your watch suddenly vanished from the app and nothing else is working, you’re definitely not alone.

Update: Garmin has reached out to us with the following statement.

“We are aware of an issue that caused some devices to disconnect from the Garmin Connect app after updating to version 5.21 on iOS. This issue has now been resolved in version 5.21.1. If your device is still disconnected, please follow the steps in the linked FAQ below to restore the connection.”

The FAQ Garmin is referring to can be found on this page.

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