Garmin Locate gives the Fenix 9 a new trick beyond LiveTrack
Garmin has added a new location-sharing feature to the Fenix 9 family called Garmin Locate. It has received relatively little attention next to the brighter displays, new mapping system and inReach hardware, but it is a useful addition.
A simpler way to check where someone is
The basic idea is pretty straightforward. You choose trusted contacts in the Garmin Messenger app, and those people can then check the last known location of your device.
That is quite different from how Garmin’s LiveTrack feature normally works. LiveTrack is designed around an activity, with someone sharing a session that friends or family can follow as it happens. Garmin Locate is not trying to show an entire run, ride or hike in real time.
Instead, it answers a much simpler question: where was this person last located?
Garmin’s documentation says trusted contacts get a “View Location” option in Messenger. The person being located has to enable Garmin Locate first and specifically add that contact as someone they trust, so it is not a general location-sharing system where anybody in Messenger can look you up.
There is also no need to create and send a new LiveTrack link every time you go out. Once Garmin Locate has been enabled and the trusted contacts are in place, the feature remains available in the background.
It works through Garmin Messenger
Garmin has built the feature around Messenger rather than Garmin Connect. Owners set up their trusted contacts inside the Messenger phone app, after which Locate is enabled on the paired watch.
Garmin’s Fenix 9 manual also shows that the feature is not simply another name for the inReach satellite tracking Garmin has offered for years. The regular phone-connected implementation uses the watch’s connection to a compatible smartphone, while supported Fenix 9 Pro inReach models can also use their LTE connection when an active inReach plan is available.
That LTE option is where the Fenix 9 Pro inReach gets an obvious advantage. Someone can leave their phone behind and still have access to supported connected features directly from the watch, provided LTE coverage is available.
Garmin Locate itself does not use the satellite connection. Garmin’s connectivity documentation lists Locate among the safety and tracking features available over a phone connection or LTE, but not over satellite.
The Fenix 9 Pro inReach can use satellite for several other things, including SOS, text messages, check-ins and weather. Locate is therefore better thought of as a convenient location-sharing feature rather than full off-grid satellite tracking.
Another small addition to Garmin’s safety tools
Garmin already has a fairly crowded collection of location and safety features. LiveTrack lets people follow activities in real time, incident detection can automatically send a location after certain detected incidents, and Assistance lets users manually contact their emergency contacts.
Locate fills a slightly different gap. It gives selected people somewhere to look when they simply want to know the last known position of the watch.
It is not one of the headline reasons to buy a Fenix 9, and Garmin clearly did not treat it that way during the launch. But it is the sort of small software addition that could prove useful once people actually start using the new watches.
Sources: Garmin Locate setup, Garmin Locate in Messenger, Garmin safety and tracking
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