Garmin has another big watch update rolling out and it’s not the Fenix 9 one

Garmin has another fairly big software update rolling out, with a bunch of new features landing on its newer watches. There’s hands-free voice control, fall detection, new Run Coach plans, indoor XC skiing and a few other additions. The slightly odd part is that Garmin doesn’t mention any of the Fenix 9 features we recently found are also coming to older watches.

And this one is already on the way. Garmin says the updates have started rolling out and will reach more devices over the next few weeks. The list includes the Venu X1, Venu 4, vivoactive 6, Forerunner 570 and 970, Fenix 8 models, Fenix E, Enduro 3 and Instinct watches, along with a handful of Edge cycling computers.

There’s quite a bit in this update

Let’s start off with hands-free voice control. On supported watches you can say “OK, Garmin” and then do things such as start a timer or launch an activity without pressing a button, while “phone assistant” hands things over to the virtual assistant on your paired smartphone.

The feature is new for the Venu X1, Venu 4, D2 Air X15, Forerunner 570 and 970, plus the Fenix 8, Fenix 8 Pro, tactix 8, quatix 8 and D2 Mach 2 families. That makes this a fairly broad expansion of the hands-free controls Garmin has been gradually building into watches with the necessary microphone hardware.

Fall Detection is also arriving on the Venu 4. This is the first time we are seeing proper fall detection on a Garmin watch.

The company describes this as an all-day feature that can detect a fall and send your live location to predefined assistance contacts, although the watch needs to be paired with a smartphone. Users can leave monitoring enabled throughout the day or restrict it to selected activities.

Quick Workout is getting a much wider rollout. Instead of digging through plans or building a workout yourself, you choose the amount of time you have and the intensity you want, and the watch suggests a running workout based on your fitness level.

Garmin is also adding new Run Coach plans aimed at people who want lower training volume or a run-walk approach. These still adapt from day to day using recovery and health data, so they aren’t simply static beginner plans.

There are a few more specialised additions. Indoor XC Ski becomes a proper activity profile with support for compatible indoor ski trainers, while Fenix 8 and related outdoor watches gain Dive Setup Sharing, allowing dive settings to move between compatible dive computers using Garmin Share.

Edge MTB, 550, 850 and 1050 computers get improvements to the Enduro Ride profile. Climbs and descents can now be detected automatically rather than requiring the rider to hit the lap button each time, with ascent and descent tracked for individual runs as well as the overall ride.

There is also Live Activity for Outdoor Workouts, which Garmin marks as new across a surprisingly large selection of watches, including the Instinct E, Instinct 3 and Crossover AMOLED. There is a catch here, as Garmin’s table specifies that this requires a Garmin Connect+ subscription, extending the Live Activity feature that originally arrived with Connect+ beyond its earlier indoor focus.

But where are the Fenix 9 features?

This is the odd bit. Just a few days ago, we learned that a long list of Fenix 9 features is coming to existing Garmin watches. But they are nowhere to be seen.

That list included Garmin Epic, Stamina Zones, Endurance Time, stamina trends, improved rowing metrics, expanded rucking support, Rolling Grade Adjusted Pace and Field Tools. None of those appear anywhere in Garmin’s new Q3 feature table.

We wouldn’t read that as Garmin quietly dropping those plans. The Q3 document specifically describes the features listed as highlights from “this update”, so it looks more like a separate software wave rather than Garmin’s complete roadmap for the next few months.

Interestingly, even the Fenix 9 range is not mentioned in the table of devices getting the new updates. Although, surely it will.

There could also be a fairly simple explanation for the separation. This is speculation, but Garmin may have prepared the Q3 feature document before the Fenix 9 officially launched. Putting features such as Garmin Epic and the new Stamina tools into a public quarterly update beforehand would have revealed part of the Fenix 9 software package early.

Either way, owners of recent Garmin watches now appear to have two batches of software to watch for. This Q3 update is already moving out, while the larger Fenix 9 backport looks like a separate round that should follow, and that second one may ultimately be the more interesting of the two.