Is AI flooding Garmin’s Connect IQ store with too many watch faces?

Garmin has a growing problem with its Connect IQ Store. Developers are waiting up to two weeks to get new watch faces and apps approved, and Garmin has confirmed that an unusually large influx of submissions is behind the delays.

The situation has become frustrating enough that developers are openly questioning how Garmin manages its app store. Some are also pointing towards the growing number of mass-produced and potentially AI-generated watch faces, although Garmin hasn’t confirmed that AI is responsible for the sudden increase.

Garmin confirms the backlog

The complaints have been building throughout October. Developers who previously received approval within a day or two are now finding their submissions stuck in review for a week or longer.

In one Garmin developer forum discussion, several users describe waiting between seven and 13 days. The delays affect new watch faces, apps and updates to existing products.

Garmin has acknowledged the situation. On October 16, Brandon from the Connect IQ team explained that the company has experienced an enormous influx of app submissions over the past month, with no indication that the volume is slowing down.

According to Garmin, this isn’t a software bug. The review team is simply dealing with more submissions than usual, and the company hasn’t provided a timeframe for returning to normal approval times.

The delays are particularly troublesome for developers selling watch faces. Some report missing potential sales while their products remain unavailable, despite paying Garmin’s $100 annual merchant account fee. There are also complaints about merchant accounts unexpectedly returning to review status.

Are AI-generated watch faces making things worse?

Is this due to vibe coding and AI? Perhaps that has made the situation worse. But developers have been complaining about the sheer number of similar-looking watch faces in Connect IQ for some time, well before the current approval delays.

An earlier discussion on Garmin’s forums raised concerns about developers releasing large numbers of nearly identical products. Some differed little beyond their background images, making it harder for more original designs and useful applications to get noticed.

Those complaints have resurfaced during the current backlog. Developers are questioning whether mass-produced watch faces are overwhelming the approval process.

There is a plausible explanation here. AI tools and watch-face generators make it easier to produce numerous designs without building everything from scratch. Developers can create multiple variations relatively quickly, potentially submitting dozens of products in the time previously needed to develop just a few.

That doesn’t automatically make those watch faces poor quality. But it does create a problem if submission volumes grow much faster than Garmin’s ability to review them.

Importantly, Garmin hasn’t released figures showing how many submissions come from AI-assisted tools, or whether these are responsible for October’s increase. For now, the connection remains a theory raised by developers rather than an established explanation.

Some developers are suggesting submission limits, including restricting accounts to one new app per week. Others want Garmin to do more about repetitive watch faces and improve communication when reviews take longer than expected.