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We have an update on the US support center: it’s now showing the same message as the UK support center, and a very similar one to the statement provided by Garmin to TechRadar when I emailed them for comment.
As it’s a bit buried now, we’ll reprint it here: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.”
So far, the official workflow is to try the reset, and if it works, don’t start any more GPS workouts until a fix is in the pipeline.
For some of you, we imagine this is a minor inconvenience, such as not being able to get any Strava kudos on your 5km run or being unable to grab a limited-edited badge.
However, for others, it’s a serious crimp in their training plans. Our fitness editor relied on my Garmin’s map functionality when training for a marathon: during long runs around the city, he would stray into unfamiliar boroughs and rely on the turn-by-turn course navigation to see me through.
A bricked watch could mean no long run on that day, which is annoying but recoverable. However, a bricked cycling computer may mean that a user can’t find their way home or has to go much slower and use a phone with Google or Apple Maps, stopping to check it regularly.
If you’re interested in doing some training planning while you wait for things to come back online, check out how to create a course on Garmin Connect and see how accurate the Garmin Epix Pro was compared to an Apple Watch Ultra 2 during the London Marathon.
I’m finally stepping away from the live blog, removing my email address from the pinned post as I won’t be able to get to any more of you. Apologies, there’s only one of me, and I was overwhelmed by the volume of readers who messaged.
I’ll leave you in the hands of our excellent US Managing Editor for News, Jacob Krol, who will be able to update you if and when a fix is announced. Thanks again to all of you who emailed in!
Reader report: Not the Forerunner 55 too!
Even the entry-level, older Garmin Forerunner 55 is being reported as down by our reader Hayley. Is no-one safe?
While I love a Garmin watch for their long battery life and usability, it’s safe to say that none of the rest of the watches on our best running watches list are experiencing this problem. Even though this is pretty unprecedented and unlikely to happen on this scale again (I’ve certainly never seen it before) there are angry commenters out there threatening to move to Coros, Sunnto, Samsung and other competitors.
First Garmin Instinct 3 reported down
Not even Garmin’s latest watch is infallible. I’m receiving too many emails to respond to one-by-one now, so apologies if I don’t get back to all of you who are keeping me up to date with how your watches are doing. However, a really interesting email I got was from Dustin, who (like me) is wearing a 45mm AMOLED Garmin Instinct 3.
Dustin says: “it keeps crashing even after resetting it. It keeps showing the loading triangle and still nothing is fixing it, even after doing all the reset options I’ve seen online. And I just got my watch 2 days ago.”
This is our first report of the brand new Instinct 3, only released this month, going down with the bug. My first impressions of the Instinct 3 were stellar, and you can read all about it in my hands-on Garmin Instinct 3 early review. So if you’ve just bought your watch and it’s malfunctioning, don’t despair and return it just yet.
I am reading a few emails from people who were on the verge of returning all sorts of recently-bought Garmin watches before they came across the blog, so I’m glad to be of service!
Sorry, team: here’s what you’re missing out on while you’re waiting for a fix. Garmin has introduced a Lunar New Year’s Eve 2025 badge, achievable by recording an activity today, and today only.
If you’re one of those Garmin users who compulsively collects badges like you’re trying to qualify for the Pokemon League, you might be out of luck with this one. If you do have a working watch, you can probably still grab it, but maybe try a non-GPS-powered workout like yoga to do so.
Should you factory reset your Garmin watch?
I’m getting a few more emails from users who seem to be getting their watches going again with a factory reset. This isn’t advised by Garmin, and we haven’t tested it on a bricked watch.
Graeme emailed in to report: “A full data and system reset followed by the restoration of this morning’s backup resolved the issue.” I covered how to back up your watch manually earlier in the day, but you can simply connect your watch to a Windows or Mac PC using the proprietary Garmin USB charging cable, then follow Garmin’s instructions to back up all your files and records.
However, another reader, Hope, says: “I have tried turning off and turning it back on, as well as a full reset procedure, and I have plugged it in to my computer – which didn’t register it at all – and have not been able to restore any functionality.”
So, your mileage may vary. For what it’s worth, I’d probably recommend sitting tight and waiting for Garmin to roll out its official fix.
Just joined us? Here’s what’s happening:
- Garmin devices around the world are crashing, stuck on boot-up screens.
- Affected watch series’ include the Fenix, Epix, Forerunner, Vivoactive, Venu and Lily watches. So far, no Instinct watches have been reported as bricked.
- Garmin has not yet released a permanent fix for the problem, although it is reportedly ‘priority number one’.
- Some users are reporting a crash happens when they try to start a GPS workout.
- Garmin has contacted us, and advises its users to ‘hold the Power button until the unit powers off’, then turn it back on, which ‘may restore functionality temporarily’.
- Other users have found success doing full factory resets, although we advise backing your watch up before you try it.
Update: Garmin responds!
A representative for Garmin has replied to my request for comment with a statement. However, it’s the same as the statement on the Support banner I mentioned earlier today.
The statement reads: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.”
Reader Chris in the UK reports getting a different message from Support, after reporting his ‘dead as a doorknob’ Epix watch: “Hold tight, it’s priority number one.”
Which Garmin watches are crashing?
Below is a list of every model that I’ve seen reported, mentioned in a comment or email to be affected so far. Note that not every watch has been affected, despite being one of the affected models: there seems to be no rhyme or reason for this. Above, you can see our reader Ziven’s crashed Epix Pro (Gen 2).
I texted a couple of Garmin-user friends of mine, both on Fenix 6, and their watches are working fine. I haven’t seen reports of any Garmin Instinct users affected either – my Instinct 3 is working even if I start a GPS activity, as is Homes Editor Catherine Ellis’ Garmin Fenix 7S. It’s still not a universal issue, although it seems to be getting more common as the other half of the world wakes up and tries to work out. Stay tuned!
I only stepped out for a few minutes to grab some lunch, and I’m inundated with emails again! Clearly this is a big issue, as I’ve received word from everywhere from Austria and India to France, the UK and US.
Some users are reporting doing multiple hard resets on their watch (as Garmin suggests) and that working, while others mention doing factory resets and manually loading backups.
You can back up Garmin systems beyond keeping the data on Garmin Connect by connecting your watch to a Windows or Mac PC. For this, you’ll need your computer, your Garmin device, and the proprietary Garmin USB cable used to charge your device.
Plug your device into the computer, then follow Garmin’s instructions to back up all your files and records.
Maybe don’t start recording any GPS activities until this is all over…
Thank you so much for all of your emails. I’m receiving my first reports of the Garmin Forerunner 165 and one of the Garmin Venu 2 also crashing.
A common problem I’m getting in my emails is that the crash is occuring when users try and start a GPS activity. One user, Anne, said all was fine until she pressed start for her run, then the blue flashing triangle appeared. She said: “The screen keeps flickering like it’s trying to reboot but nothing, none of the buttons work”.
Another reader, Madalena, said: “The watch was functioning [normally] until I was ready to start an activity”.
The Garmin subreddit has pinned some advice to the top of the community page stating that “this is caused whenever a user attempts to start a GPS activity”. This doesn’t appear to be the case in every instance, and this isn’t the official word from Garmin, but all the same… why tempt fate, eh?
It’s worth noting the red banner in the previous post does not yet extend to Garmin Support in the US or Australia. The above, bannerless Garmin Support front page is what you’ll see.
So for those of you in those regions, don’t panic: even though Support hasn’t publicly acknowledged the problems in your region yet, Garmin is aware and presumably a worldwide fix is inbound.
Garmin acknowledges the issue
A red banner has now appeared on the UK support center website, reading the following:
“We are researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.”
Meanwhile, I’ve had a few more reports in my inbox: Alan in Australia is reporting his Forerunner 265 has gone down, and another user from Poland is lamenting their crashed Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2. Alas, poor Epix! It seems this is truly a worldwide issue.
I’ve seen a bit of chatter online about a couple of Garmin Fenix 8 models that have also been affected.
We loved the Garmin Fenix 8, calling it “rugged, expensive perfection” and awarding it five stars in our review. However, it did have a bit of a turbulent rollout, as users found that it crashed and went back to that blue triangle reboot screen when submerged in extremely cold water. Not ideal for a watch with a dive mode!
Of course, a software fix soon solved the issue, so we have faith Garmin will be able to roll out a software-based solution in this instance too.
Another reader, this time from Belgium, just emailed to share his experiences with the outage:
“Just sharing – my Garmin Forerunner 255 Music was faced with the infinity loop issue currently ongoing. No particular trigger, the one moment I received a Teams message, the other it was black-screen and rebooting. Happened at precisely 12 (midday).”
Our reader reports getting his watch up and running again by doing a factory reset, which effectively erased all his data, and to add insult to injury he’s unable to reconnect to Garmin Connect yet. Fingers crossed a better solution presents itself from Garmin shortly.
Running coach Angela MacAusland got in touch from the UK to share a photo of her and her client’s Forerunners – both of which have bricked as a result of the ongoing problem.
So far we’ve seen bricked Forerunners of all kinds (265, 965, 255 and 955), Venu 3, Fenix 7, Epix Pro Gen 2, but more devices are possibly affected. If you have a GPS watch from Garmin not on this list and it’s endlessly rebooting, please get in touch: we’d love to hear from you!
This isn’t the first time Garmin has suffered problems this month – on January 8, Garmin’s companion app, Garmin Connect, suffered a major worldwide outage. Functions like Garmin Pay, Garmin Coach, Garmin’s Connect IQ app store, third-party app syncs and more were left unusable for a few hours.
It’s worth noting that this time, Garmin is reporting its major Connect functions as online, and it’s the watches that are experiencing the issue. We’ll let you know if anything changes and Garmin Connect goes down in any capacity too.
I’m currently testing the Garmin Instinct 3, and that seems to be operating absolutely fine, as is my colleague Homes Editor Catherine Ellis’s Garmin Fenix 7S. I was initially alerted to the problem by a member of her running group, who owns a Forerunner 265.
The Reddit posts below illustrate a couple of examples of the problem that users are facing, including one user’s Fenix 7 Pro. As you can see, the watches are stuck on their respective ‘power on’ screens. For want of a better word, bricked.
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