What you need to know
- The Connect IQ app for Garmin watch faces and apps will now take Garmin Pay payments.
- Garmin recommends devs charge $4.99 for content.
- Disney (Star Wars, Marvel), TaylorMade, Porsche, NASA, and GoPro make up the first wave of ConnectIQ paid faces and apps.
- Previously, third-party devs could only make money through third-party services like PayPal.
Garmin wants to make its Connect IQ app more attractive to third-party developers by making it easier for users to pay for their content directly through the app and their Garmin Pay account.
Connect IQ had no payment method up until now, so developers employed third-party platforms, asking users to make voluntary donations after installing the watch face. Garmin watch owners, meanwhile, couldn't see in the app how much developers expected them to pay for their content.
Now, the Garmin Connect IQ app shows prices directly in the app, simplifying the process for both sides. Garmin will take a 15% cut of profits, lower than the typical 30% fee that app stores charge. They've also confirmed that they "will continue to allow developers to use third-party monetization systems" if they prefer.
"Enabling premium apps allows third-party developers to be rewarded for their hard work," says Dan Bartel, Garmin VP of Global Consumer Sales. "We are thrilled that some of the largest brands in the world have joined us to launch new watch faces and apps."
To showcase the "new" Connect IQ marketplace, Garmin added a few premium watch faces from partners like Disney. For instance, there is a Grogu watch face with changing poses throughout the day, as well as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Tony Stark watch faces. All of these cost $4.99, Garmin's "suggested retail price" for all watch faces.
Other new premium watch faces include NASA watch faces that showcase new space-themed photography every hour, a TaylorMade watch face with a matching "dimple pattern of a TP5 golf ball," and three Porsche watch faces based on its wordmark, crest, and 917 Salzburg livery design.
Most intriguingly, Garmin has added a GoPro Camera Control app that lets you start or stop recordings or take photos directly from your Garmin watch. That's the kind of smart function that Garmin watches traditionally haven't supported. It costs $5.99.
Connect IQ will still offer free watch faces, but developers who previously considered making them as a hobby and using PayPal donations to make money as too much of a hassle might now start charging users instead. This could lead to more creative watch faces, but it could also make downloading them a little costlier.
Garmin recently added YouTube Music to Garmin watches via Connect IQ, which already has a few well-known apps like Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, and Komoot — all of which require subscriptions to work. Beyond these, perhaps this Connect IQ facelift could attract more developers to sync their devices with Garmin watches, knowing they can profit directly.
