- Garmin and Meta have revealed a WhatsApp integration for 'select' Garmin watches
- The app, available on the Garmin Connect IQ store, allows users to see up to 10 messages, incoming calls, reply with a built-in keyboard, and react to incoming messages
- Previously, users could see but not interact with messages via Garmin's notifications functionality
Garmin and Meta have launched a WhatsApp app for 'select' Garmin watches, available on the Garmin Connect IQ store. The app allows users to see a history of up to 10 messages per chat on a Garmin watch, react to incoming messages, and reply using a built-in keyboard.
Those keyboards are tiny, but presumably, we might also be able to use the voice assistant functionality on some of the best Garmin watches to respond via the keyboard too, just like a smartphone – but neither Garmin nor Meta has confirmed this is the case just yet.
The app also allows you to see incoming calls with the option to decline them.
Nikhil Joshi, Director of Product Management at Meta, said in a press release that "WhatsApp helps people stay connected no matter what platform they use. We’re proud to bring WhatsApp to Garmin smartwatches, so that more people can keep their private conversations going right from their wrist.”
This collaboration isn't particularly surprising: Garmin has slowly been moving away from its roots as a company that makes GPS-first specialist training tools and more towards lifestyle smartwatches, to compete with the likes of the best Apple Watch models.
People want brighter, less efficient AMOLED screens rather than duller MIP ones, watches which allow you to take calls like the Garmin Forerunner 970, and the ability to message people back from their wrists.
However, one potential sticking point is the lack of LTE on most Garmin watches, forcing you to remain tethered to your phone to use the app. While it's still convenient — you're able to reply to messages without reaching into your pocket or bag — Garmin watches don't act like a phone-in-miniature in the same way LTE-enabled models from Apple and Samsung do.
If you're looking to download the new integration, here's the list of compatible Garmin smartwatches, according to the Connect IQ store:
- Garmin D2 Air X15
- Garmin Enduro 3
- Garmin fēnix 8 Pro
- Garmin fēnix 8
- Garmin fēnix E
- Garmin Forerunner 570
- Garmin Forerunner 970
- Garmin tactix 8
- Garmin Venu 4
- Garmin Venu X1
- Garmin vívoactive 6
The list isn't terribly long: no Instinct series, older Forerunners, or any of the best golf watches, such as the Garmin Approach S70.
Garmin continues its recent mission to drive more people to its frankly underused Connect IQ store, with this new WhatsApp integration following on from last week's collaboration with the Pokémon Sleep app. Here's what happened when I tried one of the new Pokémon watch faces for a couple of days, and how it ended up fixing my sleep via emotional blackmail.
