Fresh update lands for popular Garmin smartwatch with no fixes for reported battery drain issues
The Vivoactive 5 is eligible for a new update, having received Firmware Version 9.24 at the end of last month. Surprisingly, the smartwatch's most recent stable build is not its final with 9.xx build numbers. Instead, Garmin has chosen to roll out Beta 9.26, which can be downloaded through Garmin Express or by navigating to the following sub-menu on the Vivoactive 5 if the smartwatch has been enrolled on the company's Beta Program:
Main menu > Settings > System > Software Update
According to Garmin's forum post, Beta 9.26 contains five changes, including the addition of a new jump rope activity. However, it appears that the company has included the same changelog found in older Vivoactive 5 updates. Nonetheless, Beta Program participants have observed at least one other change.
Specifically, the Vivoactive 5 should now be able to obtain sun and moon times when GPS is active. Unfortunately, it seems that Beta 9.26 does not resolve any outstanding bugs that have caused battery drain issues on some units. Please see Garmin's forum post and Community Discussion channel for more information.