Garmin: New update released for popular smartwatches

Garmin has returned with a new update for the Instinct E and Instinct 3. Also available on the Instinct Crossover AMOLED (curr. $649 on Amazon), the new update is the second of Garmin's v16.xx beta development cycle. Unfortunately, the company is leaving fans in the dark about what changes its new update introduces, though.

To recap, System Software 15.19 debuted on September 24 for Instinct 3 series smartwatches running stable software. Meanwhile, Beta Version 16.04 kicked off v16.xx development about a week before. As we discussed at the time, Beta Version 16.04 added a new Recovery Mode, improved Wave Detection, and bundled two fixes for bugs found in older firmware.

This time, Garmin has moved beta development on to Beta Version 16.05. At this stage, it has not revealed what changes the new beta contains. Instead, it has repeated its Beta Version 16.04 changelog, which also brought Sensor Hub firmware up to v41.

Garmin is offering Beta Version 16.05 on a 'Check for Updates' basis only. Hence, one must request the update manually by navigating through the main menu to Settings, System and Software Update before tapping 'Check for Updates'. Incidentally, at least one Instinct 3 community member has asked Garmin for more details about Beta Version 16.05. Please see the company's forum post for more details.