Garmin: Users caught between open ecosystem and premium subscription model

Garmin smartwatches generally fall into a higher price bracket than alternatives from brands like Zepp Health. Any piece of hardware is only as good as its software. In this regard, Garmin benefits from an extensive ecosystem that has grown over the years, namely Garmin Connect. The5krunner has published a solid, in-depth analysis of how Garmin currently finds itself in a clear conflict of interest concerning its own platform, particularly the options available to third-party developers. For example, whilst Garmin offers a paid premium version of Garmin Connect with additional features, the platform is also a partially open ecosystem, allowing developers to build their own apps using the relevant APIs. These third-party apps can potentially make Garmin Connect more attractive from a user’s perspective.

However, the5krunner explains that developers have limited access to Garmin Connect. Specifically, they are granted read access to set-level strength training data but can’t push data to the platform – despite having requested this capability for several years. Using a developer as an example, the report shows how some have bypassed these restrictions. The iOS app Rack Strength doesn’t rely on the Garmin Connect API but rather a Bluetooth connection, which allows for direct two-way communication. It remains unclear whether Garmin will eventually block this workaround. That said, Garmin intends to open its ecosystem for bidirectional sync and has taken some steps in that direction.