Garmin eyes new stable release for older Forerunner smartwatch with latest smashing update

Garmin has issued a new update for the Forerunner 255 after a three-week break. To recap, the smartwatch last received Beta Version 18.15 in late January, details of which we covered separately. Prior to that, the company kicked off 2024 by releasing Beta Version 18.12, the first build in 18.xx beta cycle.

This time, the Forerunner 255 finds itself receiving Beta Version 18.20. According to Garmin's forum post, it is pushing the new beta build to eligible smartwatches in batches. Thus, it could take a few days for Beta Version 18.20 to reach your unit, although the company claims to have reached 50% rollout at the time of publication.

As always, you can trigger the download of a new beta build by heading to Main menu, Settings, System, Software Update and then tapping Check For Updates. With that being said, Beta Version 18.20 is a Release Candidate. As such, the update should soon reach stable status and will be issued to all Forerunner 255 units, provided that Garmin does not observe any critical bugs during public beta testing. The changelog for Beta Version 18.20 is as follows:

• Addressed potential issues with optical heart rate performance in cold weather.
• Fixed crash when swiping left to dismiss certain smart home notifications.
• Fixed various UI and system bugs.

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