Garmin introduces new updates for multiple smartwatches to fix CIQ watch face battery drain while adding Health Status and Pulse Ox features

Garmin is now rolling out a new beta update for the Instinct E, Instinct 3 and all versions of the Instinct Crossover, including the recent Instinct Crossover AMOLED (curr. $649 on Amazon). The second v12.xx update the company has issued so far, Beta Version 12.17 appears to contain various improvements over prior builds.

However, digging a little deeper reveals that will not necessarily be the case for all Instinct E, Instinct 3 or Instinct Crossover owners. If one is coming from Stable Versions 10.36 or v11.11, then Beta Version 12.17 will introduce dozens of new features, bug fixes and other ancillary improvements. Far fewer differences exist between Beta Versions 12.12 and v12.17, though.

For some reason, Garmin completely ignores the existence of Beta Version 12.12. As far as we can tell, Beta Version 12.17 adds three refinements over its predecessor. Even then, Garmin restricts two of these to the Instinct E and Instinct Solar. Please note that Garmin warns against inReach Remote users installing Beta Versions 12.12 and v12.17 because of connectivity issues present in both builds.

If that does not affect you, then you can manually trigger the download of Beta Version 12.17 by navigating through the Main Menu, System, Software Update and then tapping 'Check for Updates'. The full changelog between Beta Version 12.12 and Beta Version 12.17 is as follows:

All Insinct 3 and Instinct E:

• Added support for Health Status. Provides health data changes and overall wellbeing for display on the Garmin Connect app.

All Insinct E and Instinct Solar only:

• Added Pulse Ox watch face data field option.
• Fixed possible battery drain when using CIQ watch faces.