Garmin pushes new silent mode feature to smartwatches in update

Garmin is rolling out a new stable update for the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 smartwatches. Software version 17.33 has arrived around two months after the previous version 16.37 release, which brought improvements for the course planner to users of these running wearables.

Software version 17.33 adds support for a new silent mode to the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 smartwatches. This can be activated via the control menu, and it could also be triggered with a button shortcut. The keyboard layout menu is now easier to access, with users able to find it by swiping up from the bottom of a page. Plus, the wearables now support the Garmin Approach CT1 golf club sensors (curr. $99.99 at Amazon).

There are two more new features exclusively for the Garmin Forerunner 970 smartwatch. The first is further descriptions of Outdoor Maps+ layers, which can be accessed via QR codes. The second is the option to navigate to the Last Man Overboard (MOB) location. On top of this, both the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 are said to get improvements linked to the watches timer, as well as a wide range of bug fixes. You can find the complete change log in screenshots below.

According to recent posts in the Garmin Forum, software version 17.33 is currently available for around 20% of users of the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 smartwatches. To manually download the update, go to the Menu > System > Software Update > Check For Updates.