Garmin releases major new Forerunner smartwatch updates with dozens of new features and bug fixes

Garmin has still not publicly commented on the release of new Forerunner smartwatches yet. Nonetheless, recent rumours suggest that the company is preparing to introduce the Forerunner 970 globally. Incidentally, Garmin itself may have indicated that a Fenix 8 spin-off is in the works along with LTE refreshes of existing models.

While the state of those smartwatches is up in the air, the company has quietly started rolling out a new stable update to existing Forerunner smartwatches that replaces last month's v22.xx builds. The culmination of almost two months of beta development, System Software 23.20 arrives with dozens of changes for the Forerunner 165, Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 965, as well as the older Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 955 (curr. $373 on Amazon).

By our count, System Software 23.20 brings 24 new features, bug fixes and refinements to the smartwatches listed above. However, we have attempted to highlight a few device-specific changes below, too. At the time of writing, Garmin estimates that it has pushed System Software 23.20 to roughly 20% of eligible smartwatches that are set to receive stable software updates. If your smartwatch has not received an update yet, you can attempt to manually trigger its download by heading through Menu, System, Software Update and then tapping 'Check for Updates'. Please see the changelog and Garmin's forum links below for more details.

All Forerunner smartwatches

• Support the detection of breathing variations during sleep.
• Support passcode security feature with wrist detection.
• Improve secure sensor pairing and updates.
• Update the bike camera controls widget to support Varia Vue.
• Allow Custom workouts to be used within the Walk activity profile.
• Allow access to both Bike and Run daily suggested workouts on the calendar glance when scheduled on the same day.
• Fix crash when using keyboard to reply to texts during activities.
• Fix TrainingPeaks swim workouts showing all steps as kick.
• Fix workouts with Treadmill profile showing 0% execution score.
• Fix Strength workouts sometimes showing incorrect number of reps.
• Fix the Wi-Fi enable prompt failing in battery saver mode.
• Fix syncing of audio notes in edited yoga workouts.
• Fix an issue that could cause graphical irregularities on some screens.
• Fix a pin lock highlight issue.
• Fix an anomaly on the altimeter chart page.
• Fix an issue that sometimes prevented Stress and Body Battery history from showing on device.
• Fix a distance issue that could occur in GPS Walk activities.
• Fix a highlight issue on the glance list.
• Fix activities showing as Other in the Body Battery glance's Factors page.
• Fix the lap summary screen not showing during suggested workouts.
• Fix a rounding issue on the Pool Swim interval timer.
• Fix an issue with skipping tracks using Apple Airpods Pro 2. (Music version only)
• Fix steps data sometimes not resetting at midnight.
• Various bug fixes and improvements.

Forerunner 165 specific changes

• Fix missing smart notification sound settings.
• Fix smart notifications turning on the display during Do Not Disturb.
• Fix a possible crash when starting Live Event Sharing.

Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 965 specific changes

• Improve rep counting for more exercises and movements.
• Fix Multisport activities showing distance values for sports with no distance, like Yoga.
• Fix bouldering showing an incorrect data screen configuration.
• Fix power meter audio prompts playing when sensor is disconnected.

Forerunner 965 specific change

• Fix issues with toggling map layers during activity.