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Garmin releases new update for several smartwatches to fix random reboots

The Forerunner 970 with its Whitestone and Translucent Amp Yellow colour combination. (Image source: Garmin)
The Forerunner 970 with its Whitestone and Translucent Amp Yellow colour combination. (Image source: Garmin)
Garmin has offered up a new update for two of its most recent mid-range smartwatches. Replacing v12.60, Public Beta Version 12.64 for the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 contains numerous bug fixes, with two focused on addressing device reboots that occurred on earlier software builds.
Smartwatch Wearable Software

Garmin is pushing ahead with development that will underpin a major new software update for the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 (curr. $749 on Amazon) after a relatively slow start. To recap, while the two smartwatches are now a few months old, their first round of public beta software development kicked off less than a month ago.

Now, Public Beta Version 12.64 has arrived for both smartwatches with a slate of bug fixes compared with last week's Public Beta Version 12.60. According to Garmin, the new update should have reached all Beta Program participants. If that is not the case for you, then you can trigger Public Beta Version 12.64 manually by tapping 'Check for Updates' after navigating through Menu, System and Software Update on your Forerunner 570 or Forerunner 970.

Primarily, the new beta focuses on stability improvements like resolving rare cases where the Forerunner 570 or Forerunner 970 could reboot during sleep mode or when saving a swimming activity. Moreover, Garmin claims to have also addressed issues with editing settings in the activity focus mode and a separate bug that caused Evening Report to appear prematurely. The full changelog for Public Beta Version 12.64 is as follows:

Changes for Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970

  • Fixes an issue that could cause the device to reboot while in sleep mode.
  • Fixes an issue that could cause the device to reboot when saving a swimming activity.
  • Fixes various issues with editing settings while in the activity focus mode.
  • Fixes an issue where the evening report could be shown too early.
  • Fixes an issue where editing settings for the do not disturb mode could also impact those settings when do not disturb is not enabled.
  • Fixes an issue where editing a watch face for a custom focus mode also affected the currently enabled watch face.
  • Fixes other minor issues.
  • Updates translations.

Forerunner 970 specific

  • Fixes an issue with establishing a secure connection to a paired inReach device.

Source(s)

Garmin (1) (2)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 08 > Garmin releases new update for several smartwatches to fix random reboots
Alex Alderson, 2025-08-13 (Update: 2025-08-13)