Garmin smartwatch gets numerous improvements with major new update release

Garmin has finally brought the Venu X1 onto a new round of beta development. For context, the company released Software Version 16.40 to its premium smartwatch earlier this month (curr. $699 on Amazon). A stable update, v16.40 was said to resolve bugs that were found after the introduction of v16.37 about a month earlier.

Now, Garmin is offering v17.19 to Venu X1 owners running beta software. Skipping v17.16 offered to the Venu 4 and Vivoactive 6, v17.19 is said to make a dozen changes from earlier firmware. However, it is unclear whether this is v16.40 or a prior v17.xx update that was never made available publicly.

In a forum post, Garmin claims to have resolved an issue that prevented Venu X1 owners from accepting an incoming call in some circumstances. Also, the new firmware should allow the back and down keys to function as expected during bouldering and indoor climbing activities. Moreover, Beta 17.19 should address an outstanding mapping issue where the popularity map layer would not show after disabling routing.

Garmin is not distributing Beta v17.19 automatically. Instead, one must request the update manually by navigating through the Main menu, Settings, System and Software on the Venu X1 itself before tapping 'Check for Updates'. The full list of changes that Garmin has officially announced for Beta 17.19 is as follows:

• Adds support for Approach CT1 club sensors.
• Allows LiveTrack to be enabled automatically on a per activity type basis.
• Improves responsiveness when starting the timer.
• Fixes various issues that could cause the device to reset.
• Prevents automatic track detection during trail run activities.
• Fixes send off time not vibrating during swim workouts.
• Fixes a possible issue where the back and down key would not work for indoor climb and bouldering activities.
• Fixes an issue that could result in not being able to accept an incoming call on the watch.
• Updates mute setting to only persist for the current phone call.
• Fixes popularity map layer not showing when routing is turned off.
• Fixes other minor bugs.
• GCM Translations - 3.80