Anika Begay
Garmin doesn’t have the best third-party app store, but at least it’s improving a bit starting today. You can now make purchases in the Connect IQ Store using Garmin Pay, plus a handful of new watch faces and a GoPro app.
Previously, downloading apps from the Garmin Connect IQ Store could be a real hassle, as there was no easy way to pay for apps that weren’t free. (Even free apps like Spotify could sometimes be a pain to download and install.)
The other problem with Connect IQ is that there just aren’t a ton of apps available compared to Google Play or Apple’s App Store. And while that’s still an issue, today’s announcement brings some bigger names to Connect IQ. That includes four Disney-themed watchfaces, including characters from Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. Porsche has added three watchfaces, while golf brand TaylorMade has added one. There are now also several space-themed watchfaces.
Perhaps more exciting for the average Garmin user is the new GoPro Camera Control app. With it, you can connect a GoPro camera to your watch and use it to stop and start recordings and take photos.
According to Garmin, the watchface and app will have a suggested retail price of $4.99. It’s not uncommon for apps or watchfaces to cost money, although $5 is a bit steep, especially when there are so many other free options, and Google, Samsung, and Apple offer a wider variety of watchfaces for free.
In the grand scheme of things, this might seem a bit disappointing compared to Garmin’s competitors. But aside from Google, Apple, and Samsung, there aren’t many third-party smartwatch makers with any kind of app store. Fitbit had one before it was bought by Google, but it was mostly a repository for third-party watchfaces and experimental features. More importantly, Apple and Samsung have released rugged smartwatches in recent years and continue to add more advanced fitness tracking features. It makes sense that Garmin would be looking to beef up its app store to better compete. In addition to today’s announcement, Garmin also recently announced that it has added YouTube Music to the Connect IQ Store, bolstering its music playback capabilities.
