Garmin Vivoactive 3 Watch Face Options

Several of Garmin’s latest watches offer support for apps, music and other smart features. They can also be personalized by downloading and installing custom watch faces, which completely change the way the main display looks.

Some of the Garmin smartwatches that support custom watch faces include Fenix 6, Forerunner 235, Vivoactive 3, Forerunner 45, Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 945. If you’d like to check whether or not your device is supported you can visit Garmin’s ConnectIQ storefront.

Explore and download apps to personalize your Garmin with Connect IQ, our open platform for third-party developer apps. If you spend a lot of time outdoors exploring, this is the kind of free face to have loaded up onto your Garmin. Compatible watches: Fenix 5/6 series, Fenix Chronos, Marq, Vivoactive 3/4, Venu.

Like much of Garmin’s downloadable content, the watch faces are created by third-party developers. You can browse, download and rate them via ConnectIQ. More are added to the store regularly, so it’s always good to check back and see what’s new.

  1. Just like other Garmin product, the wearable is compatible with Connect IQ Store, download useful apps, widgets and watch faces for your smartwatch. These are just some of the features of the Garmin VivoActive 3, the smartwatch is a fully featured wearable that is perfect for sport enthusiast.
  2. The compatible devices for the Movement watch face are Fenix 5 series, Fenix Chronos, Vivoactive 3, Forerunner 245/645 Music/745/935/945, Approach S60, Marq, Fenix 3, D2 Bravo, etc. Ranger: The second one is the Ranger Garmin watch face. This is an effortless analog watch face.
  3. Explore and download apps to personalize your Garmin with Connect IQ, our open platform for third-party developer apps.

You can also download apps, widgets, and other updates via ConnectIQ depending on the device you own. Almost any of Garmin’s wearables can be enhanced by adding new device apps or custom data fields, which allows the watch to track more than it does natively. A Garmin Approach golf-themed watch, for example, can be used to track hiking specific stats, or display a star-chart, merely by installing new content.

That being said, one of the best ways to spruce up your watch is to install custom watch faces. You can find new faces that display way more than just the time, like sports stats, calendar details and even custom graphics — there’s a Super Mario themed watch face!

To help you get started, here are some of the best Garmin watch faces you can download right now:

25. Duck Hunt

Remember the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt? That’s precisely what this watch face is, an animated rendition. When you look at your watch the animation plays, showing an endearing Muttley giggling as ducks fly overhead.

There are no stats displayed, just the time and date so this watch face is best when you don’t care to see your data or metrics.

Compatible Devices: D2 Bravo/ Titanium / Charlie / Delta / Delta PX / Delta S, Descent MK1, Epix, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, Garmin Swim 2, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Music, Vivoactive HR

24. CarbonAnalog

If you want a simple analog watch with a carbon-fiber style design then CarbonAnalog is a good choice. Right now, not many devices are supported. Hopefully, the developer will add more soon.

Garmin vivoactive change watch face

Compatible Devices: D2 Bravo, D2 Bravo Titanium, Fenix 3, Fenix Quatix 3, Fenix Tactix Bravo, Fenix 3 HR, Fenix Chronos

23. Energy Face

If you want a clean e-ink style watch face that doesn’t use a lot of battery, check out Energy Face. It also displays a huge selection of personal stats and info, like Bluetooth status, alarm, and moon phases. It also has several configurable fields.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / Forerunner 230 / 235 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 935, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Music

Energy Face at ConnectIQ

22. Simply Late!

This watch face offers a rather unique take on the modern watch. All that’s displayed is the current hour with a progress indicator to tell you what part of the hour you’re in. Data is also displayed nicely at the top. It’s meant for anyone who likes to see the current hour at a glance, but nothing more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Descent MK1, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, Garmin Swim 2, All MARQ, Rey, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR

21. Divinity

Like skulls? Want one on your watch face alongside the date and time? Then check out Divinity, an official watch face from Garmin.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivolife

20. GearMin

The GearMin watch face is an absolute beast, displaying just about every stat and personal detail your watch can track. It’s for data lovers and always active people, specifically those that want quick access to all important stats. You get elevation, current location, date and time, total steps, goal progress, Bluetooth status, notifications, heart-rate, alarms, an activity graph and much more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, Epix, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

19. Classic Collection

The best thing about this watch face is it’s a bundle that includes several classic designs inspired by real watches. All of the faces feature analog clock designs, of which there are seven. There are a variety of configurable colors, backgrounds, clock hands and more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Descent MK1, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S

18. DividedTime

Want a plain style watch that displays the current time and date, with plenty of configurable options? Look no further than DividedTime. It offers a wide range of color options for the foreground and background. You can also remove everything extra for an incredibly clean style.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Descent MK1, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 735XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, Garmin Swim 2, All MARQ, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

17. Infinity

Infinity mimics traditional analog watches by display hour, minute and second hands. In the background is an infinite array of cubes, which is where the name comes from. At the north side of the face is the battery level and the south side has total steps. It looks great, works great and is definitely one to grab.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Venu, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

16. RunningPro

This watch face has another analog-style design, except it displays running and activity stats in the background. You can see battery levels, current weight, altitude, calories burned, total steps, data, moon phase and more.

Compatible Devices: All D2, Forerunner 645 / 645 Music / 935, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5

15. Clock32

This watch face has a stylish, digital design with the time and date in the center and a progress bar around the edges. It supports multiple color configurations and displays a ton of extra details. You can see heart-rate, total steps, notifications, alarms, Bluetooth status, battery level and much more.

Compatible Devices: All D2, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive HR

14. Time Flies

This watch face has a slick, analog and digital clock design with “rich customization options” and support for several detailed stats like data, Bluetooth status, and battery level.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

13. DigiSport

This watch face closely resembles the Nike face available on the Nike+ edition of the Apple Watch. The time is displayed on the right, and three circular icons sit on the left. The icons can be customized, allowing you to choose what’s displayed. Most of the options are unlocked by buying the premium version for $1.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, Epix, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

12. Lachesis (Light)

This animated watch face displays illuminated neon colors around the edges and places the time right in the center. There are four color schemes: coral pink, sunset orange, ocean green and sand grey. Extra info displayed includes calories burned, battery level, data and total steps.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Venu, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

11. SkyTracker

If you want to see weather data, SkyTracker is the right watch face. It will show the temperature and weather conditions for your current location. It also displays battery level, heart-rate, mobile notifications, time and data. Additional options are available to unlock, too, like new colors and more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, All MARQ, Rey, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

10. ActiFace

If you want as much information on your small watch display as possible, then ActiFace is the right choice. It shows time and date, daily goal progress, total steps, mobile notifications and heart-rate. It also displays a useful activity history graph that shows the distance you’ve traveled and the total calories you’ve burned along the way.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, Epix, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920 XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, Garmin Swim 2, All MARQ, Rey, Venu, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

9. Gigantus

This watch face puts the time front and center in large, bold print. Various stats are displayed around the time, including heart-rate, Bluetooth status, alarms, activity details and more. You can also change the display colors by choosing from several presets.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 935, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music

Gigantus at ConnectIQ

8. Sport Master

Another official Garmin watch face, Sport Master is for all the active folks out there who want to track their progress in real-time. Time is displayed in both digital and analog formats. Additional details include calories burned, total steps, distance traveled, date, battery level and more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, First Avenger, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Venu, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivolife

7. NoFrills

If you want something that has no frills, this watch face is the one to grab. The time sits front and center in a beautiful, bold font. As you progress towards your daily goal the numbers fill up with water. Additional stats are displayed around the edges including heart-rate, date, alarms, Bluetooth status, notifications and battery level.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, Epix, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920 XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Rey, Venu, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

6. Ha Long Bay

Another animated watch face, Ha Long Bay adds a beautiful boating scene. Stats include total steps, battery levels, Bluetooth on, and time and date. It’s minimal, but it looks great and leaves plenty of open space to see the animation.

Garmin vivoactive 3 change face

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, Epix, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

5. JBlack

If you want a clean watch face that’s packed to the brim with info, JBlack is your best bet. It shows alarms, battery levels, BT status, the current moon phase, total steps, and, of course, the time and date. Plus, if you make a small donation to the developer who created it, you can unlock a few other features too like heart-rate or sunrise and set times (to clarify, the watch already shows this info via settings but a donation adds support to the home screen).

Compatible Devices: D2 Delta / Delta PX / Delta S, Descent MK1, Forerunner 645 / 645 Music, 935 / 945, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, All MARQ

4. Crystal

Want as much information on-screen as possible, yet in an attractive way? Crystal is your type of watch face. It was named the winner of “Best New Watch Face” at Garmin’s 2019 Connect IQ Developer awards. It shows a variety of stats and info, and there are three configurable data fields including heart-rate, battery level, and mobile notifications.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Darth Vader, Descent MK1, First Avenger, ForeAthlete 735XTJ, Forerunner 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 45 / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT/ 935, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, Garmin Swim 2, All MARQ, Venu, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR, Vivolife

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Watch Face Options

3. Movement

Made by Garmin, Movement is an excellent watch face in style and function. There’s a rainbow style UI, with various metrics placed around the face. You can see elevation, battery levels, a music equalizer, along with time and date. You can also change the colors to personalize the face if you like.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, Forerunner 245 / 245 Music / 645 / 645 Music / 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivolife

2. Line

Line takes a unique approach to display metrics and time info on screen all at once. As the name suggests, a line separates the time and date from personal stats. There are multiple configurations so you can swap the layout to be side-by-side or top-bottom. You can change the display colors. The information shown includes calories burned, battery life, weather, heart-rate, mobile notifications, alarms and more.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, Captain Marvel, All D2, Descent MK1, Epix, ForeAthlete 230J / 235J / 630J / 735XTJ / 920XTJ, Forerunner 230 / 235 / 245 / 245 Music / 630 / 645 / 645 Music / 735XT / 920XT/ 935 / 945, All Fenix 3, All Fenix 5, All Fenix 6, Fenix Chronos, All MARQ, Vivoactive, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivoactive 4 / 4S, Vivoactive HR

1. My Watch

My Watch takes the number one spot because of how functional it is. It doesn’t look bad either, especially with how the minor details are displayed. The time takes front and center, and you get a wide variety of stats and info including heart-rate, activity time, altitude, temperature, moon phases, and much more. There are also two styles, light and dark, and none of the features are locked behind a paywall or donation requirement.

Compatible Devices: Approach S60, All D2, Descent MK1, Forerunner 645 / 645 Music / 935, All Fenix 5, Vivoactive 3 / 3 Mercedes-Benz Collection / 3 Music, Vivolife


Worth: [price_with_discount]
(as of [price_update_date] – Main points)


[ad_1]Music in for your frame, and tone up with the 40 mm vívoactive 4S GPS smartwatch. It has the broadest to be had vary of all-day well being tracking options, song garage and on-screen, Animated workout routines That can assist you succeed in your objectives. Spice up each process via downloading your favourite Spotify® or Deezer (might require a top class subscription With a third-party song supplier) playlists instantly for your watch.

Simply obtain songs for your watch, together with playlists from Spotify, Amazon song or Deezer (might require a top class subscription With a third-party song supplier), and hook up with headphones (bought one by one) for phone-free listening
Report all of the techniques to transport with greater than 20 preloaded GPS and indoor sports activities apps, together with yoga, working, swimming and extra. Show solution:218 x 218 pixels
Get easy-to-follow, animated workout routines proper to your watch display screen, together with energy, aerobic, yoga and Pilates
Battery existence: As much as 7 days in smartwatch mode; As much as five hours in GPS and song mode
Personalize your watch with hundreds of unfastened watch faces, apps and widgets from our Attach IQ retailer
Garmin Pay contactless fee answer (now not all international locations and fee Networks are eligible) allows you to pay for purchases together with your watch
[ad_2]

Garmin vivoactive 4S, Smaller-Sized GPS Smartwatch, Features Music, Body Energy Monitoring, Animated Workouts, Pulse Ox Sensors and More, Black, BROAGE Data Cable 4.7 out of 5 stars 15 $269.00.

Garmin created the best alternative to the Apple Watch when it came out with the Vivoactive 3 Music. For 2019, Garmin has updated that device with the Vivoactive 4 series, which includes the 45mm Vivoactive 4 and the 40mm Vivoactive 4s. Minor hardware changes accompany equally minor smartwatch software changes in this device, but that's because new fitness features steal the show.

Garmin added a ton of fitness improvements to this watch, including optional all-day pulse ox measurements, hydration tracking, new breathing exercises (that don't suck), new custom workouts, on-screen animations, and more. Unsurprisingly, all those improvements add up to the Vivoactive 4's $349 starting price, which is at least $100 more than what the Vivoactive 3 Music goes for nowadays.

  • Deezer Premium or Deezer Family subscription. Garmin Connect; Bluetooth Headphones; Garmin watch needs to be set up to connect to WiFi.At this time, only the main account holder of a Deezer Family account can be linked to Garmin. Note: Although Deezer HiFi can be used with Garmin, it is not possible to listen to FLAC quality music.
  • Garmin vivoactive 4S, Smaller-Sized GPS Smartwatch, Features Music, Body Energy Monitoring, Animated Workouts, Pulse Ox Sensors and More, Silver with Gray Band 4.6 out of 5 stars 6,409 $269.99.

Those features add a lot of value and push the Vivoactive 4 ahead of even the Apple Watch in terms of fitness, but I still have a soft spot for the Vivoactive 3 series—and plenty of happy users may skip this upgrade.

New hardware

I tested the 40mm Vivoactive 4s and immediately noticed the newly added sleek-and-shiny touches on the watch's case. The circumference now has a thin casing of metal, and the two side buttons are metal as well. The Vivoactive 4s includes an additional side button for lap, back, and menu access. While it took a few tries to get used to the new input method, I was able to navigate the watch using that side button, the other side button, and the color touchscreen fairly easily.

The display itself is a backlit, transflective memory-in-pixel panel, which, in comparison to LCD panels, uses technology that allows it to consume less power. That's one of the hardware factors that lets the Vivoactive 4s get up to seven days of battery life (by Garmin's estimation). It has essentially the same quality as previous Vivoactive displays, so the watch face is always visible, and you won't have trouble reading it while running outside in the sun.

While familiar, this display is in stark contrast to the AMOLED panel on the new Garmin Venu smartwatch, which was announced at the same time as the Vivoactive 4 series. That device, however, starts at $399 due not only to its AMOLED panel, but also for some additional features that aren't present on Vivoactive 4 devices (keep an eye out for Ars' review of the Venu in the coming weeks). Thanks to that big hardware difference, the Venu will more closely compare to the Apple Watch Series 5.

Advertisement
(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)

Garmin Vivoactive 4s Sale

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Clock Faces

The Vivoactive 4s is packed full of fitness-tracking sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, optical heart rate monitor, onboard GPS/Galileo/GLONASS, pulse ox, compass, and a thermometer. Both the heart rate monitor and the GPS have been updated with new sensors, so they should be even more accurate and more efficient than those in previous Garmin wearables. There's also storage space on the Vivoactive 4s for music, and all Vivoactive 4 smartwatches have onboard music storage as a standard feature. That means you won't pay extra for it like you had to when Garmin first introduced the Vivoactive 3 Music after the Vivoactive 3 had been available for a little while.

Garmin Vivoactive 4s Deezer Reviews

Garmin has improved its devices significantly over the past year or two when it comes to music storage. I had a 'better late than never' attitude when Garmin finally added music storage to some of its wearables, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the desktop interface for transferring tracks wasn't as horrid as those of other smartwatch makers. Zeplin pricing. Since then, Garmin has added support for downloading tracks and playlists from Deezer, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Amazon Prime Music, so paying subscribers can download music to listen to while running (and using a pair of connected Bluetooth headphones) without their smartphones present.

Overall, I'd argue Garmin has a better system for downloading and playing music from a smartwatch than Apple has and, therefore, the rest of the competition as well. While Apple makes it incredibly easy to pick tracks to sync and play music on its watches, you're limited to the music and other audio you have in your iTunes account and Apple Music (if you subscribe to the latter). LTE-equipped Apple Watches also make it easy to stream Apple Music playlists while working out. But users aren't locked into one ecosystem with Garmin, and I'll always prefer that flexibility over the alternative. Unfortunately, though, that means we will likely wait a long time for Apple Music integration to arrive on Garmin smartwatches—if it ever happens at all.

New software

All-day pulse ox

How To Add Watch Face To Garmin Vivoactive 3

There are a lot of new fitness features on the Vivoactive 4s, but let's start by talking about one that directly affects battery life: optional all-day pulse ox. The pulse ox sensor inside the Vivoactive 4s allows it to measure the level of oxygen in your blood based off of the heart rate and breathing data it collects. Most healthy people will see a pulse ox percentage close to 100 in the Garmin Connect app after the pulse ox sensors gather enough data, but percentages dramatically lower than that could signal health problems. Like most consumer wearables on the market today, the Vivoactive 4s isn't a medical device, but it can capture useful information that users can share with their doctors who can then decide if there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

Advertisement

Previous versions of Garmin devices like the Vivosmart 4 could measure pulse ox on the fly or during sleep to capture more data over the course of the night. Now, if you enable continued, all-day pulse ox measurements, the Vivoactive 4 will periodically take readings throughout the day.

But this constant monitoring will dramatically reduce battery life, and unless you have a known problem with your blood oxygen levels that you want to monitor in a new way, I wouldn't recommend it. For the first few days of testing the Vivoactive 4s, I enabled pulse ox during sleep, and I got roughly four days and four nights of battery life out of the smartwatch. That's a little more than half of Garmin's estimated battery life for the device in smartwatch mode (up to seven days). It's still a good battery life for a wearable by normal standards, but you will have to charge the Vivoactive 4s about twice a week if you choose to enable pulse ox while sleeping.

Garmin Vivoactive 4s Review

I still believe pulse ox information isn't necessary for most users, but it's encouraging to see Garmin include a pulse ox sensor in nearly all of its new wearables and actually use it. Fitbit has been touting the pulse ox sensor found in almost all of its wearables introduced since the Ionic, but the sensor isn't active in any Fitbit devices—and there's no telling when Fitbit will put it to use.