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Garmin watch app

For Garmin smartwatches with onboard music storage. Source and releases: trobar-garmin. Unlike the Android and Desktop clients, this one doesn't have its own screen — it plugs into the watch's native Music player (the same place the Spotify/Deezer tiles live), supplying pairing, sync, and content.

Status

Not yet on the Connect IQ Store — install for now means sideloading a signed build from Releases (tags vX.Y.Z). Only one device is supported today: fēnix 5 Plus (must be a Music-capable variant — Connect IQ's Audio Content Provider category, which this app uses, only runs on watches with onboard music storage).

Own a different Music-capable watch? Open a Request watch model support issue — see the trobar-garmin README's "Requesting another watch model" section for what's needed (a tester willing to sideload a build and confirm it works is what actually gets a model supported, not just added).

Install

  1. Download trobar-garmin.prg from the latest release.
  2. Connect the watch to your computer over USB — it mounts as a mass-storage device.
  3. Copy the .prg file into the GARMIN/APPS folder on the watch.
  4. Disconnect. The watch picks up new apps in that folder on its own.

This is Garmin's standard non-Store sideload path, not something specific to Trobar — see Garmin's own developer docs if a step doesn't match what you see (device firmware varies).

Linux: use gMTP

Plain CLI tools (gio copy, jmtpfs, mtp-sendfile) can fail with a libmtp "could not send object info" error on some setups. gMTP (a dedicated MTP client) is the reliable way to copy the .prg file over on Linux.

Pair

There's no keyboard on the watch. The app reads two settings, the server URL and a short pairing code, and the watch exchanges the code for its own device credentials the next time it syncs over its own Wi-Fi.

Garmin Connect Mobile can't set them for a sideloaded app. It shows an app's settings only when the app was installed from the Connect IQ Store, and Trobar isn't there yet. Until it is, the settings reach the watch as a settings file copied over USB.

Not yet confirmed on a watch

The settings-file route below follows how the Connect IQ simulator stores an app's settings. It hasn't been confirmed on a fēnix yet; this note goes once it has.

You need the Connect IQ SDK's simulator, running the same build you sideloaded.

  1. Get everything ready first. The pairing code is valid for 20 minutes and works once. It's used at the watch's next sync, not when you copy the file.
  2. Start the app in the simulator on fenix5plus.
  3. In the trobar-server web UI, create the device: Devices → Add mobile device (QR / code) (see Clients overview → device tokens). Note the server URL and the code; the QR code isn't used here.
  4. In the simulator, open File → Edit Persistent Storage → Edit Application.Properties data, set serverUrl and enrollCode, and send them to the simulator.
  5. Find the .SET file the simulator wrote: it's named after the app's .PRG, in a GARMIN/APPS/SETTINGS folder under the simulator's temporary directory.
  6. Connect the watch over USB and copy that file into GARMIN/APPS/SETTINGS/, under the same base name as the Trobar .prg on the watch. Check whether the .prg is in GARMIN/APPS/ or GARMIN/APPS/MEDIA/; the simulator keeps an audio app in MEDIA/. Disconnect.
  7. Let the watch sync on its own Wi-Fi within those 20 minutes (see Wi-Fi requirements).

Open Trobar in the watch's Music app to see the outcome. "Paired: device name" means it worked. "Pairing failed: Invalid or expired code" means the settings arrived but the code had expired or was already used: repeat with a fresh code. "Pairing failed: Network error" means the watch couldn't reach the server during its sync: check the server URL and the watch's Wi-Fi. If it still says "Enter server + code in the Garmin Connect app", the watch either didn't pick up the settings file or can't use the server URL in it (it must start with http:// or https://): check the file's name and folder, and the URL.

Pairing again

A paired watch ignores a new code. To pair it again (to another server, or after its device was deleted in the web UI), open Trobar in the Music app, press Menu (hold Up), choose Forget pairing, then follow the steps above with a new code.

Once the app is on the Connect IQ Store, steps 2 and 4–6 become one: enter the server URL and code in the app's Settings in Garmin Connect Mobile.

Wi-Fi requirements

Both pairing and sync happen over the watch's own Wi-Fi (not the phone's), so if either one silently never triggers, check the access point before anything else:

  • 2.4 GHz only, channels 1–11. Every Music-capable fēnix (5 Plus through 8) has 2.4 GHz-only Wi-Fi — 5 GHz networks aren't visible to the watch at all. Channel 12/13 (common in Europe) isn't supported either.
  • WPA2-PSK only. WPA3-only or mixed WPA2/WPA3 mode often fails; 802.1x enterprise isn't supported. Force WPA2-PSK on the network the watch uses.
  • No band-steering. If your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands share one SSID, split them — the watch chokes on this regularly.
  • No hidden SSIDs, and a password of at least 8 characters.

Transcode format

The watch has no FLAC or other lossless decoding, so a watch-type device that doesn't specify a format is automatically created on the lowest MP3 tier rather than left on "original" — there's nothing to set before your first sync. You can still raise the tier yourself in the web UI (device → Edit) if you want better quality at the cost of more transcoding. See Devices & Storage.

The watch's sync screen can get stuck at 0%

On real-device tests, the watch's own "Syncing…" screen has stayed at 0% and never dismissed itself, even when the sync actually completed successfully. Whether that is the watch's firmware or something Trobar can fix is still being worked out.

If this happens: cancel the stuck screen (Back) and check the device's entry in the trobar-server web UI (or wait a few seconds and check again) — the sync has almost certainly already finished correctly. Don't assume it failed just because the screen didn't close on its own.

When it syncs

The watch syncs on its own, over its own Wi-Fi, when its system asks Trobar whether a sync is needed. Trobar says yes once 6 hours (by default) have passed since its last successful sync, to spare the battery, and at the next chance after a sync that failed. The Minimum time between syncs setting in the app's settings in Garmin Connect changes that ("None: every chance", 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 hours).

From the next release of Trobar for Garmin, to sync now: open Trobar in the Music app and press Select on its status screen ("Select to sync now"). That sync always runs. The watch's own Sync entry in the Music menu obeys the minimum time, like an automatic sync: if the last sync was recent, it ends at once and does nothing.

What syncs

Any combination of selections can be assigned, the same as other devices — see the same selections matrix used elsewhere. The watch plays them as a single queue, not separate browsable playlists: assigned playlists come first, in their own order, then any remaining tracks (album/artist/track selections) sorted by path.

Playback

Once synced, the music shows up as a source inside the watch's own Music app — Trobar doesn't add a second player UI on top, it plugs into the same screens Spotify/Deezer use:

  1. Open the Music app and select Trobar from the source list. You'll see a status screen ("Paired: device name", or an error if something's wrong). If you've already synced something, you'll also see a "Press Select to play" hint. If it's missing, there's nothing on the watch yet — assign something in the web UI and let it sync first.
  2. Press Select (the upper-right button) to start playback. This hands off to the watch's native player — from here it's the same controls as any other music source: Select play/pauses, the Down button skips to the next track, and holding the Up button opens more controls (including switching to a different music source). Back from any of these screens returns you to Trobar's own status screen.
  3. Connecting Bluetooth headphones while a source is active can also auto-resume playback on its own, without going through the source list at all.

Replacing this watch

The watch can't hold enough storage to recover a server database loss on its own, but a broken or replaced watch is still recoverable server-side — see Device loss, replacement & migration for both that limitation and the transfer that does cover a watch swap.