- Garmin and Meta have revealed a WhatsApp integration for ‘select’ Garmin watches
- The app, available in the Garmin Connect IQ store, allows users to view up to 10 messages, incoming calls, respond with an integrated keyboard, and react to incoming messages.
- Previously, users could view messages, but not interact with them, through Garmin’s notifications feature.
Garmin and Meta have launched a WhatsApp app for ‘select’ Garmin watches, available in the Garmin Connect IQ store. The app allows users to view a history of up to 10 messages per chat on a Garmin watch, react to incoming messages, and reply using an integrated keyboard.
The app also allows you to view incoming calls with the option to reject them.
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Nikhil Joshi, director of product management at Meta, said in a press release that “WhatsApp helps people stay connected no matter what platform they use. We are proud to bring WhatsApp to Garmin smartwatches, so more people can have their private conversations right from their wrist.”
This collaboration isn’t particularly surprising: Garmin has been slowly moving away from its roots as a company that makes specialized GPS training tools and more toward lifestyle smartwatches, to compete with the best Apple Watch models.
People want brighter, less efficient AMOLED displays instead of duller MIP displays, watches that let you take calls like the Garmin Forerunner 970, and the ability to message people from their wrists.
One potential sticking point, however, is the lack of LTE on most Garmin watches, forcing you to stay tethered to your phone to use the app. While still convenient (you can respond to messages without reaching into your pocket or bag), Garmin watches don’t act like a miniature phone in the same way that LTE-enabled models from Apple and Samsung do.
If you want to download the new integration, here is the list of compatible Garmin smartwatches, according to the Connect IQ store:
The list is not very long: neither the Instinct series, nor the older Forerunners nor any of the best golf watches, such as the Garmin Approach S70.
Garmin continues its recent mission to attract more people to its frankly underused Connect IQ store with this new WhatsApp integration following last week’s collaboration with the Pokémon Sleep app. This is what happened when I tried one of the new Pokémon watch faces for a couple of days and how it ended up fixing my sleep through emotional blackmail.
The best Garmin watches for all budgets
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