Garmin was down — full timeline of two day outage
Garmin users are having issues. Again.
The outage begins
Another one bites the dust from r/Garmin
The Reddit reports first started rolling in a little before 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Users posted pictures of their expensive smartwatches with the dreaded blue triangle on the screen. This was before Garmin responded, so users were left thinking their smartwatches were bricked.
Our sister site Tech Radar was first alerted to the issue though an author's friend who saw it pop up on a Garmin Forerunner 265. A Reddit user saw it happen on their Fenix 7 Pro and the bug continued to spread from there.
Garmin's response
Garmin finally updated its Status page with details about how users can temporarily solve the triangle issue. As is usually the case with tech, turning it off and back on again gets things working again, though it's not a permanent fix, and it could happen again when you try to use GPS.
Garmin's status page says: "We are researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. Holding the power button until the unit powers off, then turning it back on may restore functionality temporarily. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available."
It's not an ideal solution, but it's better than having a useless smartwatch with a blue triangle on it. If this is some kind of guerilla marketing for Squid Game, I will be so angry.
Which models are affected?
There are a lot of Garmin watch models out there. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like they're all affected by this annoying bug, nor does it seem that every device in an affected model is having issues. For now, here's the list of models we've seen have issues (h/t TechRadar):
Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2)
Garmin Fenix 8
Garmin Fenix 7
Garmin Forerunner 165
Garmin Forerunner 255
Garmin Forerunner 265
Garmin Forerunner 955
Garmin Forerunner 965
Garmin Vivoactive 5
Garmin Venu 3
Garmin Venu 2
Garmin Lily 2
Garmin Lily 2 Active
This is not an exhaustive list, and we could see other models start popping up as more users get out and start trying to run or perform other GPS activities. It's still relatively early on the West Coast of the U.S., so we'll start seeing users in that part of the country begin reporting issues soon, we'd venture.
How to avoid issues
The main thing you can do to keep your watch running without the blue triangle issues is not to use GPS activities. Yes, I know that's probably the main thing you use your smartwatch for, but until Garmin says things are fixed, you might fall into the blue triangle trap and have to restart your watch to get it working again.
Just think of it as a tech detox. You can still go out and enjoy a nice run (if the weather is conducive to such things where you are); you won't have the tech to tell you how far you went.
No Instinct watches... yet
Interestingly, we don't see any reports of Instinct watches, including the newer Garmin Instinct 3, affected by the blue triangle bricking bug. We're unsure if they're immune to whatever bug is plaguing the other popular watch families or if users have just been lucky thus far.
We'll monitor any Instinct reports that appear, but it's up to you to decide whether it's worth getting stuck in a boot loop with a blue triangle or waiting for Garmin to release a software update to fix the issue. I'd err on the side of caution unless you absolutely can't get through a run without your Garmin watch tracking your location.
Should you factory reset?
There are mixed ideas on whether factory resetting your smartwatch is a viable fix. Based on the post on its status page, Garmin appears to want you to restart it.
Some users have cited having success getting everything working again with a factory reset, and others have said it's not a good idea.
A TechRadar reader emailed in with their results: "I have tried turning off and turning it back on, as well as a full reset procedure, and I have plugged it in to my computer - which didn't register it at all - and have not been able to restore any functionality."
We err on the side of not resetting and just restarting your watch. If you can't get off the blue triangle screen, you could give resetting a go and see what happens, but if you end up like the reader above, you could just get stuck on the blue triangle anyway.
One thing's for sure: Garmin has a mess on its hands.
The second Garmin outage this month
On January 8, my colleague Nick Harris-Fry reported a Garmin Connect outage that left users unable to sync activities to the app for several hours.
Garmin's second outage this month is starting to mirror many people's fitness resolutions: off and on like a gym membership in January. Just when users are ready to crush their goals, the servers decide it’s time for another cheat day.
These disruptions may be short-lived, but they still leave runners and athletes in limbo. While you can still head out and enjoy your run, just know it might not record as accurately as usual, and your map might end up looking a little chaotic. This shouldn't affect your Strava kudos count too badly...
More affected models
We've seen reports and comments that a couple of other Garmin watches are being affected now.
Including the latest Instinct 3, which release this month.
Older watches are being as well, with comments of the Garmin Forerunner 55 reported as down.
Are you experiencing this outage? Let us know.
A workaround for Garmin's broken GPS tracking
It's a lovely day here in Seattle, Washington, with blue sunny skies and downright warm temperatures. The perfect opportunity to head out on a midday run...but wait. My Garmin watch won't connect to GPS, what do I do? How will I track my run?
If you're in a similar position, worry not. I have a workaround. Ditch the Garmin and grab your phone, Apple or Android will do. We're going to track our outdoor workout the old-school way: with a giant chunk of metal and glass crammed in our pocket or stuffed in a running belt. Maybe you still even own one of those hideous smartphone arm caddies? Now's the time to use it!
Rather than relying on the baked-in workout tracking app, we're going to keep things simple and use Strava instead. My favorite app for tracking runs and bike rides, Strava is free to sign up for and simple to use.
Better yet, Strava, makes it easy to export the details of a workout in a format (GPX file) that can be uploaded to Garmin Connect.
To do this, you'll first need to log into both Strava and Garmin Connect in a desktop browser. In Strava, select and open your recent workout. Then, on the panel to the left, click the ellipsis (...) button and select 'Export GPX.'
Next, go to your Garmin Connect profile and click the 'Upload/import' button, the left-most icon in the upper right of the screen. Then click 'Import data' and select your GPX file. Finally, tap 'Import data' one more time and that's it! All of your basic metrics recorded through Strava should now be viewable in Garmin Connect.
Signs of improvement?
Using the Garmin Instinct 3, I just successfully connected to GPS without issue while attempting to track an outdoor walk.
However, other Instinct 3 owners are reporting the opposite experience today. This got me thinking, could a user's location play a factor in whether or not the outage impacts their device? For what it's worth, I'm based in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a less populated area of the country compared to say, the Northeast or Southern California.
Then again, the Instinct 3 isn't on Garmin's list of impacted devices, but the Garmin Forerunner 165 is. I've got that smartwatch on the charger now and will test its ability to connect to GPS once adequately juiced. Stay tuned for an update.
GPS success with the Forerunner 165
Similar to the Garmin Instinct 3, I was just able to get the Garmin Forerunner 165 Music to connect to GPS while attempting to track a hike. Does this mean that the Garmin outage is winding down? It's hard to say.
This is where we need your help. While I've had success getting two popular Garmin watches to connect to GPS from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, we want to know what your experience has been today from other locations, whether you've had trouble with your Garmin or not.
If you feel so inclined, drop me a line at dan.bracaglia@futurenet.com and let me know which model you own, what part of the world you're located in, and whether or not Garmin's outage has impacted you. I'll collate the responses and update the live blog later today with the results.
In the meantime, here's hoping these annoying issues get resolved soon!
Garmin U.S. acknowledges the outage
Despite some positive signs of GPS connectivity from staffers here at Tom's Guide as well as readers, the Garmin GPS outage continues. A quick trip over to the Garmin U.S. support page delivers the following message in red:
'We are aware of an issue causing some devices to be stuck on the start up screen or a blue triangle. To resolve this, press and hold the power button until the device turns off, then power it back on, and sync with the Garmin Connect app or Garmin Express. If this does not resolve your issue, Please click here for more information.'
This is the same message that Garmin owners in the U.K. are reporting seeing.
Are you a Garmin smartwatch owner? Are you able to connect your device to GPS? We'd like to know! Please email me at dan.bracaglia@futurenet.com and include which Garmin model you own, your experience connecting (or not), and where in the world you're located.
77% of Tom's Guide readers are reporting outages
A huge thank you to all the TG readers who have already emailed me details on their experience with the Garmin GPS outage. With reports coming in from all across the globe, including North America, Europe and Australia, as of writing, 77% of our readers are impacted (or, ten out of 13 responders).
Are you able to connect your Garmin watch to GPS? Let me know by emailing dan.bracaglia@futurenet.com. Please be sure to also include which model you own along with your general location (country or region). Thank you!
Update: 83% of Tom's Guide readers are now reporting GPS outages
I want to once again thank all the TG readers who have responded so far with details on how the Garmin GPS outage is or is not impacting them. As of writing, 24 out of the 29 folks who have responded are reporting issues. That's just shy of 83% of users.
It's worth noting that these responses continue to come in from various continents, so the outage is clearly not tied to one singular area on the globe. While I've been able to get my Garmin Instinct 3 and Forerunner 165 Music connected to GPS from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, other U.S. readers have not had the same experience.
It also appears that older Garmin models, like the Garmin Forerunner 935 (launched in 2017), are less likely to be impacted by the outage than newer ones. Here's a list of models, so far, with the reported issue (nonexhaustive):
Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2)
Garmin Fenix 8
Garmin Fenix 7
Garmin Forerunner 165
Garmin Forerunner 255
Garmin Forerunner 265
Garmin Forerunner 955
Garmin Forerunner 965
Garmin Instict 3
Garmin Vivoactive 5
Garmin Venu 3
Garmin Venu 2
Garmin Lily 2
Garmin Lily 2 Active
Are you experiencing the great Garmin GPS outage of 2025? Or is your Garmin working well? We want to know. Email me at dan.bracaglia@futurenet.com with your experience, watch model and general location. Thanks!
What to do if your Garmin is in an infinite 'boot loop'
If the GPS outage has caused your Garmin watch to go into an infinite rebooting cycle, as many of you have reported, here's some advice based on this useful Reddit thread:
First, you'll want to hard restart your watch. The process varies from device to device but for the Forerunner 165, it simply involves pressing and holding the 'Light' button for about ten seconds until the Garmin logo appears. Please note that hard restarting may result in all your user settings reverting to their factory defaults.
Once the watch restarts and boots up, you'll want to go ahead and individually turn off GPS tracking for any activities you plan to use to avoid another infinite boot loop. To do this, head to 'Activities and apps' either from the Garmin Connect app (easier) or from your watch screen. Once there, tap the activity you want to edit, then scroll down and tap 'Satellites.' Switch that sucker to 'off' and you should be good to go.
53 out of 65 TG readers report Garmin GPS issues
As the day winds down, Garmin's GPS meltdown shows no signs of stopping, and thanks to Tom's Guide readers sharing their experience with the outage, we have a real-world sense of just how many users are actually impacted.
Based on 65 reader responses, 53 of you or roughly 82% reported experiencing some form of Garmin GPS outage. It's worth noting that two responder mentioned that their newer/current Garmin watch refuses to connect to GPS, while their older backup model continues to work without issue.
Another responder was in a similar position to me, with both of their Garmin wearables connecting to GPS without issue. In their case, they successfully connected a Forerunner 965 and Vivomove Trend (which doesn't have an onboard GPS), while I had success with the Instinct 3 and Forerunner 165 Music.
As I close out my work day here from the U.S. West Coast, you can expect my Europe-based colleagues to pick up where I left off first thing in the morning. So, stay tuned for additional coverage of the great Garmin GPS outage of 2025. (Though, with any luck, things will be at least partly resolved come Wednesday morning.)
Oh, and thank you again to all the readers who shared their Garmin watch experiences and frustrations today. I seriously appreciate the effort; you made our coverage all the more informative.
Garmin says services are back online
The Garmin status page is reporting that all of its services are back online and I have noticed that my watch is now working normally. Yesterday when I tried to start a run with my Garmin Fenix 8 it immediately reset itself, but it is now working correctly.
My Garmin Instinct 3, which I'm also testing at the moment, never experienced the problem, so I was able to log my run with that, and it is also working fine now.
I didn't have to reset my Fenix 8 for it to start working again; all I did was sync it with the Garmin Connect app once word had got out that Garmin had fixed the problem. Some users are still reporting problems though, and you might need to soft or hard reset your watch to get it sorted.
What's causing the problem?
According to DC Rainmaker the problem is a bad CPE file, which is a satellite pre-cache file that gets sent to the watches automatically to help them lock onto satellites at the start of a GPS activity faster.
This usually saves you time at the start of an activity, but in this case it caused watches to reset. To fix the problem Garmin needs to remove the bad file from the watch and stop it from downloading it again, making a good version of the file available instead.
For most users this had now been done, but if your watch is still rebooting you might need to take the drastic step of factory resetting it and setting the watch up again. Now that the bad file has been taken off Garmin's servers, it shouldn't be downloaded to the watch again.
Factory resetting the watch will remove all your past activity data, but this should be stored on Garmin Connect as well and sent back to your watch when you set it up again.
Four possible fixes to try
Many Garmin watches are working again now and our senior fitness writer Nick Harris-Fry was able to record a run and a cycle on two watches this morning without any problems, but if you're still stuck with the 'blue triangle' then here's the latest advice from Garmin's support page.
Firstly, try simply syncing your watch with the Garmin Connect app, or plugging it into a computer and letting it sync with Garmin Express. This is the easiest and most risk-free fix and it worked for our Fenix 8.
If that doesn't work try a soft reset of the watch by holding the power/light button on it for 15-30 seconds. Then turn it on again and sync with Garmin Connect or Garmin Express.
Hopefully one of those two relatively quick and easy fixes will work for you, but if they don't you can try factory resetting the watch. This option is found on your watch in Menu-Settings-System-Restore & Reset. This will wipe all your activity data from your watch, but you should have a fairly recent back up on the Garmin Connect app so when you set up your watch again that data will be synced over to the watch again.
Finally, if you're more confident with tech you can try to manually remove the bad CPE file that's causing the problem from your watch. This involves plugging your watch into a computer and finding the CPE file, and on a Mac you'll need a programme like Android File Transfer to even see your Garmin files. DC Rainmaker has advice on how to find the file and delete it.
However, given that most watches are now working again it might be safest to wait it out and keep trying to fix the watch by syncing it to Garmin Connect, rather than manually deleting files.
Got a brand new Garmin and don't know whether to set it up yet or wait?
Have you recently ordered a brand new Garmin watch, but now you’re hesitant to set it up because you’ve seen all the buzz online about the outage, worried that you might lose data? We totally get it.
Just yesterday, we’d have advised you to hold off while we waited for an update. But the good news is, Garmin has confirmed that their servers are back online, and many users are already reporting success with their devices again.
Your new device should already be on the latest software, so when you set it up, it should be good to go. Just follow the on-screen instructions, and you should be all set to sync without any issues.
If you do happen to encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know. I’ll be handling things here for a while, so if anyone is still experiencing any strange behavior with their Garmin device (new or old), feel free to reach out to me at jessica.downey@futurenet.com.
What should you do if this happens on race day?
A Garmin outage on race day isn’t ideal, but don’t panic. I know that’s easier said than done when you’ve poured months into training and relied on your watch every step of the way. But remember, your legs still work even if your watch doesn’t. Here’s what to do if a Garmin outage happens on race day.
First, if you have a backup, one of the best running apps like Strava or Nike Run Club on your phone, start tracking there. These apps can use your phone’s GPS to track distance, pace, and time, just like a Garmin watch would. While they may not offer the same level of real-time data or advanced metrics, it's better than nothing.
Don’t like carrying your phone while racing? Go old-school and use race markers to check your time manually. Many races also have official pacers running at set times, so find one matching your goal and try to stick with them.
Additionally, a pace band or a quick scribble of your target splits on your wrist can help keep you on track. Otherwise, trust your training. You probably know your race pace by feel more than you think.
Most importantly, don’t let a tech glitch ruin your race. Even if your data isn’t perfect, your run still counts. You can always log your time manually later!
Activity Uploads remains in amber status
I left the Garmin Connect app alone for a while, but I just reopened it five minutes ago and the warning messages about the error were still there. This led me to check the Garmin Status page, where activity uploads remain amber and stuck in the 'Limited' status.
With everything else on the page showing green, this lingering issue does stand out and leaves us wondering when will we all see a sea of green again.
Are you still seeing this, or has it turned green for you? Let us know: jessica.downey@futurenet.com.
Reader rumble: 'Reverting back to the Apple Watch until this is fixed'
One of our UK readers, Hayley, has been in touch. She’s frustrated because her Garmin Forerunner 265S is still experiencing issues, even after getting past the blue triangle error. She’s unable to pair the watch with her phone, despite trying all the suggested troubleshooting steps, and has struggled to get in touch with a real person at Garmin. As a result, she’s "reverting back to the Apple Watch until this is fixed."
This is a temporary solution, if you own one of the best Apple Watches, that is. But if you don’t, you’re likely hoping you won’t have to buy a new fitness tracker, and that the ripple effect of this outage will end soon.
If you’re still struggling to reach a real person at Garmin via support pages or phone, try getting social. Reaching out to Garmin’s social media accounts might lead to a quicker response.
Where do we stand now?
Despite Garmin reporting that services are back, their own website still has status warnings.
The system status page (shown above) notes that the company is aware of some watches being stuck on the start screen or the blue triangle.
The Garmin support page still features the red bar warning at the top where the company is still recommending turning it off and back on again.
Some Garmin owners are still reporting issues, though on the whole it appears to be better for most.
Is your watch still facing issues? Let us know at scott.younker@futurenet.com
Resetting your watch
If you're more of a visual learner like me, DC Rainmaker has a nice little explainer on the outage and how to reset your watch to hopefully get it to reconnect.
Garmin announces official fix
Garmin finally has information on a potential fix for your Garmin watch.
On the Garmin support website, you'll need to go to the article titled "my Garmin won't boot up past the start up screen."
Garmin offers a number of watches and each of them appear to have different processes. You can find them listed in the article above.
On the broad spectrum, you'll need to sync with Garmin Express, an application you can use to manage Garmin products on your Windows or Mac computer.
You will need your computer, the affected watch, Garmin Connect logins and a charging cable.
Garmin's support page has new message as well with the red bar changed to green.
It now reads: "We have resolved the underlying issue causing some devices to be stuck on the start up screen or a blue triangle. If you are still experiencing this, please visit support.garmin.com for steps to resolve the issue."
Based on these two changes, it appears Garmin has finally resolved the underlying bug that was affecting your smartwatch.
For those away from their computer, we'll provide an update if a remote solution is released by Garmin.
