Ought to You Subscribe to Garmin Join+? (2025)

It is so annoying. You’ve simply spent a whole bunch of {dollars} on a brand new Garmin Fenix 8 or Forerunner 970, solely to search out out you may need handy over much more cash to get the complete Garmin expertise. Earlier this yr, Garmin launched Join+, a subscription factor to its Join companion app earlier. It stirred up its consumer base in the worst potential method. I visited Garmin’s headquarters in Kansas not lengthy after the announcement and it was clear; Join+ is right here to remain, and there’s a crew now devoted to bringing extra options to take a seat behind that paywall.

At present, anybody can strive Join+ without spending a dime for a month earlier than deciding whether or not there’s something worthy of the $7 month-to-month subscription, or $70 yearly charge. I’ve been utilizing Join+ for 5 months now, whereas testing just about each new watch Garmin has launched in that interval.

With seven core options presently out there, I’m going to let you know in regards to the ones I truly discovered helpful, spotlight those I didn’t, and let you know whether or not you actually want one other subscription so as to add to your month-to-month outgoings. If none of those attraction, you should definitely take a look at our guides to the Greatest Health Trackers or the Greatest Smartwatches for extra.

AI Insights

Let’s begin with Energetic Intelligence, which is probably the most prominently featured of all Join+ options contained in the app. These are personalised coaching insights and proposals that you just’ll spy on the prime of the house display tab. These are powered by AI, and analyze information like exercise historical past and efficiency metrics captured by your Garmin gadget.

The thought right here is that the extra information that may be analyzed, the extra personalised these insights ought to change into. Within the first weeks of utilizing it, Energetic Intelligence’s insights have been fairly rudimentary. My final swim improved my cardio health. Nice. I may see that just by trying on the information from that logged swim.

5 months later, I’m getting a greater sense of what I believe Garmin hopes this function could be. I’m now informed that my floor contact stability throughout runs is suboptimal and I ought to think about some energy coaching and to work on my working type. Nonetheless, the app doesn’t counsel what that coaching ought to entail, or the workout routines that would assist to handle that suboptimal GCT. Possibly that’s to come back. Given that is the one Join+ function tagged as a beta, I think about it may look completely different in a yr’s time.

Actual-Time Recommendation

{Photograph}: Michael Sawh

If you happen to’re on train gear that’s missing a show, or you do not need to pause a exercise to take a look at your watch, Reside Actions permits you to mirror real-time metrics out of your watch to your cellphone. It’s particularly helpful for energy coaching periods, to make enhancing reps much less fiddly.