CycleBridgeGarmin watch · Android
Garmin watch and Android
The same ride as on an iPhone — the watch measures and records, the phone displays — with one real difference in how the two are paired, because Garmin’s Android SDK has no picker of its own.
What you need
- A Garmin watch on the supported list, paired to Garmin Connect on this phone
- The Garmin Connect app installed and signed in
- CycleBridge on the phone, and the CycleBridge watch app on the watch
Setting it up
Choose the Garmin as the data source
In CycleBridge, open Settings and set Data source to Garmin. It is the default.
Tap Choose Garmin Watch in Settings
Unlike iOS, the Connect IQ Android SDK has no device picker: it hands an app the list of watches already paired in Garmin Connect and leaves the choosing to it. CycleBridge shows that list behind a Choose Garmin Watch button in Settings; tap the watch. If the list is empty, pair the watch in Garmin Connect first.
Open the watch app
Start CycleBridge on the watch from its activity list. With a GPS fix the phone’s Speed field shows a green dot, and Heart rate shows one once the watch reads your wrist.
On the ride
- Start and stop on the watch
- START begins, pauses and resumes the ride on the watch; BACK opens Save or Discard and then the effort and feel pickers. The phone’s Start button only begins the phone’s own log.
- The clock is the watch’s
- Ride time comes from the watch’s own pause-aware timer, so the phone’s clock stops when you pause the watch.
- Pause lives on the watch
- The link is one-way, so the phone has no pause in this mode.
Where the ride ends up
- A FIT activity on the watch, synced to Garmin Connect, with effort and feel recorded as two fields on it
- A line in CycleBridge’s own ride log on the phone
- Nothing in Health Connect from the phone — the watch’s record is the record
Battery, in this setup
The rank of each way of riding this setup among the 7 the app’s battery model compares, longest-lasting first. It is an order, not hours: the model adds up component draws, and nothing has been measured yet, so no figure is printed.
- 1Watch mode, phone in a pocketLightest drain
Nothing to draw and nothing to locate. The watch is doing the work; the phone is only listening.
- 3Watch mode, phone screen onModerate drain
The phone’s GPS radio is never switched on — every number arrives over Bluetooth from the watch.
Questions
Why is pairing different from the iPhone?
Because the two native SDKs are. Garmin Connect on iOS offers a device-selection sheet; the Android SDK exposes only the list of known devices and expects the app to present it. CycleBridge does not paper over that, it shows the list.
Has this been ridden with a real watch?
Not yet. The Android Garmin shim is written against Garmin’s public samples and documentation and is the least-verified part of the app; the changelog lists a real-watch check as still to do.
Can I pause from the phone?
No. Connect IQ is one-way, watch to phone. Pause with START on the watch.