Major Garmin Update Brings New Features For Fenix, Forerunner, Venu

Forbes

22-05-2025

Garmin watch line-up
Garmin
Garmin has released a major software update that brings new features to many of the company's most important watches, including the Fenix 8.
This is Garmin's big Q2 update. The company provides major upgrades each quarter, with more frequent upgrades available in the beta program for the more intrepid among you.
Watches on the list include the Fenix 8 series, Forerunner models, the Instinct 3, Venu 3, Lilt 2 Active 'and others.' You'll find the longer list below.
Here's a rundown of the new additions.
The Rucking activity is being added to a fistful of watches. It's an activity made specifically for hikes when the weight of your pack is a big part of the exertion.
This, of course, in turn affects your exertion level, calories burnt and so on. And previously doing exercise with a heavy pack your Garmin watch didn't know about could result in lower VO2 estimations.
Pack Weight is also being added to existing activities as a field you can customize. It effectively gives the running, walking, trail running and hiking modes the same functional versatility as the dedicated rucking activity.
The update also adds the Breathing Variations feature, which is part of the new Garmin Forerunner 970. It's intended to make better use of the watches' overnight breathing rate feature.
'Occasional or frequent breathing variations may be due to your individual lifestyle factors or your sleeping environment,' says Garmin. It's easy to glaze over at the mention of things like breathing rate, as they are often a bit dull or hard to parse. This should be able to flag up if something looks unusual, out of the ordinary.
Many watches are also getting the Passcode feature, which lets you lock your watch behind a classic numerical password/pin. Garmin also offers the option to lock the watch as soon as it's removed from the wrist.
Here's the full list of relevant watches for this May 2025 update, although bear in mind not all watches get all features. You can see a more detailed breakdown on Garmin's release PDF document:
Garmin has also announced changes to how its paid services work including a slightly opening up of high-end Golf features and a new Garmin Trail feature. I'll cover those in a separate article.