- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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Not even Garmin can resist the temptation?
Oof, better hold out hope for Repebble I guessOoh. Thanks. Today I learned about RePebble. If it doesn’t deliver, there’s still also Gadget Bridge (connect most devices fully locally) and PineTime (another spiritual successor to the Pebble).
Easy fix:
Buy a fitness/smart watch - an older one is fine, why go excessive
Download GadgetBridge from F-Droid/Droidify and then use that instead of a proprietary app which is just harvesting your data and telemetry at every chance:
I wish that was the case, but it absolutely doesn’t even come close.
JFC, is nothing safe?
I was just talking about dumping Fitbit as Google destroys it and jumping to Garmin…
Me too. What now?
What now?
Some options:
- Gadget Bridge allows connecting most devices fully locally
- PineTime simple, but cheap and free of corporate nonsense
- RePebble (coming later this year) - I just learned and it in this thread, but it looks promising.
Maybe the problem is you
For all those clammering to sell and throw away, stick on the shelf, I will keep, buy, or what have you all your Garmin watches so long as they aren’t trashed and are relatively newer models.
Yes I am serious. PM me so we can discuss further if your done with Garmin.
A parallel comment to my rant yesterday, I see the pushback has already begun in Garmin’s reviews against this nonsense. All of the recent reviews of their Android app are now overwhelmingly complaints about the subscription addition, and I suspect iOS is the same. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to blow Garmin up over this on any platform you can get your grubby hands on.
I know posting this here is probably more like spitting on a forest fire; I’m sure the seven or eight nerds here on Lemmy dedicated enough to care have already put Garmin on blast for this (myself included), but it never hurts to make sure.
I agree to leave a review on the Appstores. However Garmin can censor the negative reviews if they want. So i recommend in addition to that leavkng comments on social media, review webpages, videos where Garmin can’t delete the comments.
What’s crazy is I’m on the fence about a beeline moto because they have subscription for basic shit like traffic, thinking Garmin would be better.
Welp.
Of all the ais gemini is the worst lol
Yay more shit that nobody asked for.
For anyone else wondering, you can export all your Garmin data .Use the “Export All Garmin Data Using Account Management Center” option here https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=W1TvTPW8JZ6LfJSfK512Q8 The output is json files so you can use any json editor or anything that can import json. I use a little tool called JQ https://jqlang.org/ to extract just things I need. Then I can analyze in whatever tool I want such as a spreadsheet
There is also a Python module to pull your data.
TL;DR: They lied to us, plain and simple. The temptation of Make Line Go Up was enough to make Garmin abandon their promise of no subscriptions and no paywalls.
Nobody outside of the idiots in the boardroom wants this, especially the AI garbage. It’s disgusting that $1100 for a Fenix 8 isn’t already enough for these greedy assholes.
I am on my second Garmin watch, a Fenix 6. Previously I had a 5x. My wife has a Lily. These will be our last ever Garmin devices, and I’ll be sure to let them know it. It’s getting to the point where no smartwatch maker can be trusted, unsurprisingly, and honestly the alleged benefits they provide are probably no longer worth it in the long run. Before smartwatches were a thing I amassed quite a selection of normal watches, which I will probably just go back to using when my current watch inevitably cacks it, or the software becomes so borked that it’s useless.
They haven’t paywalled anything that I have seen. This is a paid tier.
I’m not putting down my fenix 6 anytime soon. If they’re half as smart and don’t want to kill their business, they’ll take that AI shit out or keep the free tier worth it.
Capitulation leads to these corporations refusing to change and believing they can weather out the complaints and still come out the other side profitably without changing their behavior.
I can live with a dumb watch until they announce they’re walking this back.
I also just deleted my Connect account. I have had it with these greedy American corporations. To anyone looking for an alternative, I highly recommend checking out Gadgetbridge, it still lets you use your watch with almost all the same features, only the data never leaves your phone.
Gadgetbridge
Is this in the google app store? I can’t find it.
I think it is only on F-droid
I saw that but I don’t know what that is.
It’s an alternative “app store” but for only free and open source software, highly recommend checking it out!
Any advice for getting it to actually work with a Garmin watch? I just tried it with my Fenix 6 (solar) and it doesn’t detect the watch at all. In fact, even selecting “show unsupported devices” reveals that my watch’s bluetooth MAC address isn’t even seen by my phone. (Yes, I unpaired it and removed Connect from my phone. I also resorted to factory resetting my watch. No dice.)
At the moment I’m using it unconnected because it still shows the time and so forth with the watch face I want. But without any kind of connectivity there’s really no point to not just putting this thing back in its box for good and grabbing one of my numerous dumb watches.
Did you put your watch into pairing mode? On my Forerunner, I have to go “Settings/Connectivity/Phone/Pair Phone” on my watch.
Yes indeed, I absolutely did. Still no joy, alas.
Moving previously free features of a product you’ve already paid for should be considered theft legally. Hopefully enough people in the EU complain about it for them to do something about it.
If you read the announcement from them you will see that they are not moving previously free features to paid, all of the previously free features are still free, they are adding some new paid features.
Not moving any of the previously free features yet. Don’t worry, it’ll happen.
The compute power behind their dumbass “AI” push that nobody wants will not be cheap, and when it inevitably fails to turn a profit (because we all know damn well it never will), they’ll be looking for new ways to squeeze users for revenue.
I have no faith in what companies say until they are legally bound to it.
The problem with that is this is software. We’ve seen this before. If the EU complains they’ll stop doing it… only in the EU. They’ll continue the fuckery in the US because it’s legal here.
I don’t care if americans still lose, as long as I see the corporations lose somewhere else.
I love my 5X but I will be fucked if I buy another watch if this happpens.
Hopefully things like PineTime, Bangle.js, and the return of Pebble can shake up the market. There’s always neat DIY hacks like the SensorWatch too that can still make the space fun even if the major players get enshittified.
HealthyPi will be a too option too. Much more fitness focused than pinetime or banglejs
I’d be fine with my OG Pebble, honestly. The only functions I really need and genuinely use are custom watch faces to change things up now and again, and notifications going to my phone.
I got my first Garmin after Pebble evaporated because it was quite rugged, had a similar color screen, and most importantly a long battery life. It has built in mapping functionality which I thought I’d use, but I really don’t. I have zero interest in the tracking features, health and otherwise, and leave all of that turned off. I personally can’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with that all the time, nor anyone in their right mind would trust sending any of that kind of data to a third party for any reason.
Thank you! I’m in a similar boat having picked up a replacement Venu a few months ago and this will absolutely be my last Garmin device. My Strava account was nuked some time ago when I couldn’t fire up the app without “Subscribe!” popups. My body is ready for open health tracking.
Time to search for a new brand for my next watch 😓 (when I need it)
Pebble!
Google (which purchased Fitbit, which had bought Pebble) still owns PebbleOS - https://repebble.com/
Right in their website.
That isn’t really an issue as PebbleOS is open source.
However, one of the founders of the OG Pebble just announced a revival.
Why are you linking me the same website I linked?
Ow, you are right. And it looks like part of it is a licensing problem too…
See also: https://repebble.com/
Wym see also, that’s the link I shared 1 hour ago in this very comment chain.
Unfortunately they don’t include a GPS.
Pinetime
I’ve bought Garmin devices explicitly because they didn’t do these things, and promised not to do these things. Since I know they’re not going to retract this decision, I am going to look into trying to get my purchases refunded.
This is taking it to heart for sure. Nothing wrong with your POV but it’s opinion and their tech has no comparison currently. Literally zero has changed. They added a paid tier and done what every company on the planet is doing. Trying to land grab AI because it’s the latest and greatest.
I’m using a Garmin watch with Gadget Bridge from f-droid. Works well even though I don’t like the app’s look that much.
Sorry, what does that achieve please?
Enables use of watch features without using the garmin connect app
Ah thanks, and apologies as I could have just ecosia’ed that ;)
Thanks a million for this!
Garmin makes toilet paper, right?
Don’t know about tp, but they are certainly making shit now.
Ugh, and so the enshittification begins…
It really sucks, they’ve been spared from noticeable enshitification so far but I guess the line didn’t go up enough anymore…
Oh no, good thing gadgetbridge exists
AFAIK gadgetbridge is not even close to a replacement WRT functionality? Last I checked it only supported basic data import, has that changed?
My Forerunner 165 is well supported, nearly the same as the official app.
What features are you missing?
You cant use it to create or manage workout plans. It is feature complete for the health data as far as I can tell (HRV, sleep, etc).
You cant use it to create or manage workout plans
Bummer, that’s a pretty significant reason for owning a sports watch I would say, probably one of the most important features actually.
Is workout tracking feature complete?
Yes workout tracking works fine, not quite as polished as Connect but it is functional.
It depends of how well supported a specific model is
I just tried it with my Fenix 6 and it does not appear to work at all despite being listed as partially supported. My watch can’t even be discovered by the app, even after factory resetting it and removing all of the Garmin apps from my phone.
That’s a shame. I’ll go back to wearing my mechanical watch for a while, I think.
Uch, was already willing to get rid of my garmin but this just gives me more motivation
It’s also not trustworthy. Would you want the united states to have access to your heart rate, pulse ox, gps location, and other health stats?
My main reason for wanting to get rid of it is indeed #BuyFromEU based, but tbh I’m also still using my google pixel (looking to install Graphene once I bought my appartement, don’t want to risk issues with my bank app right now)
Probably getting a withings watch soon™
There are lots of European smartwatches as well. I too had a garmin but after the united states declared war on canada we have/are purging all US tech/products from our house.
Withings is french :)
My main issue has always been battery life, garmin was and still seems like the only watch able to go so long on 1 charge (outside of withings, but those are hybrid watches)
Polar was on my radar but still crazy expensive for meh battery life (my #1 requirement)
I had a garmin instinct solar 2 and that battery life was approximately 29 days so I hear you.
Check out suunto! Similar to garmin and some of their offerings have similar battery. The suunto cores battery is 12 months in watch only mode according to their site.
This was in my mind but I don’t spend money easily so intend to replace it when it breaks.
I’ll need to reassess if the US invades
