Garmin recently released a major update for a selection of its watches that includes all day fall detection, which is an important safety feature. However, the headline addition of the update, which is the ability to carry out voice commands without using the hands, has been causing serious battery life problems. The feature works in the same way as the hands free access to Siri and Google Gemini on the latest Apple and Wear OS watches, and it allows users to start a timer or a workout, along with other functions, by beginning with the phrase OK Garmin. The addition brings the wearables of the company closer to modern smartwatches, yet owners are now reporting that having hands free activation enabled reduces the battery life of their watches by roughly 35 percent to 50 percent.
The issue was first spotted by Gadgets and Wearables, and many Garmin owners have since taken to the forums of the company to complain about it. The high end Fenix 8 is one of the worst affected devices. One user explained that they could only get seven days of use from their Fenix 8 after the update, which is half of what they received before it. The reports are significant because the long battery life of Garmin watches is well known and is one of the main reasons that people choose them. A fall of this size removes much of that advantage for those who have turned the voice feature on, and it affects the daily use of the watch as well as the time between charges.
The problem can be fixed by the user, since switching off the optional feature should restore the battery life to its usual levels. However, this is not an ideal answer, given that the voice controls were meant to be one of the biggest software additions of the year from Garmin. Garmin itself admits that hands free activation has an impact on battery life, and the hope is that the company will find a way to reduce the drain so that the option becomes more practical. Competing watches such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and the Apple Watch Series 12 have focused on expanding fitness tracking with more health metrics, while Garmin, which has long led in fitness tracking, has been moving towards smart features such as the expansion of Garmin Pay to more banks and a native Google Maps app that arrived last year.
The news is not entirely bad for the company. It unveiled the Garmin Cirqa earlier this year, a screenless fitness tracker that is designed to compete with the Fitbit Air and the Whoop Strap. The device has proved popular, and Garmin has struggled to keep up with demand. For owners of watches that have received the voice update, the practical advice is to disable OK Garmin if their battery life has fallen, and to leave it off until the company finds a way to correct the problem. Until Garmin releases a fix, users who want hands free voice commands will need to accept a shorter time between charges, while those who prefer the usual battery life of their watch can simply keep the feature turned off.
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