Garmin Adds Images to Notifications
Well, this is a new Garmin feature that surfaced a few days ago, and I’ve only just got around to writing about it. The title is relatively self-explanatory, although there will be a few nuances.
Garmin will change how it displays smartphone notifications when they include an image or photo. Almost certainly, this mini-feature will only get rolled out to Garmin’s latest crop of watches with AMOLED screens. That means my Garmin Forerunner 965 and the Epix Pro. Oh… and of course, the brand-new Garmin Venu 3 will be the first to officially have this as a ‘headline’ feature when it’s released soon.
This is a relatively minor feature, but I must say that I like a similar feature on my Apple Watch. When I get a WhatsApp message, the group icon is shown, and that’s pretty much all I need to decide whether I can be bothered to look at the details right now or wait until it’s more convenient.
More: Selective Notification Forwarding Capability Added To Garmin from Dec 2025
More: Meta adds a WhatsApp Connect IQ app to the latest Garmin Watches.
Q: Will this work on iOS and Android?
A: Android only
Q: Will this only work for the native text message app?
A: I would expect the scope to be broader than basic text messages and that it would include other messaging apps such as WhatsApp
Q: Will this be only for photos that are contained in the message?
A: Quite possibly. However, I’d also like it to include the group icon image from WhatsApp as described earlier. But I’m not holding my breath
Q: Will this be ‘photos’ or other imagery?
A: Yeah, quite possibly just proper photos like jpeg/png rather than .ICO.
Q: Will the feature roll out to non-AMOLED watches?
A: It’s doubtful. Even AMOLED watches, like the Apple Watch, will still struggle to meaningfully display photos that depict much more than a glorified blur.
More
Here is some more info on Venu 3 from @Flo who sums up what we know so far (perhaps though not quite everything we need to know 😉 ):
Last Updated on 17 March 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.
so F7 pro wont get it and epix pro will? 🙂 oh i see garmin forums burn
its possible but if you want a high res screen to show hi(gher) res images you know what to do!
I hope camera snapshots work e.g. from my nest hello doorbell. It’s a gif tho I think, so probably not. Any news on the epic gen2
me too…for the exact same reason (Nest doorbell!!)
As you can set PNGs as backgrounds for your Watchfaces, it should (technically) no problem to release this for MIP Displays as well
yep, not sure the image quality would amount to much tho.
This looks a good feature, though I imagine some people won’t want it. Hopefully it can be disabled. Do you have any indication when this feature might be arriving on devices other than the Venu 3? The Venu 3 appears to be available directly from Garmin at this point. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/873008
i would assume we will start to see it in the Q4 betas very soon (edit: if it is a feature that is rolled back to older models)
Thanks!
I’m hoping they bring the “Reply to messages with onscreen keyboard” feature to Forerunner 965 (since I own this one right now) and other touchscreen models like the Epix 2 and fenix 7 series.
yep, 965 wearer here too
i have to say i don’t use it for messaging tho. i also wear an apple watch and find it MUCH easier to reply by creating a simple text with voice recognition. the apple keypad has tiny keys on the keyboard and i guess a garmin one would be the same. i think there are serious tech limitations with replies on iOS with garmin