Garmin Connect IQ Store – Payment Mechanism Still On Track

I reported back in January that the Garmin Connect IQ store is about to undergo a fundamental change. Plans for that are still ongoing and I expect to see something live before the end of May 2024.

initially via: @Jw, thank you

Specifically, Garmin appears to be introducing the ability for developers to charge for their apps from the Connect IQ store itself. Naturally, Garmin will take a cut.

Currently, developers have to leap through a few hoops to get revenues for their work. This will make it easier.

Remember that sometimes developers link to external services, such as weather services, and these require payment by the developer. So it is valid and necessary for them to charge. Of course, some developers also devote a considerable amount of their time to developing stuff for you to use. If you see any value to you in that stuff then…pay for it. The clue is in the word ‘value’. If it’s of no value to you then don’t use it!

What Will This Mean

Sadly I think this will fundamentally change the nature of the Connect IQ store and make it similar to the ones we know and ‘love’ from Apple and co.. It will probably limit our willingness to try out new stuff.

I would expect to see lots of one-off charges for simple watch faces soon replaced by the annoyance of subscriptions.

Hopefully, we will be able to subscribe to a developer’s entire work as I’ve found that I tend to like multiple apps from specific developers. Hopefully, subscriptions of licences will belong to the user rather than the device and hopefully, subscriptions will automatically stop if the developer is no longer updating the app. I like to hope but the pursuit of profit usually gets in the way.