Garmin Shuts Down Connect IQ Web Store For Purchases
Garmin has officially ended direct app purchases, installs, and management via the Connect IQ website.
Effective immediately, all actions for managing third-party apps and watch faces must now be done exclusively through the Connect IQ Store mobile app on iOS or Android.
..Connect IQ Store mobile app will be the sole source of purchasing, installing or managing apps for your Garmin devices. [Garmin]
The Shift and User Backlash
The closure of browser-based Connect IQ management signals the end of part if a decade lifen service. Existing apps.garmin.com links still work, but now redirects users to the mobile application, and developer uploads have been moved to the new portal at apps-developer.garmin.com.
Reaction has mainly been negative. Many complain that the mobile app’s tiny previews and endless scrolling make browsing for new content far worse than the desktop site’s streamlined interface. I must add that I agree with this frustration, having relied on the desktop for years.
Minor bugs persist in the smartphone app, for example, iOS 15+ blocking in-app changes to settings on many watchfaces. The solution there was to revert to using Garmin Express on a PC – a solution no longer possible.
What Users Should Do Now
While Garmin has not announced a hard deadline for removing all remaining web features, the shift is clear. Garmin customers are advised to rely on the mobile app for installations and use Garmin Express on a PC for any complex settings changes on devices paired with an iOS phone.
Garmin Express and On-Watch Settings
UNCONFIRMED: Garmin has not yet commented on whether the ability to change CIQ app settings via Garmin Express and on watches will be retained. The understanding here is that this functionality is not affected by the web store closure but Garmin’s announcement implied functionality would also be removed from Express.
Takeaway
This move primarily makes life easier for Garmin and developers alike. Sadly, it does not make life easier for all Garmin customers. Many won’t notice any difference, but a small minority, including this author, will miss the ease of using the former web interface.
On a positive note, the existing desktop interface remains a showcase, even though the core management functions have been removed.
Last Updated on 30 January 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.
“Reaction has mainly been negative. Many complain that the mobile app’s tiny previews and endless scrolling make browsing for new content far worse than the desktop site’s streamlined interface. I must add that I agree with this frustration, having relied on the desktop for years.”
But you can still search/browse CIQ apps on the Connect IQ store website. It’s just that to install, manage or buy CIQ apps, the CIQ store website will require you to use the Connect IQ mobile app. Note that “manage” most likely means to list and delete the installed apps on a given device, and we’ve never been able to do so via the CIQ store website.
I like that you haven’t provided any links/sources to said “reaction”.
“UNCONFIRMED: Garmin has not yet commented on whether the ability to change CIQ app settings via Garmin Express and on watches will be retained. The understanding here is that this functionality is not affected by the web store closure but Garmin’s announcement implied functionality would also be removed from Express.”
Yeah, if only you had linked to the announcement or even pasted the full text so readers could decide for themselves what it doesn’t and doesn’t imply. Ofc you *never* link to your sources and you often cherry-pick your quotes while adding your own interpretation which is not supported either by your excerpt or the full text.
For the record, the announcement is here, and by my reading, nowhere does it say that CIQ app-related functionality would be removed from Garmin Express.
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/changes-to-the-connect-iq-store
I can’t see them removing such functionality either, since they are probably well aware that a good chunk of their older users (like those who’ve been customers for 20 years) absolutely refuse to use any of Garmin’s mobile apps. They may as well just get rid of Garmin Express completely, if they’re willing to cut those users loose.
“While Garmin has not announced a hard deadline for removing all remaining web features, the shift is clear.”
Right, nobody ever said or implied they would remove “all remaining web features”. Except you.
I will note that that announcement is in the CIQ developer section of the Garmin forums. Not exactly on the same level as a tweet or a press release. To be clear, it’s aimed at the tiny Garmin CIQ dev community, not the public.
Probably because:
– users who don’t use the CIQ store website but only use the CIQ store app will not notice a thing
– users who do use the CIQ store website will find that they will *also* be forced to use the CIQ store mobile app, but Garmin is probably hoping they’ll be ok with that. After all, there are several features – such as “real time device settings” and using an HRM-PRO (or newer strap) for “all-day activity tracking” while the watch is not being worn – that already require the use of the Connect mobile app. Also requiring users to use the CIQ store mobile app isn’t too much of a stretch here.
You may as well write up a post about how users can no longer change their heart rate zones in the Connect website, for all currently supported watches (e.g. FR955/965/970, Fenix 7/7 Pro/8, etc), but they have to either use the Connect mobile app or the device itself. Or maybe you could mention how the setting for using custom HR zones for intensity minutes is *only* in the Connect app – it’s not available anywhere else, not even on the device itself.
There’s all kind of things to be faux outraged about, if you just look hard enough. (I say this as a huge critic of Garmin btw.)
“Garmin customers are advised to rely on the mobile app for installations and use Garmin Express on a PC for any complex settings changes on devices paired with an iOS phone.”
This conclusion makes little sense – i.e. it doesn’t follow from the central topic of this post. Why would removing the ability to install or buy apps from the Connect IQ store website have any any bearing on whether Garmin Express on a PC should be used for any complex settings changes? What’s the relevance to Garmin’s announcement? Users have *never* been able to make changes to CIQ app settings from the Connect IQ store website. Whether or not one believes that Garmin Express is the best way to manage CIQ app settings, this announced change to the CIQ store website make no difference at all.
The website is now basically just a placeholder. No longer able to browse or install.
“For the record, the announcement is here, and by my reading, nowhere does it say that CIQ app-related functionality would be removed from Garmin Express.
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/changes-to-the-connect-iq-store
I can’t see them removing such functionality either, since they are probably well aware that a good chunk of their older users (like those who’ve been customers for 20 years) absolutely refuse to use any of Garmin’s mobile apps. ”
To be fair, it seems that Garmin Express users will now be forced to use the CIQ store mobile app to install any new CIQ apps. So I guess that partially invalidates my argument. If Garmin is willing to force those users to use the CIQ store mobile app for some CIQ things (installation/purchases), maybe it’s not a stretch that they will eventually remove managing settings from Garmin Express.
My b.
However I will reiterate that that announcement in *no way* states or implies that any functionality will be removed Garmin Express.
Quoting myself: “For the record, the announcement is here, and by my reading, nowhere does it say that CIQ app-related functionality would be removed from Garmin Express.
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/changes-to-the-connect-iq-store
I can’t see them removing such functionality either, since they are probably well aware that a good chunk of their older users (like those who’ve been customers for 20 years) absolutely refuse to use any of Garmin’s mobile apps. They may as well just get rid of Garmin Express completely, if they’re willing to cut those users loose.”
To be fair, it does seem that Garmin is willing to force Garmin Express users to use the Connect mobile app to install and update CIQ apps, where they could previously do so from the Connect website. I guess it’s not so much of a stretch after all that CIQ settings functionality could be removed from Garmin Express. I will reiterate that the announcement in no ways states or implies that this will happen, unless we focus on the part about how it says the CIQ mobile app will be the “sole source of…managing” apps.
“Note that “manage” most likely means to list and delete the installed apps on a given device, and we’ve never been able to do so via the CIQ store website.”
“Manage” might also include “change app settings”, and again, we’ve never been able to do so from the website.
So yeah, I could be wrong, but I think that if the announcement really wanted to tell us that Garmin Express would no longer be able to change CIQ app settings, it would/should have just said so explicitly.
I think that either the person who wrote it didn’t have changing settings in mind when they wrote “managing” or they weren’t thinking of Garmin Express.
I could be wrong though.
“Connect IQ Store mobile app will be the ***SOLE*** source of purchasing, installing or ***MANAGING*** apps” [Garmin]
e.g. by my reading, that clearly says Garmin Express will not let you manage ciq app settings. However, as above, I don’t think they mean it!
TLDR….less ranting might keep it shorter and more precise…
Sounds like Garmin noticed the web frontend to get used for funneling stolen credit card money to bogus developers of bogus apps? Malicious browser extensions can do a lot of bad things…