Garmin’s new feature ruins one of the best reasons to own its smartwatches
Some Garmin owners are losing days of estimated battery life, but there's an easy fix.
Garmin's latest "OK Garmin" hands-free voice feature, touted as a convenient addition to their smartwatches, appears to be causing significant battery drain for some users. The feature, introduced with the company's recent feature drop, promises all-day fall detection, new running tools, and voice commands via the "OK Garmin" hotword. However, the introduction of this hands-free functionality has reportedly taken a considerable toll on battery life, particularly for the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970 models.
Owners of these specific models have been filing complaints on Garmin's support forums, with reports indicating a drastic reduction in estimated battery runtime. Some Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970 users claim they've seen battery estimates drop by as much as 35% to 50% after enabling the "OK Garmin" feature. In one case, a Forerunner 970 owner experienced a drastic drop in battery life, going from a projected 15-day runtime to just nine days.
The solution appears to be simple: disabling the "OK Garmin" wake word restores the original battery estimates without sacrificing the ability to manually activate voice commands. This revelation leaves users questioning Garmin's decision to prioritize this feature over maintaining their reputation for exceptional battery life, a key selling point that has made the company's watches highly desirable.
Written by urgent.news from Android Authority's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
