Garmin Down

Update 7/26/2020 @ 9:30PM PT: It looks like Garmin is slowly starting to bring services back online.

I just got a badge for the month and that only happens when the Garmin Connect backend is up.

My runs from the last three days are now showing up in the app, so it looks like they got synchronized to the Garmin Connect backend.

![Strava Uploads])(/images/2020/garmin-up-3.png)
Check out the Garmin Uploads on the Strava Status site.

Now, I am curious: If this was a case of ransomware, did Garmin pay?

Update 7/25/2020: Garmin has posted a FAQ about the outage.

Garmin has been down for more than 24 hours now. It’s a bit annoying and a lot worrisome to see that it could possibly be a ransomware attack.

I use my watch for both the fitness/health functionality (steps/calories) and the sport functionality (tracking runs). Annoyingly without the online functionality, the fitness/health functionality is dead. But because I’m more interested in keeping my run streak going, the sport functionality still works without the online services. This is one of the things I like about Garmin watches. Garmin watches can be connected to a computer via USB which allows access to the underlying filesystem where FIT activity files reside. I have not found any other manufacturer that does this, looking at you Suunto, Apple, just about everyone else.

If you’re still exercising and tracking on your watch and want to share via Smashrun or Strava, here’s how you can do it with your Garmin watch.

Depending on your watch, the files might be in a slightly different location. Look for your watch in the File Explore or Finder and you’ll find a directory in there named GARMIN. In that directory you’ll find a directory named Activity. This is where your FIT activity files are. On some watches they are named with the date and time, on some older watches they have a unique filename – but you should be able to figure things out using the timestamp on the file.

Uploading to Smashrun is super simple. Hover over the cog at the top right of the site and select “Import file”. Select the file you want to upload in the resulting window, wait for a few seconds and your run has been uploaded. Easy.

Strava is a two-step process. First click the + at the top right. From there select “Upload activity”.

From the next screen click “Browse…”, select the file you want to upload from the window that pops up and wait for a second for the run to upload. The screen after that allows you to fill in any information (Description, etc) for the run. Hit save and you’re done.

For those who are using Garmin’s fitness trackers for steps and calories or their scales for weight, unfortunately those devices have been rendered useless until Garmin fixes the problems with their systems.