Garmin owners were confused about 13.35 software update for Fenix 8, here’s what actually happened stephen.warwick@futurenet.com (Stephen Warwick) | usagoldmines.com

• Garmin recently issued its 13.35 software update
• It has confused users because it looked like a beta release
• Turns out it’s a regular public update with some bug fixes

Garmin has confused users of its best Garmin Watches with a new software update that looked like a beta but actually wasn’t.

As reported by NotebookCheck, Garmin teased a stable release for its best Garmins, the Garmin Fenix E, Fenix 8, and Enduro 3 watches last week, before reports emerged that it was delivering a “new stable update” with the same build number as its latest beta.

As the report notes, Garmin has previously done this, but tends to post changelogs on its forum to notify users of a new stable rollout. Because the company didn’t do that in this case, many users started to think they’d accidentally been sent a beta software release despite never signing up for the beta program.

“Did someone screw up at Garmin because I’m not signed up for beta and got the update as well,” one concerned user asked in Garmin’s forum. “Same here – I’m not on beta and 13.35 just hit my E3,” another user stated.

Garmin 13.35 software update explained

Since the confused rollout, Garmin has now issued confirmation that this is a stable update, version 13.35, with various bug fixes, not an accidental beta rollout or anything else for that matter. The release for the Fenix 8, Fenix E, and Enduro 3 fixes the following:

• Fixed Blank Map Covering Activity Data
• Fixed Blank Completed Strength DSW
• Fixed Crash when Using Keyboard to Respond to Text Messages in Activities
• Fixed Device Lockout when Enabling Passcode
• Fixed Potential Bug Preventing Activity Uploads
• Fixed Potential Crash when Using Keyboard in Emergency Assistance
• Fixed Virtual Partner Pace Range

While ultimately turning out to be a minor hiccup, it says a lot about the confidence of Garmin’s users that there was concern the company had accidentally rolled out a beta to all users.

Such an instance could have disabled the life-saving ECG feature on affected models, so it’s great to hear this didn’t actually happen.

With Garmin recently suffering a global outage that caused all of its devices to stop working for more than 24 hours, and users complaining that devices like the Fenix 7 are being left behind by fragemented software support, clearly users are a least a little bit on edge when it comes to Garmin’s support track record, as evidenced by some of the more nervous comments on this latest release.

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