BikeOtterGarmin Edge and watches: it already works, and it's in beta
Straight answer first: BikeOtter sends routes to a Garmin Edge or watch today — pairing, device info, route push and find-my-device all work. It's labelled beta, because a few more pieces are close but not finished. Here's where each one stands.
What already works on a Garmin
Garmin gets the same treatment as the ELEMNT, and these parts are working today:
- Connect and pair — including auto-connect on launch.
- Device info — the Devices screen recognizes a Garmin automatically and gives it its own device card.
- Route push — the Send button uploads a FIT course straight to the unit.
- Alerts on the screen — weather warnings, rule alerts and phone notifications reach the Garmin and display there.
- Find-my — the Garmin trigger locates the device the same way the ELEMNT one does.
Nearly there
Sending workouts to a Garmin is built and in the app, and a rider's Edge 1030 has already received them; it just hasn't had a full run on every model yet. Until it has, Garmin support stays labelled beta rather than finished.
Live telemetry — the unit’s own position and speed
Position, speed and ride start/stop stream live off the unit — confirmed on an Edge 540, and a fēnix 6 Pro streams its position too — and only while something on the phone is actually watching, because there is no point draining the unit otherwise. The dot your followers see is the unit’s own fix, not your phone’s. Heart rate, power and cadence are the exception: Garmin’s own link takes the subscription and then never sends them, so those arrive through the BikeOtter Live data field from the Connect IQ store instead.
What Garmin riders will get
The same companion, not a port. The route planner, the weather look-ahead, the rules, the ride archive, the Strava queue, the live tracking — all of it already exists and none of it cares which brand of head unit you ride. As the Garmin side catches up, that means:
- Course push from the phone, with the same route planner and POI editor — already working today.
- Activity download into the same one-list ride history, with Strava auto-upload.
- Weather look-ahead and custom rules as alerts on the unit's screen.
- Live tracking with the unit’s own position, sent from your phone — heart rate and power arrive through the BikeOtter Live data field.
Anything a Garmin turns out not to allow gets listed here plainly, the same way the capability list does for Wahoo.
One app, whichever head unit you ride
Plenty of riders own a Wahoo and a Garmin, or switch between them. BikeOtter is built so that doesn't mean two apps, two route libraries and two ride histories — your routes, rides and settings stay in one place and simply reach whichever unit is on the bars. The Garmin side isn't finished yet, but it's headed for the same depth the ELEMNT has today.
What BikeOtter adds to a Garmin
Garmin Connect already does a lot, so this list is shorter than the Wahoo one — it only counts what BikeOtter brings on top.
| Capability | BikeOtter | Garmin Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Send a course without a Garmin account | Included | Not included |
| Import courses off the Edge | Included | Not included |
| See which course the Edge is riding | Included | Not included |
| Find stops along the whole route with opening hours at your arrival | Included | Not included |
| Control the turn cues send all, thin or strip | Included | Not included |
| Add a stop without redrawing as a via-point, or a detour that rejoins | Included | Not included |
| Intervals placed on the route only where the road can hold them | Included | Not included |
| Heart-rate targets by stretch | Included | Not included |
| Your own messages on the Edge screen e.g. weather warnings, heart-rate zones, UV | Included | Not included |
| Weather warnings along the route rain, wind and storms where you'll be | Included | Not included |
| Rain radar on your timeline | Included | Not included |
| Best time to leave, best way round for rain and wind | Included | Not included |
| Sunscreen reminders | Included | Not included |
| Bike radar in your headphones Garmin Varia, Bryton Gardia | Included | Not included |
| Followers can message you on the Edge screen | Included | Not included |
| Live heart rate and power without a Garmin login on an Edge or a watch | Included | Not included |
| Group rides across brands Wahoo and Garmin on one map | Included | Not included |
| One library for Wahoo and Garmin | Included | Not included |
| Offline maps and rerouting | Included | Not included |
| Recover a lost ride from your live track | Included | Not included |
| Voice commands experimental English and German | Included | Not included |
| Download rides without the cloud beta | Included | Not included |
- Included
- Only in part
- Not included
Compared against Garmin Connect as it ships today. Garmin support stays labelled beta while more models get a full run.
What both apps do
Switching doesn't cost you the basics. These work in BikeOtter just as they do in Garmin Connect.
- Pair your Garmin and connect automatically
- Send courses to your Garmin
- Import routes from GPX and FIT files, RideWithGPS and Strava
- Plan a route on the map
- Phone notifications on your Garmin
- Find my Garmin
- A live-tracking link for friends
- Group rides on one shared map
- An off-course warning
- Spoken alerts
- Ride history and Strava upload beta
What stays in Garmin Connect
BikeOtter sits alongside Garmin Connect rather than replacing it. For these, keep using Connect.
- Setting up a new unit, the first time
- Firmware and map updates
- Device settings, data screens and activity profiles
- The Connect IQ store
- Syncing to your Garmin account
- Training plans
Which Garmin models this runs on
Three Garmins have run it so far: our own Edge 540, and riders' Edge 1030 and fēnix 6 Pro. Other Edges and watches speak the same protocol family, so much of this should carry over — but “should” is not “did”, and the table keeps the two apart.
| Feature | Edge 1030 5 2017 | Edge 540 6 2023 | fēnix 6 Pro 7 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Device info | Tested on this hardware 1 | Tested on this hardware 1 | Tested on this hardware 1 |
| List past rides | Tested on this hardware | Tested on this hardware | Tested on this hardware |
| Send a route | Tested on this hardware | Tested on this hardware | Tested on this hardware |
| List routes on device | Not available on this model | Not available on this model | Not available on this model |
| Read the loaded route | Not available on this model | Not available on this model | Not available on this model |
| Live ride data | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model | Tested on this hardware 3 | Tested on this hardware 4 |
| Phone notifications | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model 2 | Tested on this hardware | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model |
| Find my device | Tested on this hardware | Tested on this hardware | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model |
| Send a workout | Tested on this hardware | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model | Expected to work — not yet tested on this model |
| Training zones | Not available on this model | Not available on this model | Not available on this model |
| Saved locations | Not available on this model | Not available on this model | Not available on this model |
| Segments | Not available on this model | Not available on this model | Not available on this model |
- Tested on this hardware
- Expected to work — not yet tested on this model
- Not known yet
- Not available on this model
- The unit does not tell the app its own battery level.
- Did not show up while Garmin Connect was connected on the same phone; Garmin Connect's own smart notifications cover this.
- Position and speed stream live, and the app knows when a ride starts or stops: all confirmed on hardware. Heart rate, power and cadence do not come over Garmin’s own link; they arrive through the BikeOtter Live data field from the Connect IQ store, once it is on one of the Edge’s data pages.
- Position streams live, confirmed on hardware. Heart rate, power and cadence have not been seen from a watch yet.
- Edge 1030: Tested by a rider on their own Edge 1030 with the in-app self-test.
- Edge 540: Verified on an Edge 540 — the only Garmin we have held.
- fēnix 6 Pro: Tested by a rider on their own fēnix 6 Pro with the in-app self-test.
Your model missing, or a box wrong?
Tell us and we will correct the row. Inside the app, Settings → Help & support is one page carrying both halves of that: a conversation with us at the top and the diagnostic log under it. Ride once with your unit connected, then send the log — it says far more about what your head unit answered than a description can.
By e-mail we are at support@bikeotter.app.
And if the model you want is one BikeOtter does not speak to at all yet, the wishlist is where to ask for it — and to see who else already has.
Why BikeOtter exists at all, from water stops on the route to radar warnings in your headphones: Why I built BikeOtter.
Meanwhile, on Wahoo
Everything described above already works on an ELEMNT — see what BikeOtter does on a BOLT, ROAM or ACE today.