Can I control music on my phone with Garmin watch?

Many modern Garmin smartwatches include the ability to control music playback on your paired smartphone directly from your wrist. This allows you to easily pause, skip tracks, adjust volume and more without having to pull out your phone during a workout or on the go. With the Garmin Connect app and a compatible music player on your phone, you can take full wireless control of your music right on select Garmin watch models.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about controlling music on your phone using your compatible Garmin watch. We’ll look at setup steps, how to access music controls, customization options, troubleshooting tips and more.

Compatible Garmin Watch Models

Many Garmin smartwatches allow you to control music playback on your paired smartphone. According to Garmin’s blog post “Which Garmin Smartwatches Have Music Storage?”, the following models support music control capabilities:

Garmin Vivoactive 3, 3 Music, 4, 4S

Garmin Forerunner 245, 245 Music, 645, 645 Music, 945

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus, 5S Plus, 5X Plus, 6, 6 Pro

Garmin Venu, Venu 2, Venu 2 Plus, Venu Sq, Venu Sq 2

Garmin Lily, Legacy Hero, Legacy Saga

The key requirements are that the watch must be connected to your phone via Bluetooth and paired with the Garmin Connect app. As long as those conditions are met, you can use these Garmin smartwatches to control music playback, select songs or playlists, adjust volume, and more without touching your phone.

Connecting Your Phone

To control music playback on your phone using your Garmin watch, you’ll first need to pair the two devices via Bluetooth. The pairing process enables communication between your watch and phone.

According to Garmin’s instructions for pairing a smartphone https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=nvCECLZzFu7UzXdBlDlVY5, you’ll need to do the following:

Open the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone.

Access the menu by selecting “More” in the bottom right corner.
Select “Garmin Devices”.
Select “Add Device”.

Choose your Garmin watch model from the list.

The app will provide on-screen instructions to put your Garmin watch into pairing mode and complete the Bluetooth connection. Once successfully paired, your watch and phone will be able to communicate for music controls.

Controlling Music Playback

Once your phone and compatible Garmin watch are paired, you can control music playback directly from your watch. This allows you to easily play, pause, skip tracks, and adjust volume without needing to take your phone out.

To control playback [1]:

Start playing a song or playlist on your phone.

On your Garmin watch, hold the DOWN button from any screen to open the music controls.
To play/pause the current track, select the center button.
To skip to the next track, select the upper right button.

To adjust volume, hold the UP button to increase or DOWN button to decrease volume.

This allows you to seamlessly control your phone’s music without needing to interact with your phone. You can easily play/pause, skip tracks, and adjust volume right from your Garmin watch.

Selecting Music Source

You can control playback of music stored directly on your compatible Garmin watch or from music apps on your paired smartphone. When using music controls on your Garmin watch during an activity, you may need to specify which device holds the audio files you want to access. Here’s how to select the music source:

To play music stored on your watch, open the music controls menu and select the “Watch” source. This allows you to access and control songs, playlists, and audio files saved directly to the watch’s internal storage or downloaded to a paired Bluetooth headset. Keep in mind the storage capacity of your watch model to determine how much music can be loaded.

To access music from your smartphone, open the music controls and select the “Phone” source. You can then browse and play music from smartphone apps synced to your watch, such as Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Music. Your watch must be connected to your phone via Bluetooth to control phone music playback.

Switching the source lets you seamlessly alternate between playing phone tracks and watch tracks during a workout without needing to adjust connections. Check the music controls source if you can’t find an expected audio file.

Third-Party Music Apps

Many popular music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music can be controlled from your Garmin watch when properly set up. This allows you to browse playlists, skip tracks, adjust volume, and more without needing to handle your phone during a workout.

To enable this functionality, you’ll first need to connect your music streaming app account in the Garmin Connect app on your phone (see source). Open Garmin Connect, go to the music controls section for your paired watch, tap “Add Provider” and log in to Spotify, Apple Music or other compatible services.

Once connected, music controls for that streaming service will appear on your Garmin watch during exercises. You can browse playlists, albums, podcasts and more. Volume, play/pause, skip track, and other basic controls are available.

Note that offline music storage is only available for certain services like Spotify Premium. Streaming requires your phone be nearby. But basic controls work with most major music apps so you can dictate your workout soundtrack right from your wrist.

Customizing Music Controls

You can customize the music control widgets on your compatible Garmin watch to better suit your preferences.

To add music controls to your widget loop, open the Garmin Connect app on your phone and go to Widgets. Tap Add Widgets and select Music Controls. You can then drag it to reorder it in the widget loop.

In the Garmin Connect settings on your phone, go to Music to change options for the music controls:

Show notifications for track changes

Show notifications for playlist changes
Show notifications for music app changes

This allows you to customize which music playback notifications show up on your Garmin watch when using the music controls.

You can also hold the UP button on your Garmin watch to open the music controls menu. Tap Settings > Widgets to customize which information displays on the music control widget, like artist, album, etc.

Overall, Garmin provides robust customization options for the on-watch music controls, allowing you to tailor the widgets and notifications to your preferences.

Music Storage on Watch

Many Garmin smartwatches allow you to store music directly on the watch so you can listen without your phone. According to Garmin’s blog post “Which Garmin Smartwatches Have Music Storage?” (source), watches like the Forerunner 245 Music, Forerunner 945, and Fenix 6 Pro can store up to 500 songs. To get music onto your Garmin watch:

Sync playlists and podcasts from streaming services using the Garmin Connect app. Open Garmin Connect, select your watch, choose “Music” and select playlists/podcasts to transfer. Garmin provides instructions here: source.

Connect your watch to your computer and transfer music files manually. Drag and drop songs onto the watch like a USB drive.

With enough storage space, you can have hours of playlists, albums, and podcasts always available on your watch for listening without needing your phone nearby.

Troubleshooting Tips

If you encounter issues using your Garmin watch to control music playback on your phone, there are some troubleshooting steps you can try:

Make sure your Garmin watch and phone are within range of each other and connected via Bluetooth. The devices need to be within about 30 feet for the music control feature to work properly.

On your phone, check that media audio is enabled for your Garmin device under Bluetooth settings. You may need to manually enable this.

Force close and reopen both the Garmin Connect app on your phone and music app you want to control. This resets the connection between the apps.

On your watch, access the music controls widget and select the music source again. Sometimes the selected source becomes outdated.

Restart both the watch and your phone. This clears any connectivity issues between the devices.

Update to the latest firmware on your Garmin watch and latest version of the Garmin Connect app. Updates sometimes address bugs with music controls.

As a last resort, unpair your watch from your phone in Bluetooth settings and set up the connection again from scratch. This forces the watch and phone to re-establish the music control connection.

If issues persist, check the Garmin support forums or contact Garmin customer support for further troubleshooting tips.

Summary

In summary, most Garmin smartwatches including the Fenix, Forerunner, and Vivoactive series allow you to control music playback on your paired smartphone. To enable this feature, you need to connect your watch to the Garmin Connect app on your phone via Bluetooth. From your watch, you can select the music source, play/pause, skip tracks, adjust volume, and more.

Key things to remember are:

– Ensure your Garmin watch model supports music controls
– Connect your watch and phone via Garmin Connect app
– Music controls may be available from watch widgets or during activities
– Select the music source on your phone first before using watch controls
– Customize which music controls are available in the Garmin Connect settings
– Troubleshoot connectivity if music controls aren’t working as expected

With just a few taps on your Garmin watch during a workout or throughout your day, you can seamlessly access and control music playback from your smartphone.