Garmin watch face settings are on your phone: here is where

The path, step by step

Open the Connect IQ Store app. Not Garmin Connect. Connect IQ is Garmin's second app, the one that manages watch faces; if you do not have it, install it from your phone's app store and sign in with the same Garmin account.
Pick your watch. If you own several Garmin devices, the app shows them at the top; settings are per watch.
Tap My Watch Faces. Depending on app version the section is called My Watch Faces or sits inside My Device Apps. Your installed faces are listed there.
Tap the face, then Settings. Every option the face offers lives here: data fields, colors, goals, time format, all of it.
Save, and glance at the watch. With the watch connected over Bluetooth, the new settings apply within a few seconds. No restart, no reinstall.

What the watch itself can change

On recent models (Fenix 8 and E, Venu 3 and 4, Vivoactive 5 and 6, Forerunner 570 and 970, Enduro 3, Instinct 3 and other watches from roughly 2023 on), holding the watch face opens Garmin's on-device editor with a Customize option. For Connect IQ faces it offers exactly what the developer registered as simple pickers: usually an accent color, a display style or a mode. It never offers data-field choices, custom goals or text input; those controls only exist in the phone app. Older watches skip the Customize menu entirely and use the phone for everything.

Both directions stay in sync. Change the accent on the watch and the phone app shows the new value next time you open it, and the other way round.

No phone around? Garmin Express works too

The desktop app Garmin Express (Windows and Mac) can manage Connect IQ faces and their settings over a USB cable. Same settings, same effect; useful if your watch is not paired to a phone at all.

When settings will not open or save

The settings screen is fetched live, so most failures are connection hiccups. In order of likelihood: the watch is not connected (check Bluetooth and that Garmin Connect shows the watch as connected), the Connect IQ app is stale (update it, force-close it, reopen), or the session is confused (log out of Connect IQ, restart phone and watch, log back in). On iOS there is a recurring glitch where the settings page opens blank with a greyed-out Save; the same force-close and re-login sequence clears it.

If the face itself shows a triangle with IQ! instead of drawing, that is a different problem, a crashed face, and we wrote a separate guide for the IQ! error.

Why Garmin built it this way

A watch face runs in a tight sandbox with very little memory, and a settings interface with lists, toggles and text fields would not fit inside it. So Connect IQ splits the work: the face renders on the watch, and the settings UI renders in the phone app, which sends the chosen values down. It feels indirect the first time, but it is why even a $200 watch can run heavily customizable faces. We build our faces (Quipu, Tessera, Tifo) around that split: everything configurable on the phone, and the few most-touched options mirrored in the on-watch Customize menu.

Frequently asked

Why can I not pick the data fields on the watch itself?

Garmin’s on-watch editor only supports simple pickers: a color, a style, a mode. Choosing what each data field shows needs lists and numbers, and those controls only exist in the phone app. That is a platform rule, not a choice by the face developer, and it applies to every Connect IQ face.

Is the Connect IQ app the same as Garmin Connect?

No, they are two separate apps from Garmin. Garmin Connect tracks your health and activities. The Connect IQ Store app manages watch faces and apps, and it is where face settings live. You need Connect IQ installed to change face settings from your phone.

The settings page opens blank or the Save button is greyed out. What do I do?

This is a known Connect IQ app glitch, most reported on iOS. Force-close the Connect IQ app, make sure it is updated, and open the settings again with the watch connected. If it persists, log out of the Connect IQ app, restart the phone and watch, and log back in.

Do my settings survive if I reinstall the face?

Usually not. Removing a face and installing it again returns it to default settings, so expect a minute of setting things up again. Settings do survive normal updates of the face.

My face has no Settings button at all. Is something broken?

Not necessarily. Some simple faces genuinely have no settings, in which case the button never appears. If the face advertises settings and the button is missing, sync the watch first, then restart the Connect IQ app.

Last verified: 2026-07-18 · Connect IQ app (Android + iOS) + Fenix 8 on-watch editor; the exact flow we walk our own users through in support