The purchase, step by step

  1. Find the face in the Connect IQ Store app. The price shows where the Install button would be on a free face.
  2. Tap the price and sign in. The checkout is Garmin's own, branded Garmin Pay. First purchase asks for a card; later purchases are one confirmation.
  3. Confirm. The face downloads and installs like any free face, and your watch switches to it after the next sync. The whole flow is under a minute.

That is the entire mechanism, and it is worth naming what is absent: no unlock codes, no external website, no subscription. A one-time price, paid inside the app. (Garmin's support page on store purchases covers the payment details.)

What you actually own

The license attaches to your Garmin account, not to the watch. In practice that means you can remove the face and reinstall it later without paying again, install it on another compatible watch on the same account, and carry it to a future watch when you upgrade, provided the new model is on the face's supported list. The supported list on the store page is therefore the one thing worth reading before you buy; a good face page also spells it out, the way our Quipu page does.

Refunds: the 48-hour window

Garmin grants refunds on Connect IQ purchases within 48 hours of buying, no justification required. Request it through Garmin support with your order details, and the purchase is reversed. We see this from the seller side: refunds inside the window are simply granted, which keeps developers honest and makes trying a paid face genuinely low-risk.

One practical tip from our own inbox: if the face misbehaves on your watch, email the developer before you walk away. Most faces that fail on one specific model fail for a fixable reason, the developer often ships the fix in days, and you keep the face you wanted. The refund window is your safety net either way.

The one thing to check: whose checkout is it

Garmin's built-in payments arrived in 2024. Before that, paid faces used third-party sellers: you pay on an external site, get a code, type it into the face. Plenty of legitimate developers still sell that way, but the trade-off is real: Garmin never sees the money, so Garmin cannot refund it, and the code is a manual step the store checkout does not have. You can tell the difference at a glance: a store-checkout face shows a price on its store page, while a code-based face is listed free and asks for payment after installing.

Our stake, stated plainly

We sell Quipu and Tifo through Garmin's checkout, and Tessera is free. So yes, we benefit when store buying feels safe. That is also why this page exists: the mechanics are genuinely good for buyers, and almost nobody explains them.

Frequently asked

Is it safe to put my card into the Garmin app?
The checkout is Garmin’s own, run under their Garmin Pay system. The developer of the face never sees your card, your name or your payment details; we only see an anonymous sale in a report. It is the same trust model as buying an app on your phone’s app store.
I bought a face and changed watches. Do I pay again?
No. The purchase is attached to your Garmin account, not to the watch. Sign in on the new watch’s phone app and install the face again at no charge, as long as the new watch is on the face’s supported list. Worth checking that list before you switch models.
The face does not work right on my watch. Can I get my money back?
Yes, Garmin gives a no-questions refund window of 48 hours on Connect IQ Store purchases. And do email the developer too: a face that misbehaves on your specific model is something only the developer can fix, and the good ones want to know. We reply to every such email about our own faces, usually the same day.
Why do some faces ask me to pay on an external website with a code?
Before Garmin built store payments in 2024, developers sold through third-party sites that issue unlock codes. Some still do. It works, but Garmin cannot refund those purchases since the money never went through them; refunds depend entirely on the seller. Prefer faces sold through the store’s own checkout when you have the choice.
Why are big-brand faces so much more expensive than indie ones?
Licensed faces (film studios, car brands) carry licensing costs that get priced in. Independent studios like ours have no license fees, which is why indie faces tend to cost a coffee rather than a lunch. Same store, same checkout, same refund window either way.

Keep reading

How-to How to install a Connect IQ watch face on your Garmin How-to Garmin watch face settings are on your phone: here is where

Last verified: 2026-07-18 · our own store listings (we sell Quipu and Tifo through this exact flow) + Garmin support documentation