Garmin Fenix 7 gets a public beta update with heart rate tweak and map fixes, but installing it will disable one crucial health feature
- A new Garmin public beta has dropped for the Fenix 7
- It features a new heart rate tweak and fixes to mapping
- Garmin has disabled the ECG feature in its public beta
After a disastrous week that saw an outage render most of its devices useless for 24 hours, Garmin is trying to get back on track with its continued rollout of beta features. The latest is the 20.14 public beta for owners of one of the best Garmin Watch models, the Fenix 7 range.
The change log includes some fixes and tweaks to a couple of key features, but installing beta software on the Fenix 7 series still disables the ECG feature.
Starting with what is included, Garmin notes the following updates:
- Added open connections notification to heart rate broadcast app.
- Fixed abnormal cadence issue when using metronome.
- Fixed color of BMX cycling profile.
- Fixed map not fully drawing.
- Fixed map settings not updating when changed.
- Various bug fixes and improvements.
That’s a welcome list of fixes for mapping and a nice heart rate update, but as mentioned, installing the latest public beta will see you lose access to ECG. Here’s what we know right now.
Garmin’s Fenix beta drops ECG
“Moving forward, the Beta software available for the Fenix 7 series will have the ECG feature disabled,” Garmin said on its website. So if you want to continue using the ECG feature on your Fenix 7 series, you should steer clear of the public beta for now.
Garmin has confirmed that if you install the beta and change your mind, you can backdate your watch to restore its functionality.
Garmin also says that the feature “ECG feature will be made available again on versions of beta software that we anticipate becoming Live updates,” and says users should see the ECH feature become enabled again in Beta software “toward the end of our quarterly beta cycles.”
Garmin has been noting this for a while in its beta updates, but it has caught users out before, so it’s important to be aware as many people rely on the ECG feature to monitor medical conditions.
Garmin recently rolled out its ECG feature to the EU and Australia, with support for models including the Garmin Venu 3 and the new Fenix 8.