Garmin Launches Paid Subscription Tier With AI Health Features
The move positions Garmin to compete with other health and fitness wearables offering premium subscription plans
Garmin has launched Garmin Connect+, a paid subscription plan that gives users access to personalized health and fitness insights powered by artificial intelligence, along with exclusive coaching and gamification tools.
The standout feature of Garmin Connect+ is “Active Intelligence,” an AI-powered system that offers Garmin smartwatch wearers personalized health and fitness insights based on their activity and data. Thanks to AI, those insights will become more tailored to users’ goals over time, Garmin says.
On the gamification side, Garmin Connect+ offers exclusive badge challenges, including month-long challenges for running and cycling activities. One such challenge, called “Running Climbs,” asks participants to record 500 meters of total ascent in one month during running activities.
Other premium features include a performance dashboard with customizable graphs and charts, the ability to track real-time performance data such as heart rate data on the Garmin Connect app and exclusive training content from Garmin coaches, although the exact list of available features varies by device.
“Customers worldwide love using Garmin Connect to track, analyze and share their health and fitness activities. We are excited to provide even more personalized data and enriched features with the addition of Garmin Connect+,” said Garmin vice president of consumer sales and marketing Susan Lyman. “You can now learn even more about yourself, take on new challenges, train confidently and stay even more connected.”
Garmin Connect+ will cost $6.99/month or $69.99/year after a 30-day free trial period. All existing features in the regular Garmin Connect app will remain free.
As health and fitness wearables continue to gain market share, the launch of Connect+ positions Garmin to compete with other wearable brands that offer premium, paid subscription plans such as Whoop, Oura and Apple Watch.
An Oura subscription costs $5.99/month or $69.99/year, while Whoop comes in significantly higher at $239/year. For Apple Watch wearers, an Apple Fitness+ subscription runs $9.99/month or $79.99/year.
Besides offering a low subscription price, Garmin believes it has other wearables beat when it comes to the quality of its biometric sensors and the long battery life of its smartwatches.
“It’s so important that you can put on a wearable and leave it on for seven days,” senior director of Garmin Health Engineering Scott Burgett told Athletech News last October. “Every time you take it off, there’s a chance you might not put it back on. … We focus on battery life because it’s a unique selling point that none of our competitors really can touch.”