Garmin Connect+ announcement leaves users outraged. Some are calling “the Pope to intervene”
Garmin users want the company to scrap its paid subscription so badly that they’ve even started a petition.
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Garmin users want the company to scrap its paid subscription so badly that they’ve even started a petition.
Garmin released its subscription plan, Garmin Connect+, at the end of March. It started a heated discussion among its users, who were appalled at having to pay for certain new features.
Some users, who are active on Reddit, went as far as signing a petition to “express [their] opposition to this nonsense.”
The petition states, “End or change the Garmin Connect+ paywall." Its starter, Timo B, explains that the main reason for not agreeing with the paid subscription is that users already pay good money for the hardware, choosing higher-end smartwatches such as the Fenix or Epix series with “an expectation of getting all new features.”
The petitioner also revealed his fear that “more and more basic functions will disappear behind this paywall in the future.”
The document also includes “demands” for Garmin to stop its paid subscription program, with the idea that its “software pipelines of the watches be largely unified, with no more separation of available software functions by price category or age, and that all users receive largely all innovations through the subscription.”
The third demand was related to the possibility of permanently deactivating “any hints and advertisements for Connect+” so that users could use the app as it was before.
The petition was shared on Reddit, encouraging users to “make the maximum amount of noise now before it’s too late.”
The request started a heated discussion, with many users understanding the reaction to Garmin’s subscription changes but not seeing the company doing anything about it.
“Might as well go outside and howl at the moon for all the good it will do,” wrote one user, with another joking: “It’s getting ridiculous. Next thing is what? Calling the Pope to intervene?”
Some users were quick to notice that the document had “logical inconsistencies,” one of which stated that the company should remove the Connect+ subscription program and offer “an alternative that actually embraces the subscription model but wants it to be more comprehensive.”
The demands written in the petition have almost 150 signatures.
Garmin Connect+ was presented to the public at the end of March and received a backlash from users who didn’t want to pay, sometimes thousands of dollars, for a watch that would also include a paid subscription for additional features such as personalized AI insights, more extensive health data, and exclusive expert guidance.