Garmin smartwatches now allow you to pay for premium content

Paid apps and watch faces for smartwatches have been the norm for other manufacturers for years. Garmin has so far refrained from offering paid content on its devices, but is now following suit. Disney, Porsche and GoPro are on board at launch.

Now available: paid content on Garmin smartwatches

Paid content on smartwatches, isn’t that old news? Not so with Garmin, which recently announced in a press release that it now supports paid additional content such as apps and watch faces in the Connect IQ Store. “We are thrilled that some of the biggest brands in the world have joined us to bring new watch faces and apps to market, and we look forward to the future of our Connect IQ platform,” said Garmin manager Dan Bartel in the official announcement.

Three major brands are on board as partners for the launch of the premium content. Disney is now represented in the Garmin store with paid watch faces. Anyone who wants to use Mickey or Minnie Mouse, the little Mandalorian hero Grogu or a typical Tony Stark interface on their smartwatch has to pay 6 euros each. The announced Porsche watch faces are currently not available. Last but not least, GoPro is introducing an app for Garmin watches that allows the action cameras to be controlled remotely.

This allows recordings to be started and stopped, pictures to be taken and settings to be made. The price: 7 euros. The D2, Forerunner, Marq, Epix, Fenix and Tactix models are compatible. As expected, the company’s own payment system “Garmin Pay” is intended for paying for the new premium purchases. Whether your bank supports this payment service can be found on the official website “Participating banks for Garmin Pay” – especially with Visa, the list of participating banks in Germany is quite manageable.