Key Takeaways
- Garmin offers a wide range of devices that can track and broadcast your heart rate to various apps, equipment, and people.
- The list of Garmin devices that support heart rate broadcasting includes smartwatches like the fēnix series, Forerunner series, and Instinct series, among others.
- You can broadcast your heart rate from your Garmin device using either a Virtual Run or the Broadcast Heart Rate feature, depending on your device model and preferences.
Garmin has a wide array of fitness trackers and smartwatches that can not only track your heart rate but can also broadcast that information to a paired phone, exercise equipment, workout apps, or even to your workout buddies. If that's something that interests you, then here's how to broadcast your heart rate on your Garmin device.
Which Garmin devices support heart rate broadcasting and how?
Your current heart rate can be broadcast from any of the following devices over Bluetooth and through the ANT+ protocol:
- Approach S70 watches
- D2 Air
- D2 Air X10
- D2 Mach 1
- Descent G1 watches
- Descent Mk2 watches
- Enduro
- Enduro 2
- epix (Gen 2) watches
- epix Pro (Gen 2) watches
- fēnix 6 watches
- fēnix 7 watches
- fēnix 7 Pro watches
- Forerunner 55
- Forerunner 245 Series
- Forerunner 255 Series
- Forerunner 265 Series
- Forerunner 745
- Forerunner 945
- Forerunner 955 Series
- Forerunner 965
- HRM-Dual strap
- HRM-Pro strap
- HRM-Pro Plus strap
- Instinct 2 watches
- Instinct Crossover watches
- MARQ Collection
- MARQ Collection (Gen 2)
- quatix 6 watches
- quatix 7 watches
- tactix 7 watches
- tactix Delta watches
- Venu 2 Series
- Venu Sq 2 Music
- vivosmart 5
Some older Garmin devices can also broadcast heart rate data over ANT+, but don't offer Bluetooth broadcasting. These include:
- Approach S62
- Forerunner 35
- Forerunner 45
- Forerunner 230
- Forerunner 235
- Forerunner 645
- Forerunner 935
- Instinct
- quatix 5
- Venu
- vivosmart HR/HR+
- vivoactive 3
- vivoactive 4
- vivoactive HR
If you're using an older Garmin device, you can check the manual to see if your device will broadcast heart rate data over ANT+.
How to broadcast your heart rate from your Garmin over Bluetooth using a Virtual Run
If you have a compatible Garmin device, you can broadcast your heart rate over Bluetooth and ANT+. The method for doing so will depend on your device; some Garmin devices will automatically broadcast your heart rate over both Bluetooth and ANT+ when you use the method explained later in the article. Other devices will only broadcast over Bluetooth when you start a Virtual Run.
- Open the Activity menu on your Garmin device. For many devices, you can do so by pressing the Start button.
- Scroll through the activities and select Virtual Run.
- If Virtual Run isn't listed, select + (plus) and add Virtual Run to your list of activities.
- Select OK for the Virtual Run activity.
- Open the app or device that you want to receive your heart rate data, and search for your Garmin device by following the manufacturer's instructions.
- Start the Virtual Run activity, and your heart rate will be continually broadcast to the paired device until you stop the activity.
How to broadcast your heart rate from your Garmin using Broadcast Heart Rate
For all of the devices listed above, this method will broadcast your heart rate over ANT+. For many of the devices in the first list, it will also automatically broadcast over Bluetooth, too.
- Open the Settings menu on your Garmin device. The method will vary depending on your device.
- Select Sensors & Accessories.
- Select Heart Rate.
- Toggle or select Broadcast Heart Rate to start broadcasting your heart rate.
- You can also automatically have your heart rate broadcast whenever you're doing an activity by selecting or toggling Broadcast in Activity.
- Once your heart rate is being broadcast, you can access it on your ANT+ or Bluetooth device following the manufacturer's instructions.