GLANCE WATCH FACE FOR GARMIN

watch

Description

Main focus of this watch face is glanceability - to make it EASY to see everything at a GLANCE. All fonts are made as large as possible, while still keeping a lot of information on the screen. The app can be installed from Garmin Connect IQ store.

FAQ

Q: Weather fieds show "N/A", "gps?", "owk?", or "-"
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#weather

Q: Sunrise / Sunset field shows "-" or "GPS?"
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#sunset

Q: How can I change units for Temperature, Distance, etc.
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#units

Q: Can't install the app
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#install

Q: Body Battery, Stress Level (or other metrics) not available or don't work
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#bodybattery

Q: How do Arc Bar colors work?
A: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#bars

Q: I still have questions or suggestions...
A: I created a topic on Garmin Forum (use your Garmin email / password) to answer questions, gather feedback and suggestions. Please post your ideas there: https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/showcase/279043/watchface-glance

Color Themes

Now you can SHARE your Color Theme and quickly apply themes shared with you! Here is how it works:

Make sure you updated the app to version 2.0.0 (or higher)
Open app settings on your phone. First field in settings is "Copy String below to share your Color Theme" . That is your Current Color Theme encoded as a string. It is a read-only string, but you can select and copy it. Share it with your friends or with all other users by posting it in a review!
The next field in settings is "Apply Color Theme String". To apply Color Theme that was shared with you (or from any other source, more on that below), paste a color theme string in this field and click Save settings. Your watch will reflect the changes immediatelly.

Here is the Color Themes gallery: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance_gallery.html

I'd love to see all color combinations you came up with. Please post your themes in the Reviews and I'll add them to the gallery!

Theme strings are also handy if you switch your watch or need to reset it for some reason. Just save your theme, install the app and re-apply the theme string!

Here are some usage notes:

Your current color theme string is re-generated after you click Save settings button. If you change some colors in settings, you need to save them first, re-open the settings and then copy the theme string. That is unfortunatelly the way Garmin settings work.
The Glance Watch Face must be active (be on the watch screen), at the time you save settings. Otherwise theme string won't be generated. That is a Garmin limitation again.
If you are appying a color theme string in settings, do not change color related settings at the same time. Theme string takes priority and all other color settings will be ignored.
Also, when you apply a theme string, all your current color settings will be replaced. Save your current string before applying the new one, if you think you'll need to go back to your original colors.

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This watch face is fully customizable - almost every element's color can be changed. You can change the look of your watch from classic black and white to a rainbow like and to everything in between. Unleash your creativity :) ! Here is how to access application settings.

There are also 4 built in Stock Color Themes. You can apply them right from your watch in Customize Watch Face menu. Here is a guide on how to open it.

You can save and quickly restore your own Clolor Themes! This functionality is accessed from Customize Watch Face menu (for watches supporting API 3.2.0 only).

Data Fields

All 6 data fields are customizable. Top and bottom fields don't have icons, so ideally it should be something self explanatory (like Battery %). Some fields (like Date) don't have an icon. Also, if a value of the metric becomes too long (like in Full Steps Count), the icon is removed to make a better fit.

Body Battery, Stress Level, and other System 5 metrics

Garmin recently made some of its' internal metrics available to other apps. All these metrics were added only in the Pro version of Glance Watch Face app. However, only a few watch models support API for providing these new metrics now. The fact that your watch does have Body Battery, Stress Level or other metrics DOES NOT mean that it will be available to the app. Here are a few conditions that must be met:

The watch must have System 5 firmware installed. Very few watches are supported now - here is the current list (scroll down to supported devices): https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/connect-iq-system-5-sdk-now-available . Make sure you update your watch (if it is already compatible) to the latest available firmware using Garmin Express.
Not all metrics are available for all watches. Even with system 5 firmware, Garmin might limit some metrics on different models. If you see "N/A" (Not Available) in a metric value, there is absolutely nothing that can be done on app side untill Garmin changes firmware.
Even if metric is available, there is no guarantee that it will have value. You might see "-", which means the value is currently not populated by Garmin (it returns NULL instead of a number). This is also a normal behavior, but there is hope that it will get better with time.

Arc Bars

Battery Bar:

Color 1 – charge
Color 2 – discharge
Color 3 - battery low charge (below 20%).

Step Goal Bar:

Color 1 – % of the goal. If the goal is not set, 10,000 steps is used by default.
Color 2 – rest of the bar
Color 3 - % when it is below 20% of the goal.

Floor Goal Bar:

Color 1 – % of the goal. If the goal is not set, 10 floors is used by default.
Color 2 – rest of the bar
Color 3 - % when it is below 20% of the goal.

Active Minutes Weekly Goal Bar:

Color 1 – % of the goal. If the goal is not set, 100 minutes is used by default.
Color 2 – rest of the bar
Color 3 - % when it is below 20% of the goal.

Sun Position Bar:

Color 1 - bar color to the left from sun position
Color 2 - bar color to the right from sun position
Color 3 - full bar color when the sun is not visible. You can set it to the same color with background, so the bar would just dissapear after sunset (just an example).

Moon Phase Illumination % Bar:

Garmin does not provide moon phase data. I recently updated the algorithm to be more precise (and way more complex) - it recalculates moon phase and illumination % every hour. It is important to note that the moon phase and illumination % are not set through the night - they slowly change. So, when you lookup a Full Moon date for example, it might give you the date but people usually ignore the time. Moon data you see in this app displays current phase (as in now) not full day average or next night. So you might still see some discrepancies with data you find online. Also, the algorithm itself might be a few hours off - the real calculation might be too much for a watch.

Color 1 - illuminated part of the Moon
Color 2 - dark part of the Moon
Color 3 - ignored

Move Bar:

Color 1 - inactive "need to move" part
Color 2 - rest of the bar. If whole bar is Color 2, it means there is no "MOVE" alert yet
Color 3 - ignored

More on how Garmin Move Bar works here.

Open Weather

Only Glance Pro app has Open Weather provider option. For Open Weather to work, the app needs the following:

The watch must be connected to the phone with Internet connection
The app needs to know current location. Usually it picks it up automatically, but sometimes you need to force it. If you see "gps?" message in any of the Weather metrics, you need to update the location. Please use these instructions listed in Sunset section: https://www.mobiledriveway.com/glance.html#sunset
Valid Open Weather API key. If it is missing or invalid (misstyped or banned), you might see "owk?" error message in weather metrics. It is FREE to get a valid Open Weather API key - just follow instructions in "How to get an API key" section of FAQ here: https://openweathermap.org/faq

Garmin Weather

Garmin Weather data is used in both apps. It requires your watch to be compatible with API 3.2. Some watches are still at API 3.1 - for them Weather fields will always show "N/A". If weather shows "-", it means that there is no current weather information provided by Garmin. You can verify it by opening "Garmin Weather Widget" - it might say something like "Waiting for data". More about setting up Garmin Weather can be found here.

Here is a list of watches that do not support Garmin Weather:

Approach S62

D2 (all variations)
Fenix 5 (all variations)
Fenix 5 Plus (all variations) - it has API 3.2, but for some reason Weather API is not included, at least in the simulator testing.
Chronos
Forerunner 645, 645 Music, 935
Vivoactive 3

"Garmin Weather Widget" might be working on some of the above models, but it uses some system connection to get weather data. It is not available to the 3rd party apps.

If your watch doesn't support Garmin Weather, try Glance Pro app that can use Open Weather. You can also use Glance More Universal Widget, which supports Open Weather too: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/2d1a8cdd-a0da-44a0-aa5a-19b643d1f2d7

Sunrise / Sunset

Location for Sunrise / Sunset is taken from the last Activity. If Activity position is not available, run some activity with GPS (like Running), wait for GPS lock (either a message or screen borders turning green) and exit the Activity. Sunset data will be shown on the watch face right after that. Follow the same procedure if the app is stuck at the old location but you traveled to another city.

You can also enable "Use Weather location" in app settings - for this option it is recommended to set Weather location to "Use Phone Location" in User settings in Connect app on your phone. Location from Weather is available only on watches supporting Garmin Weather (see incompatible models above).

If both locations are present (last Activity and Weather), last Activity location is used, unless the app specifically states that Garmin Weather will be a primary source for location.

Heart Rate

By default heart rate is updated every second when the watch is awake or once per minute if it is sleeping. If you enable the option "Heart Rate always ON" in the settings, the heart rate will use the following refresh rate:

If "Seconds" are enabled and set to "always on", the heart rate is updated once in 2 seconds. There is a Garmin threshold that prevents the app from refreshing both fields every second.
If "Seconds" are disabled or not "always on", the heart rate is updated every second.

There are also 2 historical heart rate metrics: "Heart Rate SUSTAINED MIN" and "Heart Rate SUSTAINED MAX". They check the heart rate history for the period specified in the "Heart Rate period for Sustained Min/Max metric (hours)" setting. This data is coming from Garmin heart sensor history API. It is not clear what exactly is recorded in HR history, but it is not what you see in every second update. Perhaps it is an average for the minute, or some other algorithm. The result is that you can see some current heart rate values that are higher than "SUSTAINED MAX" or lower than "SUSTAINED MIN". It is not an error of the app - just the way Garmin stores historical data.

Measurement Units

All units settings for fields like distance and temperature are taken from watch's settings. For some others (like Pressure) units included in the name. Here is an example of how to access watch's settings fo units.

App Installation

There are ocasionally reports coming from users saying that the app can't be installed because an update is required. First thing you can try is to use "Garmin Express" on a computer (PC or MAC) to update firmware on your watch. Do not rely on the "Connect" app on your phone - for some reason it doesn't always show the correct update information. If "Garmin Express" doesn't help, please contact Garmin Support. The app itself does not controll installation or updates - it is done by Garmin Connect IQ, so nothing can be done on the app side.

Notifications box

Notifications box count is only displayed if there are notifications, otherwise it is invisible. It can be completely disabled in settings and optionally replaced by AM/PM symbol (for 12H time format only).

Status Icons

Status Icons are for Bluetooth Connection, Alarm, and Do Not Disturb mode. There are a few settings options available for them:

Choose Status Icons mode:

None. Disables status if you find the screen too busy with it.
Status Icons with placeholder always on
Icons visible only when status active (my favorite now)
Connection Dot (BT connection only)

Set Active and Inactive colors for status icons. Inactive color works as a placeholder for the status - set it to Transparent if you only want to see the icon when it is active.
Set BT icon to be active only when phone is disconnected by enabling "Use Disconnected icon for Bluetooth (instead of Connected)". It makes display less busy in normal operations.
Connection Dot works like this. It displays in solid color when phone is connected and hollow circle when the phone is disconnected. You can also make it invisible in either of those states (see dot only if the phone is disconnected for example). To do that, set Active or Inactive color to invisible.

Alignment of displayed Time on the screen

On some watches time is displayed not exactly in the center of the screen (due to a difference in fonts on different watch models). Use "Shift position of time on screen UP by" setting to correct it for your watch.

Payment

Glance Watch Face app is 100% FREE and will remain so. If you would like to get extra features (like Open Weather, Body Battery metric, and a lot more), please try my other apps - Glance Pro and Glance Dual Screen.