How To Link Garmin Watch To Apple Fitness | Clean Data Sync

Connect Garmin Connect to Apple Health, allow read/write, then Apple Fitness pulls your workouts and Move progress from Health.

If you wear a Garmin watch and still like Apple’s rings view, you can use both. The clean setup is simple: Garmin Connect writes your workouts into Apple Health, then the Fitness app reads that Health data. Once it’s set, your Garmin workouts can appear in your Fitness summary, and your Move ring can get credit from third-party workouts.

This guide sticks to the taps that matter, then shows you how to spot problems fast (missing workouts, duplicates, or totals that look off).

What You Need Before You Start

• An iPhone with the Health and Fitness apps installed.
• Your Garmin watch paired to the Garmin Connect app.
• Garmin Connect signed in and able to sync.

Before you change settings, record one short workout on the watch and sync it to Garmin Connect. That gives you a clean test entry to hunt for in Health and Fitness.

How To Link Garmin Watch To Apple Fitness Without Data Gaps

The link is a two-part handshake: Garmin Connect shares to Apple Health, then Fitness reads what lands in Health.

Step 1: Connect Garmin Connect With Apple Health

1. Open Garmin Connect on your iPhone.
2. Open the menu (often “More”).
3. Go to Settings → Connected Apps (or Connect Apps).
4. Select Apple Health, then start the connection.
5. On the iOS permission screen, turn on the categories you want, then tap Allow.

Garmin’s reference page for this connection is Sharing your Garmin Connect data with Apple Health.

Step 2: Check Health Permissions On iPhone

1. Open the Health app.
2. Tap Sharing → Apps (or Apps & Services).
3. Tap Garmin Connect.
4. Turn on the categories you want Garmin to write.

If you only care about Garmin workouts in Fitness, start with Workouts plus Active Energy. You can add more later once the basics work.

Step 3: Make Sure Fitness Accepts Third-Party Workouts

In Fitness, go to the rings screen, then scroll to the section that lets you add a compatible workout app and grant Health sharing permission. Apple’s instructions are here: Sync a third-party workout app to Fitness on iPhone.

You might not see “Garmin” listed in that Fitness screen. That’s fine. If Garmin is writing workouts into Health, Fitness can still display them once it refreshes.

How The Data Flows Between Garmin, Health, And Fitness

Health is the hub. Garmin Connect writes workouts and activity categories into Health. Fitness reads parts of Health to build your activity summary and ring progress. If Health never receives the workout entry, Fitness has nothing to show.

That single idea helps you troubleshoot: always check Health first. If it’s missing there, fix Garmin or permissions. If it’s in Health, then focus on Fitness refresh and display.

Choose Health Categories That Keep Totals Clean

Turning on every toggle can create messy totals if multiple apps write the same category. Pick the categories you want, then keep one main writer for each metric when you can.

Health Category	Where It Shows On iPhone	Garmin Connect Toggle
Workouts	Fitness summary, Health workout history	Allow writing workouts
Active Energy	Move ring credit, daily calories in Health	Allow active calories
Heart Rate	Health heart rate charts	Allow heart rate
Resting Heart Rate	Health resting HR trends	Allow resting HR
Steps	Health steps totals	Allow steps
Walking + Running Distance	Health distance totals	Allow distance
Flights Climbed	Health flights climbed	Allow floors
Respiratory Rate	Health respiratory charts (if available)	Allow respiration
Body Mass	Health weight trend (if used)	Allow weight

How Apple Fitness Rings Credit Garmin Workouts

Fitness can show third-party workouts and use them for ring progress when the workout is saved into Health with the right categories. In practice, that means your Garmin activity should create a workout entry and write active energy. When both land in Health, Fitness usually credits the Move ring and shows the workout in your summary.

Two things trip people up. First, a workout that saves as “Other” or a niche activity type may still appear in Health but look buried in Fitness. Second, calorie totals may differ between apps. Garmin and Apple can use different formulas, sensors, and rounding. Treat the ring credit as a consistent daily signal, not a point-by-point match to Garmin’s training screens.

Keep One Daily Tracker When You Can

If you sometimes wear an Apple Watch and sometimes a Garmin, pick one device as your main tracker for a given day. Mixing them across the same day can create odd totals in steps and calories. If you do switch, check Health’s source order for Steps and Active Energy so the totals come from the device you trust most.

Make Workouts Easier To Find In Fitness

Fitness reads the workout type name that lands in Health. If your Garmin watch is set to a generic activity type for many sessions, your Fitness history can look repetitive. When the watch offers a closer match, choose it at workout start. A run logged as “Run” is easier to scan later than a long list of “Cardio.”

Also watch for auto-pause and short test sessions. If you start and stop a workout a few times, you may create a cluster of tiny workouts in Health, which then show up in Fitness as clutter. If that happens, delete the extra entries in Health so Fitness stays readable.

Set Data Source Order In Health

Health can store the same category from more than one source. If your steps or calories look odd, open that category in Health and check Data Sources & Access. Put your preferred source at the top, then give it a sync cycle.

Set Up A Daily Sync Habit That Actually Sticks

Most “it worked yesterday” issues come down to timing. Your watch stores the activity, then Garmin Connect needs to pull it from the watch, then push it into Health. If Garmin Connect is closed and your phone hasn’t synced yet, Health stays unchanged. That makes Fitness look broken even when nothing is wrong.

A low-effort routine keeps it steady:

• After your workout, open Garmin Connect and wait until the sync finishes.
• Open Health and confirm the workout is listed. That is your receipt.
• Open Fitness last. If Fitness lags, close and reopen it.

If you travel or switch phones often, do this test again after major changes. A new iPhone restore, a fresh Garmin Connect install, or a big iOS update can reset permissions without warning. The check steps take two minutes and save a lot of guesswork.

Know The One-Way Rule Between Garmin And Apple Apps

Garmin Connect writes into Apple Health on iPhone. Apple Health does not push your Apple-side workouts back into Garmin Connect through this connection. That’s why this setup is best when the Garmin watch is your main tracker. If you mainly track workouts with Apple Watch and want them in Garmin, you’ll need a separate bridge app, which adds cost and can create duplicates. For many people, keeping Garmin as the capture device is the cleaner call.

Check That Garmin Workouts Are Showing In Apple Fitness

Do a quick test so you know the chain is working end to end.

1. Record a short workout on your Garmin and save it.
2. Open Garmin Connect and let it finish syncing.
3. Open Health → Activity → Workouts and check for today’s entry.
4. Open Fitness and check your activity summary for the workout.

If the workout is in Health but not Fitness, force close Fitness and reopen it. If it still won’t show, recheck the Workouts permission for Garmin Connect in Health.

Fix Common Problems Fast

Most issues are permission-related or caused by more than one app writing the same thing.

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
No Garmin workouts in Health	Write permission is off	Health → Sharing → Apps → Garmin Connect, turn on Workouts
Workouts in Health, not in Fitness	Fitness didn’t refresh	Force close Fitness, reopen, then check the summary again
Workout shows twice	Two apps wrote the same workout	Pick one writer for Workouts and turn off the other app’s write permission
Steps look too high	Multiple step sources compete	Health Steps → Data Sources & Access, set your preferred order
Updates only happen after opening Garmin Connect	Sync runs during an active app session	Open Garmin Connect after workouts and leave it open briefly
Heart rate is blank in Health	Heart Rate category is off	Turn on Heart Rate permission for Garmin Connect in Health
Reconnected and old history is short	Limited backfill window	Let it sync; older history may not fully import
Nothing looks consistent after many changes	Permissions are tangled	Disconnect, restart iPhone, reconnect, then enable only needed categories

Keep Your Workout List Free Of Duplicates

If you use other apps (running apps, cycling apps, gym logs), decide who writes Workouts into Health. One writer keeps the Fitness history clean. Set other apps to read workouts instead of writing them.

How To Unlink Garmin From Apple Health

If you decide you don’t want Garmin workouts showing in Health or Fitness, you can undo it in minutes. Disconnect Apple Health inside Garmin Connect first. Then open Health → Sharing → Apps, tap Garmin Connect, and switch off the categories. After that, new workouts should stop flowing into Health.

If you already have old workout entries in Health, those stay until you delete them. If you want a clean slate, remove the old Garmin workouts in Health one by one. Do this slowly so you don’t delete workouts you still want in your record.

Final Checks That Prevent Weird Totals

• After a workout, open Garmin Connect once and let it finish syncing.
• Check Health first. If it isn’t there, Fitness can’t show it.
• If totals look off, review the source order for that category in Health.

Once those habits are in place, you get Garmin’s training detail plus Apple’s rings view on iPhone, without spending your week babysitting settings.