How To Use Garmin Venu 3S | Setup That Actually Sticks

Pair it in Garmin Connect, learn the button-plus-swipe flow, start activities with clean sensor lock, and sync often so your stats stay consistent.

The Venu 3S feels simple once you learn its rhythm: one action button to start and confirm, swipes to browse, and a handful of settings that shape everything. This walkthrough starts with setup, then moves into daily use, workouts, health stats, and common fixes.

What You Do In The First 15 Minutes

Charge, update, pair. That order saves a lot of backtracking.

Charge And Power On

Clip the charging cable onto the back and let the battery climb past 30%. Press and hold the side button to turn the watch on, then pick language, units, and wrist choice.

Pair Through Garmin Connect

Install Garmin Connect on your phone, open it, and add a device inside the app. When the watch shows a pairing code, confirm the same code in the app. Pairing through the app keeps sync steadier than pairing inside phone Bluetooth settings. Garmin lists the setup sequence in the Venu 3 series setup steps.

Let The First Sync Finish

The first sync can push firmware, pull your profile, and apply phone permissions. Keep the phone close until Garmin Connect shows setup complete.

How To Use Garmin Venu 3S For Everyday Basics

Daily use is built on three layers: the watch face, the glance loop, and the controls menu.

Learn The Core Gestures

• Swipe up or down: move through glances like steps, heart rate, sleep, and calendar.
• Swipe right: go back one screen.
• Tap: open details for the item on screen.
• Press the button: open the activities list or confirm a selection.
• Hold the button: open shortcuts you choose, like timers or wallet.

Use The Controls Menu For Fast Toggles

Swipe down from the watch face to open quick controls. This is where you flip Do Not Disturb, find your phone, start a timer, lock the screen, or open the wallet.

Make Glances Feel Like A Personal Dashboard

Glances are the cards you scroll with an up or down swipe. Keep the set tight. Remove cards you never open and pin the ones you check daily, like Body Battery, sleep, and calendar. Fewer cards makes it feel faster.

Pick A Watch Face That Matches Your Day

A clean watch face cuts tapping. Put steps, heart rate, and battery on it, or keep notifications and your next event.

Settings That Shape Comfort And Battery

Set these once, wear the watch for a week, then tweak.

Notifications Without Noise

Allow only the apps you want on your wrist. Start with calls and texts, then add a few apps. If every app buzzes, you’ll tune it out.

Display And Wake Behavior

Decide whether you want always-on display. If you do, set a sleep schedule so the screen stays dark at night. If you do not, adjust wrist-gesture sensitivity so it wakes when you mean it.

Health Tracking Toggles

The watch can track wrist heart rate all day, stress, sleep, and pulse ox during sleep. Turn on the items you will review. If you never check a metric, switching it off keeps life simpler and can stretch battery.

Daily Flow That Feels Effortless

A small routine gets you better data with less work.

Morning Report In One Minute

When you wake, Morning Report can show sleep results, recovery cues, and the day’s calendar. Read it once, close it, and move on. Watch for trends across a week.

One Midday Check

Later, glance at steps, active minutes, and Body Battery. If the meter is low, pick a lighter session or take a short walk.

Night Setup For Cleaner Sleep Logs

Set your bedtime and wake time in the watch settings or the app. This keeps sleep tracking consistent and reduces screen wake at night.

Workouts: Start, Save, Review

Workouts follow a simple loop: choose an activity, wait for sensors, start, then save. After that, Garmin Connect becomes your log.

Outdoor GPS Activities

1. Press the button to open activities.
2. Select Run, Walk, Bike, or another outdoor profile.
3. Wait for the GPS icon to turn solid.
4. Press the button to start.
5. Press again to pause, then choose Save.

On early days, give GPS a clear view of the sky for a minute before you start.

Strength Training With Sets

Select Strength, press start, and log sets as you go. Rep counting can miss a few reps on fast sets, so edit the rep number when it’s off. Logging weight makes your history useful when you repeat the plan next week.

Indoor Sessions

Use Cardio, HIIT, Yoga, or Pilates when you want time and heart rate data without GPS. For treadmill runs, calibrate the distance after the workout so pace stays honest over time.

Review And Edit In Garmin Connect

Open the activity in the app to see charts and splits. Rename it so you can find it later, and add a short note.

Quick Reference: Where Things Live

When you’re new, half the battle is knowing where a feature sits. Use this table as a map.

Task	On The Watch	In Garmin Connect
Change watch face	Hold watch face → Watch Face	Device page → Watch Faces
Edit glances	Glances loop → hold → Edit	Device page → Appearance
Set alarms	Controls → Alarms	Device page → Alarms
Toggle Do Not Disturb	Controls → DND icon	Device page → Notifications
Start a workout	Press button → Activities	Activity list and history
Sync	Auto when phone is near	Pull down to refresh
Sleep schedule	Settings → User Profile → Sleep	Device page → User Profile
Music controls	Music app	Device page → Music
Wallet tap	Wallet control	Device page → Garmin Pay
Safety link	Hold button shortcut	Device page → Safety

Health Stats That Help You Make Choices

Treat health stats as signposts, not grades. Pick a few signals and stick with them.

Heart Rate And Alerts

Wrist heart rate runs in the background. Set high and low alerts so you get a ping if your heart rate jumps during rest or drops under your comfort range. If alerts fire during a workout, check strap fit and sweat under the sensor.

Body Battery And Stress

Body Battery blends sleep, strain, and recovery into one score. Stress fills the gaps between workouts. If it keeps crashing early, look at short sleep and stacked hard days.

Sleep And Naps

Wear the watch snug at night. Check sleep stages as a trend, not a verdict. If you nap, log it when the watch asks, or add it in Garmin Connect if you prefer to do it later.

Pulse Ox During Sleep

Pulse ox can be useful during sleep for some people, but it can also reduce battery. Turn it on for a week, then decide if it earns a spot.

Music And Wallet For Phone-Light Days

These two features cover most quick errands.

Music For Workouts

Open the Music app on the watch, pick your provider, and follow the on-screen steps in Garmin Connect to add playlists. Sync on Wi-Fi at home if you can, since big playlists take a while.

Garmin Pay Basics

Add a card in Garmin Connect, set a passcode, and practice opening the wallet from the controls menu. You’ll enter the passcode once after you put the watch on, then taps are fast until you remove it again.

Safety Setup In One Pass

Set this up once so it’s ready.

Add Emergency Contacts

In Garmin Connect, add at least one emergency contact and fill in your medical info. Set a long-press shortcut to the safety screen and try it once.

Battery Habits That Keep You Out Of Trouble

Battery life comes down to repeat choices.

Limit Pulse Ox If You Don’t Use It

If you do not review pulse ox data, switch it off. You’ll charge less and you’ll spend less time staring at charts that don’t change your actions.

Pick A Charging Rhythm

A short top-up during a shower or while getting ready can beat a long weekly charge. It keeps the watch close to full without worry.

Fixes For The Usual Problems

Most issues come from pairing, permissions, or sensor fit.

Sync Won’t Finish

Close and reopen Garmin Connect, pull down to refresh, and keep the phone close. If it still hangs, restart both devices and try again.

No Notifications

Check phone notification permissions for Garmin Connect, then check app-level notification toggles inside Garmin Connect. Also check that Do Not Disturb is off on the watch.

Heart Rate Looks Off

Move the watch a finger-width above the wrist bone and tighten it for workouts. Clean sweat and lotion off the sensor window. If readings still look odd, switch wrists for a day to test fit.

GPS Track Looks Messy

Start outdoor activities in an open area, wait for a solid GPS icon, and avoid starting next to tall buildings. Sync after your workout so satellite data can refresh.

If you want every menu name in one place, the Venu 3 series Owner’s Manual is the fastest way to confirm where a toggle lives.

Final Personal Setup Checklist

Run this checklist once, then stop tinkering.

• Watch face shows time, battery, and one health stat you check daily.
• Glances include steps, heart rate, sleep, Body Battery, and calendar.
• Notifications limited to calls, texts, and a small set of apps.
• Sleep schedule set, with screen dim at night.
• Two go-to activities pinned near the top of the activity list.
• Emergency contacts added, plus a practice run of the shortcut.

Goal	Setting	What You Get
Fewer buzzes	Limit app notifications	Only high-signal alerts reach your wrist
Cleaner sleep logs	Set sleep schedule	Night tracking lines up with your real bedtime
Smoother GPS starts	Wait for solid GPS icon	Better pace and cleaner tracks
More accurate heart rate	Wear above wrist bone	Less dropouts during intervals
Less charging	Turn off pulse ox	Longer time between charges
Faster music sync	Use Wi-Fi at home	Playlists arrive with fewer retries
Safer solo workouts	Add emergency contacts	Quick sharing during outdoor sessions

At this point, the Venu 3S turns into a steady daily tool. You’ll spend less time in menus and more time using the data to steer your training and recovery.