Your Garmin watch is getting a huge bundle of new features for Christmas – free

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The excellent Garmin Forerunner 955 is getting even better

Garmin Forerunner 955 watches in black and white
(Image credit: Garmin)

If you own a Garmin Forerunner 955 watch, you're in for an early Christmas treat – the company is currently rolling out a huge software update that adds a big bundle of new tools, including sleep coaching, an updated weather app, and extra winter sports activities.

As Notebookcheck explains, software version 17.24 is a public update rather than a beta, meaning it will soon be arriving on your watch via the Garmin Connect app, even if you're not a member of Garmin's beta testing program.

Once it's installed, you'll have access to sleep coaching, which gives you personalized advice to help you understand how much sleep you need, and develop consistent habits that will help you get a better night's rest. It also include nap detection, so if you grab 40 winks in the middle of the day, your watch will factor it into your nightly 'sleep need'.

New activity modes include inline skating, team sports, and racket sports, and there's improved course navigation for courses with lots of navigation points (previously the watch could only handle 50 points). 

There's a new large font setting for improved accessibility, and if you own an Android phone, you'll now be able to see previews of images sent using messaging apps like WhatsApp.

You can find full details in the update log on Garmin's forums.

Cat Ellis
Cat Ellis
Editor

Cat is the editor of Advnture, She’s been a journalist for 15 years, and was fitness and wellbeing editor on TechRadar before joining the Advnture team in 2022. She’s a UK Athletics qualified run leader, and in her spare time enjoys nothing more than lacing up her shoes and hitting the roads and trails (the muddier, the better), usually wearing at least two sports watches.