Developers say an intermittent fault leaves third-party apps without location data in more than half of sessions on some Fenix 9 Pro models, while Garmin prepares a firmware fix.
Garmin’s Fenix 9 Pro is facing criticism after developers reported a GPS fault that appears to affect third-party apps rather than Garmin’s own workout software. According to a bug report on Garmin’s developer forum, some Connect IQ applications receive satellite positions for roughly 14 seconds before the signal stops entirely, leaving activities without location data in many sessions.
The problem appears to be intermittent rather than universal. The forum report says it affects the Pro 47mm and Pro 51mm models in more than half of recorded sessions, including cases where the same watch works normally one time and fails the next. It also says the fault occurs whether the app requests a SatIQ configuration or not, suggesting that the issue lies deeper in the device’s handling of GPS data for third-party software.
That distinction matters because Garmin’s own sports profiles seem to remain unaffected, which means the issue is likely to hit navigation tools and workout apps built by outside developers more than standard first-party functions. Developers say that users often have to restart an app several times before getting usable GPS data, a pattern that can quickly translate into poor ratings in the Garmin Connect IQ Store. Garmin has acknowledged the bug and, according to the forum discussion, intends to address it in a future firmware release.
The episode has added to wider concerns about Garmin’s software quality. In comments reported by Notebookcheck and other tech sites, developers described the GPS fault as part of a longer pattern that includes missing access to the gyroscope on the Forerunner 170, incorrect timestamps on sensor data, and other firmware bugs such as a faulty ambient light sensor on the Fenix 8. One developer said the company can take months to fix issues once they are reported, even after users and app makers have identified the root cause. More than 100 bugs were reportedly logged soon after the Fenix 9 Pro launch, underlining how quickly software complaints have piled up around the new model.
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