Garmin has released Beta Version 24.16 for its Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro watches, a dozen-item bundle that mostly tidies up what the last builds left behind. It arrives in a quick run of updates, four in roughly three weeks, even as the company has only just begun testing its next flagship line, the Fenix 9. Some features, dive mode and ECG among them, are still switched off, and nothing yet says when they will return. For owners of these devices, the release is a quiet reminder that software, like the watch itself, is always in the middle of being made.
Garmin Pushes Fenix 8 Beta 24.16 With a Dozen Fixes and Features, Dive and ECG Still Disabled
Four Fenix 8 betas in about three weeks
Garmin has released Beta Version 24.16 for its Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro watches, a dozen-item bundle that mostly tidies up what the last builds left behind. It arrives in a quick run of updates, four in roughly three weeks, even as the company has only just begun testing its next flagship line, the Fenix 9. Some features, dive mode and ECG among them, are still switched off, and nothing yet says when they will return. For owners of these devices, the release is a quiet reminder that software, like the watch itself, is always in the middle of being made.
Garmin has put out Beta Version 24.16 for the Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro, and it is a larger release than the ones before it. The update carries a dozen changes, most of them fixes, and it is reaching owners of the company's older flagship watches through the Beta Program.
The timing gives the release its weight. Garmin has only just started beta work on the Fenix 9 series, yet it has pushed four Fenix 8 betas in roughly three weeks. Version 24.16 followed its predecessor, 24.15, within days. Participants who have not yet received it can request it manually as an over-the-air download.
One caveat stands out: Dive and ECG remain disabled on every model in this beta, the Fenix 8 Pro included, and nothing says when they will return.
The fixes are practical. Courses with long names now appear after syncing, a German-language reboot during navigation is gone, and pack weight metrics are restored. Golf users get back their missing performance widget and a working hole picker, and storm alerts return to their proper tone and vibration style. Smaller corrections address swim wrist settings, overlapping call text, stray navigation alerts, and several translation problems, including Chinese display.
Garmin has put out Beta Version 24.16 for the Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro, and it is a bigger release than the ones that came just before it. The update bundles a dozen changes, most of them fixes, and it is going out to owners of the company's older flagship smartwatches through the Beta Program.
The timing is part of the story. Garmin has only just begun its first beta development cycle for the Fenix 9 series. Even so, it has now pushed four beta updates to the Fenix 8 family in roughly three weeks. Version 24.16 arrived only a few days after its predecessor, 24.15, reached the same watches.
According to the report, 24.16 should already have been offered to every participant in the Beta Program. Anyone who has not received it can request it manually as an over-the-air download.
One caveat comes from a Garmin forum post: the Dive and ECG features remain disabled on all models in this beta, the Fenix 8 Pro included. The Fenix 8 Pro is currently listed at $1,029 on Amazon. Nothing in the report says when those features might be switched back on.
The changelog between 24.15 and 24.16 starts with a small addition: support for more currency symbols in certain fonts. The rest is bug fixes. One resolves an issue where Garmin Connect courses with long names did not appear on the device after syncing. Another stops the watch from rebooting during navigation when the system language is set to German. A third restores pack weight metrics that went missing after some activities that use pack weight.
Golf users get several fixes. The Golf Performance widget, which had gone missing, is restored, and the golf radial hole picker, which had stopped working, works again. Storm alerts had been using the phone notification style instead of the tone and vibration style, and that is corrected too. Swim wrist settings, which showed as Unknown after the wrist was selected, now display properly.
The remaining items are interface and language cleanups. Garmin fixed text overlap in the messenger call toast notification and removed unsupported turn-guidance alerts that were appearing in navigation settings. It also fixed Chinese translation display issues and various other translation problems.
What to watch next is whether the cadence holds. Four Fenix 8 betas in about three weeks, alongside the opening of Fenix 9 testing, suggests Garmin is working on both fronts at once. Whether Dive and ECG return in a later build is still unanswered.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Dive and ECG features remain disabled across all models, including the Fenix 8 Pro.— Garmin, forum post (as reported by Notebookcheck)
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei Notebookcheck ↗
Economy & Finance