A few days after releasing my new version that uses the new Garmin Health API and my own server, it’s not really a success story… My server is overwhelmed by the synchronisation and backfill requests…

I had initially planned to turn on the new service only for new users to avoid stressing the server too much, but still it does. So I have issued a new version that only doesn’t enable the new service by default.

For those who have issues with the service, just switch the Source in the settings for Garmin to be Garmin Website

I am going to do two things, try to optimise the way the server processes backfill, and add a way for ConnectStats to download the history from the website, and only process new activities from the new service. I hope it’s just that I did something silly in my implementation (very likely) and not that I will need to upgrade to a bigger infrastructure…

I feel bad for the new users of the app this weekend as this is not a great first experience of the app, but hopefully, soon it will be in a better place..

I just pushed version 5.0 of ConnectStats to Apple for review. It will likely take a few days for the version to be approved. Hopefully it will be done in time for the iOS 13 release.

This version has two major changes. First the app has been updated with a new look for iOS 13 and support for dark mode. Second it can now use the new service I have been testing with a few users. Before you switch, please read the details below to make sure it’s for you.

Dark Mode

Version 5.0 has a major revamp of the way the interface is driven internally to enable much more customisation of the look of the app. This was driven first to be able to support the new dark mode from iOS13, but it may later help support more customisations.

In the settings you can now choose a theme. You’ll find a few so far:

• Original: it just make the app look like it has been in the last 8 years…
• Dark Mode: it is a mode that changes the look to a dark mode on iOS 12
• Dynamic: it is a mode that changes between the above two on iOS 13 depending on the general mode of the app (light or dark)
• Native iOS 13: This is a mode only available on iOS 13 that uses the standard colors of iOS 13. The main difference being in dark mode and some minor changes in the light mode. This is probably my preferred one so far, and when the app runs for the first time on iOS 13 it will change to this mode (after iOS update)

You can see a few previews of the iOS 13 dark mode here. If you find any issues with it, send a bug report or comment here.

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New Service

I have been implementing a new service in the last few months using the new Health API from Garmin. The main benefit is that it is supported by garmin, as opposed to the current way ConnectStats access your activities by using the unsupported API that the garmin connect website uses. It will present a few benefit now or later:

• we should not have unexpected failure of the app like this one or this one. This service is fully supported by Garmin
• It give more control on the data exchange and provide the ability to implement new features like adding weather information (will come soon after this release) or notification (maybe, if it’s deemed useful)

The flip side is that currently it has a few shortcomings, so I do not recommend that everyone switches to it just yet, unless you understand the below issues:

• The initial synchronisation of the account can be slow : about 2 min for every 2 months of activities you want to synchronise. There is nothing I can do about that, it is a limitation of the API.
• Details of older activities that were recorded on an older device no longer associated with your garmin account will not be available. So only a summary but now maps or details graph. Garmin told me they are working on fixing this issue.
• Extra information you have on the Garmin Connect Website, for example activity names, or edited activity type after the initial upload will not be seen by the new service.
• It’s a new service I implemented myself, so it is possible, instead of unexpected failure because of a garmin change, it will could have some issues initially because of my own mistakes… But I’ll do my best to fix.

In light of the above limitations, I currently set up the app to only use the new service for brand new users. Existing users will continue on the old API and would have to switch manually to the new service in the settings and as in the below screen, switch the source to ConnectStats.

The new service is implemented such that will will understand the equivalence with activities downloaded from garmin connect. So you can switch back and forth between the two services and it should work and not be confused. You can also create a new profile to test it out.

I intend to implement soon a new version that will allow to more seamlessly get the data from the two services, which will be a bit of the best of both world…

Note that I encourage you to read the privacy policy to make sure you understand what happens to your data. The key point being, the new service does not keep any information whatsoever about who you are. At no point do I save your name, email, etc (the service actually never asks for it and never obtains it), but the service will save your fit files.

You can read a bit more about the new service here.