The line between smartwatch and GPS watch has been getting smaller and smaller over the years. Garmin has done an outstanding job of releasing their typical great hardware with some new features that place their watches (and long battery life) more towards an actual smartwatch.
These Garmin GPS Watches Now Offer Spotify Capability
One aspect that kept actual smartwatches like the Apple Watch ahead of the Garmin GPS watches was the music playback. For a long time, Garmin watches did not have that ability. Starting a little over a year ago, they rolled out the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music which finally allowed music-loving runners to ditch their phones on the run.
Last year around this time, they introduced their higher-end running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music, which (obviously) had music storage onboard as well. This covered the entry watch family (Vivoactive) and the mid-to-upper end family (Forerunner). Garmin then took it the next step by launching the high-end, does-almost-everything Fenix 5 Plus family of watches that included (among other things like built-in map functionality) music playback.
The Garmin Fenix 5 Plus series of watches – now all with Spotify
The one thing that was still lacking through all of this was Spotify compatibility (though, it should be noted, even Apple did not have Spotify for the Apple Watch at the time). There are a lot of people that love Spotify (like millions and millions) and this was one thing that kept some people from leave their phones at home.
Welcome to 2019! Now, all music-capable Garmin watches have Spotify capability (the Fenix 5 Plus series first getting it last fall with the Forerunner 645 Music following a couple of months later), thanks to the update to the last watch to receive it (the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music). Now, you can get Spotify on the following Garmin watches:
- Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music
- Garmin Forerunner 645 Music
- Garmin Fenix 5S Plus
- Garmin Fenix 5 Plus
- Garmin Fenix 5X Plus
If you have one of those models, time to download the Spotify app for your watch and get running with your favorite playlists!
To see a step-by-step guide on how to get Spotify running on your Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music, check out DC Rainmaker’s very helpful video to do just that.
I actually am not really a Spotify person (yet) but I know many runners who are so this update will certainly make many Garmin owners think about upgrading to one of the above models. If you are waiting for cellular capability to really run phone-free, you should be able to pick up the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music LTE soon enough (though it will require a data plan).
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