Garmin Lily: Adding and Tracking Activities, Customization, and Troubleshooting

How do I add activity to Garmin Lily?

The Garmin Lily, designed for style and essential health tracking, allows users to initiate and record specific timed activities directly from the device, while also leveraging the Garmin Connect app for deeper customization, data analysis, and manual activity entry.

Understanding Garmin Lily's Activity Tracking Capabilities

The Garmin Lily is a sleek, fashion-forward smartwatch that seamlessly integrates core health and fitness tracking into your daily life. While it excels at automatic, continuous monitoring of metrics like steps, sleep, stress levels, and heart rate, it also provides the functionality to track specific, timed activities. Unlike some more advanced Garmin sports watches, the Lily focuses on simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for those who want accessible fitness insights without overwhelming complexity.

Key capabilities include:

• Automatic Daily Tracking: Continuously monitors your steps, calories burned, distance, intensity minutes, all-day stress, and sleep patterns without any manual input.
• Heart Rate Monitoring: Provides continuous heart rate data, crucial for understanding exertion during activities and overall cardiovascular health.
• Blood Oxygen (Pulse Ox) Tracking: Offers insights into your body's oxygen saturation levels.
• Hydration Tracking: Allows manual logging of water intake.
• Timed Activities: Enables you to start, track, and save specific workouts, such as walks, runs, cardio sessions, and more, providing detailed metrics for these periods.

For outdoor activities requiring precise distance and pace, the Lily utilizes Connected GPS, meaning it leverages your paired smartphone's GPS signal rather than having a built-in GPS chip.

Initiating a Timed Activity on Your Garmin Lily

To record a structured workout with specific metrics, you'll need to manually start an activity on your Lily. This process ensures accurate tracking of duration, heart rate, and other relevant data for your chosen exercise type.

Step-by-step guide to starting an activity:

1. Wake the Display: Tap the touchscreen or raise your wrist to activate the Lily's hidden display.
2. Access the Menu: Press and hold the touchscreen until the main menu appears.
3. Select the Activity Icon: Tap the icon that resembles a running figure or a person exercising. This will take you to your list of available activity profiles.
4. Choose Your Activity: Scroll through the list by swiping up or down. Common pre-loaded activities include:
   • Walk
   • Run
   • Cardio
   • Strength
   • Yoga
   • Breathwork
   • Elliptical
   • Stair Stepper
   • Pool Swim
   • (Note: The exact list may vary slightly based on firmware updates.)
5. Start the Activity: Tap on the desired activity (e.g., "Walk").
   • For Outdoor Activities (Walk, Run): The watch will display "Connecting GPS..." if your phone is connected and GPS is enabled. Wait for it to show "GPS Connected" or a green GPS icon for optimal accuracy. You can proceed without GPS, but distance and route data will be less precise.
   • For Indoor Activities (Cardio, Strength, Yoga): The activity will typically start immediately.
6. Begin Your Workout: Once ready, tap the green play icon or the screen again to start the activity timer. Your Lily will now begin recording your workout data.
7. During the Activity: You can swipe left or right to view different data screens (e.g., time, heart rate, distance, calories).
8. Pause/Stop the Activity: When you finish your workout, press and hold the touchscreen again to bring up the activity options.
   • Tap the Pause icon (two vertical lines) to temporarily stop the activity.
   • From the paused screen, tap the Stop icon (a square) to end the activity.
9. Save or Discard: After stopping, you'll be presented with options:
   • Tap the Checkmark icon to save the activity. This will upload it to Garmin Connect when you sync.
   • Tap the Trash Can icon to discard the activity if you don't want to save it.

Using Connected GPS with Your Smartphone

For activities like walking, running, or cycling where precise distance, pace, and route mapping are crucial, the Garmin Lily leverages your smartphone's GPS. This is known as "Connected GPS."

To ensure accurate Connected GPS tracking:

• Keep Your Phone with You: Your smartphone must be within Bluetooth range of your Lily during the entire outdoor activity.
• Enable Bluetooth: Ensure Bluetooth is turned on both on your phone and your Lily.
• Enable Location Services: On your smartphone, enable Location Services (or GPS) for the Garmin Connect app. For best results, set it to "Always Allow" or "While Using the App."
• Open Garmin Connect (Optional but Recommended): While not always strictly necessary, having the Garmin Connect app open and running in the background on your phone can sometimes improve GPS connection stability.
• Wait for GPS Connection: When you start an outdoor activity on your Lily, wait for the "GPS Connected" message or the green GPS icon to appear before you begin moving. This ensures the watch has established a stable connection with your phone's GPS.

Customizing Activity Profiles and Data Fields (Garmin Connect App)

While the Lily offers a selection of pre-loaded activities, you can customize these and even add more through the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone. This allows you to tailor your watch to your specific fitness routine.

Steps to customize activity profiles:

1. Open Garmin Connect: Launch the Garmin Connect app on your paired smartphone.
2. Access Device Settings:
   • Tap the "More" menu (three horizontal lines, usually bottom right on iOS, top left on Android).
   • Tap "Garmin Devices."
   • Select your "Lily" device from the list.
3. Navigate to Activity Options:
   • Tap "Activity Options" or "Activities & Apps."
4. Edit or Add Activities:
   • You'll see a list of activities currently on your watch. You can reorder them by dragging the three horizontal lines next to an activity.
   • To remove an activity, tap the red minus sign (iOS) or swipe left (Android).
   • To add an activity that isn't currently on your watch, tap "Add Activities" and select from the available options.
5. Customize Data Screens (for each activity):
   • Tap on a specific activity (e.g., "Run").
   • You can then adjust settings like "Data Screens" to choose which metrics are displayed during that activity (e.g., Time, Distance, Heart Rate Zone).
   • You can also set "Alerts" (e.g., heart rate alerts, pace alerts) or configure "Auto Lap" settings.
6. Sync Changes: After making changes in the app, ensure your Lily syncs with Garmin Connect to apply the new settings to your watch. This usually happens automatically, but you can force a sync.

Manually Adding or Editing Activities in Garmin Connect

There might be occasions when you forget to wear your Lily, or an activity isn't recorded correctly. Garmin Connect allows you to manually add or edit activities to ensure your fitness log is complete and accurate.

How to manually add an activity:

1. Open Garmin Connect: Launch the app.
2. Access the Menu: Tap the "More" menu.
3. Select "Activities": Tap on "Activities" then "All Activities."
4. Add Activity: Tap the "+" icon (usually top right on Android, bottom center on iOS) to add a new activity.
5. Choose Activity Type: Select the type of activity (e.g., Run, Bike, Strength).
6. Enter Details: Fill in the date, start time, duration, distance (if applicable), calories, and any notes. You can also add a map if you have a GPX file.
7. Save: Tap "Save" to add the activity to your history.

How to edit an existing activity:

1. Open Garmin Connect: Launch the app.
2. Access "Activities": Tap the "More" menu, then "Activities," then "All Activities."
3. Select Activity: Tap on the specific activity you wish to edit from the list.
4. Edit Details: Tap the three dots (usually top right) or an "Edit" icon. You can then modify details like distance, duration, activity type, or add notes.
5. Save Changes: Confirm your edits by saving them.

Syncing Your Activities to Garmin Connect

For your recorded activities to appear in the Garmin Connect app for analysis, they must be synced. The Lily typically syncs automatically throughout the day when it's within Bluetooth range of your paired smartphone.

How to ensure your activities sync:

• Automatic Syncing: Keep Bluetooth enabled on both your Lily and your smartphone, and ensure the Garmin Connect app is running in the background. The watch will periodically transfer data.
• Manual Syncing:
  1. Open the Garmin Connect app on your phone.
  2. From the "My Day" screen, swipe down from the top to force a sync.
  3. Alternatively, go to the "More" menu > "Garmin Devices" > select your "Lily" > tap "Sync Now."
• Troubleshooting Sync Issues: If activities aren't syncing, try:
  • Ensuring your phone's internet connection is active.
  • Restarting both your Lily and your smartphone.
  • Checking for Garmin Connect app updates.
  • Re-pairing your Lily with the Garmin Connect app if the connection seems lost.

Maximizing Your Garmin Lily for Fitness Tracking

To get the most out of your Garmin Lily for activity tracking, consider these expert tips:

• Proper Fit: Ensure your Lily is worn snugly, but not uncomfortably tight, above your wrist bone. This optimizes heart rate monitoring accuracy.
• Regular Syncing: Sync your watch frequently to Garmin Connect. This not only backs up your data but also allows the app to perform calculations and provide insights.
• Understand Your Data: Explore the various reports and graphs in Garmin Connect. Learn what your heart rate zones mean, how your sleep patterns affect your energy, and how your activity levels contribute to your overall health goals.
• Set Goals: Utilize Garmin Connect to set daily step goals, weekly intensity minute goals, or even specific workout goals. The Lily will help you track your progress.
• Utilize Strength and Yoga Profiles: For strength training, use the "Strength" activity profile. While the Lily won't automatically count reps, it will track duration, heart rate, and approximate calories. For yoga, the "Yoga" profile tracks duration and heart rate, helping you monitor your effort during these mindful practices.
• Battery Management: Be mindful that frequent use of timed activities and Connected GPS will consume more battery. Charge your Lily regularly to ensure it's ready when you are.

Troubleshooting Common Activity Tracking Issues

Even with careful use, you might encounter minor issues. Here are solutions to common problems:

• Activity Not Recording:
  • Did you press start? Ensure you tapped the green play icon after selecting the activity.
  • Is the battery charged? A low battery might prevent activity initiation.
  • Is the watch frozen? Try restarting your Lily (press and hold the touchscreen until the menu appears, then tap the power icon to turn off, then press and hold again to turn on).
• Inaccurate Distance/Pace for Outdoor Activities:
  • Connected GPS issues: Ensure your phone is with you, Bluetooth is on, and Location Services are enabled for Garmin Connect. Wait for "GPS Connected" before starting.
  • Environmental factors: Dense tree cover, tall buildings, or bad weather can interfere with GPS signals.
• Heart Rate Inaccuracy:
  • Watch fit: Ensure the watch is snug and positioned correctly on your wrist.
  • Movement: Rapid or jerky movements, especially in activities like weightlifting, can sometimes affect optical heart rate sensor accuracy.
  • Cleanliness: Ensure the sensor on the back of the watch is clean.
• Activities Not Syncing to Garmin Connect:
  • Bluetooth connection: Verify Bluetooth is active and your phone is paired.
  • Internet connection: Ensure your phone has an active internet connection (Wi-Fi or cellular data).
  • App in background: Keep the Garmin Connect app running in the background.
  • Restart devices: A simple restart of both the Lily and your phone can often resolve sync issues.
  • Check for app updates: Ensure your Garmin Connect app is up to date.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively add and track your activities on your Garmin Lily, leveraging its stylish design and essential fitness tracking capabilities to support your health and wellness journey.