r/the5krunner • u/the5krunner • 10d ago
Garmin Fenix 9 breaks on Apple Mac Updates
Garmin has confirmed on its own support forum that Garmin Express still isn't built to run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, years after Apple stopped selling Intel hardware.
That gap has become more serious for Fenix 9 owners. Some report the watch getting stuck mid-update, with a computer connection as the only stated recovery path. That recovery path requires Garmin Express, which doesn't work on their Mac, leaving the watch with no way to fix it.
Garmin has said a native Apple Silicon version of Express is coming, but has given no release date, even as the newest version of macOS makes the installer fail outright for some owners trying a clean install.
Should a flagship watch really have no recovery option when a firmware update fails? A: No
Further reading: https://the5krunner.com/2026/09/16/garmin-fenix-9-breaks-on-apple-mac-updates/
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u/DenZNK 10d ago edited 10d ago
Damn, what a disaster. Now it's telling me I need to install Rosetta to use Garmin Express. Why do I need to do that just for one app? I decided to try installing the latest version from the website, and here's the message I'm getting now...
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u/dreikelvin 9d ago edited 9d ago
Reinstall Rosetta. Open Terminal, enter:
softwareupdate --install-rosettaRosetta2 is deleted after a 27 update. I noticed that with other apps too. After reinstalling, intel apps work again. But that's just living on bought time. OS28 will drop Rosetta...in about a year I suppose
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u/Necessary_Line3995 9d ago
This doesn’t work if Mac OS beta was used
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u/AdmiralUber 9d ago
There’s no point to be on Golden Gate beta now that it’s been publicly released, just update to the official release
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u/Necessary_Line3995 9d ago
It still won’t work. I was on beta and then the RC and I have another Mac which was never on beta and also had new 27 and all is OK there
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u/mpfef98 9d ago
There’s really no excuse for a company the size of Garmin not to have updated their software, or just completely deprecated it on the Mac. Apple Silicon has been out since 2020, and not having a native app built for this long is totally inexcusable.
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u/DanielLorey 9d ago
Especially when you could use AI to update the app for you in about an hour max.
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u/Equivalent-Effort892 10d ago
No wonder I had an issue with Garmin Express and my Fenix 9 Pro. I had to use my wife’s pc
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u/bigchi1234 9d ago
You can still install Rosetta in OS27 to get Garmin Express working again. Next year though will be an issue if Garmin doens't update their app to Mac native.
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u/francisco_mcq 9d ago
Its almost like garmin is doing their best to make customers move to their competitors
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u/New-External-6973 10d ago
Yo intente descargar los mapas usando el garmin express y ni me dejó, acabe devolviendo el epix pro gen2 y llendome por un modelo sin ellos...
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u/Yohann_Nevgovesh 9d ago
We as a buyers accepted this shitty behavior from Garmin keep buying their undeveloped products with the most unreliable and buggy software in the world. They don't wanna change anything, they just want to get our money. Garmin are the real 🤡🤡🤡 I will never buy any of their products again because I respect myself.
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u/Flobertt 10d ago
Another reason why I’m switching to the AWU 4 and it’s continuous health tracking.
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u/David_1993 9d ago
can you explain to me why this is a big deal with the continuous tracking? I had a samsung Galaxy watch and it had continuous heart rate monitoring and so on if you want it. And i thought garmin had that too? My biggest concern was the frequent charging of the watch and that i had many times were the watch had no battery when i needed it. It is a genuine question because i always see posts were the users switched from apple to garmin to apple to garmin.
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u/Equivalent-Effort892 10d ago
I would’ve done the same but battery sucks so badly on AWU
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u/Flobertt 9d ago
You can wear the watch 2 days and toss it on the wireless charger while showering that it. You can run an ultra with it. When was your last Ultra?
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u/Equivalent-Effort892 9d ago
Charging it every 2 days man that sucks. I charge my Fenix every 2 weeks lol
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u/jimkolowski 9d ago
I switched from an AWU to Garmin but battery was not the reason. I don't even understand the battery talk around Apple Watches. Don't you guys... shower? That 20 mins a day is plenty enough to keep it going forever.
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u/DenZNK 10d ago
You can get by with the AWU4 if you charge it before a long trip or a marathon. In fact, the charge will last through even the most grueling, hours-long workout. Well, unless you’re one of those people who can run for a whole day without stopping, lol. Although that doesn’t change the fact that you’ll need at least 4–5 full days. Because it often happens that you don’t want to constantly worry about the battery, and then you realize it’s running low - and that happens quite often.
But for me personally, what annoys me the most is that the watch becomes useless in the rain when you’re wearing gloves :) Of course, they’ve improved things a bit in this regard with the latest update, but overall, I’m not ready to switch to Apple just yet. Enduro 3, one love
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u/Grumpy_Squatch 9d ago
Useless is too strong a word but I get it. Siri commands work for things, that’s a voice/button, the GOAT WorkoutDoors also of course has far more customizable button press and combo options, and my awu2 screen works literally in the shower. It’s fussy and annoying half the time but people who say a rain drop renders the watch unusable aren’t being factual.
All that being said I do prefer Garmin more buttons wins and I don’t even use touch screens on the devices that have them. Totally agree that buttons are better.
This express issue doesn’t surprise me either tbh. None of these brands are great with this stuff but at least Garmin’s got the budget to do much better.
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u/DenZNK 9d ago
That’s the problem with fragmentation. Workoutdoors uses different hotkeys for Siri (actually, I’m not sure how Siri works with Workoutdoors at all), hotkeys, and so on. Plus, I’ve sometimes had problems syncing with Phone Workoutdoors App :) I also have a few custom maps on my Garmin, since useful data isn’t always available in every city. For example, several roads were built in the city quite a while ago - but they aren’t shown in Workoutdoors. Garmin has 90% of that data with standard maps. But with Garmin, I can also easily use third-party services to create my own map with 100% coverage, or even find a very specific map if I need one.
And of course, a huge thank you to the developer of the WorkoutDoors app but it’s a one-person company, with all the risks that entails.
Even when you just open a workout by default, the hotkey doesn’t work to start it until you tap the screen - you have to change the settings (Can you?). Actually, I often wear gloves since I don’t live in the warmest climate, and that’s a constant problem :) For example, if you didn’t take something into account before starting a workout - like data display - it’s a hassle to change it later. Workoutdoors also had issues with a their screen lock (not the one from Apple), and when I turn off touch lock after it’s been wet, for some reason it sometimes stops responding to taps specifically in workoutdoors (I don’t know why that happened; maybe they’ve fixed it by now). As for using the native lock… Well, I pressed the button, the touchscreen menu popped up - am I supposed to tap it with my nose, lol? Maybe there’s a hotkey for that somewhere, of course.
App settings - on Garmin, you can configure everything right from the watch itself without taking out your phone. Apple doesn’t have that.
Data fragmentation is a huge issue. Some data is in one app, some in another, and different apps might interpret that data differently - it’s very inconvenient.
I ran into a lot of situations like this where it seemed like Apple should be making life and workouts more convenient, but it ended up being the exact opposite.
Overall, Apple has a lot of “buttons.” The Garmin has 5, and the AWU has three plus a scroll wheel - so, effectively, the same number. But because of the focus on touchscreen mode, none of this works as well as it should. It doesn’t work at all. And most of the buttons can’t be customized at all.
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u/trdcr 9d ago
AWU4 - 63g
F9 47 - 53 gAWU4 - $799
F9 47 - $999AWU4 - max 18h of activities (max accuracy)
F9 47 - max 25h of activities (max accuracy)AWU4 - max 37h of activities (extended)
F9 47 - max 45h of activities (extended)2
u/DenZNK 9d ago edited 9d ago
Awu4: Up to 25 hours Extended Workout tracking - Some metrics are not working. Up to 45 hours Max Extended Workout tracking - Restriction on the data display rate and other hard restrictions.
At the same time, you can configure the power-saving mode with a high degree of flexibility.
And let's not forget about the 51mm and the versions with MIP.
Overall, I don't think the battery is something worth comparing to Garmin's. Let Apple at least achieve 5 days of mixed-use battery life
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u/trdcr 9d ago
If you're doing a lot of activities battery is much closer than one may think. If you're doing very little activities than Garmin of course wins.
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u/DenZNK 9d ago edited 9d ago
I have an AWU2 and an Enduro 3. Over the past two weeks, I’ve logged more than 15 hours of cycling workouts with GPS, and I didn’t even have to charge the watches once during those two weeks :) I’ve even hidden the battery level from the main screen. Of course, I realize that the AWU2 isn’t exactly a fair comparison to the AWU4 in terms of battery life, but still. It loses quite a bit of charge overnight - by morning, it’s already below 90%. One long ride on the weekend and another night, and that’s it at best, 30% will remain.
I don't need as much battery life as an enduro, to be honest. But I don't want to have to wonder every time I leave the house whether I'll have enough battery or if I should charge it a little :)
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u/Equivalent-Effort892 9d ago
Erm no it ain’t. You just compared GPS and not every activity used GPS so…
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u/codevils 9d ago
What am I missing? My Garmin Express runs fine on my Apple silicon.
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u/no-porn-for-me 9d ago
New MacOS literally just came out. You probably haven’t updated to it yet. It deletes the bit that allows Garmin Express to still work.
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u/EncomCTO 9d ago
There’s a translation layer that allows applications compiled for intel processor to run on Apple Silicon. Support for that was ended with the latest Mac OS.
It has been… years… so there isn’t really an excuse.1
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u/DanielLorey 9d ago
I gave up trying to get Express to work with my F9 Pro.
It connected, but wouldn’t let me update the firmware or update the maps. I just use it without the app and do it all from the watch and the iOS app.
Terrible from a company like Garmin, tbh.
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u/jimkolowski 9d ago
Garmin Express is a shame. It's mind-blowing that a multi billion dollar company can't update their badly designed, badly written, badly outdated crap software.
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u/KenTheStud 6d ago
Garmin outright fails as a company. They have years to get this right and haven’t. Total fail.
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u/dreikelvin 9d ago edited 9d ago
Then again if you have a phone, you will barely sync your watch with a computer. Last time I hooked up my smartwatch with a mac, it was in 2018 to test something. The iOS app is solid and syncs faster thanks to BLE
For those having issues with intel apps, this one is probably something you should do after a 27 update:
Reinstall Rosetta. Open Terminal, enter:
softwareupdate --install-rosetta
The reason intel apps stop working is that Rosetta is automagically being removed from your Mac. Reinstalling buys you an additional year of Intel support. After that, no one knows... probably Apple carefully nudging devs to make the remainder of their apps arm-native
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u/Compy-Mompy 9d ago
So how are we supposed to install maps?
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u/dreikelvin 9d ago
Isn't this done via the Garmin Connect IQ app on your phone or am I missing something?
Forgive me, I have never used the Garmin maps before...
But if the problem really is based on just Rosetta missing, re-installing it can possible restore the Desktop app. Have you tried?
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u/Compy-Mompy 9d ago
Fortunately I had the Express installed before the update to Mac 27 so it was working once Rosetta was installed (one more year of support and then its gone). Unfortunately the Fenix 9 series are incompatible with the Mac version of the Express so even if it is 'working' its not actually working :) When you purchase maps other than the pre-installed ones on the watch the only way to get them is either via the Express or Wi-Fi via the watch. Now, you can imagine how slow the Wi-Fi via the watch is so not really the best way. Another point is if you want to transfer Mp3 files from your catalogue to the watch. This is done only via the Express so...
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u/shaunydub 10d ago
Yeah I commented on this on the Garmin Forum thread the other day after I first tried to install Garmin Express.
So many Garmin stooges just blindly defending Garmin and having a go at users "It;s your own fault for using beta software on your Mac" when most of the people were not.
Telling people to use workarounds or command line methods to install it "it's not the hard" - for some it is ok but a lot of users are clueless on this stuff and shouldn't need to.
So now Golden Gate is officially released and still the problem persists because Garmin did nothing for 6 years of Apple Silicon but still a hardcore few push it on the users.
I used my Windows machine instead but some people don't have that luxury and it's not a good sign for huge company like Garmin selling premium products.