Connect IQ Store

The Connect IQ Store is a website that launched along with the first Garmin smartwatches and devices supporting apps. These could include anything from a watch face to a companion application like Spotify. I collaborated with a coworker (Aisha Bradford) on the UX design for the project, and wrote the markup and CSS.

The Connect IQ Store

The Connect IQ Store supported four devices at launch, but has since grown to support over 70 devices.

The Requirements

The website needed to be able to install apps to a user’s device as seamlessly as possible as a standalone site, but also within a webview in the Garmin Connect mobile application. When a user selects an app to install, they are prompted to select their target device, then the app will be installed when their device syncs with the Garmin Connect app in the background.

Webview and Standalone

The Connect IQ Store works via a webview in the Garmin Connect application (left) or as a standalone website (right).

Downloads and Uploads

Connect IQ is an open platform allowing third-party to developers to create their own apps. Developers can upload and update apps through the website and provide descriptions, screenshots, permissions, and version data in multiple languages. Developers who wish to monetize their apps can do so through a link to a companion mobile app.

App Upload Form

The website needed to consider app developers as well as app users to facilitate an active community with quality content.

Growing a Userbase

The Connect IQ Store initially launched with four compatible devices, and has grown to now support over fifty devices with a thriving developer community, which Garmin hosts at a yearly Connect IQ Developer Summit.

App Detail View

App installation is a simple process of selecting a target device, then syncing that device through the Garmin Connect application.