Garmin Background Sync on iPhone Is Now Live in the EU

Garmin watches can finally sync data to your iPhone without the Connect app open. Apple's DMA compliance update in iOS 26.3 forces this change for EU users, ending a frustrating limitation that has plagued Garmin, Polar, Coros, and every other third-party wearable on iOS for years.

This is a big deal in practice. Before this, your Garmin Forerunner or Fenix would sit idle all day and only push data when you manually opened Connect. That meant delayed recovery metrics, late sleep score updates, and laggy HRV readings compared to what Apple Watch users get natively.

The contrast with Apple Watch has always been stark. Apple Watch syncs continuously in the background because it runs watchOS natively tied to iOS. Garmin, Polar, and Whoop all faced the same wall: background app refresh limitations that Apple did not impose on its own hardware. The DMA removes that home court advantage, at least in the EU.

To get it working, you need iOS 26.3 installed and the latest Garmin Connect version. Background sync must be enabled manually in your iPhone settings under Garmin Connect. It is not automatic out of the box, so check your setup.

Solid step forward for non-Apple wearable users in the EU. The playing field is not fully level yet, some deeper integrations remain restricted, but real-time background sync is the one feature that actually affects your daily training workflow.