Garmin Fenix 7 and Epix Lose Turn-by-Turn Navigation After Platform Bug

A Garmin Connect platform bug is currently breaking Turn-by-Turn (TBT) navigation alerts on the Fenix 7, Epix, and Forerunner 955. Courses synced directly from Komoot or Strava are the main victims. The watch receives the route, but the cue alerts simply don't fire during activity.

This matters most if you race or train on unfamiliar trails and rely on wrist alerts instead of constantly checking the map screen. Garmin's TBT system is one of the reasons athletes pay 700 to 900 dollars for a Fenix or Epix over a Coros Vertix 2 or a Polar Grit X Pro. When it stops working, that advantage disappears fast.

The immediate workaround is to manually export your route as a FIT file from Komoot or Strava, then sideload it directly onto the watch via USB rather than syncing through Garmin Connect. That bypasses the broken platform layer entirely. It's an extra two minutes of setup, but TBT alerts come back.

Garmin has not pushed a fix yet. This is a backend issue, not a firmware problem, so a watch software update won't solve it. The5krunner flagged it first. Worth watching Garmin's status page if you have a race or long navigation run this weekend.

Not a dealbreaker long term. But right now, sideload your FIT files and skip the Garmin Connect sync for navigation routes.