Garmin’s Vivoactive 3 Music adds Spotify support for tunes while you tone

By Kelly Hodgkins February 21, 2019

Those who rock a Vivoactive 3 Music fitness watch have an exciting new feature to check out: Spotify integration. Announced in October 2018, Spotify first landed on Garmin’s flagship Fenix 5 Plus series of smartwatches. As part of last year’s announcement, the company confirmed Spotify would also be coming to the company’s other music fitness watches, including the Forerunner 645 Music and the Vivoactive 3 Music. Garmin made good on its promise to Forerunner 645 Music owners, rolling out Spotify support for those watches at the end of October. After a few additional months of development, the Spotify app finally is available for the Vivoactive 3 Music.

Owners can download the Spotify app from the Connect IQ store and sync their Spotify premium accounts in just a few simple steps. Start by opening the Connect IQ store on a mobile phone using the Garmin Connect app. Search for Spotify and download the app to the watch. Once you open the app on your watch, you can enter in your Spotify account credentials using your phone and link the fitness watch to the music streaming service.

The Spotify app only syncs with Spotify premium accounts, which include offline listening as one of their paid features. Spotify premium account holders can download selected playlists, albums, and podcasts to the watch using Wi-Fi, the Spotify app on their watch, and Garmin Connect on the phone. After the initial setup, no phone is required to listen to music. Once some music is synced over to the watch, owners can connect a pair of wireless earbuds and launch the Spotify app on the watch to access their offline racks. Users can control their music with the play, pause, shuffle, skip, and volume controls on their watches.

This music support is the icing on the cake for what was already a great watch, made even better by this new feature. Released in 2018, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music blends serious multisport tracking with lifestyle features such as sleep tracking, music support, and contactless NFC payments via Garmin Pay. To find out more about the Vivoactive 3 Music, read our recent review of the LTE version of Garmin’s popular all-around fitness watch.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…

Deals

The Garmin Forerunner 35 gets a $50 price slash on Amazon

garmin forerunner 35 fitness tracker app

Spring and summer weather are perfect for outdoor workouts, and if you’re looking for an effortless way to keep track of your fitness goals (especially if you’re one of the elite who hasn’t abandoned those New Year’s resolutions), a good fitness tracker might be just what you need. One of our all-time favorites is the Garmin Forerunner 35, and it’s on sale right now for a pretty sweet discount that knocks it to a low $120 on Amazon.

If you’re skeptical about activity trackers, are shopping for a good fitness watch that isn’t overkill feature-wise but is more than a glorified pedometer, and aren’t looking to spend a ton of cash to try one out, then the Garmin Forerunner 35 is a fine device to start with. It’s a superb fitness tracker for runners, but its rugged waterproof build (and overall excellent construction quality) makes it a great choice for all sorts of workout routines and outdoor activities.

Deals

REI slashes prices on Fitbit Versa and Garmin Fenix 5 smartwatches

Garmin fenix 5X review wrist close up

Many people are still understandably skeptical about smartwatches, but this wearable technology has some pretty great uses. Chief among these is fitness: Modern activity trackers come packed with an array of features for just about any sport or workout imaginable, and there’s a plethora of name brands – from dedicated fitness companies like Fitbit to tech titans like Samsung – making these things today. Even the iconic Apple Watch, the world’s best-selling smartwatch, comes loaded with a bevy of health-focused functions.
A lot of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches are naturally pretty pricey, so deals on these wearables are always welcome. Premium devices from makers like Fitbit and Garmin are chief examples, but there’s no denying that these two companies make some of the top trackers on the market, and REI has a handful of them on sale right now which we’ve rounded up below. These deals let you save as much as $150 on high-end smartwatches like the Garmin Fenix 5, among others:
Fitbit Charge 3

Most basic fitness trackers are little more than Bluetooth-connected “smart” pedometers, but if you don’t want a full-fledged smartwatch (and the price tag that comes with it), the Fitbit Charge 3 is a nice middle-of-the-road option that packs a lot of features. It’s light, sleek, and water-resistant, and it features a 24/7 heart rate monitor. It comes pre-loaded with more than 15 exercise programs and can automatically detect certain activities so it starts tracking when you’re running, swimming, biking, and performing other activities.

Mobile

Garmin’s five new Forerunner watches have something for every runner

garmin forerunner 245 945 45s 20190204 hero rgb 2574 jpg

Garmin recently added new colors to its Instinct hiking smartwatch, and the company isn't stopping there: On Tuesday, Garmin revamped its running-focused Forerunner lineup, introducing five new fitness watches. The new Forerunner smartwatches cover all levels of runners ranging from the entry-level Forerunner 45 to the navigation-equipped Forerunner 945. Garmin also updated its Connect app adding support for women's menstrual cycles and expanding its Garmin Coach to 10K and half-marathon distances.
Forerunner 45 and 45S

The Garmin Forerunner 45 does away with the boxy look of its predecessor, the Forerunner 35, and replaces it with the circular watch face and sunlight-readable color display that defines the Forerunner series. The Forerunner 45 is the entry-level running model with a heart rate monitor and built-in GPS. It tracks your basic running metrics like pace, distance, and intervals. It also monitors your health and wellness with 24/7 heart rate monitoring and sleep analysis. New to the Forerunner 45 is all-day stress and body battery, which tracks your energy level and helps you plan your training. This entry-level watch now also supports Garmin Coach which provides on-watch training plans for runners who want to compete for the first time or improve their existing race times. The Forerunner 45 and Forerunner 45S are identical in every way except for size. The Forerunner 45s is slightly smaller with a 39mm case versus the 42mm for the full-sized Forerunner 45.
Buy the Forerunner 45