Apple made waves when it introducedCrash Detectionon its iPhone in 2022, but it was far from the first company to introduce such a safety measure.Garminintroduced its version of incident detection back in 2016 with the Edge Explore 1000 bike computer. The company has since expanded the feature to all itsbike computersand most of itswatch lineup– including its smartwatch and fitness tracker offerings.
I was recently struck by a vehicle while walking my dog one morning, and luckily, I was wearing myGarmin Fenix 8watch. It had previously set up Incident Detection, and it detected the accident, texting my husband before I was able to. I knew this tool was useful before, but I won’t go without it again. While you hope never to need it, this is one tool that you should verify to set up as soon as possible on your Garmin device.
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What is Incident Detection?
A safety net in case of an accident or crash
Before touching on the steps to set up incident detection, it’s important to understand what it does. Those sensors in your watch aren’t only useful for performance data. If your watch or bike computer detects a sudden and drastic deceleration or impact while recording a timed GPS incident, it will trigger the Incident Detection feature.
If you don’t disable it, the Garmin Connect app will send a message to your emergency contacts via your phone with your name and real-time location.
When your device detects an incident, a notification will pop up that an incident was detected, and a message will be sent to your Garmin Connect designated emergency contacts. You have 30 seconds to cancel the message if you’re okay and don’t need help. If you don’t disable it, the Garmin Connect app will send a message to your emergency contacts via your phone with your name and real-time location. That way, they can either come to you themselves or call emergency services and provide your exact coordinates.
There are a few key things to know about Incident Detection. First, since Garmin devices don’t feature cellular connectivity, you need your phone on you and connected to the Garmin device to use it. Your phone will be the device that actually sends the message and the Garmin Connect app just triggers that. Second, your Garmin device needs a GPS signal when Incident Detection is triggered. Finally, for Incident Detection to function as it should with watches, you need to have the watch on your wrist.
Garmin Incident Detection is only a supplemental feature. Neither the Garmin Connect app nor your Garmin device will contact emergency services for you.
How to set use Incident Detection on your Garmin watch
A few steps will add this safety feature to your watch
Incident detection is a fantastic safety net in case something happens, but your Garmin watch or bike computer won’t be able to message your emergency contact by default. There are some necessary setup steps that you must complete first.
Once you have added your emergency contact information and your contact has accepted the invite to be an emergency contact, you are mostly ready to go. Your contacts need to sync to your device, but then Incident Detection will be enabled automatically for compatible Activity Profiles.
Which activity profiles support Incident Detection?
Not all activities support this tool
Which exact activity profiles support incident detection depends, in part, on your device since activity profiles vary by device. Broadly speaking, most GPS-reliant activities support Incident Detection, though not all. For Garmin bike computers, Road, Gravel, Commute, Tour, and eBike off Incident Detection. For Garmin watches, Run, Track Run, Trail Run, Ultra Run, Buke eBike, Gravel Bike, Bike COmmute, Bike Tour, Road Bike, Walk, and Hike support Incident Detection.
