This is the way it is designed to behave. The Vivoactive is not MFI certified with Apple so it can not use Apple's built in Bluetooth Smart software. Instead Garmin is handling the Bluetooth smart connection in the Garmin Connect iPhone app its self. Android does not have the MFI problem so Garmin can use some of the built in Bluetooth functions. One handy tip for you Android users is if you do experience instability is to do a double pair. This is done by opening the Garmin Devices page in the app and pressing and holding on the name of the device. You will see a dialog window open. At the bottom of the window it will say "Update Connection". When you tap on that it will temporarily disconnect the watch from the app and then you should see a Bluetooth pairing request pop up on the phone. Once you pair it with the phone the watch should then connect back to the app. You will then notice the watch is paired in the phone's Bluetooth settings menu, unlike before. Apple is making money hand over fist from the...

I doubt that it could be recovered. Still you could look and see for yourself. If you plug it in to a computer and navigate to the drive using Windows Explorer or Finder, you will see a Garmin folder. Inside that folder is an Activities folder. This is where the activity .fit files are stored.

If you are using an indoor activity the watch can not use the gps function. It instead relies on the accelerometer in the watch. This means that it counts every step and multiplies that by a given stride length for someone of your body type/age etc. If you have a longer or shorter stride this can cause inaccuracies. It is then recommended to set a custom stride length. This can be done on the app by: Open the menu and go to the Garmin Devices page. Tap on the vivoactive Tap on user settings scroll down and tap on stride length It is recommended that you go to a location with a precicely measure distance like a 400m track and record and activity. Go around the track multiple times counting the number so you know the distance and look at the final step count to see how many steps it took. Then enter the distance and the steps in to the app. This will calculate a very accurate stride length for you. Swimming is a different beast. It again is not using the GPS as water blocks the signal and most pools are...

Activities can not auto track on the vivosmart HR. This is because the optical heart rate sensor is only turning on ever 5 to 10 minutes in all day mode. Then when the activity is started it will run all the time. Garmin has come out with a "feature" called "MoveIQ" this is where it will analyze the data after it is uploaded to the website and tag the time-line in places it things a specific activity happened. It does not create activities automatically like some people around the web have said. Interestingly enough the new vivosmart 3 that was just announced will start activities on it's own.

Technically the vivofit series can store up to 30 days worth of step data until it needs to be synced. This changes to 12 days, if you use the heart rate strap with it. Just bare in mind that the longer you go with out syncing the more data you put at risk to loosing. It is a battery powered device and things can happen to data especially if the battery is getting low. The watch checks the battery every night at midnight and if it is below a certain voltage it will flag the battery as being low the next time you sync the watch. but what happens if you don't sync the watch well the battery could run down low enough that the watch would be unable to hold a bluetooth connection long enough to sync all the data off of it.

The floors climbed feature is based off of the barometer on the back of the watch. It is located between the two sets of charging contacts. It is looking for the barometric pressure to decrees enough to indicate 10+ feet of altitude change. If your stairs are not tall enough or if your house is sealed well enough it is possible it just didn't see enough of a change. It also needs steps to be counted at the same time as the decrease in pressure. This means holding on to the railing could have an affect. Garmin support will tell you to blow out the barometer with canned air or try running water through it and let it dry. This would fix the issue if dirt or grime got in on the sensor. I have also seen multiple cases of people experiencing the opposite issue where it records way more floors than one actually climbed. This is most likely caused by the weather. If a low pressure rolls in the watch could think you are ascending . Also if you go from cold air to warm air the cold air is denser than the warm air...

When you have issues with the bluetooth connection, here are the steps that should be followed. I always start by going to the app and tapping on the menu icon in the top left which looks like three lines. (iOS has a "more" button bottom right). Scroll down and tap the "Garmin Devices" option. If the bluetooth is turned off on the phone this page would prompt you to turn it on. It would show you for instance weather the vivoactive was "connected", "not connected", or "no devices paired". It obviously needs to be connected. If it is not connected that means the phone still remembers the pairing but is not communicating with the watch. (1) Try turning on and off the bluetooth on the phone. (2) Try powering on and off the phone and the watch. (3) Try putting the watch in to pairing mode. (4) For the vivoactive that is right button>swipe right>settings>bluetooth>pair mobile device. It should say "searching for garin connect mobile" if it is in the pairing mode. If the above fails it would then be necessary to...