So, I got my hands on the Forerunner 965 not too long ago. That screen is really something else, bright and sharp. Naturally, the first thing I wanted to mess with was the watch face. Gotta make it look like my watch, you know?
Checking Out What’s Built-In
Right out of the box, Garmin gives you a few options. I cycled through them using the watch buttons. They’re okay, decent enough. Some show a lot of data, some are simpler. Clean designs, mostly. But none of them felt quite right for me. You know how it is, you want something specific, maybe with the exact data fields you care about, arranged just so. The defaults were close, but not quite it.
Diving into Connect IQ
I remembered reading something about an app store for Garmin stuff. So, I opened the Garmin Connect app on my phone, the one you use to sync runs and all that. Started poking around in the menus. Found a section called ‘Connect IQ Store’. Bingo.
Opened that up, and boom, tons of watch faces. Seriously, loads of them. Free ones, paid ones, digital, analog, faces packed with every stat imaginable, and some super minimalist ones. It was actually a bit much at first.
- I spent a good while just scrolling through.
- Looked at screenshots, read descriptions.
- Checked out reviews left by other people. Some folks get really detailed about battery drain or bugs, which is helpful.
Installing and Trying Them On
Picking one was the hard part. I decided to try a few free ones first to see how the process worked. Found one that looked data-rich but clean.
Installing was pretty straightforward. Just hit the ‘Install’ button in the app. Then I had to make sure my watch was connected to my phone via Bluetooth. Did a sync. It took a minute or two, and then the new watch face just appeared on my 965. Pretty neat.
Getting it configured was the next step. Some faces let you change settings right on the watch, holding the menu button. Others, you gotta go back into the Connect IQ app on your phone, find the installed face, and tweak settings there – stuff like changing colors, or deciding what data fields show up (like steps, heart rate, battery, weather). Took a bit of back-and-forth syncing to see the changes.
Living With New Faces
I tried maybe four or five different faces over a couple of weeks.
- One looked amazing but seemed to chew through battery faster than the default ones. Not drastically, but noticeable.
- Another one had too much data, felt cluttered after a while.
- Found one I really liked, simple digital display but with customizable data slots for heart rate, steps, and battery percentage. Perfect for my daily use.
- Also kept an analog-style one installed for when I wanted something a bit classier looking.
Switching between the installed faces is easy, just a long press on the screen or through the watch menu, same as changing the default ones.
My Setup Now
So now I’ve got a couple of favorites installed via Connect IQ that I switch between depending on my mood or what I’m doing. It’s mostly one digital face for everyday wear and training, and that nice analog one sometimes. The process was easy enough once I figured out where to look in the app. It really makes the watch feel more personal. Took some trial and error, finding faces, installing, checking battery life, tweaking settings, but definitely worth doing if you’ve got a 965.