Amazfit pushed a fresh software update to three of its current watches today, and the theme is the outdoors.
The Balance 2, the Balance Ultra and the Balance 3 are all getting new navigation and mapping features, a reworked HYROX training mode, and a batch of fixes that target exactly the things owners complain about on long workouts. Amazfit published the release notes on its own product update page on October 14.
If you own one of these watches, here is what actually changes.
Topographic maps get a heading
The headline addition is GPS Heading in Topographic Maps. Until now, the topographic map view showed your position but not the direction you were facing. The watch now displays your heading in the topo map app, matching what workout navigation already does on the newer models.
That sounds minor until you are standing at a trail junction with the map rotated in your head. A heading indicator removes that guesswork.
Alongside it, Amazfit optimized the topographic map display and refined on-watch route creation. You can now navigate to a point up to 100 km away, and the watch adapts contour-line precision dynamically as you zoom. Amazfit recommends updating through the Zepp app rather than the watch itself to get the new map data.
Map downloads also improved. You can now pull combined multi-level cloud maps in one go, and the watch displays the map version so you know what you are actually running.
Route planning splits by model
This is where the three watches differ, and it is worth checking your specific model.
- Balance 2 adds Offline Route Planning, which lets you build a route directly on the watch with no network connection at all.
- Balance Ultra and Balance 3 add route preview, so you can look over a route on the watch before you commit to starting navigation.
In practice that is two answers to the same problem. The Balance 2 lets you create routes anywhere, even off-grid. The higher-end watches let you review a route before you follow it.
HYROX gets a proper workflow
Amazfit has been leaning hard into HYROX training this year, and this update tightens the loop between the app and the watch.
On the Balance Ultra and Balance 3, the HYROX Training Library in Zepp now connects more cleanly to the HYROX Simulation Workouts on the watch. The idea is that you pick a session in the app and then run it on the watch without the fiddly hand-off. Simulation settings also gained more flexibility for configuring stations and laps, so you can match a session to what you are actually training. You will find it under Home > HYROX Workouts Library.
The Balance 2 takes a different route. It adds HYROX Race with Stryd integration, which feeds real-time pace metrics from a Stryd foot pod into a HYROX race session. For anyone racing HYROX rather than just training for it, that is the more interesting addition.
The fixes you will feel
Amazfit also shipped a long list of smaller changes, and a few of these matter more than the marquee features.
- GPS accuracy under tree cover. Both the GPS track and real-time pace were improved in tree-covered environments, which is the classic weak spot for wrist-based pacing on trail runs.
- No more mid-workout restarts on huge routes. Amazfit fixed a bug that could restart the watch during workouts with extremely long routes or a high number of segments. If you have ever lost a four-hour ride to a reboot, this one is for you.
- Diving improvements. Depth calculations, descent and ascent detection were refined, and system notifications are now suppressed during dive workouts.
- Training Calendar in Battery Saver Mode. The calendar used to be unavailable in Battery Saver, and that is fixed.
- Screen wake behavior. Screen-on duration is now tuned per scenario, and a bug that woke the screen unexpectedly after wake-on-notification was disabled is gone.
- BioCharge during workouts. The BioCharge status change can now be viewed while you are training, not just at rest.
- Custom watch face indicators. You can choose which status indicators appear on the watch face.
- Weather in workout records now shows a narrower range of data, and a handful of Korean translation issues in workout scenarios were fixed.
Amazfit also cleaned up the low-battery status icons and the display style of workout lists in the Training Library.
Where this lands
None of these changes is a new watch. They are the kind of refinements that decide whether a watch feels finished two years after launch, and Amazfit has been steady about delivering them.
The navigation work is the piece worth watching. On-watch routing and offline route planning are features Garmin owners have had for years, and they are the last real gap between Amazfit's hardware and its software. The Balance line already matches or beats watches that cost twice as much on GPS accuracy, heart rate and battery life. We made that case in our Balance 3 vs Balance Ultra comparison, and the pattern has held since.
It also continues a busy stretch for the brand. We covered how Amazfit's August update rewrote training features across eight watches, and the same navigation-first approach showed up in the T-Rex 3 route planning update.
If you are in the market for a training watch that undercuts Garmin on price, the Amazfit Balance 3 is the current sweet spot, and the Amazfit Balance Ultra is the one to look at if you want the HYROX tooling and the bigger case.
Bottom line
Amazfit's October update is a maintenance release with real substance. Topographic heading, on-watch routing out to 100 km and a cleaner HYROX workflow are genuine capability upgrades, not bug-fix padding, and the tree-cover GPS fix addresses the complaint trail runners actually post about.
Watch for it over the air in the Zepp app. These rollouts tend to move in waves, so if your watch has not offered it yet, give it a few days.
Sources: Amazfit's official Balance Series software update release notes published on its product update page (October 14, 2026), including the device-scoped feature lists for the Balance 2, Balance Ultra and Balance 3; Amazfit's regional product update pages confirming the same release; and our earlier coverage of Amazfit's August 2026 update and the T-Rex 3 route planning update for context. No independent outlet has written up this specific October rollout yet, so every feature detail here is drawn from the manufacturer's own release notes.
