Garmin opened a new software branch on October 16, and the headline is not a new feature. It is stability.
Beta version 24.12 is now available for the Fenix 8, Quatix 8, Enduro 3, Tactix 8 and Fenix E, and Garmin's own changelog leans hard on the crashes, reboots and boot loops that have been piling up on the Fenix 8 family since the September releases.
This is the first 24.xx build. The line had been running on 23.xx since the Fenix 8 launch, most recently 23.40, which went stable on October 13.
What Actually Changed
Garmin's release notes list 45 changes, 37 of them fixes. That ratio tells you what kind of update this is.
The reboot and crash list is the part owners have been waiting for:
- A reboot when the watch processes Garmin Explore data
- Crashes triggered by Connect IQ watch faces
- A boot loop on the watch face
- A restart when starting a GPS activity with Bluetooth headphones connected
- A reboot while answering a phone call on the watch
Those first four have been the most persistent complaints on the Fenix 8 and Enduro 3 in recent weeks, and they are all addressed in the same build. The GPS-plus-Bluetooth-audio reboot in particular has been a nasty one, since it lands exactly when you press start at the beginning of a run.
Beyond the restarts, 24.12 clears a long tail of smaller annoyances:
- Notifications that were not arriving on the device
- A speech recognition deadlock and audio prompts or voice alerts cutting out mid-activity
- A battery drain issue that could occur while using Alipay
- Calendar Glance loading slowly or sitting empty when Garmin Coach workouts were present
- Floors climbed not accruing during activities
- Inconsistent Bluetooth headset volume and volume synchronization
- Roads displaying as thick black lines on the map
- Unreliable LTE signal strength indicator
- Missing audio for swim and row stroke rate alerts
- A heart rate icon on the Furnace watch face showing white at times
- Excessive DGNSS asserts after GPS acquisition
- Climb Pro average grade display
There are also three genuine behavior changes rather than bug fixes: the Change Sport menu now shows your favorite activities first with a More option for everything else, the Pulse Ox app now mutes vibrations only while it is actively taking a reading instead of blocking them outright, and Garmin added step-by-step pairing instructions for the HRM 200 and HRM 600 chest straps.
How to Get It, and the Caveat
You have to ask for this one. Garmin is delivering 24.12 through Check for Updates on the watch, not as an automatic over-the-air push. On the watch that is Menu, then System, then Software Update, then Check for Updates. You also need to be enrolled in Garmin's public beta program to receive it at all.
The Pro models are not in this wave. Garmin says it expects the Fenix 8 Pro versions to get 24.12 next week.
The bigger caveat is the one Garmin puts in bold on the announcement: on the Fenix 8 series, beta software has ECG and Dive features disabled. If you want those back, you have to backdate to the current live software, and if you do that with ECG you have to set the feature up again from scratch. Garmin's guidance is blunt about it: if you would rather keep ECG and Dive accessible, do not join the beta program. Those two features reappear in the beta builds toward the end of each quarterly cycle, once Garmin is close to promoting the branch to live.
Why This Release Matters More Than a Typical Beta
The September releases were rough on this family. Version 23.39 shipped as a real feature update and then killed the optical heart rate sensor on a subset of watches, which we covered at the time. Version 23.40 arrived on October 13 to fix that, and it was pitched as the cleanup release.
Less than a week later, Garmin is starting a fresh branch anyway. That sequence is the interesting part. Rather than keep patching 23.xx, Garmin cut over to 24.xx and used the first build to sweep up the crash reports that had accumulated through the whole 23 cycle.
If you own a Fenix 8 or Enduro 3 and you have been living with random restarts, this is the build to watch rather than the one to avoid. Just go in knowing that ECG and Dive sit out until the branch is nearly ready to go live.
What Is Still Not Fixed
Nothing in the changelog touches the two things people complain about most in general terms: battery estimates on the AMOLED models, and the outside temperature sensor readings. Battery-related entries in 24.12 are narrow, limited to the Alipay drain and the heart rate icon. If your Fenix 8 has been reporting shorter runtimes than the spec sheet promised, check whether the "OK Garmin" wake word is switched on before you blame the firmware.
Several of the crashes here trace back to Connect IQ watch faces, which is the same corner of the platform Garmin has been struggling to police this month, and it is worth knowing that a third-party watch face is one of the more common triggers for the reboots this build fixes.
The other thing worth keeping in mind is that this is a beta. Beta builds are for people who want to help find bugs, and Garmin's forum has a dedicated bug report section for exactly that. If you are not comfortable backdating software, or you rely on ECG or dive logging, wait for the stable release.
Bottom Line
Beta 24.12 is Garmin doing maintenance the way owners asked for it: five models, one wave, 37 fixes, and the reboot family addressed first. It is a beta-only download via Check for Updates, the Pro models come next week, and ECG and Dive are switched off for the duration. If you have a Fenix 8 that has been restarting mid-run, this is the build you have been waiting on. If you have an Enduro 3 or a Tactix 8 and you value a boring, working watch, the stable 24.xx release will be the one to install.
Sources: Garmin's public beta announcement thread "Fenix 8/Quatix 8/Enduro 3/Tactix 8/Fenix E version 24.12 - 'Check for Updates Only'" on the Garmin Forums beta program (posted October 16, 2026, by Garmin-Jimmy), including the supported model list, the Check for Updates delivery method, the Pro timing note and the ECG/Dive disabled notice; Garmin Rumors' release page for beta 24.12 (October 16, 2026) for the full changelog text and the 45-change, 37-fix count, plus the 23.38, 23.39 and 23.40 version timeline; Garmin News' write-up of beta 24.12 (October 17, 2026); Notebookcheck's report on the 24.xx beta (October 2026). Our earlier coverage of the 23.39 heart rate sensor failure and the 23.40 fix provides the context for why this branch restarted. Garmin has published no stable release date for 24.xx and has not commented on the reboot reports beyond the changelog, so the timing of the stable rollout is unconfirmed.
