Android DND now silences Garmin watches after Connect 5.18 update, company responds

Garmin watch owners who rely on discreet wrist notifications are finding themselves stuck in a frustrating situation after the Connect app’s latest update. The recent release of version 5.18 has introduced a behavior change that ties watch notifications to Android’s Do Not Disturb mode, effectively silencing alerts that previously came through regardless of phone settings.

One Forerunner 255 owner first flagged the issue when they noticed their watch had stopped vibrating for notifications despite all permissions being enabled. Testing confirmed the problem: downgrading to version 5.17.2 immediately restored normal notification behavior, pointing to a software-specific issue with the newest release.

What started as one user’s confusion quickly snowballed into a thread with dozens of affected owners across multiple watch models, including the Fenix 7, Epix, Venu, and Instinct lines.

The pattern became clear after some investigation. When an Android phone enters Do Not Disturb mode, Garmin watches now respect that setting and suppress notification vibrations. Notification icons still appear on watch faces, but there’s no haptic feedback or screen illumination. Alarms and timers set directly on the watch continue working normally, which only adds to the confusion.

This represents a significant departure from previous behavior. Many users specifically chose Garmin watches over Android Wear devices because they could keep their phones completely silent while still receiving important alerts on their wrist.

One Samsung S25 user pointed out that their CGM app, configured to override DND on the phone, is now the only notification that vibrates the watch. Others reported the change broke their workflow entirely, particularly those who use DND to filter calls to specific contacts while relying on watches for all other notifications.

The company’s response has been less than satisfying. Email replies to affected users have characterized the change as an intentional “design” decision rather than a bug.

Here’s a screenshot shared by one user on the thread:

Several users noted that Garmin’s support team seemed unable to grasp the issue, even when directed to forum discussions documenting widespread frustration. Making matters worse, the 5.18 changelog simply mentions “bug fixes to improve device functionality” without documenting this behavioral change.

Some users have found workarounds by disabling DND entirely and setting their phones to silent mode instead, though this eliminates the ability to allow certain priority contacts through. Others have sideloaded version 5.17.2 and disabled auto-updates to restore previous functionality.​