Garmin just gave fitness fans the biggest reason yet to subscribe to Connect+

If you were on the fence about Garmin’s fitness-focused Connect+ subscription service, the sports watch specialist has just revealed the biggest incentive yet to sign up: in-app nutrition tracking. Arriving at the perfect time to get serious about those New Year resolutions, the comprehensive new food diary tools are a compelling alternative to third-party apps.

Up to now, Garmin Connect users were pointed to MyFitnessPal if they wanted to integrate their calorie consumption with their workout records. That meant pinballing between multiple apps, though, and if you wanted to track protein, fat and carb macros you had to pay for a premium subscription. Free-to-use rivals weren’t nearly as tightly integrated in Connect.

Now you’ll be able to track calories and macros directly through Garmin’s own app – and with the right hardware – on your wrist. Compatible Garmin smartwatches will be able to show nutrition overviews, track favourite and recently logged foods, and if your wearable is voice-enabled, open the Nutrition app with a voice command.

The app has all the food logging functions you’d expect, including a huge database that covers packaged foods and restaurant meals. You can use your phone to scan barcodes, or let AI recognise what’s on your plate via a photo. Custom meals can be saved for quick repeat entry.

Calorie recommendations can be generated based on your height, weight, activity level and average active calories, or adjusted to meet particular goals like upping your protein intake.

Sporty types will love having nutrition details on their performance dashboard; Garmin reckons this will give more insight into how your food intake impacts your training and overall health. The app can also spit out daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports for targeted and consumed calories, to encourage better habits.

Fit foodies wanting to give nutrition tracking a try can sign up to Garmin Connect+ for a free 30 day trial. Garmin is also adding a second 14-day taster for customers that have already tried Connect+ before.

It’ll then cost you $70/£70 per year or $7/£7 per month – but that’s cheaper than a MyFitnessPal premium subscription, and you get a bunch more Garmin goodies included, like a Spotify Wrapped-style end of year fitness report, AI-powered Active Intelligence insights, a more in-depth performance dashboard, Garmin Trails route planning and 3D maps.

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