Garmin finally automates boring habit logging. But nobody knows what actually works

Garmin is trying to make life easier for its users with partial automation of daily habit logging. Their Lifestyle Logging tool in the Connect app allows tracking things like exercise, journaling, or the amount of caffeine consumed. However, until now, you had to fill everything in manually. Now comes a change – some activities will log themselves when your watch is connected to your phone. But beware, only some. And it’s not entirely clear which ones.

What is Lifestyle Logging?

Lifestyle Logging is a feature that came with the Garmin Venu 4 watch. It’s a tool in the Connect app designed to help track your daily health and wellness habits. You can log things like:

• How much coffee you’ve had
• Whether you’ve journaled
• Whether you’ve exercised
• How long you’ve meditated
• And other health habits

The idea is simple: tracking habits helps maintain them. If you log every day that you went for a run, you have greater motivation to actually do it. The problem was that you had to fill everything in manually. And that’s a hassle that few people do long-term.

What changes with automation

According to user reports on Reddit, the option to enable automatic logging is now appearing in Garmin Connect. How does it work? When your watch is connected to your phone and you perform an activity, data is automatically populated into your lifestyle log. You don’t have to fill anything in manually.

For example, if you start a run on your watch, it will be automatically logged as a completed “exercise” habit. Similarly, it reportedly works for other activities that the watch can detect. Garmin will ask for your permission to enable automatic logging upon the first detection and explain how it works.

Important: automation is optional. In the Connect app settings, you can choose whether you want automatic logging enabled or disabled. For habits that cannot be logged automatically (such as journaling or how much water you’ve drunk), the app can send you daily reminders to fill them in manually.

What works automatically and what doesn’t?

And here begins the problem. Garmin has not yet published a list of habits that can be logged automatically. You won’t find anything specific on their support pages. Users on Reddit report that exercise works, but it’s unclear for other activities.

Logically, things that the watch can detect on its own should work automatically:

• Exercise
• Sleep
• Steps
• Heart rate

But what about caffeine, alcohol, food, journaling, meditation? The watch won’t detect these on its own, so you’ll probably have to log them manually. And that’s quite a big difference from how it sounds in marketing – “partial automation” actually means “we only automate what we’re already measuring anyway”.

When will you get it?

Typical Garmin rollout: gradually, vaguely, without a specific date. Some users report that they already have automatic logging available. Others don’t see it. According to The5krunner website, the feature should roll out to more users in November 2025, but this is not official information from Garmin.

Garmin has a history of slow rollouts for new features. It often takes weeks or months for it to reach all users. And it takes even longer for it to start working stably. So if you don’t see it yet, you probably just have to wait.

Do you use Lifestyle Logging, or is it a useless feature for you?

Source: Notebookcheck