GARMIN
EZ Data Tracker for Garmin
The watch app records your jump with the barometer, GPS and accelerometer and sends the track to your Exits logbook. It is not on the Connect IQ Store yet - work on getting it there is under way. Until then it is installed as a file, by hand: Garmin permits distributing apps that way.
Pick your watch
There is no universal file: a build is tied to one watch model. The wrong one either will not show up in the app list or will behave incorrectly - the file name is the only thing standing between you and that mistake.
fēnix 8 43 mm
fēnix 8 47 mm
fēnix 8 Pro 47 mm
fēnix 8 Solar 47 mm
fēnix 8 Solar 51 mm
fēnix 7X Pro
Installing
01Download the build for your model
The button above gives you a single .prg file. The model is written on the button and in the file name - check it against the watch on your wrist.
02Switch the watch to MTP
The Garmin fēnix 8 connects in Garmin mode by default, and the watch files never appear on the computer at all.
On the watch: System → Watch Settings → System → Advanced → USB Mode → MTP (Media Transfer Protocol).
The Garmin fēnix 7X Pro ships on MTP already, so there is nothing to change.
03On a Mac, install Android File Transfer
macOS does not speak MTP on its own: Finder simply will not show the connected watch. Android File Transfer opens it in a window of its own, and you copy the file from there.
Get Android File TransferOn Windows this step is unnecessary - Explorer handles MTP natively.
04Connect the watch by cable
To a computer, with the standard Garmin cable. The watch opens as a drive: in Explorer on Windows, in the Android File Transfer window on macOS. It cannot be done from a phone - this is the one place a computer is needed.
05Put the file in GARMIN/APPS
Copy the .prg into the GARMIN/APPS folder on the watch. Nothing to rename, nothing to unpack, no other files required.
06Disconnect and wait
The watch reindexes its apps by itself, which takes a few seconds. EZ Data Tracker then appears in the ordinary app list, next to the built-in ones.
Pairing with your account
The code is generated on the phone
The six-character pairing code comes from the Exits app on your phone.
On the phone:Bottom barTelemetryGet code
No cable is needed for pairing - it was only needed to install the app.
Type the code on the watch
The code is typed on the watch itself, with the buttons, one character at a time.
On the watch:MenuPair Phone
After the last character press the top right button: the watch goes to the server and answers CONNECTED or WRONG CODE. That is the server replying, not a format check - so the pairing either happened or it did not.
Important! The phone the watch is paired to must be online: the watch reaches the internet through it.
Recording needs pairing first
Until the watch is paired to an account, START does not begin a recording - the track would have nowhere to go. You pair once; after that the watch remembers.
Settings live on the watch
Alert thresholds, units, the ground-altitude source and pairing are all in the menu under a long press of MENU. There is no need to go through Garmin Connect.
What installing by hand means
Updates do not arrive
You install every new version yourself, from this page, the same way. The new file simply replaces the old one in GARMIN/APPS.
The watch itself shows the version
A sideloaded app has no store listing with a number next to it. The current version is in the About item inside the app - that is the only way to read it.
A computer and a cable are needed
Once to install and once per update. Everything else - pairing, settings, recording, upload - happens on the watch.
The app is easy to remove
Delete the .prg from GARMIN/APPS and it is gone. Jumps already uploaded live in your account, and removing the app from the watch does not remove tracks that were already recorded.
What the watch records
One screen that follows the jump
On the ground - dropzone elevation, labelled with how it was measured. In the aircraft - climb rate. In freefall - nothing but altitude, as large as the screen allows. Under canopy - descent rate. The summary opens by itself after landing.
Barometer, GPS, accelerometer, heart rate
Pressure and position at 1 Hz, three accelerometer axes at 25 Hz - the exit, the opening shock, the canopy and the touchdown. Heart rate is recorded throughout, the ground included.
Two altitude thresholds
Set on the watch, in metres. It buzzes as you descend through each one, in two different rhythms - you can tell them apart without looking at the screen.
No signal at altitude is normal
The track is written to watch memory and survives a closed app, a restart and a flat battery. Up to five jumps queue without a phone and upload themselves. A Garmin activity is recorded in parallel as a backup.
It does not work without an Exits account
The watch app is linked to your existing account in the Exits app, and without one it does not work. Recorded tracks go to the particular person whose account the watch was linked to. If you do not have an account yet, install the app and create one there. The account is free and takes a minute.