April 2025 - Challenges and Badges
Join the April challenges now in Garmin Connect.
Garmin just released Garmin Connect+
This is the first major change we have seen in a very long time. It is a subscription for Garmin Connect with premium functions and personalized insights. What is interesting for us is that it also comes with exclusive badge challenges. This month it came with 11 new challenges.
Read more here: Garmin Connect+
The price is $6.99 USD/month or $5.99 USD/month with an annual subscription.
If you are not interested in paying you will still get 3 new badges that we haven't seen before. They are social badges for sharing photos, getting likes and participating in the weekly steps challenge.
Three month challenges - Stage 2
First month in Stage 2.
2024 Running - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 300 kilometers (186.5 miles) of running activities from April 1 to June 30.
2024 Walking - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 91 miles (146.5 km) of walking activities from April 1 to June 30.
2024 Cycling - Stage 2
Join this challenge and record 675 kilometers (419.5 miles) of cycling activities from April 1 to June 30.
Full month challenges
April Time to Walk
Join this challenge and record 15 hours of walking activities in April.
April Time to Ride
Join this challenge and record 20 hours of cycling activities in April.
April 15K
Join this challenge and record a 15-kilometer running activity in April.
April Step Month
Join this challenge and record 300,000 steps in April.
April Gains
Join this challenge and record a total of 4 hours of strength activities in April.
April Rundown
Join this challenge and record 50 miles of running activities in April.
Active April
Join this challenge and record 20 activities of at least 20 minutes each in April.
April Swim
Join this challenge and record 4,000 meters of swimming activities in April.
April Warrior
Join this challenge and record a total of 4 hours of yoga activities in April.
April Tour
Join this challenge and record 400 kilometers of cycling activities in April.
April Photo Share
Join this challenge and add a photo to 3 or more activities that are visible to others in April.
April Likes
Join this challenge and receive a total of 25 or more likes on activities, posts or comments in April.
April Steps Podium
Join this challenge and finish in the top 3 of at least one weekly steps challenge from March 31 to April 27.
Full month challenges Connect+
April Calorie Burn
Join this challenge and burn 8,000 active calories in April.
Intense April
Join this challenge and reach your weekly intensity minutes goal two times from March 31 to April 27.
April Battery Booster
Join this challenge and achieve a Body Battery level of 76 or higher for 7 days in April.
April Meditations
Join this challenge and record meditation activities for 7 days in April.
Low Stress April
Join this challenge and maintain a daily average stress level of 75 or lower for 7 days in April.
April Intense Cardio
Join this challenge and record at least 3 hours of cardio activities in heart rate zone 3 in April.
April Power Cycling
Join this challenge and record at least 4 hours of cycling activities in power zone 3 in April.
April Heart Walks
Join this challenge and record at least 3 hours of walking in heart rate zones 2 or 3 in April.
April Speed Walking
Join this challenge and record at least 3 hours of walking with an average pace of 10:30 /km (16:50 /mi) or faster in April.
April Epic Hikes
Join this challenge and record 1,000 meters of total ascent during hiking activities in April.
April Running Climbs
Join this challenge and record 500 meters of total ascent during running activities in April.
Weekend and week challenges
Step into April
Join this challenge and record 100,000 steps from April 1-14.
April Weekend 40K
Join this challenge and record a 40-kilometer cycling activity from April 11-13.
April Weekend 5K
Join this challenge and record a 5-kilometer running activity from April 11-13.
April Swim Week
Join this challenge and record 1,000 meters of swimming activities from April 13-19.
April Weekend Walking
Join this challenge and record a 3-mile walking activity from April 18-20.
April Ride to 100
Join this challenge and record 100 kilometers of cycling activities from April 20-26.
April Weekend 10K
Join this challenge and record a 10-kilometer running activity from April 25-27.
Badges in April
- April 12-16 - Songkran Festival 2025, Record an activity during Songkran Festival, April 12-16, 2025. Country: Thailand
- April 29 - May 5 - Golden Week 2025, Record an activity during Golden Week, April 29-May 5, 2025. Country: Japan
Other new badges
- Ride with the Pros 2025, Complete the Ride with the Pros 2025 challenge in the Tacx app.
Garmin Badge Database
Garmin Connect
Change country setting
Finally adding interesting new badges only to put them behind a paywall is incredibly cruel.
ReplyDeleteWhile not ideal (and we all would like to see more free badges), Garmin has to have some model to make money. People only buy watches, etc. every few years so having a subscription model makes sense as a business. Every other "fitness" company charges montly fees for premium subscriptions. $5.99/month USD is not all that much if it motivates a person to get in better shape. This is just my opinion.
DeleteAre the new badges as Connect+ member only available with Forunner 945 LTE? According to Garmin (via the above link) only this watch is compatible with the subscription.
ReplyDeleteThe challenges are independent of the watch.
DeleteI've posted the wrong link. It should be https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1565777
DeleteYou can sign up for a free trial in the Connect app under settings.
DeleteDo you know if we make the subscription on a country and then change it to get a region locked badge, we will lose the plus functions until we return to the original country?
ReplyDeleteThe subscription is connected to your account and the country doesn't matter.
DeleteThere is also a new function with Connect+ that makes it possible for you to get all badges without changing country. Just enable "Global badges" in the Connect+ feature settings.
Location seems to matter in some ways.
DeleteAt the moment I am "in" Thailand. Therefore the price for the connect+ plan is shown in the local currency, which is cheaper than in € or $.
Could I book a plan for less this way and what if I change countries again? Any experiences or guesses so far?
What would be even cheaper? Tried some other countries but they charge in $ (India, Egypt)
Enfin de la nouveauté !
ReplyDeletePayant c est vrai, mais pour ceux qui ne le souhaitent pas il reste les badges habituels
For me the price is $89.99/y or $8.99/m
ReplyDeleteI had malaysia in my profile and it was also 8,99. Then changed country to us and its 6,99. Wonder how country will be editable after that. There are 2 country dependent badges for april...
DeleteSee my comment below there is an option with connect+ to see and earn badges globally without having to use any of the old workarounds.
DeleteBut in the last step before confirming, its back at 8,99eur so country setting in your profile probably doesnt matter.
ReplyDeleteWith Connect+ there is an option to select to see and earn badges from around the world. So with the sub you shouldn't need the workarounds any more discussed above. On Connect web go into account settings and select connect+ sub menu. At bottom of dialog there is a switch labelled 'global badges' which is default set to off. Slide it to on and you should be good to go as I have just done.
ReplyDeleteInteresting development. Happy with new badges. Exercise (and the pursuit of various goals mostly through Garmin Connect) is basically my life, so I don't mind paying a bit extra for some additional excitement. A lot of the premium badges will happen automatically for me. Shame I'll need a power meter for the Power Cycling one though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what 'Meditation activities' count as. Is that an activity on newer models or would yoga/breathwork etc count towards that?
Meditation is an activity logged as the activity type "Meditation". All new models got that type. If you don't have it then log it as Yoga/Breathwork and change it to meditation in Garmin Connect.
Deletea bit extra paying + a bit extra paying + a bit extra paying make a very big paying extra at the end of the month ;)
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand this strategy, and why people get into it.
Garmin badges concept is fun, but somehow boring as they don't renew it ... but no way i can pay for this. There are plenty others in strava and many other strategies to get into exercise without paying monthly.
I really prefer to pay once for something you get permanently.
In 10 years, this will 800$ spent for this. This is huge !
Lots of things now got monthly subscriptions that we just accept and many of them are more expensive. Many people got multiple streaming subscriptions for TV, movies and music. Some people even have gym memberships with a monthly cost of the same price as one year of Connect+.
DeleteConnect+ is not just about the badges. The badges is a very very limited thing with it. There are 6 different features listed so the badges are just about $10 extra per year if you divide it equally.
e7andy: there may be 6 another features, but I belive there is lot of people who dont care and will only get subscription because of the badges. Thats garmins goal I believe. The new features like AI and so on are probably new costs for them (like development, servers, etc) but additional badges (when you already have this feature for free) will cost nothing.
ReplyDeleteTrue. There is probably also a lot of people that don't care about the badges and only get it for the other features.
DeleteAdding new types of badges and other features will cost lots of money for Garmin. Developers are not free. Then you also need graphical artists to create the badge images. Text writers and translators for all text strings each month. Just the cost of personal to develop and handle the badges will cost Garmin probably a few million dollars each year.
Ok, if I get the connect+ 30 days trial at the end of April, I should be able to get the extra badges for April and May, right?
ReplyDeleteIt should work. At least previously is doesn't matter when you join a challenge as long as join it before the challenge period ends. It will count everything that you've logged before you joined.
DeleteI hate it! For me and my close ones, badges were fun and motivating way to make sure that I do enough gym, walking and yoga on top of my ultra training. It also was fun to complete them and compete with my family and friends.
ReplyDeleteThis badging change with pay to win, easy to get badges worth of a lot of points destroys the whole point of badges.
A) they are now relatively hard to get with a busy life we have
B) not worth A lot points
This destroys the whole joy of the system in my opinion. By paying 9€ per month I could basically double my monthly points, without any changes to my training.
F this and F Garmin. This whole Connect plus scheme makes me reconsider my choices and switch to Coros
I totally agree. It is a philosophical question. I have paid a lot for my Garmin device, and I have felt like a first class customer so far. The Garmin badges program was fair and democratic. The same rules for everyone. You train more, you get more badges. It was a sane way to compete with friends and yourself.
DeleteBut now everything changes. If you do not pay 9€ month, you become a second class Garmin customer, and VIPs can get many more badges and points with few effort. It is unfair. Money first. I feel betrayed.
Seriously considering moving to STRAVA. You get more for less money, and without subscription you already have bigger community, plenty of challenges (many sponsored to get discounts on shoes, and sport apparel when completed) and it is device agnostic.
Disappointed. I hope users will boycott this. DO NOT even sign up for free trial. People already pay around $1000 for a watch just to pay extra fees? Garmin is destroying what makes it unique
ReplyDeleteFortunately everyone's free to do what they want.
DeleteFrom what I am seeing its not currently doubling points on badges. Got a 1 point badge this morning and only gave me 1 point not 2. Which I hope will be case personally.
ReplyDeleteWhy would it double the points?
DeleteWhen you go to the screen when you can buy connect+ "getting double points and achieving higher levels faster" is mentioned as one of the benefits
DeleteI found it written here: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=awrd4J1Du94fqM3SxQ0biA&productID=125677&tab=topics
DeleteIn the last section: 2x points on badges.
My site calculates the points backwards from the points in the badge json so we can compare that value with the value in Garmin Connect.
I took two badges today, but got no extra points.
Convaincu ou pas on voit bien que ça réagit en nombre sur le blog.
ReplyDeleteSans doute aussi l'intérêt de Garmin de créer du buzz 😉
A chacun de voir où il met le curseur
Why do I see the badges of connect+ only on the website, not in the app? How can I move them to app?
ReplyDeleteIs the app updated?
DeleteI can see them now, thank you
DeletePersonnellement je les vois bien dans Garmin connect dans l onglet "défi" puis "rejoindre un défi"
ReplyDeleteIt's very important that Garmin has finally listened to our requests and implemented new and appealing badges. Of course I am not going to pay for them, as I have already paid 1,000€ for the watch. But that's the business model, just gouge your customers.
ReplyDelete