January 2026 - Challenges and Badges
Three month challenges - Stage 1
2026 Cycling - Stage 1
Join this challenge and record 675 kilometers (419.43 miles) of cycling activities from January 1 to March 31.
2026 Running - Stage 1
Join this challenge and record 300 kilometers (186.42 miles) of running activities from January 1 to March 31.
2026 Walking - Stage 1
Join this challenge and record 91 miles (146.5 km) of walking activities from January 1 to March 31.
Full month challenges
Full month challenges Connect+
January Epic Hikes
Join this challenge and record 1,000 meters of total ascent during hiking activities in January.
January Running Climbs
Join this challenge and record 500 meters of total ascent during running activities in January.
January Heart Walks
Join this challenge and record at least 3 hours of walking in heart rate zones 2 or 3 in January.
January 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 January.
Intense January
Join this challenge and reach your weekly intensity minutes goal on two different weeks from December 29 to February 1.
January Battery Booster
Join this challenge and achieve a Body Battery level of 76 or higher for 7 days in January.
January Intense Cardio
Join this challenge and record at least 3 hours of cardio activities in heart rate zone 3 in January.
January Power Cycling
Join this challenge and record at least 4 hours of cycling activities in power zone 3 in January.
January Meditations
Join this challenge and record meditation activities for 7 days in January.
Low Stress January
Join this challenge and maintain a daily average stress level of 50 or lower for 7 days in January.
January Calorie Burn
Join this challenge and burn 8,000 active calories in January.
Weekend and week challenges
January Weekend Walking
Join this challenge and record a 3-mile walking activity from January 2-4.
January Ride to 200
Join this challenge and record 200 kilometers of cycling activities from January 4-17.
January Weekend 10K
Join this challenge and record a 10-kilometer running activity from January 9-11.
January Swim Week
Join this challenge and record 1,000 meters of swimming activities from January 11-17.
January Weekend 40K
Join this challenge and record a 40-kilometer cycling activity from January 16-18.
January Weekend 5K
Join this challenge and record a 5-kilometer running activity from January 23-25.
January Ride to 100
Join this challenge and record 100 kilometers of cycling activities from January 25-31.
Badges in January
Jan 1 - Strong Start, Record an activity on New Year's Day. Repeatable
Jan 31 - Garmin Run Asia Series 2026 - Japan 5K, Record a 5K run during the Garmin Run Asia Series - Japan on January 31, 2026.
New badges
- Celtic Rally Roads, Complete the Celtic Rally Roads challenge in the Tacx Training app.
- Now We’re Cooking, Create a custom meal.
- Breakfast Club, Log at least one food item for breakfast daily for 7 consecutive days.
- Daily Balance, Record your weight daily for 30 consecutive days.
- Logging Legend, Log at least one food daily for 30 consecutive days.
- Daily Dish, Log at least one food daily for 7 consecutive days.
- Watch What You Eat, Log a food from your device.
- Weight Warrior, Hit your goal weight while recording your weight at least twice in the last 7 days. This badge can only be earned every 30 days.
- Photo Foodie, Log a food by taking a photo.
- Protein Pro, Hit your daily protein goal for 7 consecutive days.
Updates
- 2026-01-06 - Added 9 new badges for Nutrition tracking.
Garmin Badge Database
Garmin Connect
Change country setting
Again and again ...
ReplyDeleteAndy, I probably got 50 badges I wasn't supposed to get. I lost many of them for unfinished activity, BUT... I read that someone still managed to cheat the system and get those badges. Do you know how they did it?
ReplyDeleteIt would be easier if you give a few examples which badges you are referring to.
DeleteIt seems that the race badges can be aquired by running on a treadmill and by changing the country to the country for the race. I haven't verfied it.
I read something like "Change the date on the clock"... When syncing with the server, should the date update? P.S. I'm referring to some Sunday trips, which is my day off.
DeleteIf it isn't a challenge you just have to edit the date for the activity. For challenges you have to log it on the correct date and you must upload the date during the challenge period or latest 12 hours after. You changing the date on the phone might work for step challenges.
DeleteThe 5K run asia Japan language is vague. Do we still have to run in Japan or can you just change your location?
ReplyDeleteIt is a race badge so you have to run at the correct location.
DeleteIt might work if you log a treadmill activity with country set to Japan. Not verified.
Hallo Andy das Abzeichen fürs Chinesiche Jahr fügst Du sicherlich dann noch mit ein wenn es bei Dir angezeigt wird oder kommt es erst im Februar?
ReplyDeleteHi! I will add it when I see it. It should come in February. Those badges are usually added pretty late by Garmin. Usually the Wednesday before so we should see it on February 11th.
DeleteHappy new year! So I am looking at my challenges page. GMT+2. Just passed midnight. I choose the correct time zone in the settings, that correctly displays in the bottom that it was updated at 2026-01-01 00:01, but it looks like the timezones is not taken into consideration when calculating all the values of the table. It shows I still have 1 day left for the December challenges.plus another bug, that the unfinished challenges display a higher (absolute) value of ahead value than the to go value. So where I have 123.23 to go it displays that I'm -124.84 ahead.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year! It isn't tested that much. Maybe it was even harder for the calculations when the year changed. I don't see any obvious errors and I use the timezone for all dates, but there is something wrong somewhere. I will put it on my to do list.
DeleteWondering if anyone else has an error for the weekly step challenge, to earn the "steps podium badge", it is still "gathering results", usually it is done by 1pm.
DeleteSame here.
DeleteYes same for me still this morning
DeleteBonjour
DeletePour ma part le badge est bien tombé hier
Piou, are you subscribed to Connect+? I bet you are and Garmin "accidentally" changed the Podium badge to be Connect+ only (I wouldn't be surprised if the same will be the fate of the Likes and the Photos badge too)
DeleteI've got a response from Garmin Support. They're investigating the issue. I recommend that if anyone else has the weekly steps challenge in limbo take a screenshot, upload it via Secure File Upload: https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=x1XUrzdeRx84EnUCQHEKM8&searchQuery=sending%20files and then report it to Garmin Customer Support: https://support.garmin.com/
DeleteDone.
DeleteThe issue isn't with the steps podium badge itself as far as I can see. It's that the weekly challenge is stuck in evaluation and hasn't reset for the new week which means the badge hasn't been awarded yet. Piou has received it but I checked with a couple of my connections on Connect and they see the issue so must be impacting just a subset of users.
Anyone with subscription that still sees "In Evaluation" or anyone without the subscription that got the results?
DeleteOui abonné connect+.
DeleteDe plus je me désabonne du défi hebdo dès obtention du badge.
I got the January Steps Podium badge yesterday. It is not showing as in evaluation. Sometimes it takes longer if there are people in different time zones? (I live in Rarotonga so am 11 hours behind GMT - about last place in the world!). I am on Connect+
DeleteSo seems Gavriel may be right that subscription or not is the difference. I've asked 4 connections now, none of us have Connect+ and we're all stuck in evaluation.
DeleteIssue resolved for me now. I got the Steps Podium badge around 5am GMT on 7th Jan and the weekly challenge has been reset.
DeleteLooks like it's fixed for me
DeleteYesterday, Garmin added a nutrition record to the website and app and published new badges in the process.
ReplyDeleteGarmin was really fast here. Adding them now.
DeleteAll the food related badges seem to be achievable only if one has Connect+, because needs the nutrition tracking, but I'll try to see if the weight related is achievable without paying.
DeleteDaily Balance was available since yesterday. I have the Index S2 scales and have weighed myself daily for months, including yesterday and today, but when I look at progress against the badge I see 0 days.
DeletePaulM, and are you subscribed to Connect+?
DeleteNo I'm not, sorry, I should have added that.
DeleteI guessed it. Now we'll have to wait for someone that is subscribed to check it too so we know it only works with Connect+ (my guess) and we probably should report to Garmin to add the Connect+ tag to all these badges, or maybe there's an even bigger bug (like last week's weekly step challenge is still evaluating... probably the whole badge backend system died, and we won't get any badges for a few months....)
DeleteAll my other badges are showing expected progress (10k a day / walk streak / 30 for 30 / etc) so hopefully it's just the weekly challenge that's an issue. I don't think it should be Connect+ for the weight badges given you can record weight without the subscription as a long standing feature but it seems they have decided otherwise.
DeleteOf course it's PAY. The popup ad says "free trial". I would think the badges are only available if you start the trial.
DeletePreneur d'un pas à pas pour enregistrer un aliment dans Garmin connect. J ai obtenu le badge "créer un repas personnalisé" mais étrangement ça ne passe pas pour enregistrer un aliment ??
DeleteA bit crap that the nutrition glance is only on the newest watches - so cant get the add from device badge!
DeleteI've got the Index S2 scales and Connect +. I weigh daily but it's only showing 8 of 30 days at the moment so still slightly glitchy
DeleteIs that before weighing yourself on 13th Jan? If so that is correct as the badge became available on 5th Jan. I've weighed myself today (13th Jan) and see 9 days progress.
DeleteBonsoir
ReplyDeletePour le badge "fou de la balance" mon objectif quotidien n' avance pas malgré une saisie du poid quotidien.
Est ce que quelqu'un rencontre ce problème ?
Merci
I see the same behavior. It isn't working as it should.
DeleteSame here, but I think that it's another misconfiguration on Garmin's part. Of course we can only hope that this will be fixed for non-subscribers, though I wouldn't be surprised if all the new badges are meant to be only for subscribers who manage these things from within the nutrition tracking.
DeleteWhich scale do you use, the Index smart scale or the Index S2? The Badges Weight Warrior seems to work, as some have already received it!
ReplyDeleteAnyone without Connect+ subscription received it? I Don't have an Index scale. I use a xiaomi scale and sync that with the Garmin account (or if you like it's like manually adding the weight)
DeleteAs I estimate Garmin, it will probably only work with a paired Garmin scale.
DeleteI use Index S2 and am not a Connect+ subscriber. I don't see progress against Daily Balance despite weighing myself every morning. I also tried messing around with my weight goal and weigh-ins from the past couple of days. I did not receive Weight Warrior despite meeting the criteria, so I suspect both of these are indeed available for subscription only.
DeleteI have a Connect+ subscription and it is not working for me. I use the Whitings scale and update Garmin through MyFitnessPal. Sounds like must be a Garmin scales. They should put more effort into testing these badges work as described!
DeleteLOL :) They don't even test real, serious features, like software that is running on our watches, what do you expect about the badges?
DeleteI have the old Index smart scale and Connect+ subscription. Daily balance badge did not work yesterday, but today I can see the progression. Yesterdays weigh in was counted aswell.
DeleteNo progression visible on the Weight Warrior badge, BUT if I check the "Weigh" tab in Connect/App, I can see that my goal is visible in the graph
*Still not possible to "Add a meal/food". I just get a red error message
DeleteI got the Weight Warrior badge today. I logged the weight manually. I got Connect+. The badge shows stars in the background so it should be a Connect+ badge.
DeleteThe Daily Balance badge is now also showing progress.
@Jarlelj. Have you made sure you've set the correct Region in the Nutrion settings? Also try using Garmin Connect Web to add meal/food.
DeleteI see 5 days progress on daily balance today too.
Delete@e7andy Strange thing: I checked the nutrition settings now, and the wrong region was listed (Argentina). I changed to Norway, pressed save and tried adding a food/meal again. Same error.
DeleteChecked the settings again, and Argentina was back! I changed to Norway once more, pressed save and the message confirm that the region is changed. I pressed F5, and the settings bounces back to Argentina again.
(Have tried adding food/meal both in the app and Garmin Connect Web)
I guess Garmin just have rolled out a feature too early again, I will just wait for them to fix the issue
Definitely. I guess this was hastily implemented (maybe using AI), not reviewed and not tested by humans as one would expect. But I'm not surprised, the trend is clearly downwards in terms of software quality recently.
Delete@e7andy Edit: Garmin have fixed the bug above with the region resetting, and now I can add a food/meal!
DeleteI got the Weight Warrior badge today, but 2 strange things. I do not have Connect+ or a trial active. Also I got 0.3kg below the goal I have set today but did achieve the exact figure on Wed & Thu last week.
DeleteAndy wrote a few days ago that you have to reach the "exact" goal *, because some people try to gain weight and not loose. *) For me it gave me the badge when I was in the same weight rounded. So I had the goal set to 68 and I weighed 2 days between 68.0 and 68.9 and it was good enough for Garmin.
DeleteAnd from memory you also don't have Connect+ right? So even though there are stars in the background on the badge it seems not to require Connect+
DeleteThat sounds good. Weighing i at the exact weight would be extremely hard. I should test what the range is. 900g more or less sounds a bit much, but I'm not the one setting the rules 😊
DeleteIndeed, I don't have Connect+.
DeleteAndy, maybe instead of referring to the stars in the background, which might change, maybe you could indicate Connect+ based on what's in the JSON file of the badge. I think I saw there a boolean.
Yes. There is an attribute: "premium": true that can be used.
DeleteWeight Warrior got stars in the background but premium is set to false so that badge is an exception to the rule. Garmin is not good in being consistent.
I did a quick add of the premium attribute to the badges with a label Connect+ for those with premium true. I think that none of the nutrition badges are Connect+ badges. I haven't checked them all yet.
DeleteYeah, they don't look like Connect+, but that's just a marketing trick, because as far as I understand the only way to do all of the nutrition related things (photo, eat and report, etc) is through the Garmin Connect app's Health > Nutrition, but there the only thing I can do is to click on Join Connect+...
DeleteFood tracking badges - Daily Dish shows progress, but Breakfast Club doesn't - even though I have been recording in the "breakfast" category
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI can't get the badge for my weight goal... I have Connect +, I enter the weight manually (obviously it's lower than the goal), the counter goes forward but the badge doesn't arrive... any suggestions? Thanks!
To get the Weight Warrior badge you must enter the same weight as your goal weight. A lower weight is not always what the user wants. Some users want to gain weight.
DeleteHello guys, about the "Watch What You Eat" badge, can we add a widget in the fenix8 to track the food? I'm wondering how to get this badge, thanks
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/zbvNgQC2lj0?si=gKrKzemcE_ULU4bI&t=631
DeleteThe new Tacx Challenge is available.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Added.
DeleteNon riesco più a modificare la posizione del paese su garmin
ReplyDeleteAccording to a Garmin post in one of their forums: On January 13th, 2026 you can no longer edit the birthday and/or the country of residence.
DeleteOk. Good to know. I will remove all info about changing the location from garminbadges.com. If you still need to change your location you have to contact Garmin Support.
DeleteWow! I can't believe, that instead of fixing bug they spend their time on this! Now all of us (family) are stuck in whatever country...
DeleteThough I would challenge the community here: if we're all need to ask Garmin to change it, then maybe it would be nice to pick the top 3 countries based on statistics from the past years: Which are the best countries in terms of the maximum number of achievable badges?
@Gavriel. Never going to happen. Garmin plugged a hole in their money stream. Getting badges from other countries is a Connect+ feature. I expect there will be other changes to the free system to get users to move to Connect+. Remember they said they are in it for the long run. For example now that Garmin has a Nutrition app, why would they support the links to 3rd party Nutrition apps? They want users to start paying. All the free stuff is going to change.
Delete@KLS you misunderstood me. When you go now to https://www.garmin.com/account/profile/ it tells you that in order to change the country you need to contact Garmin. Currently I and all my kids are "stuck" in Taiwan, because that's where we "were" for the last badge (Winter Solstice Festival 2025). So I am saying that many people like me will now have to ask Garmin to change the country. Now we don't know what will they respond. I mean worst case scenario we'll stay in Taiwan for a while. A little better: they'll change it to whatever we ask it for (with no questions asked, no need to prove that you live there). In this case I'm saying that if I already ask them to change the country, then the best would be to change it to the country that will enable me to get the most of these country restricted badges. My guess (based on my memory) is that it'll be somewhere in the far east, maybe Taiwan is not that bad, maybe China, or Japan or Thailand (probably) will be the best. That's what I meant when I wrote we should do a bit of statistics before we ask Garmin to change the Country.
DeleteMy guess is that they will change it to country of residence, because this is exactly what they are trying to stop.
DeleteMaybe what how they check? I don't think they can ask for any kind of proof besides IP address, so VPN can work.
DeleteLe problème lié à l'ajout des protéines est réglé.
ReplyDeleteJe viens d obtenir le badge.
@piou, tu peux m'expliquer comment entrer les repas stp ? Il faut obligatoirement Connect+ ?
ReplyDelete@e7andy, possible which badges are available for free and which ones with Connect+, please ? Thanks
The badges that got stars in the background should all be Connect+ badges.
DeleteEffectivement suis abonné connect +.
ReplyDeleteDans l.onglet alimentation, cliquer sur "+"dans un des repas (petit déjeuner, déjeuner, diner), vous pouvez importer des aliments à vos repas ou en créer vous même.