While the vívoactive 3 is a complete revamp from the vívoactive HR, it is still a Connect IQ device through and through. Here are some tips and tricks for adding vívoactive 3 support to your Connect IQ app.
Round is the New Black
If you are seeing a pattern with the fēnix® family of products, the Forerunner® 935, the Approach® S60, and now the vívoactive 3, it is not coincidence: Garmin likes round watches. We like them because they look like watches instead of “wearable technology”. Yes, a rectangular display can hold more information, and yes, our devices capture and display much more information than a traditional wrist watch, but if it does not look good on the user’s wrist none of that matters.
Watch Faces
Watch faces work the same on the vívoactive 3 as they do on the fēnix 5 and the Forerunner 935. The vívoactive 3 supports always active watch faces as well, meaning your custom watch faces can stay always on and update every second while still having industry leading battery life.
Data Fields
When using three or more data fields on the vívoactive 3, the top and bottom fields are much smaller and designed for metrics that can be represented in simple terms, and the vívoactive 3 will not allow users to place Connect IQ data fields into the top/bottom areas. Otherwise, your data field should run just fine on the vívoactive 3.
Device Behaviors
The vívoactive 3 is our first one button watch. The button is used for start/stop, and there is no physical “back” button. The BehaviorDelegate will map a number of screen actions to behaviors:
- Right swipe is now Back
- Hold on the screen is now Menu
- Swipe up and down is now Previous and Next page
If your app currently overrides the above actions (right swipe, hold, or swiping up and down), they will interfere with the native actions of the vívoactive 3. If you are using the BehaviorDelegate to capture menu and back behaviors, your app will work without modification on the vívoactive 3.
Use Selectables, Menus, and the Picker
Make sure to take advantage of Menus and the Picker. These will always adapt to the native look and feel to the device and take advantage of input changes.
The vívoactive 3 has a capacitive touch screen that you can take advantage of. The Selectables and Buttons framework, introduced in Connect IQ 2, makes it easy to design an interface that can be used by both touch and button products. At the Connect IQ Summit we gave a presentation about how to use Selectables and Buttons when designing your user interface.