Pairing the Garmin 66i with a cell phone in 2026

Try it again - (third round)

Uninstall Connect and Connect IQ from my phone.
Uninstall Explore from my phone.
Forget the 66i from my phone bluetooth list.
On the 66i go to Setup, bluetooth
select "Forget Phone"
Install Garmin messenger from the Android store

At the bottom right I click on "Device" and it offers to Pair a device. It knows about my garmin contract. I put the 66i into pairing mode. The phone shows a guy walking and say "searching for devices". A long wait, nothing seems to be happening.

I cancel, the rather than selecting the existing 66i entry and trying to pair it, I click "Add device" and this gets things done. More buggy Garmin software. But now "all devices" in Messenger sees just one 66i and indicates it is connected.

Now I go to the play store and install "Connect IQ store". I launch it. It knows my name. Like always, it shows the 66i as not connected. I try "add new device", but this takes me to a help page of some sort.

So it is time for a second chat with Garmin support. This gets me Ed again. It turns out that if I want to use Connect IQ, I will first need to get Connect paired up. He says he misunderstood my initial request (which was in the first line I gave their chat gadget. I think that he just ignored that first line and only paid attention to what I typed once the chat started up.

I don't need to get rid of my existing nicely paired Messenger connection. I do need to do two things:

• Delete any 66i in the Connect list and use "Add device"
• Turn off Wifi on my phone.

As long as bluetooth is on and paired to an app Connect should see the device.

I then install Connect IQ and fire it up. It does some odd thing where it takes me back to connect to pair the device, then fails, but after that Connect IQ has the 66i and shows it connected.

Thus ends round 3 and I have three Garmin apps working. Connect, Messenger, and Connect IQ. I can install Explore and try it also at some point.

Try it again - (second round)

take phone out of "don't disturb"
be sure phone bluetooth is enabled.
Install Connect from Android Play
Install Connect IQ store from Android Play

Connect IQ wants me to sign into my Garmin account. I dig up my password and do this. At the bottom right I click on "Device". It shows me my 66i, but not connected.

I press the "continue" button on my 66i pairing screen. The 66i shows a progress image with blue dots moving from my device to a phone, but nothing is happening on the phone.

It is funny that Connect IQ fired up knowing about a 66i. I wonder if it got information from the Garmin site, and if this is my other 66i. I cancel the pairing and power off my 66i. I dig out my other (non-activated) old 66i. I power it on, and set it next to my phone. It shows bluetooth status "connecting" but is not connecting to the Connect IQ screen. I tell it to "Forget phone, Pixel 6". Now I go to the 66i bluetooth and tell it to start pairing. Once again, nothing happens on the Pixel Connect IQ screen.

Now I go to explore.garmin.com using my desktop browser and look at plans and devices. It knows only about my new 66i (which is good I guess) and my Instinct watch. So it is not getting confused about my old 66i. I power off the old 66i and put it back in the drawer.

Try it again - first round

Uninstall Connect and Connect IQ from my phone.
take phone out of "don't disturb"
be sure phone bluetooth is enabled.
Install Connect from Android Play
Install Connect IQ store from Android Play
power on the new 66i I want to use

We go to the 66i bluetooth screen and it wants to pair the phone, which is good. We tell it to continue.
I go to the Devices screen in Connect. It shows the 66i, but nothing is happening. the 66i is showing the progress graphic. I click "add device" and get a progress graphic. It knows the EMEI for both of my 66i devices. Nothing is happening. I cancel on both the phone and 66i.

On the connect screen, I remove the 66i that it seemed to magically know about. Now I try "add device" there. We are back to having both screens "spinning" and both EMEI shown on the Connect page. We cancel both.

I clear the cache and app data for connect and try again. I launch connect. It does NOT show any 66i in the devices screen. So I put the 66i into pairing mode and click "add device" at the bottom of the connect screen.

THE TRICK --- THE TRICK

It showed the EMEI for the old 66i, then added the EMEI for the new one. The trick is you need to touch the number! It wants you to select an item from the list it is showing you!!
Who would have guessed?

Once I touch the new EMEI in the list, I get a new screen and pick "LINK device"
I am off to the races.

I verify the pairing code Now the 66i shows a number and the phone aks for it. It tells me "device connected".

Some confusing issues arise. It tells me about permissions it would like to have, then takes me to a generic android screen where I need to find the permission and turn it on.

Now it wants me to download Garmin Explore. I do.

Now I use the link in Connect to go to Connect IQ store. Under devices, it still shows me the 66i "not connected". Clearly this is a garmin bug of some kind. There is no way here to add a device My old instinct is not shown, because the older Instinct does not support Connect IQ.

Contact Garmin support

The 66i would be used with the Garmin Messenger and Explore apps.
Is there a specific reason as to why you are trying to use it with the Connect app?
You will want to pair it with the Garmin Messenger app first.
If the device is paired to another app, Messenger will not pair with it.

-- I ask: Should I just delete connect and forget about it?

You don't need it. You would only need to use Messenger and Explore with the 66i

my first attempt (yesterday)

Important

Make sure that the phone has bluetooth on.
Make sure it is not in "don't disturb" mode blocking notifications.

• My pairing notes from 2022

My new 66i (the one I am working with) is GPSMAP 66i (2) with unit ID 343106xxxx. I hold on this name, a dialog pops up, and offers me to remove this device. I do! I remove this. Let's just start over. It tells me to also remove if from my phones bluetooth settings. It gives me a link to settings, I find it and tell Android to forget it.

Now I use "Add device" in the Garmin devices list screen in Garmin connect.

I use the Bluetooth screen in the 66i setup to enable bluetooth and tell it to connect. It says "waiting for phone". We wait a long time. The phone says "setup was not successful" and give me a retry button.

Try the Messenger App

I get a big orange message "Instinct not supported". Well, I should think not. I find my instinct watch and move it far away into another building.

Try again with connect

In this menu, I see "Forget phone" and select it. Now it seems eager to pair with the phone. I completely exit and reenter the devices screen in Connect and now it seems to work. Two numeric codes get exchanged. I have to type in the second one. Then it all seems to work. I skip both offers to add permissions to interact with my phone. It offers to link up and sync, that works and if offers me a Finish button. Now it wants me to install Garmin Explore. Why not? It finds this on Google play and starts the install.

I start the app. It knows my name. It finds the 66i I just activated and shows the last sync as 1 minute ago. It offers a link to Garmin Messenger. It knows about my Instinct also (but it is not in range).