User Guide

Garmin watch app / iOS + Android companion / sync help

RinkPulse is two pieces: the Garmin watch app records the hockey session, and the iOS or Android companion stores imported sessions locally for history and bigger-screen review. Start the session on the watch first. The companion app cannot pull every old Garmin activity from your account.

What's new in watch app 1.2

These features appear after you update RinkPulse on your Garmin watch to version 1.2 or later.

• Fix a shift with one button. Hold DOWN for about a second to flip between ON ICE and BENCH, or use MARK ON ICE / MARK BENCH in the End menu. See Fix a shift.
• Bench recovery and READY. On the bench, the live page shows how long you've rested and how far your heart rate has dropped, then READY when you've recovered. See Bench recovery.
• Shift warning. A soft double tap 10 seconds before your shift target, before the regular shift-time buzz.
• Faster goalie entry. On the goalie page, UP adds a save and DOWN adds a goal against. BACK within 5 seconds undoes it. Stats are split by period.
• Intermissions and periods. A long stop on the bench is treated as an intermission, so it no longer drags down your work/rest ratio, and the period moves on automatically in Game mode.
• Shifts in Garmin Connect. Each shift is saved as a lap, with an On Ice chart and shift / ice-time (or save) totals. See Garmin Connect.
• GPS outdoors. Pond Hockey and Open Skate can use GPS for speed and distance.
• Watch settings. Detection sensitivity and the new buzzes can be changed in the Connect IQ app. See Watch settings.
• Crash recovery. A NOT RECORDING warning, and a "Resume last game?" prompt if the app closes mid-game. See If the app crashes.
• Glance. On newer watches, the RinkPulse glance shows your last game.

Before your next skate: update both apps

If you use the companion app, update both pieces before your next RinkPulse session. The companion app adds local history, support diagnostics, optional RinkPulse cloud saves after sign-in, and expanded shift-detection details after import. Current Garmin watch builds include the hockey-v5 shift detector, improved gentle-skating start evidence, corrected indoor estimated-speed handling, and speed/distance units that follow the watch's Garmin settings.

1. Update RinkPulse on your Garmin watch from the Connect IQ Store.
2. Update RinkPulse Companion on iPhone through the public TestFlight beta, or on Android from Google Play. For the Android open test, join on the web first, then install on Android.
3. Open Garmin Connect Mobile and confirm your watch is connected.
4. Open RinkPulse Companion once after updating so it can check the watch connection and prepare local history.
5. If history is missing or sync is behaving oddly, do not uninstall the app, clear app storage, or switch install sources before contacting support.

Quick start on the watch

1. Open RinkPulse on your Garmin watch.
2. Pick the mode that matches the skate: Game, Practice, Pickup, Goalie, Open Skate, or Pond Hockey.
3. Check the setup screen. Skater modes use automatic shift detection. Goalie mode enables save and goal-against tracking.
4. Press START or SELECT to begin the workout.
5. Play normally. You do not need to press a button every shift.
6. When finished, press START/STOP, SELECT, BACK, or MENU depending on your watch layout, then choose End Workout.
7. Review the summary on the watch. If you use the companion app, open RinkPulse Companion to import the completed session.

Watch controls and pages

During a workout, the watch has multiple pages. If you only see elapsed time and heart rate, you are probably on the Live Stats page. Move to the other pages to see speed, distance, shifts, goalie stats, HR zones, and the post-game summary.

The End menu

Pressing START/STOP (or your watch's end button) opens a menu with three choices: CONTINUE, MARK ON ICE / MARK BENCH (skaters) or GOALIE STATS (goalies), and END WORKOUT. On touch watches, tap or swipe to pick an option, then press and hold to confirm it.

Workout pages

• Live Stats: heart rate, ON ICE / BENCH / INTERMISSION, ice time, and calories. On the ice it shows your shift timer with the time left to your shift target (or how far over you are). On the bench it shows your rest time, how far your heart rate has dropped, and READY when you're recovered.
• Speed & Distance: max speed, average speed, and total distance.
• Shifts: shift count, average shift, last shift, and work/rest ratio.
• HR Zones: time spent in heart-rate zones and VO2.

Goalie mode has two pages: the Goalie page (heart rate, save %, saves, goals against, shots, period, and time) and HR Zones.

On Instinct watches, the small round window shows your heart rate during the game.

After the game

The summary pages show time, shifts, heart rate, recovery, and speed. To leave the summary, press SELECT or BACK twice. The first press shows "AGAIN TO EXIT" so a bump doesn't close it before you've read it.

Fix a shift with one button

Shifts are still detected automatically. When the watch gets it wrong, for example it missed the start of a shift or still thinks you're on the ice while you sit on the bench, correct it on the spot:

• Button watches: hold DOWN for about a second. The watch buzzes twice and shows ON ICE or BENCH.
• Any watch: open the End menu and choose MARK ON ICE or MARK BENCH.

The change takes effect at the moment you press. For the next 20 seconds the watch won't switch you back on its own. If you pressed by mistake, press again right away to undo it. Corrected shifts are marked as manual when they reach the companion app, where Auto-tune uses them to adjust detection to how you skate.

Bench recovery and READY

When you come off the ice, the live page switches to a bench view: how long you've rested and how many beats per minute your heart rate has dropped since the end of the shift. READY appears once you've rested at least 30 seconds and your heart rate has dropped by about 25 bpm, or has come down near your resting range. If Bench ready buzz is on in the settings, the watch also gives one gentle buzz.

READY is a guide, not a rule. Your coach and your line change come first. During an intermission the bench view switches to INTERMISSION and the buzz stays off.

How the main metrics work

Shifts and ice time

RinkPulse detects shifts automatically from skating motion, speed or distance evidence when available, short heart-rate context, and gyroscope-backed confidence on supported watches. It waits for several seconds of strong skating before starting a shift, then keeps the shift alive through short glides and coast periods. It ends the shift after the watch sees enough bench evidence and no keep-alive evidence. If it gets a shift wrong, fix it with one button. If it regularly misses gentle skating or starts shifts from bench fidgeting, change Detection sensitivity in the watch settings.

Speed and distance

Pond Hockey and Open Skate can turn on GPS (setting "Use GPS for Pond and Open Skate"), and good GPS is used for speed and distance outdoors. Indoor modes and goalie mode keep GPS off to save battery, because GPS is unreliable inside arenas. Indoors, RinkPulse estimates speed and distance from your skating stride: how often you stride, times a stride length that starts from your height in your Garmin profile and improves each time you skate outdoors with GPS. Estimated values are marked with a "~" on the watch. Garmin Connect may still show different GPS-based speed or distance.

Heart rate, calories, and zones

Heart rate depends on the watch sensor and fit. Cold rinks, loose straps, gloves, and wrist flexion can affect readings. Calories come from Garmin's activity recording. On most watches VO2 uses your watch's own Garmin VO2 max when the watch provides it, otherwise an estimate based on your age. HR zones, recovery, and VO2 are fitness guides, not medical measurements.

Work/rest ratio

Work/rest compares time on ice to time on the bench. A lower number means more rest between shifts. A higher number means you spent more of the session working. On watches that detect intermissions, a long stop on the bench (about 8 minutes or more) counts as an intermission rather than rest, so the ratio reflects your actual shifts.

Periods

In Game mode, after an intermission the period moves on when your next shift starts. It won't move on before two shifts have been counted in the current period, so a long wait before puck drop doesn't skip a period. Turn this off with "Detect intermissions and periods" in the settings.

Goalie mode

Goalie mode is for tracking saves and goals against on the watch. RinkPulse calculates shots faced and save percentage from what you enter, and splits them by period.

• UP: add a save. You'll feel a short buzz and see "+1 SV".
• DOWN: add a goal against, with its own buzz and "+1 GA".
• BACK within 5 seconds: undo the last entry. After 5 seconds, BACK opens the End menu as usual.
• MENU or long-press UP: switch between the Goalie page and HR Zones.
• End menu, then GOALIE STATS: the full editor for corrections and changing the period. This is also how touch watches without UP/DOWN buttons enter stats.

Score and stat edits

Skater scorekeeping is handled in RinkPulse Companion, not on the watch during play. After a manual entry or Garmin import, open the session on iPhone or Android and use Edit Stats to adjust goals, assists, plus/minus, team score, opponent score, or notes.

Keeping score edits on the phone makes the watch workout flow simpler while still letting you correct the stat line later. If the same RinkPulse watch session imports again, companion-edited skater stats are preserved.

Watch settings

Open the Connect IQ app (or Garmin Connect, then Connect IQ Store, then My Device Apps), choose RinkPulse, then Settings.

• Shift detection sensitivity: Low (fewer false shifts from bench fidgeting), Medium (default), or High (catches gentle skating).
• Buzz 10 s before shift target: the soft warning before your shift time is up.
• Buzz when recovered on bench: the gentle READY buzz.
• Detect intermissions and periods: intermission detection and automatic period changes in Game mode.
• Use GPS for Pond and Open Skate: outdoor GPS speed and distance.

Sensitivity, intermissions, and outdoor GPS don't apply on Instinct 2, 2S, 2X, Crossover, or Descent G1.

Your game in Garmin Connect

RinkPulse saves each workout to Garmin Connect as a hockey activity. From watch app 1.2, each shift start and end is saved as a lap, so the Laps tab works as a shift log with heart rate per shift. The activity also has an On Ice chart and, on most watches, totals for shifts, ice time, and average shift (or saves and goals against for goalies). Laps usually carry over to apps that sync from Garmin Connect, such as Strava. The Forerunner 55 records a plain hockey activity without laps or RinkPulse fields, to keep it stable.

If the app crashes or stops recording

• NOT RECORDING: if this appears on the live page, Garmin isn't saving the workout. End the workout and start a new one.
• Resume last game? If RinkPulse closes mid-game, the next time you open it within a few hours it offers to resume. Choose Resume to continue with your totals so far. The resumed game is saved as a new Garmin activity that includes the earlier totals.
• SAFE: the first game after a crash runs in a safe mode that uses less sensor data. Detection may be a little less sensitive for that game only.
• Then please email support with your watch model so we can find the cause.

Syncing to the phone companion

The iOS and Android companion apps store imported RinkPulse sessions locally on your phone and can optionally sync RinkPulse session history after sign-in. This is not Garmin account cloud sync. The current watch import path sends completed RinkPulse watch-session summaries through Garmin Connect Mobile and the Connect IQ phone connection.

1. Confirm the Garmin watch app and phone companion are both updated.
2. Finish and save the workout in the RinkPulse watch app.
3. Keep your watch near the phone.
4. Make sure Garmin Connect Mobile is installed, signed in, and showing the watch as connected.
5. Open RinkPulse Companion on iPhone or Android.
6. On iPhone, go to Profile, choose Select Garmin Watch if needed, then use Retry Watch Backlog. On Android, look for the Garmin sync card on Home.
7. If the session does not appear, tap Retry.
8. If Retry still does not pull it in, open RinkPulse on the watch to the main mode-select screen, then tap Retry again in the companion app.
9. To back up or restore RinkPulse sessions across installs, sign in from Profile, then use Cloud Saves on iPhone or Data & Sync on Android, and run a cloud sync.

What imports

Imported sessions can include timing, mode, role, ice time, bench time, shifts, calories, distance, speed, heart-rate summary, HR zones, goalie stats, estimated speed/distance flags, and shift-detection diagnostics such as high-rate accel/gyro status and ice/bench confidence when those fields are available. Skater score stats are edited and stored in the companion app.

Watch app 1.2 also sends bench recovery, shift start times, per-period ice time, intermissions, corrected-shift markers, strides, and goalie period splits. RinkPulse Companion 1.2 on iPhone and Android shows them for free:

• Ice/bench timeline: every shift placed where it happened in the game, with period changes, intermissions, and the shifts you corrected by hand marked.
• Recovery: average and per-shift heart-rate recovery, and work/rest with intermissions left out.
• Periods: ice time per period, and saves and goals against per period for goalies.
• Trends: ice time, shifts, average shift, recovery, and work/rest over the last 4 weeks, 12 weeks, or the season.

Older companion versions still import 1.2 games, but without these extra details, so update both apps.

Shift detection auto-tune

When you correct shifts on the watch, RinkPulse Companion learns from them. After at least three games with corrections, it can send the watch a small tuning update that makes shift starts or ends a little more or less sensitive for how you skate. It changes one step at a time, undoes a change that makes things worse, and you can turn Auto-tune off or reset to the defaults in the companion app's Profile. The tuning is worked out on your phone. The detailed correction data it uses stays on your phone and is never uploaded to RinkPulse cloud saves. Auto-tune doesn't apply to Instinct 2, 2S, 2X, Crossover, or Descent G1.

What does not import

• Generic Garmin activities that were not recorded with RinkPulse.
• Your full Garmin account history.
• Cloud history unless you signed in for RinkPulse cloud saves before the local data was removed.
• Sessions older than the small pending backlog kept by the watch.

If it is not syncing

Run this checklist

1. Update RinkPulse on the watch and RinkPulse Companion on iPhone or Android.
2. Open Garmin Connect Mobile and confirm the watch is connected.
3. Open RinkPulse Companion and wait for the sync status to finish checking.
4. Use Retry Watch Backlog on iPhone or tap Retry on the Android sync card.
5. Open RinkPulse on the watch and leave it on the first screen, then tap Retry again in the companion app.
6. Confirm the workout was ended and saved in the RinkPulse watch app.
7. Restart Garmin Connect Mobile and RinkPulse Companion if the status still says Garmin Connect is unavailable.

Common status messages

• Garmin Connect is not available: install or open Garmin Connect Mobile, then relaunch RinkPulse Companion.
• No Garmin watches found: Garmin Connect Mobile does not yet know about a paired watch on this phone.
• Watch found, but not connected: bring the watch near the phone and wait for Garmin Connect Mobile to reconnect.
• Listening for completed RinkPulse watch sessions: the phone side is ready. Finish a RinkPulse watch session or tap Retry for a pending one.
• RinkPulse watch app may be out of date: update the watch app from Connect IQ, then reopen Garmin Connect Mobile and RinkPulse Companion.
• Imported RinkPulse session: the session was received and saved locally in the companion app.

If companion history looks missing

Do not uninstall RinkPulse Companion, clear app storage, or switch between TestFlight, Play, or internal-test installs while troubleshooting. Open the app, go to Profile, then use Export support diagnostics if the button is available.

Send a useful bug report

If it still will not sync, email rinkpulsesupport@gmail.com with your Garmin watch model, phone model, RinkPulse watch app version, companion app version, the sync status text, whether the session appears in Garmin Connect, and the exported diagnostics report if you can get it from the app.

Email sync help