How to use Incident Detection on a Garmin watch

Apple made waves when it introduced Crash Detection on its iPhone in 2022, but it was far from the first company to introduce such a safety measure. Garmin introduced its version of incident detection back in 2016 with the Edge Explore 1000 bike computer. The company has since expanded the feature to all its bike computers and most of its watch lineup — including its smartwatch and fitness tracker offerings.

I was recently struck by a vehicle while walking my dog one morning, and luckily, I was wearing my Garmin Fenix 8 watch. It had previously set up Incident Detection, and it detected the accident, texting my husband before I was able to. I knew this tool was useful before, but I won’t go without it again. While you hope never to need it, this is one tool that you should make sure to set up as soon as possible on your Garmin device.

What is Incident Detection?

A safety net in case of an accident or crash

Before touching on the steps to set up incident detection, it’s important to understand what it does. Those sensors in your watch aren’t only useful for performance data. If your watch or bike computer detects a sudden and drastic deceleration or impact while recording a timed GPS incident, it will trigger the Incident Detection feature.

When your device detects an incident, a notification will pop up that an incident was detected, and a message will be sent to your Garmin Connect designated emergency contacts. You have 30 seconds to cancel the message if you’re okay and don’t need help. If you don’t disable it, the Garmin Connect app will send a message to your emergency contacts via your phone with your name and real-time location. That way, they can either come to you themselves or call emergency services and provide your exact coordinates.

There are a few key things to know about Incident Detection. First, since Garmin devices don’t feature cellular connectivity, you need your phone on you and connected to the Garmin device to use it. Your phone will be the device that actually sends the message and the Garmin Connect app just triggers that. Second, your Garmin device needs a GPS signal when Incident Detection is triggered. Finally, for Incident Detection to function as it should with watches, you need to have the watch on your wrist.

How to set use Incident Detection on your Garmin watch

A few steps will add this safety feature to your watch

Incident detection is a fantastic safety net in case something happens, but your Garmin watch or bike computer won’t be able to message your emergency contact by default. There are some necessary setup steps that you must complete first.

1. Open the Garmin Connect app.
2. Select More.
3. Select Satefy & Tracking.
4. Select Safety Features.
5. If prompted, accept the requirements to use Incident Detection.
6. Select My Information and enter your name, city, and state. When finished, select the back arrow to return to the previous screen.
7. Select Add Emergency Contact.
8. Select from the list displayed. If your desired emergency contact is not listed, tap Create a Connect Contact.
9. The contact will then appear under the Connect tab.
10. Tap on the contact name from the Connect tab.
11. Select the phone number to which Garmin should send messages in the event of an emergency.
12. If the information on the Confirm phone number page is incorrect, tap on the phone number to edit it. Then, select the back arrow in the top left corner to return to the previous page.
13. Select Send Request.
14. Garmin will text your emergency contact on your behalf, asking them to respond to the request by clicking on a link. Have your emergency contact tap on the link and select Accept Request.
15. Sync your device to Garmin Connect.

Once you have added your emergency contact information and your contact has accepted the invite to be an emergency contact, you are mostly ready to go. Your contacts need to sync to your device, but then Incident Detection will be enabled automatically for compatible Activity Profiles.

Which activity profiles support Incident Detection?

Not all activities support this tool

Which exact activity profiles support incident detection depends, in part, on your device since activity profiles vary by device. Broadly speaking, most GPS-reliant activities support Incident Detection, though not all. For Garmin bike computers, Road, Gravel, Commute, Tour, and eBike off Incident Detection. For Garmin watches, Run, Track Run, Trail Run, Ultra Run, Buke eBike, Gravel Bike, Bike COmmute, Bike Tour, Road Bike, Walk, and Hike support Incident Detection.