Activity Steps

Garmin watches show you your daily step total, but not how many steps you took during this workout. Activity Steps fills that gap. Add it as a data field to any activity profile (run, walk, hike, strength, yoga, indoor cycling — anything that uses Garmin's activity timer). The field starts at 0 the moment you press Start and counts up by the steps you take while the timer is running. Pause, Auto Pause, stops, and screen sleep do not break it; only steps taken while the timer is actively running are counted. What it does: - Displays the steps you have taken since the start of the current activity. - Freezes during pause (manual or Auto Pause) and during stop — steps taken while paused or stopped are not added. - Resumes from the frozen value when you press Start again. - Returns to 0 when you discard or reset the activity. - Stays cumulative across laps — one running total for the whole activity. (If you want the count to reset on every lap, install our companion app Lap Steps. If you want it to reset only when you press the lap button, install Manual Lap Steps.) - Re-baselines silently at midnight if the activity crosses local midnight — no negative jumps, no glitches. - Records the final activity-total step count into the FIT file as a custom session field named "Activity Steps". After you save the activity it shows up in Garmin Connect under the activity's Connect IQ fields, so the number stays with the activity even when you're not looking at the watch. What it does not do: - It does not show your daily step total. - It does not send any data anywhere — no internet, no Connect, no analytics. Want a per-lap counter instead? Install Lap Steps (resets on every lap) or Manual Lap Steps (resets only when you press the lap button).

New in this release: the activity-total step count is now recorded into the activity's FIT file as a custom session field named "Activity Steps". After you save the activity, the value shows up in Garmin Connect under the activity's Connect IQ fields — so the step count for the activity stays with the activity even when you're not looking at the watch. No other behaviour changes. This release adds the FitContributor permission to enable that custom field — Activity Steps still does not use network, location, or any sensor beyond the system step counter. Heads-up: because the permission set has changed, the Connect IQ Store will prompt you to re-accept permissions when the update arrives. If you dismiss the prompt without accepting, your watch will stay on the previous version and the new FIT field will not appear in your saved activities — re-open Connect IQ Mobile and accept the prompt to receive the update. Note: the new field also relies on being added to one of your activity data screens BEFORE you press Start. If you add the field to a screen partway through a recording, the on-screen counter still works but the new FIT entry is not written for that activity.