How to See Your Glucose on a Garmin Watch with Sugar Sense

Your glucose, on your Garmin watch. Sugar Sense now brings your CGM readings to more than 140 Garmin devices, from Forerunner and Fenix to Venu, Instinct and even Edge bike computers. This guide walks you through the whole setup, from installing the app to seeing your first reading on your wrist. It takes about five minutes.

What you get

Sugar Sense for Garmin is a secondary display for the Sugar Sense account you already use on your phone. It works with FreeStyle Libre (via LibreLinkUp sharing), Dexcom (via Dexcom Share) and Nightscout, and it shows:

• Glance: your current value and trend arrow in the widget carousel, one press away from the watch face
• Full view: a large zone colored reading, trend arrow, data age and a 3 hour trend graph with your high and low guide lines
• Data field: your glucose inside any activity screen, next to pace and heart rate, so you can keep an eye on it during a run or ride

Readings refresh in the background every 5 minutes, in mg/dL or mmol/L depending on your account settings. Values older than 15 minutes grey out, so stale data never looks live.

Before you start

You need three things:

1. The Sugar Sense app on your phone (iOS or Android), signed in and connected to a glucose source: FreeStyle Libre, Dexcom or Nightscout. If you have not set that up yet, download the app here first.
2. Sugar Sense Premium, purchased in the phone app. The Garmin apps themselves are free to install.
3. The Garmin Connect app on your phone, with your watch already paired to it.

Step 1: install Sugar Sense on your watch

1. Open the Connect IQ Store app on your phone (it comes from Garmin, install it from your app store if you do not have it).
2. Search for Sugar Sense.
3. Install Sugar Sense (the widget with glance and full view). If you also want glucose inside your activity screens, install Sugar Sense Data Field too. They pair separately but work the same way.
4. Wait for the app to sync to your watch. This usually takes under a minute while the watch is connected to your phone.

Step 2: open the app and get your pairing code

On the watch, open the widget carousel and select Sugar Sense. The first launch shows a short pairing code and the address to visit. That is all the watch asks of you: you never type an email or password on the watch itself.

Step 3: enter the code in your browser

1. On any phone, tablet or computer, open app.sugarsense.io/garmin.
2. Sign in with the same account you use in the Sugar Sense phone app.
3. Type in the code from the watch and confirm.

Within a few seconds the watch picks the account up automatically and your current glucose appears. From then on it refreshes itself every 5 minutes in the background. You do not need to repeat any of this: pairing is a one time step.

Adding the data field to an activity

If you installed Sugar Sense Data Field, add it to an activity layout once and it stays there:

1. On the watch, open the activity you use (for example Run), then long press for options.
2. Choose the data screens settings and edit a layout.
3. Pick a field slot and select Sugar Sense from the Connect IQ fields list.

The field shows your value and trend arrow, adapts to light and dark backgrounds, and on larger layouts draws a compact trend graph. If the field is not paired yet, the pairing code appears right inside the field.

Troubleshooting

• The watch says “No source”. Your Sugar Sense account is not connected to a glucose source yet. Open the phone app and connect FreeStyle Libre, Dexcom or Nightscout, then give the watch a few minutes.
• The watch says Premium is required. The Garmin display is part of Sugar Sense Premium. Open the phone app to subscribe, and the watch picks it up on its next refresh.
• Readings look old or greyed out. The watch pulls data through your phone’s Bluetooth connection to Garmin Connect. Make sure the phone is in range and Garmin Connect is allowed to run in the background.
• Nothing appears after pairing. Give it one full refresh cycle (up to 5 minutes). If it still shows nothing, open the widget once: it also refreshes on open.

Good to know

• Alerts stay on your phone. The watch never sounds alarms, and the Sugar Sense phone app keeps delivering your notifications exactly as before.
• The data field is built for land sports. Bluetooth does not carry through water, so swimming screens would only ever show stale data.
• Battery impact is small by design: one tiny background pull every 5 minutes.

Sugar Sense for Garmin is a secondary display for passive monitoring. It is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Do not use it to make treatment decisions. Always confirm readings with your CGM app or a blood glucose meter before acting, and never rely on this app for alarms. Sugar Sense is not affiliated with Abbott, Dexcom or Garmin. FreeStyle Libre is a trademark of Abbott. Dexcom is a trademark of Dexcom, Inc.