Garmin's "OK Garmin" Voice Feature Cuts Battery Life by Up to 50%
Garmin's September update introduced "OK Garmin" voice activation, but users report battery life dropping 35-50%. Disabling it restores estimates immediately.
Garmin users are taking to the company’s support forums with a common grievance: the newly introduced “OK Garmin” hands-free voice feature appears to be eating through battery life. The feature arrived through Garmin’s September software updates, bringing hands-free voice activation to the Fenix 8, Forerunner 570 and 970, Venu 4, and several other models.
What the September Update Added
Last month’s updates for select watches also brought all-day fall detection, a set of new Quick Workouts and Garmin Run Coach plans, as well as that “OK Garmin” hands-free voice command feature. It’s exactly what it sounds like: instead of pressing a button, users can simply say “OK Garmin” to activate voice commands.
The Battery Life Impact
However, it looks like “OK Garmin” in particular is what causes some watches’ projected runtimes to drastically drop, allegedly by roughly 35% to 50% in some cases. Garmin does acknowledge that enabling these settings shortens battery life, though it doesn’t say by how much. The tradeoff makes sense, since the watch has to listen constantly for its wake phrase. Even so, giving up several days of runtime is a steep price for a feature that many people may seldom use.
How to Disable “OK Garmin”
Luckily, the fix is simple: turning off “OK Garmin” should restore your battery life estimates right away.
If your watch has been draining faster since the update, go to Settings > System > Voice and disable “OK Garmin.” If needed, you can also switch off the Phone Assistant wake word from the same area. The good news is that turning this feature off won’t even take voice commands away - you can still trigger them manually using the watch’s physical controls.
Keep in mind that these numbers are battery estimates rather than independently tested, real-world runtimes. Some of the battery complaints that surfaced after the update may also stem from unrelated issues. Still, trading away as much as half your battery life just to avoid pressing a button is a difficult bargain to defend.