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Getting started

This section describes everything you need to know to get Swimming App Professional up and running on your Garmin device.

Topics:

Install application

Please install the Swimming App Professional application by downloading it from the Garmin App Store via the Garmin Express Software on PC/MAC or via the Garmin ConnectIQ mobile app on your mobile phone.

Link to Swimming App Professional on Garmin App Store

Here a YouTube video describing the installation process in more detail:

Click here to watch the video

Change the user settings

The Swimming App Professional in the PREMIUM version offers a huge amount of configuration options which can be changed on your PC/MAC your or on your mobile phone:

Change user settings on PC or MAC

All configurations can be changed on your PC or MAC by using the Garmin Express Software. Before changing configurations, please make sure that you have installed the latest software version. The software can be downloaded from the official Garmin web site.

Note The pictures in the following sections are taken from the Garmin Express Software V7.28.0 running on Windows 11 and may be subject of change in future Garmin versions.

Step 1: Start Garmin Express Software Look for the symbol as shown below and double-click it to start the Garmin Express software.

After that you should be able to see your Garmin device as shown in the picture below. If not, please add your device first. For details refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

Step 2: Establish Connection between PC/MAC and the Garmin Device Connect your device via USB to your PC/MAC. Your device should be automatically detected and the Garmin Express software starts a synchronization process. When everything is ok, it is signalized via green lights as shown in the figure below. In case problems occur, please refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

Step 3: Select Device Please click on the icon which shows your device. Following picture should appear:

Step 4: Find Application or Data Field Please click the marked button in the picture above. A list of all installed applications and data fields on your device should appear. Please scroll up/down until you find the application or data field you would like to configure as shown in the figure below:

Default Garmin Express Software Version

Step 5: Select Application or Data Field for Configuration Please select the RH-SPORTS application or data field you would like to configure by clicking with the left mouse button to the three dots as marked in the left picture above for your application or data field of choice. A context menu will be shown where you have to select "Settings"

A similar screen like shown below should appear:

Step 6: Change Configuration Please note that configuration changes ONLY apply on your Garmin device if you have entered a proper PREMIUM activation key in the field marked in the picture below. For details about the possible key types, please refer to the registration key details. If a proper activation key is entered, you can change ALL configurations according to your needs. Finnaly press the "Save" button at the bottom of the dialog. The Garmin Express Software will update the configurations on your device. In case of errors, please refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

Step 7: Disconnect Device After the configuration changes were saved, disconnect your device from the PC/MAC.

Step 8: Start Application or Data Field on Device Please start our RH-SPORTS application or data field on your Garmin device. If you have the PREMIUM Version (key was correct), then all your configuration changes should have been applied. If not, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.

Change user settings on mobile phone

All configurations can be changed on your mobile phone by using the Garmin ConnectIQ™ mobile app which is available for Android- and iOS-compatible devices. Before changing configurations, please make sure that you have installed the latest mobile app version. The app can be downloaded from the appropriate App Stores (e.g. Google Play, Apple Store, etc.)

Note The pictures in the following sections are taken from the Garmin ConnectIQ™ mobile app V2.43 running on an iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 26.2 and may be subject of change in future Garmin versions.

Step 1: Start Garmin ConnectIQ™ mobile app Look on your mobile phone for the app with the symbol shown belowe and click it to start the Garmin ConnectIQ™ mobile app.

A similar window as shown below should appear.

Step 2: Press device button The device button is located at the bottom on the right side. Please press it and following picture should appear if the device is not connected so far:

If the device is already connected with your mobile phone via Bluethooth, then the proper connection status is shown as illustrated in following picture:

Step 3: Select your Garmin Devices If you have multiple Garmin devices and the wrong device is selected by default, please select a proper device via the button on the top on the left side.

Step 4: Select RH-SPORTS product If you would like to change the settings for a RH-SPORTS application, please click the marked button My device apps as shown in the pictures below:

If you would like to change the settings for a RH-SPORTS data field, please click the marked button My data fields as shown in the pictures below:

Step 5: Select an Application or Data Field for Configuration A list of all applications and data fields appear. Please scroll up/down until you find the application or data field you would like to configure as shown in the figure below:

Step 6: Select Settings Please click on the Settings button as shown in the picture below:

Step 7: Change Configuration Please note that the configuration changes ONLY APPLY on your device if you have entered the proper PREMIUM activation key in the field marked in the picture below. For details about the possible key types, please refer to the registration key details. If a proper activation key is entered, you can change ALL configurations according to your needs.

Step 8: Save Configurations Finally press the Save button at the top on the right side. The Garmin mobile app will update your configurations on your device. In case of communication errors, please refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

Step 9: Start Application or Data Field on Device Please start our RH-SPORTS application or data field on your Garmin device. If you have the PREMIUM Version (key was correct), then all your configuration changes should have been applied. If not, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.

Start application

This section describes how to start Swimming App Professional on your Garmin device.

Find application on Garmin device

After installation the downloaded Swimming App Professional application can be found on the Garmin Watch by pressing the “Start" Button. Search for following icon and select it to start the application:

Application start

The application start process runs through following phases:

Phase 1:
In this phase the About screen with version information is shown for ~2 seconds (FREE version) respectively ~1 second (PREMIUM version). This phase cannot be aborted. On a D2™ Bravo is looks like that:

Phase 2:
In this phase information about your registration status is shown for ~6 seconds (FREE version). In the PREMIUM Version this screen is omitted for faster startup. This phase cannot be aborted. On a D2™ Bravo is looks like that:

Phase 3:
In this phase the sensor polling screen is shown as long as no proper GPS signal has been found or the timeout is reached. If a proper GPS signal is already available, then the screen is only visible for a short moment (~1 second). If not, then this screen is shown for at most ~35 seconds. During this phase the "BACK" button can be used to abort the polling sequence. On a D2™ Bravo is looks like that:

Note:
Please make sure that your GPS or ANT+ sensors are configured and enabled on your device. Otherwise certain data fields do not show useful/proper information.

Phase 4:
The application startup process is finished and the application can be used. On a D2™ Bravo it looks like that:

Change user settings

Most configuration changes only APPLY in the PREMIUM Version after storing the settings. Please donate first to get the registration key.


Registration key for PREMIUM version

There are following ways to get a registration key in order to activate the PREMIUM version:

  • Method 1: After successful donation, you receive a mail from RH-SPORTS with the PREMIUM registration key(s) as PDF.
    • If you donated for the Complete application and data field package, you get:
      • a master key in the format "RH-SPORTS-Nxxxx", which can be used in:
        • the RH-SPORTS HUB application to start from there all other standalone applications.
        • each individual standalone app and data field.
    • If you donated for an individual application or data field or a package includes more applications and/or data fields, you get a key in the format "XXXX XXXX" for each included product.
  • Method 2: If you have reveived an RH-SPORTS gift card then you can use the code on the gift card as master key (in the format "RH-SPORTS-xxxxxxx") in:
    • the RH-SPORTS HUB application to start from there all other standalone applications.
    • each individual standalone app and data field.

Please copy the registration key exactly in the given format (e.g. XXXX XXXX) into this text field. The registration key evaluation is case sensitive.

Here some important registration hints:

Hint 1: Please copy the registration key exactly in the given format (e.g. XXXX XXXX) into this text field:

  • The registration key for individual applications or data fields is a hexadecimal number (numbers from 0 to 9 and big letters from A to F).
  • The master key has the format "RH-SPORTS-xxxxxxx" where x must be a capital letter or a number.

The evaluation of the code is case-sensitive!

Hint 2: Please synchronize the settings with your watch afterwards. If you use Garmin Express software on PC or MAC, please disable the bluetooth connection between your mobile phone and watch during configuration as otherwise the settings might be overwritten again.

Hint 3: Sometimes it is necessary to reboot the watch once (for whatever reason).

Hint 4: Please use the prooper key for the selected standalone application or data field.

Hint 5: Please make sure that there are no floating point values in the app settings anymore (except for Swimming App where they are allowed).

Activity type

This option allows you to select among different activity types. Depending on your selection the session data will be categorized. Please note that this configuration has to be done before manually starting a session the first time.

Following options are available:

  • Open water swimming
  • Open water swimming (with generic profile) to overcome Garmin limitation that build-in heart rate is not present during swimming on some devices.
  • Lap swimming (GPS is disabled and manual LAP ( = pool direction change) required)

Note:
HR measurements are not supported for swimming activity type without external device by default from Garmin, therefore accuracy may be diminished while swimming!

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the BETA and PREMIUM version!

Background color

This option allows you to select the background and text color.

Following options are available on devices with CIQ 1:

  • White .. white background and black text color
  • Black .. black background and white text color

Please refer to following picture for better illustration:

On devices with CIQ2 and higher, following extended options are available:

  • White background with black text color and grey header/footer
  • Black background with white text and grey header/footer
  • White background with black text and inverted colors in header/footer
  • Black background with white text and inverted colors in header/footer

Please refer to following picture for better illustration:

Note:
By default the option with "Black background with white header/footer" is used for best readability on all devices!

Note:
Devices with AMOLED display (e.g. Venu™ based devices) only support black background to avoid burn-in damages and to save battery life time!

Auto screen lock

This option allows you to enable the screen lock automatically when you start or resume a workout session. This is very helpful, especially on devices with touch screen, to avoid unintentional exits of the application.

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the BETA and PREMIUM version!

Auto scroll time

This option allows you to enable and configure the auto scroll feature (automatically cycles through data pages during workout) by entering the auto scroll time. This is the time in seconds when the application automatically scrolls to the next page.

Note:
A value of 0 (default) or 1 deactivates this feature!

Note:
This configuration feature is available in the FREE version as well.

Pool length

This option allows you to configure the pool length in meters or yards depending on the unit settings for distance in your watch settings. This setting is only evaluated when the activity type "Lap Swimming" is selected.

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the BETA and PREMIUM Version!

Distance for PACE Calculation

This option allows you to configure the distance in meters or yard which is then used for PACE (=time until a given distance is achieved) calculations. E.g. if you would like to have the PACE for a 50 meter distance, please enter 50 in this field.

Note:
This configuration feature is already available in the FREE version!

LAP features

The "LAP Mode" configuration option allows you to select the mode for the LAP feature. Following options are available:

  • Feature disabled (no LAP support)
  • Manual mode (new LAP has to be started manually)

For further details about the LAP features, please click here.

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the BETA and PREMIUM version!

ALERT features

The ALERT1 mode configuration option allows you to select the mode for the ALERT1 feature. Please note that this configuration has to be done before manually starting a session the first time. Following options are available:

  • Feature disabled (no user-defined ALERT support)
  • Single distance alert (an ALERT is shown once when the user-defined distance is reached)
  • Periodic distance alert (an ALERT is shown every time when the user-defined distance elapsed)

The ALERT2 mode configuration option allows you to select the mode for the ALERT2 feature. Please note that this configuration has to be done before manually starting a session the first time. Following options are available:

  • Feature disabled (no user-defined ALERT support)
  • Heart rate above limit where an ALERT is shown when the user-defined heart rate (in beats per minute) is exceeded.

The ALERT3 mode configuration option allows you to select whether you would like to have an alert if no GPS fix was found for three minutes or not. This can help users to improve the accuracy of the distance measurement as this WILL NOT work if no GPS signal is found.
The ALERT4 mode configuration options allows you to select a timer alert. Please note that this configuration has to be done before manually starting a session the first time. Following options are available:

  • Feature disabled (no alert is shown)
  • Single timer alert (an alert is shown when the user-defined limit in minutes is reached)
  • Periodic timer alert (an alert is shown every time when the user-defined limit in minutes is reached)

For further details about the ALERT features, please click here.

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!

Show/hide data pages

This option allows you to select whether data pages shall be visible or not to have a better overview about your really needed information.

Note:
In the FREE version the generic page with advertisement cannot be disabled!

2-field data pages

This option allows you to freely select the content of all 2-field data pages out of a huge list of all available data fields (even during the ongoing training session). This enables you to adjust all fields completely according to your personal preferences.
For an overview of available data fields, please click here!

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!

4-field data pages

This option allows you to freely select the content of all 4-field data pages out of a huge list of all available data fields (even during the ongoing training session). This enables you to adjust all fields completely according to your personal preferences.
For an overview of available data fields, please click here!

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!

7-field data pages

This option allows you to freely select the content of the 7-field data page out of a huge list of all available data fields (even during the ongoing training session). This enables you to adjust all fields completely according to your personal preferences.

For an overview of available data fields, please click here!

Note:
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!