Skiing App Professional  V4.4.6
for Garmin ConnectIQ-Compatible Devices
20_GettingStarted

Getting started

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

Topics:

Install application

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

Link to Skiing App Professional on Garmin App Store

Here a YouTube video describing the installation process:

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Click here to watch the video

How to change the user settings

The Skiing 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.

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

garmin_express_icon.png

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.

garmin_express_config1.png

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.

garmin_express_config2.png

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

garmin_express_config3.png

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

garmin_express_config4.png
Default Garmin Express Software Version
garmin_express_config5.png
Some Garmin Express Software Versions

Step 5: Select App for Configuration Please select the application you would like to configure by clicking with the left mouse button to the three dots as marked in the left picture above to the app of your choice as shown in the right picture above. A context menu will be shown where you have to select "Settings"

Following screen should appear:

garmin_express_config6.png

Step 6: Change Configuration Please note that configuration changes ONLY apply on your Garmin device if you have entered the proper PREMIUM key in the field marked in the picture below. The key consists of two times four characters separated by a space in between. If the proper key is entered, please make the configurations according to your needs and press the "Save" button at the end. The Garmin Express Software will update the configurations on your device. In case of errors, please refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

garmin_express_config7.png

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

Step 8: Start Application on Device Please start your application on your Garmin device. If you have the PREMIUM Version (key was correct), then 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 Connect(TM) Mobile app which is available for Android-, iOS- and Windows-compatible devices. Before changing configurations, please make sure that you have installed the latest app version. The app can be downloaded from the appropriate App Store (e.g. Google Play, Apple Store, etc.)

Step 1: Start Garmin Connect Mobile App Look on your mobile phone for the app with the symbol shown on the left side and click it to start the Garmin Connect™ Mobile app.

garmin_connect_icon.png

A similar window as shown below should appear.

garmin_mobile_config1.png

Step 2: Look for Garmin Devices List After pressing the button with the dots on the lower right side (as marked above) a new windows appears. Please scroll down until you find the entry "Garmin Devices".

garmin_mobile_config2.png

Step 3: Select your Garmin Devices After pressing the button marked above, a window with all your registered Garmin devices appears (see picture below). If you cannot find your device, please add it before by clicking on the upper right "+" sign. For further details, please refer to the documentation offered by Garmin. Then select one of your connected device.

garmin_mobile_config3.png

Step 4: Select Activities and Apps Please click the marked button in the picture below following by clicking to applications.

garmin_mobile_config4.png
garmin_mobile_config5.png

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

garmin_mobile_config6.png
garmin_express_icon.png

Step 6: Select Settings Please click on Settings as marked below.

garmin_mobile_config7.png

Step 7: Change Configuration Please note that configuration changes ONLY apply on your device if you have entered the proper PREMIUM key in the field marked in the picture below. The key consists of two times four characters separated by a space in between. If the proper key is entered, please make the configurations according to your needs.

garmin_mobile_config8.png

Step 8: Save Configurations Finally scroll down and press the "Save" button. The Garmin Mobile App will update your configurations on your device. In case of communication errors, please refer to the documentation provided by Garmin.

garmin_mobile_config9.png

Step 9: Start Application on Device Please start your application on your device. If you have the PREMIUM Version (key was correct), then your configuration changes should have been applied. If not, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.

Start application

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

Find application on Garmin device

After installation the downloaded Skiing 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:

launcher_icon.png

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:

app_start_phase1.png

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:

app_start_phase2.png

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:

app_start_phase3.png
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:

app_start_phase4.png

User settings

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Most configuration changes are ONLY possible in the PREMIUM Version. Please donate first to get the registration key.


Registration key for PREMIUM version

After successful donation you receive a mail with the PREMIUM activation key(s). Please copy the registration key exactly in the given format (XXXX XXXX) into this text field. The registration key evaluation is case sensitive and no spaces are allowed at the beginning or end. One space is mandatory after the fourth character.

configuration_registration_key.png

Here some important registration hints:

Hint 1: Please copy the registration key with 9 characters length exactly in the given format (XXXX XXXX) into this text field. The registration key is a hexadecimal number (numbers from 0 to 9 and big letters from A to F) and the evaluation is case sensitive. No spaces are allowed at the beginning or end. One space is mandatory after the fourth character.

Hint 2: Users reported that on some devices (e.g. Android-based mobile phones) more than one space is added when copying the key to the app settings field. Please make sure that there is exactly one space after the fourth character.

Hint 3: 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 4: Sometimes it is necessary to reboot the watch once (for whatever reason).

Hint 5: Please use the right key for the selected application or data field.

Hint 6: 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 catagorized. Please note that this configuration has to be done before manually starting a session the first time.

Following options are available:

  • Generic profile (default setting)
  • Alpine skiing
  • Snow boarding
Note
On several Garmin devices the Alpine skiing activity type is not properly implemented by Garmin In case of elevation problems, please use the Generic profile as described here
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!!!

Satellite configuration

This option allows you to select the satellite configuration. Following options are available on devices with CIQ 3.2 and higher:

  • GPS (legacy setting)
  • GPS only
  • GPS + GLONASS
  • GPS + GALILEO
  • GPS off

The sensor page shows you the information of the satellite configuration which is currently used. For further details about the satellite quality, please refer to here.

Please be aware that disabling satellites (GPS off) may have following impacts:

  • satellite-dependent data fields will not show proper information anymore
  • tracking of your location will be disabled
Note
Not all applications are offering all mentioned configuration options listed above.
On devices with CIQ 3.1 and lower always GPS (legacy setting) is used as Garmin does not allow to control this here. Rumors say that the latest configuration in your Garmin native app is used which means that you could also have e.g. GPS + GLONASS.

Averaging period for pace/cadence

This option allows you to configure the averaging period in seconds for instant pace and cadence averaging. If you e.g. would like to have PACE averaged over the last 10 seconds, then please set the value to 10. The PACE xs data field shows this information. With longer averaging periods, the shown values are more stable but also lazier.

Note
This configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version. In the FREE version the value is fixed to 10 seconds!!!

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:

configuration_background_ciq1.png

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:

configuration_background.png
Note
By default the option with "Black background with white header/footer" is used for best readability on all devices!
Devices with AMOLED display (e.g. Venu™ based devices) only support black background to save battery life time!

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

Auto-pause session recording during UP phase

This option allows you to configure the feature to automatically pause the session recording during UP phase. This is very useful if you do not want to include the data during up phases (= lift) in your activity recording. This has following advantages:

  • only the RUN phases are recorded and after saving visible in Garmin Connect or Strava.
  • the proper amount of runs is shown later in Garmin Connect or Strava

Otherwise the Skiing App Professional properly splits the data for RUN and UP phases but they are not shown in that way later in the Garmin Connect summary. Additionally each change from RUN to UP and vice versa triggers a new LAP which gives you double of the RUNS later in Garmin Connect or Strava.

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

Altitude delta configuration for phase switch

This option allows you to configure after which altitude delta the Skiing App Professional switches between UP and RUN phase. Please note that a too low value might result in wrong phase switches. As recommendation we propose following settings:

  • 5 to 10 meters on watches with barometric altimeter (e.g. Fenix 3, 5 or 6 series)
  • 20 meters on watches without barometric altimeter (e.g. FR230)
Note
The smallest allowed value is 5!
This configuration feature is available in the FREE version as well!

Speed limit for detecting idle phase

Speed limit (in km/h or mi/h) where below the collected data is counted as IDLE phase. As recommendation we propose a value of 2.0.

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

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)
configuration_alert_feature_1.png

The ALERT2 mode configuration option allows you to select whether an alert should be shown on phase switch detection between UP and RUN. Following options are available:

  • Feature disabled (no user-defined ALERT support)
  • Enable alert on UP/RUN phase change
configuration_alert_feature_2.png

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!

configuration_2field_data_page.png
Note
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!

configuration_4field_data_page.png
Note
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!

configuration_7field_data_page.png
Note
configuration feature is only available in the PREMIUM version!!!