Everything you need to know about tracking your pregnancy with Garmin

You can keep tabs on nine months of major change with the Pregnancy Tracking app on your Garmin device. This feature lets users track everything from morning sickness to baby kicks, so moms-to-be can stay informed and approach pregnancy with a plan. It also offers a wellspring of educational information and resources for understanding the happenings of all three trimesters.

What is Garmin Pregnancy Tracking?

New moms juggle enough. Garmin lets you keep all your health and wellness stats in one place, so the juggling doesn’t have to start early. Instead of looking elsewhere, turn to your Garmin for all things pregnancy tracking. By downloading the completely free Pregnancy Tracking app to your compatible device, you can log symptoms, track baby movement, and record your blood glucose levels. You will also receive weekly education on nutrition and fitness and weekly weight recommendations.

Headed to a check-up? You can access a four-week overview of your tracked symptoms to share with the doctor. The Garmin Pregnancy Tracking app is loaded with features to help you maintain wellness throughout your pregnancy and understand your body throughout the process. Plus, it has fun features like sizing up your growing baby next to common fruits and veggies. Honestly, what’s more adorable than comparing a child to an artichoke?

With notifications and reminders, Garmin keeps tracking simple and eliminates the mental work of staying on top of important dates and milestones. Once you’re set up in the Garmin Connect app, you can download the Pregnancy Tracking app on your compatible smartwatch from the Connect IQ Store, so you can track right from your wrist. You and your partner can also download the Contraction Timer to track the frequency and duration of your contractions. This app is standard for all compatible models with the exceptions of the Garmin Venu 2 and Venu 2S, which are compatible with a slightly different version.

While all partners can download the Contraction Timer, only female partners will be able to download the Pregnancy Tracking app. Male users are not able to download the Pregnancy Tracking app from the Connect IQ store.

See also: The best Garmin watches you can buy

How to use the Garmin Pregnancy Tracking app

To start tracking your pregnancy, open the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone and follow the directions below. You will need to complete the setup before using the app on your smartwatch.

Setting up in the Garmin Connect app

1. On your smartphone, open the Garmin Connect app.
2. Tap the menu in the top left corner and scroll down to Health Stats.
3. Tap Health Stats to open a drop-down menu, then tap Menstrual Cycle.
4. If you don’t already use the Menstrual Cycle feature, follow the onscreen prompts to set up this feature. First, a prompt will ask you to choose your type of cycle. Select Pregnant. If you already use Garmin’s Menstrual Cycle feature, tap the three verticle dots in the top right corner, then tap Settings. From here, you can change your cycle type to Pregnant and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the setup.

Once you start tracking your pregnancy, it will be listed below Menstrual Cycle in the Health Stats menu.

Pregnancy Tracking on your Garmin smartwatch

If your Garmin watch already receives menstrual cycle details from the Garmin Connect app, it will automatically begin displaying your pregnancy updates. However, you will need to complete a few more steps to track symptoms and other measurables from your device.

1. On your paired smartphone, open the Garmin Connect IQ app.
2. Tap the search icon, then search for Pregnancy Tracking.
3. Tap the Pregnancy Tracking app, then tap install.

Once the app is installed, you can log symptoms and other data right from your wrist.

Read more: The best smartwatches for women

Which devices are compatible with Pregnancy Tracking?

Many of Garmin’s most popular devices are compatible with the Pregnancy Tracking app, including the Garmin Venu 2, vivoactive 4, Forerunner, Fenix, and vivomove series. Here is a complete list of the devices compatible with the app:

What’s missing?

Overall, Garmin Pregnancy Tracking is a bit basic but for a free feature, it’s a good start. While it allows users to track their progress alongside their other health stats, it can’t necessarily compete with standalone apps dedicated entirely to pregnancy. Full-fledged pregnancy tracking apps offer a much wider variety of resources. These apps provide deeper educational resources and even daily updates. Special features include everything from baby name suggestions to food and drug safety tips, to product reviews of the items you’ll need once your child arrives. Countdowns, checklists, and postpartum recovery information are just a few of the details missing from Garmin’s pared-down app, but the list goes on.

What’s more, most apps can be downloaded by all genders. Garmin’s lockout is a bit disappointing and hopefully, something that will be addressed in the future. In the meantime, soon-to-be dads can look to more inclusive apps, or even opt for an app like Daddy Up that specifically focuses on including men in the pregnancy journey.

Finally, while Garmin’s Pregnancy Tracking app allows you to pause your training status on compatible devices, it doesn’t suggest personalized alterations to your training based on your pregnancy. That being said, the app does offer general recommendations about exercise and diet as your pregnancy progresses. It just won’t tailor a specific training plan for each user. Not a huge deal, but hardcore athletes might be hoping for more.

Garmin Pregnancy Tracking offers users a helpful tool for managing the basics right alongside the health data they already track. It may not be an all-inclusive resource, but it’s a good way for expecting mothers to tune into their bodies and a great addition to Garmin’s women’s health features.