Garmin Connect™ vs BreakFinder
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Garmin Connect™
Track your health and fitness activities with detailed statistics and personalized insights. Create custom workouts, build courses, and challenge friends. Syncs with compatible devices and other popular fitness apps.
- Activity tracking and health metrics
- Detailed statistics analysis
- Custom workout and course creation
- Personalized home screen
- Earn achievement badges
- Sync with other apps
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The Garmin Connect™ app is your one-stop source for health and fitness data. Whether you’re training for a race, keeping active or just staying on top of your health, Garmin Connect provides the information and inspiration you need to reach your goals. Once you pair your phone(1)with a Forerunner®, Venu®, fēnix® or another compatible Garmin device(2), you can review your tracked activities and health metrics. Plus, you can create workouts, build courses and challenge your friends on the leaderboard. With Garmin Connect you can: - Personalize your home screen, so the most helpful information is instantly visible - Analyze your activities with detailed statistics(3) - Create customized workouts and courses - Review trends in health metrics like heart rate and steps - Earn badges for accomplishments - Sync with other apps like Apple Health, MyFitnessPal and Strava - Get support for Garmin devices and their features Learn more about Garmin devices and how they work with the Garmin Connect app at Garmin.com. (1) See compatibility requirements at Garmin.com/BLE (2) See a full list of compatible devices at Garmin.com/devices (3) See Garmin.com/ataccuracy Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
BreakFinder
This app transforms your smartwatch into an automatic surf session tracker, logging wave count, speed, and distance. It also serves as a phone-based hub for surf logs, forecasts for over 9,200 spots worldwide, and a unique take-off spot compass.
- Automatic wave detection
- Cross-platform smartwatch compatibility
- Comprehensive surf log
- Home and Lock Screen widgets
- Take-off spot compass
- Global surf forecasts
- Offline functionality
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BreakFinder turns your smartwatch into a complete surf-session tracker — and your phone into a surf log, forecast hub, and spot finder. Free for every surfer. AUTOMATIC WAVE DETECTION No buttons. No guessing. A research-validated sensor-fusion algorithm detects every wave you ride and logs wave count, top speed, distance, ride time, GPS track, and heart rate. Choose from three sensitivity modes — White Water, Green Wave, or Performance — to match your style. WORKS ON THE WATCH YOU ALREADY OWN Apple Watch, Garmin, Wear OS, and Amazfit/Zepp. BreakFinder is the only surf tracker that works across all four platforms — with HarmonyOS and Suunto coming soon. Watch face, complications, and tiles included. YOUR FULL SURF LOG Every session syncs automatically to your phone — mapped, rated, and ready to replay. Wave count, top speed, distance, hours in the water, and recent-form stats at a glance. Your complete surf history, all in one place. AT A GLANCE — WIDGETS & COMPLICATIONS Add the Surf Forecast and Last Session widgets to your iPhone Home and Lock Screen, plus Apple Watch complications for swell score, tide, and your live wave count — your surf data without opening the app. TAKE-OFF SPOT COMPASS Lost in the lineup? The Take-Off Spot compass points straight back to where you caught your best waves. SURF FORECASTS FOR 9,200+ SPOTS Swell, wind, and tides for 9,200+ breaks in 140+ countries. 16-day forecasts. Save your home breaks as favorites and check conditions before you paddle out. DISCOVER BREAKS WORLDWIDE Explore the spot map to find waves near you or plan your next surf trip. Every break on Earth, mapped. OFFLINE & PRIVACY-FIRST Works offline on the water. No tracking, no ad cookies. Encrypted in transit (HTTPS). GDPR/DSGVO compliant. Delete your account anytime from inside the app. COMMUNITY & PROGRESSION Rank up, hit streaks, complete weekly quests. Follow the community feed and plan trips with your surf crew. In-app notifications keep you on top of buddy invites, comments, and swell alerts. PLATFORM-INDEPENDENT — YOUR SURF HISTORY IS YOURS, FOR LIFE Switch watch, switch brand, switch country — your surf history stays with you. Whatever hardware you ride next year, every wave you've ever caught travels with you, across platforms and across borders. One account for your watch, this app, and breakfinder.surf — always in sync, no lock-in. Full session analysis and detailed spot guides on the web. Built by surfers, for surfers. breakfinder.surf PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION BreakFinder Premium is available as an auto-renewable subscription, monthly or yearly. The price is shown in the app before you confirm. Payment is charged to your Apple Account and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://breakfinder.surf/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garmin Connect™ at none against BreakFinder's 3. Garmin Connect™ also leads on rating (4.4 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (59K vs 1). BreakFinder's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, monetization model and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. BreakFinder sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Garmin Connect™ asks for nothing beyond the download.
Garmin Connect™ holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Garmin Connect™ has 59K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Garmin Connect™ ships an update every 2 weeks, BreakFinder every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Garmin Connect™ | BreakFinder |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (59K ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 39.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 59K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #26 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.2 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 693 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Garmin | Philipp Winkler |
Customer experience
Garmin Connect™
BreakFinder
Bugs and requests
Garmin Connect™
Reported bugs
5 issues- App constantly requiring device setup
- Weather data not syncing correctly
- Workout data not recording properly
- Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
- Inability to edit or customize activities
Requested features
5 requests- Customizable sleep tracking and goal settings
- Better integration with third-party apps
- Improved offline functionality
- More detailed workout analysis and planning
- Enhanced social features and challenges
BreakFinder
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Garmin Connect™
No in-app purchases
BreakFinder
- BreakFinder Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
- BreakFinder Premium Yearly$34.991 Year
- BreakFinder Premium Lifetime$89.99
Questions
Is Garmin Connect™ free?
Is BreakFinder free?
Which has better reviews, Garmin Connect™ or BreakFinder?
Do Garmin Connect™ or BreakFinder have ads?
Which is updated more often, Garmin Connect™ or BreakFinder?
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