Comparison

Garmin Connect™ vs Polar Flow

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Activity tracking and health metrics
  • Detailed statistics analysis
  • Custom workout and course creation
  • Personalized home screen
  • Earn achievement badges
  • Sync with other apps
Read full description

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.

About

Polar Flow

This app helps you track daily activity, analyze workouts with detailed metrics, and gain insights into sleep patterns and recovery. It allows for device management, route planning, and seamless syncing with other popular fitness platforms.

Highlights
  • Activity Tracking
  • Training Analysis
  • Sleep Insights
  • Training Load & Recovery
  • Device & Profile Management
  • Wireless Syncing
  • Third-Party Service Integration
Features
Read full description

Polar Flow: Your Personal Sports, Fitness, and Health Companion The exclusive app designed to maximize the potential of your Polar devices. Key Features: Activity Tracking: Monitor your daily activity, steps, calories burned, and distance to stay motivated throughout the day. Training Analysis: Dive deep into your workouts with detailed data on heart rate, speed, pace, distance, power, and more. Understand the impact of each session and optimize your training routines. Sleep Insights: Discover how well you sleep with advanced sleep tracking. Get feedback on sleep stages and quality to improve your rest and recovery. See how sleep boosts your day and track skin temperature changes. Training Load & Recovery: Understand how your training sessions strain your body and get recommendations on recovery time to prevent overtraining. Manage your watch and profile: Customize and manage your Polar device, Sports profiles for different activities, Routes, and Training Targets. Wireless Syncing: Automatically sync data from your Polar devices for real-time updates, notifications, and other insights. Stay Connected: Connect your profile and sync your data with Strava, TrainingPeaks, Adidas, komoot, and many other services. Why Choose Polar Flow? Personalized Guidance: Receive personalized feedback and guidance and understand your progress. Comprehensive Ecosystem: Integrates seamlessly with Polar watches, heart rate monitors, and more for a holistic experience. User-Friendly Interface: Navigate your data effortlessly with our intuitive and clean design. Notification support: Your Polar watch will receive the same notifications as your phone screen—incoming calls, messages, and app notifications. Secure and Private: Your data is safely stored and protected, giving you peace of mind as you focus on your journey. Polar Flow app allows you to share some of your wellness data with Apple Health. This includes details of your training, your heart rate, and steps. Please note Polar Flow app is not intended for medical or diagnostic use. Get Started Today! Download Polar Flow and unlock the full potential of your Polar devices. You can find more info at https://www.polar.com/flow Connect with us! Instagram: www.instagram.com/polarglobal Facebook: www.facebook.com/polarglobal YouTube: www.youtube.com/polarglobal Find out more about Polar products at https://www.polar.com/en/products

Screenshots

Garmin Connect™4 screens
Polar Flow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garmin Connect™ at none against Polar Flow's 1. Garmin Connect™ also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly) and chart position (#24 vs unranked). Polar Flow's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.4) and review sentiment (50% vs 39%). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Polar Flow sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $8.99 per month. Garmin Connect™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polar Flow holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 59K and 50K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Garmin Connect™'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Polar Flow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Garmin Connect™ ships an update every 2 weeks, Polar Flow monthly. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Garmin Connect™ versus Polar Flow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGarmin Connect™Polar Flow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (59K ratings)4.6 (50K ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.4% of reviews49.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings59K — better50K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#24 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size693 MB189 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGarminPolar Electro

Customer experience

Garmin Connect™

All ratings58,646 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative11.6%
Written reviews5,095 reviews
Positive39.4%
Neutral11.8%
Negative48.8%

Polar Flow

All ratings50,010 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews2,215 reviews
Positive49.6%
Neutral11.2%
Negative39.2%

User reviews

Garmin Connect™

From 59K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent tracking and data analysis
  • 👍 Great motivational features
  • 🚀 Seamless syncing with devices
  • 👍 Comprehensive fitness metrics
  • 🚀 Intuitive and user-friendly app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connectivity issues and sync problems
  • 🐛 Buggy app updates and loss of functionality
  • 🐛 Inaccurate sleep and activity tracking
  • 🔋 Drains device battery quickly
  • 🐛 Confusing and cluttered user interface

Polar Flow

From 50K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Accurate heart rate monitoring
  • 🔋 Good battery life
  • 👍 Detailed workout data and analysis
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly app
  • 👍 Seamless syncing with Polar devices

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connectivity and syncing issues
  • 🐛 Unreliable sleep tracking
  • 🐛 Slow GPS initialization
  • 👎 Cluttered and confusing app interface
  • 👎 Limited customization options

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

Polar Flow

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes during syncing
  • Inconsistent data sync between watch and app
  • Firmware updates causing loss of user data

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to manually edit workout data
  • Integration with more third-party apps
  • More advanced training programs and coaching
  • Improved sleep tracking and analysis

In-app purchases

None

Garmin Connect™

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Polar Flow

Subscriptions1
  • Polar Fitness Program1 Month trial$8.991 Month

Questions

Is Garmin Connect™ free?
Garmin Connect™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Polar Flow free?
Polar Flow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Garmin Connect™ or Polar Flow?
Polar Flow is rated higher. Garmin Connect™ averages 4.4 out of 5 from 59K ratings, while Polar Flow averages 4.6 from 50K ratings.
Do Garmin Connect™ or Polar Flow have ads?
Neither Garmin Connect™ nor Polar Flow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Garmin Connect™ or Polar Flow?
Garmin Connect™ ships an update every 2 weeks, and Polar Flow monthly. Most recently, Garmin Connect™ was updated on October 30, 2026 and Polar Flow on October 30, 2026.

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