Watch faces typically take just a few seconds to install. If you’re experiencing a download time longer than a minute or two, then you might want to retry. This is unfortunately a fairly common Garmin issue (see Reddit and here and here and here and here and here and here). There’s nothing the developer, like LuxeLion, can do to improve this experience. I even experience issues routinely when downloading apps like Spotify onto a new device.

Why It’s Unreliable

The Connect IQ app uses a low-bandwidth bluetooth connection, which can be flakey and result in failed installations. Garmin doesn’t seem to have a good “retry” system, which can result in watch faces that look like they are installing forever. It will continue saying it is “Installing” even after it has given up. This is very frustrating!

The Easy Answer

Sometimes the Connect IQ app will continue to say the face is installing even though it’s already done. Try flipping through the watch faces on your actual watch to see if it is already there.

Simple Retry

Here’s what you can do to retry (in this order):

1. Force close and restart the Connect IQ app. See how to force close an app on an Apple iOS device. See how to force close an app on an Android device.
2. Ensure your watch is actively connected to your phone by running a sync using the regular Garmin Connect app (not the Connect IQ app where you download watch faces)
3. Restart the download of the watch face
4. Wait up to 2 minutes for the download to complete
5. Sometimes the Connect IQ app will continue to say the face is installing even though it’s already done. Try flipping through the watch faces to see if it is already there.

Advanced Retry

If the download does not complete after these steps, you can attempt a more aggressive reset as follows (in this order):

1. Restart your Garmin watch by turning it fully off and then on again. (This process will vary by watch)
2. Go into the settings on your watch and go through the process of pairing to your phone again. It usually just "wakes up" the connection and fixes some things. I do this if the watch is having trouble syncing to Garmin in the first place.
3. Force close and restart the Connect IQ app. See how to force close an app on an Apple iOS device. See how to force close an app on an Android device.
4. Ensure your watch is actively connected to your phone by running a sync using the regular Garmin Connect app (not the Connect IQ app where you download watch faces)
5. Restart the download of the watch face
6. Wait up to 2 minutes for the download to complete
7. Sometimes the Connect IQ app will continue to say the face is installing even though it’s already done. Try flipping through the watch faces to see if it is already there.

Surefire Way

If none of these methods seem to work, you can always use the Garmin Express app on your PC or Mac to install the watch face manually. That doesn’t have the same flakey bluetooth problems.