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Managing Audio Content on My Watch Using Garmin Express

Music, playlists, audiobooks, and podcasts from your computer can be installed to a Garmin® music watch using the Garmin Express™ software program.

NOTE: Protected AAC audio files cannot be transferred to a watch without removing the Digital Rights Management (DRM) designation from the file. Files that have been downloaded from certain music subscription services may also be protected which can prevent them from being compatible. For assistance or questions related to protected audio files refer to your music provider. 

For detailed instructions on this process, select your operating system below:

Windows® Computers

The process of adding content to a watch can be broken down into three steps. Select each section to expand and view information on completing each step:

Step 1: Organize Your Music Library On Your Computer

Use your preferred media management program (Windows Media Player®, iTunes®, etc.) to create and edit playlists.

If using iTunes as your media management program, the following Apple® support articles provide helpful instructions for setting up iTunes and managing your music library on your Windows computer: 

Additionally, when using iTunes, it is also necessary to configure iTunes to share the iTunes library XML with other applications:

  1. Launch iTunes.

  2. Select Edit.

  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Select Advanced.

  5. Set Location to, C:Users(your account username)/Music/iTunes

    • Failure to set this will prevent Express from seeing your iTunes music.

  6. Check the box Share iTunes Library XML with other applications.

  7. Select OK to save your changes.

Step 2: Add Your Watch to Garmin Express

  1. Connect your Garmin music device to the computer.

  2. Open Garmin Express.

  3. Select Add a Device.
    Add a Device in Garmin Express

  4. When the device is found, select Add Device.

    Device found in Garmin Express

  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to add the device to Garmin Express.

Step 3: Add/Remove Content on Your Watch with Garmin Express

  1. Connect your watch to the computer.

  2. Open Garmin Express.

  3. Select your watch.

  4. Select Music

Adding Content to the Watch:

  1. Under "My Music", select an audio file category, such as Songs, Playlists, or Podcasts.

    • If your content is not automatically displayed make sure that Garmin Express is up-to-date and that you have selected the folder that contains your files.

    • By default, Garmin Express will search for files in the Music folder on your computer, but you can browse for other folders including other connected hard drives by selecting White plus icon in a blue folder next to "My Music." 

    • If your music still is not displayed, select question mark in a blue circleand then Refresh Library.

    • If you use the iTunes® program to manage your library you will see "iTunes Library" and blue arrow in a circle instead of "My Music" and White plus icon in a blue folder.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the audio files you wish to add and then select Send to Device.

animated walkthrough of adding and sending music

Removing Content From the Watch:

  1. Under My Music select an audio file category, such as Songs or Podcasts.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the audio files you wish to remove and select Remove. 

  3. If you select a Playlist to be removed, only the playlist file will be removed from the device.

  4. The songs in the playlist will still be on the device and would need to be removed from the Songs category if desired.

animated walkthrough of removing music

Media files must be stored on the hard drive of the computer. External drives and Cloud Storage (Home Network, Google Drive™, etc.) are not detected by Garmin Express.

Mac® Computers

The process of adding content to a watch can be broken down into three steps. Select each section to expand and view information on completing each step:

NOTE: If you are using macOS® Catalina 10.15 and are having trouble accessing audiobooks in Garmin Express see: .

Step 1: Organize Your Music Library On the Computer

Choose your operating system:

macOS® Big Sur (macOS 11) or Newer

The following Apple® support articles provide helpful instructions for managing your Apple Music® library:

It will also be necessary to configure the Music Media folder location in Apple Music so that the music files will be visible in Garmin Express:

  1. Launch Apple Music.

  2. Select Music from the Apple toolbar.

  3. Select Preferences or Settings.

  4. Select Files.

  5. Select Change.

  6. Select the following folders to set the Music Media folder location /Untitled/Users/Username/Music/Music/Media.

  7. Select Open.

  8. Check the box Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library.

  9. Select OK to save your changes.

macOS® Catalina (macOS 10.15)

The following Apple® support articles provide helpful instructions for managing your Apple Music® library:

It will also be necessary to configure the Music Media folder location in Apple Music so that the music files will be visible in Garmin Express:

  1. Launch Apple Music and go to Music > Preferences > Files.

  2. Set the location to Users/Username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media.

  3. Check the box Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library.

  4. Select OK to save your changes.

files location and settings screen

macOS® Mojave (macOS 10.14) or Older

The following Apple® support articles provide helpful instructions for setting up iTunes and managing your music library:

It will also be necessary to configure iTunes to share the iTunes library XML with other applications:

  1. Launch iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences.

  2. Select the Advanced tab.

  3. Check the box Share iTunes Library XML with other applications.

  4. Select OK to save your changes. 

Step 2: Add Your Watch to Garmin Express

  1. Connect your watch to the computer.

  2. Open Garmin Express.

  3. Select Add a Device.

    Add a Device in Garmin Express

  4. When the device is found, select Add Device.

    Garmin Express Found a vivoactive 3 Music device

  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to add the watch to Garmin Express.

Step 3: Add/Remove Content to Your Watch With Garmin Express

  1. Connect your watch to the computer.

  2. Open Garmin Express.

  3. Select your watch.

  4. Select Music.

Adding Music:

  1. In the iTunes Library list, select an audio file category, such as songs or playlists.

    • By default Garmin Express will search for files in your iTunes Library.

    • If your music is not automatically displayed make sure that Garmin Express is up-to-date.

    • If your music still is not displayed, select blue arrow in a circle to refresh the library.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the audio files you wish to add and then select Send to Device.

animated walkthrough of adding and sending music

Removing Music:

  1. In the Garmin music device list, select an audio file category, such as songs or playlists.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the audio files you wish to remove and select Remove From Device.

animated walk through of removing music in Express on Mac

Instructional Video of the Process Outlined Above.

Troubleshooting Audio Content

If your audio content is missing from Garmin Express or does not show up on your device, see the troubleshooting steps below.

  • Make sure that Garmin Express is up to date. For more information see Updating the Garmin Express Application Software.

  • Ensure the source for your music is properly set in Garmin Express. Settings > Music > iTunes or Manual > OK.

  • Be sure that Garmin Express is searching for music files in the correct folder. Select White plus icon in a blue folder next to "My Music" to chose the folder that Express searches for your audio files.

  • If you use the iTunes program to manage your library select blue arrow in a circle to refresh the program.

  • Be sure that your audio files are stored on the hard drive of the computer. External drives and Cloud Storage (Home Network, Google Drive™, etc.) are not detected by Garmin Express.

  • Close and reopen the Garmin Express application.

  • Uninstall and reinstall Garmin Express. For more information see Full Uninstall of Garmin Express/Garmin Express Fails to Uninstall.

  • Garmin watches that support music playback need meta data, called ID3 tags, to be present on the audio files to properly sort and categorize the music. Without this data, a Garmin watch may display the affected episodes or songs with alpha-numeric strings or not display the audio content at all. For more information see Audio File Type Support for Garmin Music Watches.

  • Protected AAC audio files have a Digital Rights Management or DRM restriction on it. These files cannot be transferred to a Garmin music watch for playback unless the DRM designation is removed. For more information see Does My Garmin Music Watch Support DRM Restricted Audio Files?

iTunes® is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

iTunes® is for legal or right holder authorized copying only. Do not steal music.

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