106 Garmin watches · Matter smart home
Your home,
on your wrist.
Flip lights, switches, and outlets straight from your watch — even with your phone locked in your pocket. Your phone runs its own Matter controller over your LAN, so there's no cloud relay and no need to pull it out.
- Works with your phone locked or in the background
- Devices stay paired to Apple Home too
Try it — press the watch buttons
My home
● linked
- Desk lamp 62%
- Porch outlet OFF
- Bedside 24%
start · toggle · hold · dim
Switch panel
My home
Desk lamp
on
Porch outlet
off
Bedside
on
Kitchen strip
off
How it works
Why this works with your phone locked.
Most smart-home apps stop working the moment the phone locks. Watch Home Remote's phone app runs its own Matter fabric so it can still act when Apple's own HomeKit framework would refuse — that's the entire reason the watch app is useful.
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Step 01
Watch → phone, over BLE
A tap on the watch sends a message to the Connect IQ companion app on your phone over Bluetooth — even if the phone is locked or the app is backgrounded, the message wakes it just long enough to act.
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Step 02
Phone runs its own Matter controller
The phone doesn't go through Apple Home or any cloud service. It's a Matter controller on its own fabric, so it can send commands even while suspended in the background — something Apple's Home framework can't do for third-party apps.
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Step 03
Command reaches the device over your LAN
The command goes straight to the light, switch, or outlet over Wi‑Fi or Thread on your local network. No cloud relay is involved in switching a device.
What you can control today
Lights, switches, and outlets — done right.
Watch Home Remote works with Matter devices only — over Wi‑Fi, or Thread through a border router. It does not use Zigbee, cloud-only smart-home brands, or HomeKit-only accessories that lack a Matter path.
Not built yet:
- Colour control
- Thermostats
- Locks
- Sensors
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Lights
On/off and dimming (brightness) for Matter dimmable lights.
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Switches
On/off control for Matter smart switches.
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Outlets
On/off control for Matter smart plugs and outlets.
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Groups
Group any of the above and switch them together as one tile — from the watch or the phone.
Device kinds are yours to relabel — a lamp plugged into a smart plug can be renamed and shown as a light instead of an outlet, on both the phone and the watch.
Apple Home coexistence
Keep your devices in Apple Home. Add your watch on top.
Watch Home Remote does not use HomeKit — Apple blocks accessory control from third-party apps once they're backgrounded, which is exactly when a watch tap needs to work. So the phone app runs its own Matter controller instead.
Matter devices support more than one controller at a time (Matter calls this "multiple fabrics"), so your lights, switches, and outlets can stay paired to Apple Home exactly as they are today — automations, Siri, widgets, all untouched — while Watch Home Remote adds a second, independent connection just for your watch.
One device, two fabrics
Apple Home
Your watch
Both fabrics reach the same device independently — nothing you have in Apple Home today has to change.
Setup
Four ways to add a device.
Pick whichever fits — brand-new device, already in Apple Home, or you just have a code in hand.
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01
System pairing sheet
For a brand-new device, use Apple's own Matter setup sheet right from the app — the same system flow other smart-home apps use.
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02
Share from Apple Home
Already have the device in Apple Home? Put it in pairing mode from the Home app and share it in — a guided flow walks you through it.
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03
Scan a QR code
Scan the Matter pairing code printed on the device or its box.
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04
Enter the code manually
Type the pairing code by hand and pick the device from a list of nearby Matter accessories.
Requirements
What you need.
- A Garmin watch
- 106 models are supported — fēnix 6/7/8/9, epix, Enduro, Forerunner, Venu (including Venu Sq), vívoactive, Instinct, Descent, MARQ, D2 and tactix. Needs the Garmin Connect Mobile app paired with your watch. The watch app itself is live on the Connect IQ Store.
- Matter smart-home devices
- Lights, switches, or outlets that support Matter, over Wi‑Fi or Thread.
- A Thread border router
- Only needed for Thread devices — an Apple TV, HomePod mini, or other Thread border router on your network provides the route.
- Android and iPhone
- Both companions are built with full feature parity; the Android one is verified on real hardware. Neither store listing is published yet — the badges above go live when they are.
Privacy
Your lights don't talk to the cloud to turn on.
Control is LAN-only. Your phone runs the Matter controller and talks directly to your devices over your own network — there's no cloud service in the path when you flip a switch.
See the full privacy policy for what account and diagnostic data the app collects.
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Device control never leaves your LAN
When you flip a light from your watch or your phone, the command goes straight from your phone to the device over Wi‑Fi or Thread on your local network. No cloud relay is involved in switching a device.
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The watch talks only to your phone
The watch reaches your home through your phone over Bluetooth — it never connects to the internet or to your devices directly.
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No ad tracking or fingerprinting
No ad tracking, no advertising SDKs, and no fingerprinting — on this site or in the app. The app ships no analytics at all.
FAQ
Common questions.
- Does this replace Apple Home?
- No. It adds a second, independent connection to your Matter devices just for your watch. Everything in Apple Home — automations, Siri, widgets — keeps working exactly as it does today.
- Why not just use HomeKit for the watch?
- Apple blocks accessory control from third-party apps once they're backgrounded — the exact moment a watch tap needs to work. Running our own Matter controller on the phone is what makes background/locked control possible.
- Do I need a hub or bridge?
- For Wi‑Fi Matter devices, no. For Thread devices, you need a Thread border router on your network — commonly an Apple TV or HomePod mini you may already have.
- What if I already added my devices to Apple Home?
- Share them into Watch Home Remote from Apple Home's pairing-mode flow — no need to reset or re-add anything.
- Which Garmin watches work?
- 106 models: fēnix 6 through 9 (including Pro and Solar), epix, Enduro, Forerunner (55 through 970), Venu 1–4 and Venu Sq, vívoactive 4–6, Instinct 2/3/E, Descent Mk, MARQ, D2 and tactix. Every one is built and checked before release; the fēnix 7 Pro is also verified on real hardware.