Garmin users have had a frustrating few days with the Kansas-based firm known for their GPS enabled devices experiencing a major outage. Since Thursday Garmin Connect has been down, with the mobile app and website for the health and fitness programme taken offline. When the major outage first hit the official Garmin Twitter account said: “We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin Connect, and as a result, the Garmin Connect website and mobile app are down at this time.
“This outage also affects our call centers, and we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats.
“We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for this inconvenience. “
However, since that initial tweet on Thursday around 1.30pm BST Garmin services haven’t recovered.
The official Garmin Connect status website, which you can access by clicking here, shows all listed Garmin services as down.
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While there have also been issues accessing Garmin websites, with users getting a ‘service unavailable’ error message.
While independent outage monitor Down Detector has received hundreds of reports of Garmin down for the past few days, with Twitter flooded with messages too.
According to a post by Bleeping Computer, the reason for the Garmin outage is a ransomware attack – with hackers reportedly demanding $10million.
It’s been claimed the attack started in Taiwan, with Garmin being hit with a WastedLocker ransomware attack.
In an update on Saturday Garmin apologised to their users on Twitter and also provided more information and the outage.
The @Garmin Twitter posted: “We want to extend our sincerest apology for the inconvenience the outage has caused for our customers. We hope this FAQ answers some of the questions you have”.
While in a post online they explained: “Garmin is currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin services including Garmin Connect and flyGarmin.
“As a result of the outage, some features and services across these platforms are unavailable to customers.
“Additionally, our product support call centers are affected by the outage and as a result, we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats.
“We are working to restore our systems as quickly as possible and apologize for the inconvenience. Additional updates will be provided as they become available.”
Garmin also reassured customers that data would not be lost during the outage and that data such as payment and personal information wouldn’t be affected too.
They added that they are working as quickly as possible to restore functionality.
Here are some Q&As from the FAQ page…
GARMIN OUTAGE – OFFICIAL FAQ
Was any Garmin Connect customer data lost during the outage?
Although Garmin Connect is not accessible during the outage, activity and health and wellness data collected from Garmin devices during the outage is stored on the device and will appear in Garmin Connect once the user syncs their device.
I’m an inReach customer. Can I still use SOS and messaging during the outage?
inReach SOS and messaging remain fully functional and are not impacted by the outage. This includes the MapShare website and email reply page. The status for inReach can be found here.
I have a new Garmin product. When will I be able to pair it with Garmin Connect?
We are working as quickly as possible to restore Garmin Connect functionality. The status of Garmin Connect can be found here.
Was my data impacted as a result of the outage?
Garmin has no indication that this outage has affected your data, including activity, payment or other personal information.