Garmin Forerunner watches with Garmin Pay

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Garmin Forerunner has multiple models. It is one of the best watches for athletes because of the depth of running data analyzed. Surprisingly, not all Garmin Forerunner watches support Garmin Pay. Garmin Pay is Garmin’s app for NFC or contactless payments. You need to integrate Garmin Pay with a wallet linked with your Bank or credit card. At a merchant’s place, you can use Garmin Pay to make contactless payments.

Practically speaking, Garmin Pay is one of the best apps for making contactless payments without the need to carry your card at all times. We look at the Forerunner watches that support Garmin Pay contactless payments. On a similar note, we also provide information on the Forerunner models that do not have the Garmin Pay feature as yet. Most of these are legacy watch modes of the Forerunner series.

Garmin Forerunner watches that support Garmin Pay

The following Garmin Forerunner watches support the Garmin Pay app for contactless payments at a supported merchant.

  • Forerunner 255 Standard edition
  • Forerunner 255 Music edition
  • Forerunner 255S or Small edition
  • Forerunner 255S Music edition
  • Forerunner 745
  • Forerunner 945
  • Forerunner 945 LTE
  • Forerunner 955 Standard edition
  • Forerunner 955 Solar edition

Apart from these Forerunner watches, the other watches from the Forerunner series are not compatible with Garmin Pay. You will notice that Garmin Pay comes to the budget series of Forerunner watches in the Forerunner 255 series. The older version of Forerunner 245 did not have compatibility with the Garmin Pay app.

The Forerunner 255 series has been launched by Garmin in the last week of May 2022. The latest feature addition to Garmin Forerunner 255 series indicates that Garmin Pay is considered a standard feature across basic and advanced series of the Garmin Forerunner series watches from here on. NFC payments are also gaining acceptance.

Garmin Forerunner watches that do not support Garmin Pay

There are specific models of the Garmin Forerunner watches that are not compatible with Garmin Pay. So, you cannot make contactless payments through these Garmin Forerunner watches.

Garmin Forerunner watch models that do not support Garmin Pay are:

  • Forerunner 55
  • Forerunner 245 Standard Edition
  • Forerunner 245 Music Edition

These Forerunner watches cannot work with Garmin Pay.

How does Garmin Pay work?

Garmin Pay helps in completing NFC payments. For NFC payments to be successful, your Bank needs to support NFC payments. This is the reason that Garmin Pay may not work in some countries or cities. Your Forerunner watch model may support Garmin Pay. But, the Banks in your part of the world need to support NFC payments through Garmin Pay. On a similar note, the Banks need to support credit cards and debit cards that can make wireless and contactless payments through Garmin Pay.

We look at the main points of Garmin Pay’s working methodology.

  • Garmin Pay allows you to link debit cards or credit cards to your wallet account. You can use these cards at merchant shops to make contactless NFC payments.
  • You can access Garmin Pay through the Garmin Connect app on the paired smartphone.
  • Every time you wear your watch, you will need to provide a 4 digit passcode for completing NFC payments through Garmin Pay.
  • After providing the passcode, you can continue to make multiple NFC payments during the 24-hour period. This assumes that you will not take off your watch. If you take off the watch, you will need to provide the 4-digit authentication code on the watch to access the wallet. The passcode is used to ensure that your wallet cannot be accessed if your watch gets misplaced. It is a safety feature that prevents fraudulent access to your watch wallet account and the credit and debit cards linked to it.
  • If you key in an incorrect passcode 3 times, your access to the wallet gets blocked. You will need to reset the passcode on the Garmin Connect app. Again, this is a very useful safety feature. Garmin Connect app is on the paired smartphone. If you lose your watch or misplace it, Garmin Pay gets blocked after 3 repeated incorrect passcode entries. At this point, unless someone has access to the paired smartphone, your wallet account gets secured against fraudulent transactions.
  • You can add credit or debit cards to your Garmin Pay account.
  • At the time of making NFC payments, you could choose to pay using a specific credit card or debit card.
  • You could also suspend credit or debit cards for payments on Garmin Pay. This could be a temporary suspension of a card. Or, you could delete a credit card or debit card from the Garmin Pay linked wallet.

NFC payments through Garmin Pay are secure. Garmin has already provisioned safety and security measures on the wallet account. Unless your passcode gets cracked, NFC payments through Garmin Pay are secure and very convenient.

We do suggest taking basic security measures to protect your Garmin Forerunner’s Garmin Pay wallet account.

Garmin Pay Summary

Garmin Pay works well on the latest series of Forerunner watches i.e. the Forerunner 255 series and Forerunner 955 series. If NFC payments are supported by your Bank, Garmin Pay could help in making contactless payments very conveniently and safely at the supported merchant places.

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Helen Kurt - Contributor on TECHEPAGES.COM. Reach me on email.

Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].