Looking for what a feature does rather than a question about it? The features page walks through every screen and setting.
Yes. The RuckTrack (KiezelPay) listing on the Connect IQ Store includes a 7-day free trial. You install it, use it for a week, then complete the purchase only if you want to keep it. After the trial, the app shows a code that you enter at www.kzl.io/code to finish the purchase. No payment info required up front.
The original RuckTrack listing (Garmin Pay, $2.99 USD) is the same app without the trial step. If you already know you want it, that's the simpler path.
For the full comparison between the two listings, see the next question.
Same app, same price. The difference is the payment system and the trial.
They are the same app: same calorie math, same screens, same fields in Garmin Connect. The device lists differ, though, and not in the direction most people expect: the KiezelPay listing reaches more watches, not fewer. Garmin only sells through its own checkout on a subset of devices, so the fēnix 6 Pro family, MARQ first generation, Descent Mk2, quatix 6 and 6X, tactix Delta and D2 Air X10 are available on the KiezelPay listing only. The three monochrome Instinct watches go the other way and are Garmin Pay only.
Pick KiezelPay if you want to use it for a week before paying, or if Garmin Pay isn't available where you live. Pick the Garmin Pay listing if you already know you want it and would rather buy once and be done.
If you're choosing fresh: the KiezelPay version lets you try the app for 7 days before committing.
Rucking is walking with a weighted pack. The load adds resistance to an otherwise low-impact activity, increasing calorie burn and engaging your posterior chain and core. It started as a military fitness staple, called tabbing or yomping in the British forces, and has become mainstream in hiking, strength training, and endurance circles.
RuckTrack runs on 122 Garmin devices across AMOLED and MIP displays, including Forerunner (70 / 165 / 170 / 255 / 265 / 570 / 955 / 965 / 970), fēnix 6 Pro / 7 / 8 / 9 / E, Enduro 3, Venu (2 / 3 / 4 / Sq 2 / X1), epix Pro, Instinct 3 AMOLED, D2 Mach / Air, Descent MK3 / Mk2 / G2, Approach S50 / S70, MARQ / MARQ 2, tactix 7 / 8, quatix, and vívoactive 5 / 6. See the full devices page for the per-family breakdown, or check the Connect IQ Store listing for the live compatibility check at install time.
RuckTrack uses the Pandolf equation, a published military physiology model that estimates metabolic cost from body weight, pack weight, walking speed, grade, and terrain (Road, Gravel, Trail, Sand, Snow). When you slow below walking pace, RuckTrack falls back to your watch's native heart-rate-based estimate so calories don't stall on breaks or steep descents. The total shown is a hybrid of both.
Two different calculations, two different questions:
Both numbers are correct for what they measure. The headline answers "how hard did your body work?" The Connect IQ section answers "how much of that came from the pack?"
The gap can run either way, and it's normal. On a treadmill RuckTrack often reads higher than the headline, because heart-rate calorie models read low when your heart rate is low: a fit walker at an easy pace gets a modest headline number even though the work of the walk is the same, and RuckTrack counts that work. On a flat, easy outdoor walk it can go the other way and read slightly lower. If you want to check it, on a treadmill the speed and incline are exact, and RuckTrack's number lands within a few percent of the standard exercise-physiology walking equation. The Calorie Math page has the worked example, and Does your Garmin count your pack weight? shows the whole thing second by second on a real 45 lb climb.
RuckTrack saves your ruck as a Rucking-type activity so Garmin Connect categorizes it correctly (not as a generic hike). That is also why Connect shows a built-in pack-weight field near the top of the activity. Only Garmin's own built-in Rucking app fills that field, and that app ships on Garmin's newer watches, including the fēnix 8 and 9, fēnix E, Forerunner 70 / 170 / 570 / 970, Instinct 3, Enduro 3, tactix 8, quatix 8, D2 Air X15, Venu 4 and Venu X1. Garmin doesn't let third-party apps like RuckTrack write into it, so on an activity recorded by RuckTrack that field stays blank ("--") on every watch, including the ones listed above.
Your pack weight isn't lost. Open the activity, tap the Stats tab (next to Overview), and scroll to the Connect IQ section, where it's saved as the Pack Weight field alongside the load-aware calories and terrain. That is the reliable place to find it, and where all of RuckTrack's numbers live. RuckTrack also puts the weight in the activity title (for example "Ruck 20 kg"), but Garmin often renames the activity by location (like "Polk County Rucking"), so use the Connect IQ section if the title doesn't show it.
Yes. There are two indoor modes, selectable from the Settings menu before you start a session:
In both indoor modes, GPS is disabled and the elevation stats (vertical speed, elevation gain) are hidden because they aren't meaningful indoors. In Manual, a Pace screen shows your current pace, speed, and incline as you go. One thing to expect afterwards: a treadmill session saves as an Indoor Walk by default, so that is the name it appears under in Garmin Connect rather than Rucking. If you would rather it save as a ruck, set Saves as to Ruck in the Settings menu before you start, though the watch's indoor step-based distance is a walking feature and you will need a foot pod for distance once you switch.
Your watch starts LiveTrack, not RuckTrack, and you can switch it off in one place. In the Garmin Connect app or on the watch, open your LiveTrack settings (under Safety & Tracking) and turn off Auto Start. You can still start LiveTrack by hand any time you do want to share a ruck.
Why it happens: Garmin watches auto-start LiveTrack (the live location-sharing link) for any activity recorded by a Connect IQ app that can use GPS, whether or not GPS is actually running. RuckTrack needs GPS for outdoor rucks, so it carries that permission and the watch treats an indoor session the same way. Connect IQ gives apps no control over LiveTrack, so it can't be switched off for a single session.
No. Every setting, preset, and history entry stays on your watch. Meridian operates no servers, runs no analytics, has no companion phone app, and uses no third-party SDKs. Full details on the Privacy page.
No. RuckTrack's History list and Stats screen (lifetime totals, weekly streak, personal bests) are stored on the watch itself, so a new watch or a fresh reinstall starts those counters from zero. There's no account or cloud copy to restore them from.
Your saved rucks aren't lost, though. Each session syncs to Garmin Connect as a normal activity, with the load-aware fields under Stats → Connect IQ, so your training history lives there regardless of which watch recorded it. It's specifically RuckTrack's on-watch History list and Stats screen that are per-device.
The Stats screen (Settings → Stats, or the post-save action menu) tracks three things beyond lifetime totals. The weekly streak counts consecutive calendar weeks (Monday start) with at least one saved ruck: one ruck a week keeps it alive, and BEST STREAK records your longest run. THIS WEEK shows how many rucks you've saved in the current week.
Best pace is tracked at three pack-weight tiers (10-19, 20-29, and 30+ lb, or 5-9, 10-14, and 15+ kg, shown in your weight unit). A session needs at least 1 km of distance and a pack at or above the lowest tier to set one; shorter or lighter rucks show "--" for that tier until a qualifying session lands.
If you already have saved rucks, your streak and best paces are built from that history rather than starting at zero.
Yes. Outdoors there is nothing to set up in RuckTrack at all: it uses whatever speed and distance your watch has already settled on, so if the watch is taking those from your pod, so is RuckTrack. Pair the pod in the watch's sensor settings and set Speed and Distance to Always. Treadmill Auto mode works the same way.
Treadmill Manual mode is the one place you choose, because there you have typed in a belt speed and RuckTrack needs to know which number to believe. Setting up Manual asks for a speed source, Belt Speed or Foot Pod, and you can switch it later from Settings. Foot Pod is off by default. Turn it on and your live pace drives distance and the calorie math, which is what you want for intervals where the belt speed keeps changing. If the pod drops out or reads zero, RuckTrack falls back to your typed belt speed rather than stalling.
The one thing that does not work is running the pod's own Connect IQ data field inside RuckTrack, Stryd's power field for example. No Connect IQ app can host another app's data field. Using the pod as a speed and distance sensor is unaffected and works in every mode. See the screens and data fields question for the workaround.
From the live screen, long-press UP to open the activity Settings menu without pausing. (On touch-only watches without a reliable long-press, hit the Action button to pause and pick Settings from the pause menu.) Tap Pack, set the new weight, and confirm. The new weight counts from that moment on. Calories already banked stay as they were, at the old weight.
RuckTrack shows "--" instead of zero whenever a value isn't trustworthy yet. Common cases:
Nothing is broken and nothing is lost. The dashes clear on their own in the first minute, and distance, time, and calories are being recorded the whole time.
Yes, from version 2.10.0 onward. The Overview page is the last of the live screens unless you have switched some off, the one showing six values in a grid, and all six cells are yours to set.
From the RuckTrack start screen press UP to open Settings, then choose Overview. On touch-only watches, swipe up instead of pressing UP. You get six rows, Top Left through Bottom Right. Open any row and pick from seventeen metrics: Distance, Heart Rate, Elapsed Time, Avg Pace, Calories, Ascent, Current Pace, Time of Day, Lap Pace, Lap Distance, Lap Time, Avg Burn Rate, Pack Calories, Vertical Speed, Battery, Current Speed and Avg Speed.
If you think in km/h or mph rather than minutes per kilometre, pick Current Speed or Avg Speed. They were added in 2.11.0 and follow your Distance setting, so they read in kph if your distances are in km and mph if they are in miles. Note that Vertical Speed is a different thing: it is how fast you are climbing, not how fast you are travelling.
If you would rather not set cells one at a time, three presets sit below the six rows. Use Default restores the original layout, Use Performance brings pace, elapsed time and distance forward, and Use Clock + Lap sets time of day, heart rate and lap time.
The same Overview row is in the mid-activity Settings menu, reached with a long press on UP, so you can change the grid during a ruck without pausing. Putting the same metric in more than one cell is allowed if you want it that way, and while you are picking, each metric shows which cell it already occupies so you can see the rest of the grid without backing out.
If the Overview row is there but reads Page hidden, the Overview page itself has been switched off under Settings then Pages, and switching it back on brings the grid back. Not seeing an Overview row at all? Check Settings then About for your version. This arrived in 2.10.0, and Connect IQ updates do not always reach the watch on their own, so an older install will not have it yet. Update from the Connect IQ app on your phone. On Instinct 3 Solar and Instinct E the Overview page is there but its metrics are fixed, for the same memory reason as the other Instinct exceptions.
From version 2.12.0 onward. From the RuckTrack start screen press UP to open Settings, then choose Pages. On touch-only watches, swipe up instead of pressing UP. You get one switch per live page your current mode offers, so treadmill Auto lists six rather than seven. Tap a row to turn that page off and it leaves the swipe rotation straight away, and the Pages row itself shows how many are on, for example 5 of 7 shown.
Three things are worth knowing. The running order never changes, so switching a page off closes the gap rather than shuffling anything around. The last remaining page refuses to switch off and its row reads Only page left, so you cannot end up with a blank activity. And Pages sits in the mid-activity Settings menu too, reached with a long press on UP, so you can drop a page you keep swiping past without pausing the ruck.
Your choices are remembered on the watch and stay set from one ruck to the next. On Instinct 3 Solar and Instinct E there is no Pages entry, for the same memory reason as the other Instinct exceptions.
It means the version you just updated to added something, and there is a What's New page waiting for you. Open Settings from the start screen and What's New sits near the top while the dot is showing. The page is a short summary of what the latest update changed and where to find it.
Opening the page is what clears the dot. It will not clear on its own, and it will not return until a later update adds something, so you can leave it sitting there until you are ready to read it. A brand new install shows no dot, since there is nothing to catch up on. On Instinct 3 Solar and Instinct E there is no What's New page and no dot.
No to all three, with two nearby things you can do: the six metrics on the Overview page are yours to choose, covered in the question above, and from 2.12.0 you can switch individual live pages off under Settings then Pages so they leave the rotation entirely (see how to hide a page). What you cannot change is the running order of the pages themselves, or the three items in the question here, which are platform limits rather than choices we made.
RuckTrack is a Connect IQ Device App, so it runs as its own self-contained activity with custom-drawn screens (the HR zone arc, the pack-calorie breakdown, the post-ruck summary pages). Garmin's platform doesn't let a Device App add native navigation, reorder its screens the way a native activity profile can, or host other Connect IQ data fields (Stryd's power field, for example).
On Stryd specifically: the pod itself does work with RuckTrack as a speed and distance sensor, on every mode. It is only Stryd's own data field, the one showing running power, that cannot run inside a Device App. See Can I use a foot pod like Stryd? for how to set the pod up.
If you want RuckTrack's load-aware calories alongside any of those, the answer is PackCal, our companion data field. It packages the same Pandolf load-aware calorie model as a data field you add to a native walk-type activity (Ruck, Walk, or Hike), so it runs together with Garmin's native navigation and any other data fields on that activity. PackCal is a separate app on the Connect IQ Store, available on supported watches.
Yes, with one exception. On Instinct 3 Solar and Instinct E, RuckTrack leaves out the extra screens that sit outside recording: lifetime Stats, History, Calorie Details, the What's New page, the treadmill Pace page, and the Settings entries for Pages and the Overview grid. Everything that records a ruck works normally, and every session still syncs to Garmin Connect, where your full history and per-session stats live anyway. These two watches have far less memory for apps than the rest of the fleet, so the tracking screens get the space. Every other watch, including the Instinct 3 AMOLED, has all screens.
Two related differences on those same two watches: the Overview page is present and shows its six values, but they are the standard set rather than metrics you pick, and the live pages are all shown rather than ones you can switch off.
This is a known Connect IQ problem on Garmin's side rather than something specific to RuckTrack. Garmin has a support article for it and has acknowledged it on several watches, so if you are hitting it you are not doing anything wrong. Your purchase stays on your Garmin account throughout, and none of the steps below charge you again.
Work through these in order, quickest first. The first step has fixed this exact symptom for someone whose phone kept reporting a successful install while nothing ever reached the watch.
If none of that works, get in touch and tell me whether you are on iPhone or Android, and what the watch does when the install finishes: whether anything appears at all, or nothing happens on the watch.
Your purchase goes through Garmin, not through Meridian, so returns are handled on Garmin's side. Meridian doesn't process payments and has no access to your purchase, so I can't reverse a charge or check its status for you.
Contact Garmin Support through the Connect IQ Store with your purchase details. They can tell you what's available for your account and region.
If you'd rather try before paying, the RuckTrack (KiezelPay) listing runs the same app with a 7-day free trial.
Have a question that isn't here? Get in touch.