Garmin only included recent releases like the Forerunner 570, Forerunner 970 and Venu X1 (curr. $799.99 on Amazon) in its recent August 2025 Feature Update. As we discussed at the time, it was unclear whether older devices would receive the eighteen new features described in its update documentation.
Now, the company has started rolling out a new update for the Instinct Crossover, Instinct 2, Instinct 2S and Instinct 2X on its stable software channel. For context, Garmin issued Beta Version 17.05 about two weeks ago. Now, it has started offering the same build to all Instinct Crossover, Instinct 2 and Instinct 2X owners, over a year after it released Software Version 16.11.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise to learn that Garmin has readied numerous changes between System Software 16.11 and System Software 17.05. By our count, all smartwatches should receive over a dozen bug fixes after applying Garmin’s new update. Unfortunately, no new features are included in System Software 17.05. The full changelog, including smartwatch-specific bug fixes, are as follows:
All Instinct 2 series smartwatches:
Instinct Crossover & Instinct 2X specific:
Instinct 2X specific:
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