Choose by the moment you need help
Data field: add one screen to an activity
Use a data field when you want a value inside Garmin's running, cycling, rowing or other activity screens. You install it, then add it to a compatible slot under that activity's Data Screens. The native activity still controls recording, GPS, sensors and saving.
Examples include Big & Clear Activity for one large metric and Row Estimate for an estimate when an indoor erg cannot provide the native distance. Read the Row Estimate manual before relying on its developer fields.
Watch app: open a dedicated tool
Use a watch app when the workflow needs its own screens, controls or saved state. A soccer recorder, scorekeeper, checklist or timer can be opened from the watch's app list and may have different permissions or FIT behavior. It does not automatically become a data field in every activity.
Pitch Pulse is a watch app for recording soccer with documented GPS states and estimates; its manual explains what it records and what it cannot infer indoors. Court Ledger is a separate offline scoring workflow, not a line-call or activity-analysis system.
Watch face: change the everyday clock
Use a watch face when the main job is time and glanceable daily information outside an activity. Big & Clear focuses on large, high-contrast time. A watch face is not the right choice for a workout timer, scorekeeper or activity field.
Before installing, check these limits
- Read the Store listing for supported devices, permissions and the actual public version.
- Confirm whether the app is offline, needs a sensor or contributes FIT data; do not assume one type behaves like another.
- Check the manual for buttons, touch, reset behavior, missing inputs and local data loss on uninstall.
- Choose the native Garmin activity when you need Garmin's normal recording context; Connect IQ cannot promise a native metric it cannot access.