How to Pair Garmin Forerunner 265 and 265s [Easy Guide]

Garmin unveiled its newest Forerunner smartwatches – the Forerunner 265, Forerunner 265s, and the Forerunner 965. The company’s latest running smartwatches bring a touch-compatible AMOLED display, a training readiness feature, the ability to download music from third-party apps, and more. One of these features is the ability to connect it to your smartphone. It can help you track your progress and keep you motivated. If you got a new Garmin Forerunner 265 and want to know how to set it up, then read along to know how to pair Garmin Forerunner 265 and 265s.

The new Forerunner 265 series hits the market as a successor to the Forerunner 255 series, which was announced just nine months ago with a big upgrade. Another major upgrade has now released to the Forerunner watches with the new Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 265s. The mid-tier watches are available in 42mm and 46mm casing. Both watches come are compatible with both iPhone and Android phones. The new Forerunner watches are running on Garmin’s own operating system – the Garmin Watch OS. And the process of setting up the watch is going to be the same for both 265 and 265s. Before moving to the steps, check out the prerequisites.

Prerequisites:

Turn on the Bluetooth on your Smartphone
Charge your Garmin Forerunner 265 or 265s to at least 40-50%
Garmin Connect app

How to Pair Garmin Forerunner 265

The first step to connecting the Garmin Forerunner 265 to a smartphone is to download the Garmin Connect app. Make sure you have a compatible smartphone, the app is available for Android users running Android 7.0 (Nougat) or newer, and for iPhone users, the app needs your iPhone should run on iOS 14 or newer version. If your phone is running on the older software version, then update it to the newer version. If your phone is running on the compatible software version, then you can download the Garmin Connect app using these links.

Download Garmin Connect app for Android (Play Store Link)
Download Garmin Connect app for iPhone (App Store Link)

After installing the app on your smartphone, you need to create an account, if you already have a Garmin Connect account, you can sign in with your credentials. If you do not have a Garmin Connect account, you will need to create one. This can be done through the app by following the instructions.

How to put Garmin Forerunner 265 in pairing mode

The next step in connecting the Forerunner 265 to your smartphone is putting the watch in pairing mode. Yes, you need to put your watch to pairing mode, it can be done easily, if you own the new watch, simply boot it up. Yes, the first boot means that your watch is in pairing mode, if you already using the Forerunner 265 for a few days but want to pair it to another device, then you need to unpair it first or you can reset the watch from settings. Here’s how you can put your Garmin Forerunner 265 in pairing mode.

Turn on your Garmin Forerunner 265 by pressing and holding the Light button.
Swipe with touch or use physical Up / down buttons to select Language.
On the next pairing screen, press the Start / Stop button to put the watch in pairing mode.
That’s it.

Yes, with these simple steps you can put your Garmin Forerunner 265 in pairing mode. Now as your watch is in pairing mode, let’s check how to connect Garmin Forerunner 265 or 265s to your smartphone.

How to connect Garmin Forerunner 265 to a smartphone

Now that you’ve your smartphone with the Garmin Connect app installed and your Garmin Forerunner 265 series watch in a pairing mode, let’s see how you can connect the Forerunner 265 or 265s to your smartphone.

A QR code will appear on the watch screen, when it is in pairing mode.
Scan the QR from your smartphone by opening the Garmin Connect app and navigating to the More > Garmin Devices > then tap on Add Garmin device option
Now, follow the on-screen instructions to sync your profile and health data.
In the initial setup, you can also set up Garmin Pay, WiFi connection, and more.
That’s it.

Now you can start using your Garmin Forerunner 265 series smartwatch. You can activate the watch’s screen by pressing the Light button or hold it for a few seconds to go to controls menu. Navigation can be done with both tough controls or Up and Down buttons, back button is for going to the previous menu. Start / Stop button can be used to start an activity and some other actions too.