Garmin Connect IQ

SimCity

A watch face that turns your last 7 days of activity into a living city skyline. Seven buildings grow with your step-goal progress, a small construction scene tracks today, an animated sky shifts with the weather and season, and day/night themes, configurable data fields and tap-to-launch native widgets fill in the rest — a city that's always a little bit yours.

  • 7-day step skyline
  • Weather-driven sky
  • 65+ data fields
  • AMOLED always-on
  • Rebuild the city
  • Tap-to-launch widgets
Get it on Garmin Connect IQ

Available in: English, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, 日本語, 한국어, Polski, Русский, Español, 简体中文

SimCity on a Garmin watch

Overview

SimCity is a Garmin Connect IQ watch face built around a single idea: your activity history should look like something. Behind a bold digital clock, seven small buildings line up along a skyline — one for each of your last 7 days — and each one grows a little taller and a little more finished the closer you came to your step goal that day. Above the road, a small construction scene mirrors today's progress in real time, while the sky above shifts with the weather and the season.

7-Day Step Skyline

Seven buildings, one per day, each shaped by how close you came to your step goal that day. They persist and reorder themselves automatically as each new day rolls in.

Rebuild the City

A dedicated tap action clears and regenerates the 7 buildings for a fresh look, using the same 7-day step history.

Living Sky

Sun, moon and stars by day and night, clouds, rain or snow matched to current weather, and seasonal trees and snow cover.

4 Data Fields

Assign each of 4 fields, and 2 progress bars, to any of 65+ available data points.

Tap-to-Launch Widgets

Tap the sky or the hour/minute digits to jump straight to a native Garmin widget, randomize your accent color, or rebuild the city.

Day & Night Themes

Two independent color themes that switch automatically at sunrise/sunset, each with its own background, primary and values colors — editable right on the watch.

The City & Themes

SimCity day theme layout

Seven buildings sit along the skyline, tallest and most developed where you came closest to your daily step goal. Each day at midnight the oldest building rolls off and a new empty lot appears for the new day — your last 7 days, always visible at a glance.

  • 7 buildings One per day. Building size and style are picked from your step-goal completion for that day and stay fixed once drawn, so the skyline doesn't jitter between updates.
  • Today's construction scene A small crane and construction site above the road reflects today's own step-goal progress in real time, separately from the 7-day skyline.
  • Rebuild the city Don't like the current layout? Assign the Rebuild the city action to a tap zone (see Tap Actions) to regenerate all 7 buildings from the same step history.
Weather, seasons & sky
Weather-driven sky on SimCity

The sky and scenery respond to your current weather and the calendar:

  • Sun, moon and stars change with the time of day; clouds, rain or snow appear to match the current weather condition.
  • Trees and ground cover shift with the season, inferred from the month, your hemisphere, and current temperature — bare and snowy in winter, blossoming or full in warmer months.
Day & night themes
SimCity night theme layout

SimCity automatically switches between two independent color themes at sunrise and sunset, using your saved GPS location. Each theme has its own set of colors, editable directly from the on-watch settings menu or the Garmin Connect Mobile app:

Color Description
Background colorThe face background for this theme.
Hours and icons colorAccent color used for the hour digits and field icons.
Minutes and values colorColor used for the minute digits and the text of data field values.

Each color picks from a curated 27-color palette, or tap-to-launch can randomize the accent color for you. See Tap Actions.

Always-On Display
SimCity in always-on display mode

Always-on / low-power handling depends on your display technology:

  • On transflective (MIP) devices — the standard and low-memory builds — the face stays fully visible in low-power mode, and a seconds field, if assigned, keeps ticking via a partial-update redraw when Always update seconds is enabled.
  • On AMOLED devices, a dimmed, simplified version of the skyline is drawn in low-power mode, with a dithering burn-in-protection mask applied on top.

Data Fields

4 data fields and 2 progress bars can each be set independently, from Garmin Connect IQ app settings or the on-device menu, to any of the values below. All fields are available during the trial; after the trial ends, a handful of fields keep working for free while the rest show a "paid" placeholder until you unlock the face — see Trial & Unlock.

  • Date — The current system date, format configurable in Settings.
    All SimCity devices.
  • Day of week
    All SimCity devices.
  • Custom time 2 / 3 — The current time for a second or third time zone, configured in settings.
    All SimCity devices.
  • ISO week number
    All SimCity devices.
  • Time counter — Days elapsed since (or until) a date you configure.
    All SimCity devices.

  • Battery in % — The remaining battery life as a percentage.
    All SimCity devices.
  • Battery in days — The estimated remaining battery life in days, if available.
    All SimCity devices.
  • Solar sensor charge — Solar charging contribution.
    Uses the solar/ambient-light sensor exposed only on transflective (MIP) devices; not compiled for the AMOLED build.
  • Illuminance — Ambient light level from the solar sensor, if available.
    Uses the solar/ambient-light sensor exposed only on transflective (MIP) devices; not compiled for the AMOLED build.

  • Steps — Steps since midnight.
    All SimCity devices.
  • Steps goal left — Steps remaining to reach today's goal.
    All SimCity devices.
  • This week steps
    All SimCity devices.
  • Distance
    All SimCity devices.
  • This week distance
    All SimCity devices.
  • Climbed / descended floors
    Requires a barometric altimeter. Not available on: Forerunner 55, Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music.
  • Floors goal left
    Requires a barometric altimeter. Not available on: Forerunner 55, Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music.
  • This week climbed floors
    Requires a barometric altimeter. Not available on: Forerunner 55, Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music.
  • Climbed / descended meters
    Requires a barometric altimeter. Not available on: Forerunner 55, Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music.
  • Altitude
    Requires a barometric altimeter. Not available on: Forerunner 55, Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music.
  • Wheelchair pushes, distance & goal left
    Wheelchair data is only compiled for the AMOLED build.

  • This week cycling distance & time — From watch-recorded activities only.
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • This week running distance & time
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • This week swimming distance & time
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • This week strength time
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.

  • Current heart rate
    All SimCity devices.
  • Resting heart rate
    All SimCity devices.
  • Seven day average resting heart rate
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Respiration rate — Breaths per minute.
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Oxygen saturation
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Weight
    All SimCity devices.
  • BMI — Body Mass Index, calculated from weight and height.
    All SimCity devices.
  • Body battery
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Stress
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Time to recovery — Hours until recovered from your last activity.
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • VO2 max Cycling
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • VO2 max Running
    Requires a newer sensor/API generation (roughly 2019+ models). Not available on: Fenix 5, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix Chronos, Descent Mk1, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Forerunner 935, Vívoactive 3, Vívoactive 3 Music, Vívoactive 3 Music LTE.
  • Blood glucose (from NightScout) — Requires a configured NightScout URL. See NightScout below.
    All SimCity devices.

  • Watch sensor temperature — Calibratable in Settings.
    All SimCity devices.

Weather

Weather data fields on SimCity

Weather fields and the animated sky (current conditions, high/low temperature, precipitation, humidity, AQI, pressure and wind) can be sourced from any of three providers:

ProviderNotes
GarminBuilt-in, no API key required. Precipitation chance and AQI are not available.
OpenWeatherMapRequires a free personal API key, entered in settings. Precipitation chance is not available.
QWeatherRequires a free API key. Useful in regions with better QWeather coverage.

The update interval is configurable, and sunrise/sunset can optionally be taken from the weather provider instead of being calculated locally. Weather requires internet connectivity through your paired phone, refreshed by a periodic background service.

NightScout

Blood glucose field

Displays blood glucose readings pulled from your NightScout instance, in mg/dL or mmol/L, as a built-in data field — see Settings.

Tap Actions

SimCity screen divided into its tap zones

With Allow long press enabled (System 6 and a touch screen required), SimCity turns the face into a launcher with three independent tap zones:

  • Long-pressing the sky/skyline area (top of the face) runs the action assigned to The image long press action in Settings.
  • Long-pressing the hour digits runs the action assigned to Hours long press action.
  • Long-pressing the minute digits runs the action assigned to Minutes long press action.

Each of the three tap zones can be set to open a native widget (Steps, Climbed floors, Altitude, Summary day active minutes, Current heart rate, Respiration rate, Oxygen saturation, Body battery, Stress, VO2 max Cycling, VO2 max Running, Calories, Current weather, Ambient pressure, This week cycling/running distance, Today's suggestion, Training status, Sunrise/sunset nearest, Notifications, Solar sensor charge) — or to one of two special actions:

ActionEffect
Rebuild the cityClears and regenerates all 7 buildings of the skyline from your last 7 days of step data. See The City & Themes.
Randomize accentPicks a new random accent color for the current theme, contrasting with the background.

Settings

All settings are managed through the Garmin Connect IQ mobile app or Garmin Express on desktop. Open the app list, find SimCity, and tap Settings. A matching on-device settings menu is also available on the standard and AMOLED builds.

General

SettingOptionsDescription
Time format 01:23, 01 23, 0123, 1:23, 1 23, 123 Controls how the time is formatted.
Date format Dec 31, 31 Dec, 12/31, 31.12 Controls how the date field is formatted.
Week start System / Sunday / Monday First day of the week, used by the ISO week number field.
Blinking time delimiter On / Off Blinks the ":" between hours and minutes every second.
Show seconds Show / Hide / Always Controls whether a seconds field is drawn, and whether it keeps updating in low-power mode on MIP displays.
Allow long press On / Off Enables tap actions on the sky and the hour/minute digits (System 6 and touch screen required). See Tap Actions.
Calories goal Number Daily calories goal used by the Calories progress field.

Day & Night Theme

SettingDescription
Background / Hours and icons / Minutes and values colorsThe three theme colors described in The City & Themes, chosen from a 27-color palette. Editable from the on-watch ☀️ Daytime theme / 🌙 Nighttime theme menus, or from the phone app.

Day and Night each have their own copy of every color above.

Location

SettingValuesDescription
Get system location On / Off When On, the watch's own GPS coordinates are used automatically — needed for sunrise/sunset and some weather providers.

Weather

SettingOptionsDescription
Weather provider Garmin, OpenWeatherMap, QWeather Source used for all weather-related data fields and the sky.
Weather API key Text Required for OpenWeatherMap and QWeather.

NightScout

SettingDescription
NightScout URLBase URL of your NightScout instance.
Glucose unitsmg/dL or mmol/L, used to format the Blood glucose field.

Data Fields

SettingDescription
Data fields: Text 1 … Text 4Assigns a data source (see Data Fields) to each of the 4 face positions, independently.
Progress bar 2 / Progress bar 3Assigns a data source, drawn as a radial progress dial, to each of the 2 configurable progress bars.
Custom time 2 / 3 zone offsetUTC offset used to compute the Custom time 2 and Custom time 3 fields.

Tap Actions

SettingDescription
The image long press actionWidget or special action triggered by long-pressing the sky/skyline area. See Tap Actions.
Hours long press actionWidget or special action triggered by long-pressing the hour digits. See Tap Actions.
Minutes long press actionWidget or special action triggered by long-pressing the minute digits. See Tap Actions.

Device Compatibility

SimCity automatically builds the right layout for your specific watch model, from three source builds:

Standard

Round MIP (transflective) displays, full feature set including tap-to-launch.

AMOLED

Round AMOLED displays, with a dedicated always-on display skyline and burn-in protection.

Low-memory

A trimmed build for older, memory-constrained devices — no on-device settings menu or tap actions.

Approach

  • S50
  • S70 42mm
  • S70 47mm

D2

  • Air
  • Air X10
  • Delta
  • Delta PX
  • Delta S
  • Mach 1
  • Mach 2
  • Mach 2 Pro

Descent

  • G2
  • Mk1
  • Mk2
  • Mk2 S
  • Mk3 43mm
  • Mk3 51mm

Enduro

  • Enduro
  • Enduro 3

Epix

  • 2
  • 2 Pro 42mm
  • 2 Pro 47mm
  • 2 Pro 51mm

Fenix

  • 5
  • 5 Plus
  • 5S
  • 5S Plus
  • 5X
  • 5X Plus
  • 6
  • 6 Pro
  • 6S
  • 6S Pro
  • 6X Pro
  • 7
  • 7 Pro
  • 7 Pro (No WiFi)
  • 7S
  • 7S Pro
  • 7X
  • 7X Pro
  • 7X Pro (No WiFi)
  • 8 43mm
  • 8 47mm
  • 8 Pro 47mm
  • 8 Solar 47mm
  • 8 Solar 51mm
  • Chronos
  • E

Forerunner

  • 55
  • 70
  • 165
  • 165 Music
  • 170
  • 170 Music
  • 245
  • 245 Music
  • 255
  • 255 Music
  • 255S
  • 255S Music
  • 265
  • 265S
  • 570 42mm
  • 570 47mm
  • 645
  • 645 Music
  • 745
  • 935
  • 945
  • 945 LTE
  • 955
  • 965
  • 970

Instinct

  • 3 AMOLED 45mm
  • 3 AMOLED 50mm

Legacy

  • Hero (Captain Marvel)
  • Hero (First Avenger)
  • Saga (Darth Vader)
  • Saga (Rey)

MARQ

  • 2
  • 2 Aviator
  • Adventurer
  • Athlete
  • Aviator
  • Captain
  • Commander
  • Driver
  • Expedition
  • Golfer

Venu

  • Venu
  • 2
  • 2 Plus
  • 2S
  • 3
  • 3S
  • 4 41mm
  • 4 45mm
  • D
  • Sq
  • Sq 2
  • Sq 2 Music
  • Sq Music
  • X1

Vívoactive

  • 3
  • 3 Music
  • 3 Music LTE
  • 4
  • 4S
  • 5
  • 6

Trial & Unlock

The city itself — the skyline, weather, sky and clock — always keeps running. What's gated is the optional data fields and progress bars.

Free Trial

Free to download. The city, every theme, and every data field — including the Blood glucose field from NightScout — are fully usable during the trial.

Get it on Garmin Connect IQ
After the Trial

Once the trial ends, fields other than a handful of always-free ones (date, battery, sunrise/sunset, steps, distance, floors, heart rate, calories and current weather) show a "paid" placeholder until unlocked. The city itself keeps running throughout. Buy a one-time unlock code to unlock permanently, or press and hold anywhere on screen for a temporary unlock. See About & Unlock Code below.

Buy the unlock code

Troubleshooting

If a field shows a short code instead of a value, here is what it means:

CodeMeaning
n/aThe selected field is not available on your device.
n/dThere is no data to display yet. Just wait for a while.
n/cNo connection. Check the availability of the device's connection.
set GPSThe Get system location toggle in Settings shows this until it has a GPS fix, and a weather or sun/moon field needs your location — enable Get system location or enter coordinates manually.
API keyYou need to enter the weather provider's API key in settings.
paidThis field is part of the Full version and requires an unlock code. See Trial & Unlock.

About & Unlock Code

QR code screen
QR Code screen

Accessible from the app's settings menu. Scan the QR code with your phone to open this page, where you can find support information and purchase an unlock code.

Buy the unlock code
Unlock code

SimCity uses an unlock code to verify your purchase. To enter or view your code:

  1. Open Garmin Connect IQ on your phone.
  2. Navigate to My device → Apps → SimCity → Settings.
  3. Enter your code in the 🔑 Serial number field.
  4. The Verification status field updates automatically once the watch has an internet connection.

You can also manage settings via Garmin Express on your desktop computer.

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