iPad/ForeFlight and Garmin Connext Bluetooth pairing anomaly

[PT20J]

I paired the new iPad with a Garmin G3X Touch (GDU4XX) and a Garmin GTX 345.

Both the iPad and the Garmin equipment showed CONNECTED, but there was no Garmin data transfer to or from the iPad and the ForeFlight Devices tab showed "No supported devices connected."

I experimented and found that it only works properly if the pairing request is acknowledged first on the Garmin device and then on the iPad. If it is done in reverse order, it pairs and shows connected when all devices are operating, but data will not transfer.

These connections are Bluetooth directly between the iPad and the Garmin equipment -- I don't have Flight stream.

Skip

[PeteMc]

Curious why you're connecting to both the G3X and the GTX?   

I did a quick search and it shows what I remember reading years ago that the G3X has Connext in it and you should be able to get all the ADS/FIS/TIS-B data as well as AHRS through the G3X and no need to connect to the GTX.  And you're connected to a GTN or GNS, the Flight Plans should also pass through the G3X to them. 

[ArtVandelay]

And you're connected to a GTN or GNS, the Flight Plans should also pass through the G3X to them. 

In my case, the G3X will not accept flight plans using an external GPS (GTN Xi), it only accepts from the GTN.

[PT20J]

Connext is a generic term Garmin uses for wireless connectivity. But, not all devices with Connext capability share the same information. The Bluetooth connections allow transfer of flight plans between the iPad and the G3X and GTN. GPS, attitude and ADS-B In come from the GTX.

 

[Rick Junkin]

14 hours ago, PT20J said:

I experimented and found that it only works properly if the pairing request is acknowledged first on the Garmin device and then on the iPad. If it is done in reverse order, it pairs and shows connected when all devices are operating, but data will not transfer.

So pairing acknowledgment order is important, good to know! I must have done it that way by chance from the get go as mine paired and transferred data from both the G3X and GTX345 on the first try. Foreflight shows a single "Connext" connection under Devices, and it says what data capability is available in the Connext bubble. 

I used to have the same issue with the Flightstream 210 in my previous panel where it would show connected to the iPad but Foreflight couldn't see it. As I recall it worked reliably as long as I had Foreflight open on the iPad when I powered up the airplane, but that may have been a red herring. 

I'd reset the iPad connection to my G3X and GTX345 and go through the pairing process again to provide another validating example of Skip's discovery, but my luck I wouldn't be able to get it working again.  Maybe I'll try it with my iPhone.

Cheers,
Rick

[PT20J]

5 minutes ago, Rick Junkin said:

So pairing acknowledgment order is important, good to know! I must have done it that way by chance from the get go as mine paired and transferred data from both the G3X and GTX345 on the first try. Foreflight shows a single "Connext" connection under Devices, and it says what data capability is available in the Connext bubble. 

I used to have the same issue with the Flightstream 210 in my previous panel where it would show connected to the iPad but Foreflight couldn't see it. As I recall it worked reliably as long as I had Foreflight open on the iPad when I powered up the airplane, but that may have been a red herring. 

I'd reset the iPad connection to my G3X and GTX345 and go through the pairing process again to provide another validating example of Skip's discovery, but my luck I wouldn't be able to get it working again.  Maybe I'll try it with my iPhone.

Cheers,
Rick

I think I must have done it correctly the first time because it just worked. Then, I got a new iPad and had this problem. I tried it three times with the same result before I thought to reverse the order of acknowledgement and got it to work. Apparently, I proved the old adage that repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is a form of insanity. I sent a note to ForeFlight support. 

Skip

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, PT20J said:

But, not all devices with Connext capability share the same information.

I did a search for what I probably saw (2015) and it did indeed say you could get it all, but not having an eidetic memory, I didn't remember the full thing... "...Depending on each individual installation, Connext supports the wireless transfer of flight plans and can share weather, traffic, attitude and GPS information within Garmin Pilot..."  

Further it goes on to talk about having a GTN or GNS installed.  So obviously that would bring all the data together for the G3X to send to FF.

Edited December 24, 2023 by PeteMc

[PeteMc]

7 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

In my case, the G3X will not accept flight plans using an external GPS (GTN Xi), it only accepts from the GTN.

From what I just read it sounds like it has to do with configuration.  I guess the reason for connecting to the G3X would be if you do not have a FS in the GTN.  Sounds like Garmin was making that the interface. 

Still a really dumb move on Garmin's part (IMHO) that they didn't add Bluetooth when they came out with the Xi.  But being Garmin, I guess they just ASSUMED NO ONE would buy anything other than a FULL Garmin panel. 

 

[laytonl]

I have the same issue with FS210 and ForeFlight.  It’s seems to be a random issue.  What has worked best for me is leave the iPad offto until the GTN750 is receiving data.  Also, If the  plane moves prior to pairing it will not work for the rest of the flight.  Makes no sense, and FF can’t explain it - and says no one else is reporting this problem.  Lee

[PT20J]

Well, the problem came back: iPad and Garmin equipment show paired and connected but ForeFlight doesn't recognize the Garmin devices (GTX 345, G3X). I contacted the excellent ForeFlight support team and Justin suggested that the problem might be that I migrated the ForeFlight app from the old iPad using the iCloud backup. He suggested deleting it and reloading it from the App store. Most settings remain - I did have to change a few options on the map an download the nav data. But this did fix the problem.

Skip

[PT20J]

People often ask which is better: ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot. I have used both, though I haven't used Pilot for a few years. The apps may be similar but ForeFlight tech support is miles ahead of Garmin's. They answer my email, usually within a few hours, and almost always point me to a solution to my problem on the first try. 

[laytonl]

On 1/3/2024 at 5:54 PM, PT20J said:

Well, the problem came back: iPad and Garmin equipment show paired and connected but ForeFlight doesn't recognize the Garmin devices (GTX 345, G3X). I contacted the excellent ForeFlight support team and Justin suggested that the problem might be that I migrated the ForeFlight app from the old iPad using the iCloud backup. He suggested deleting it and reloading it from the App store. Most settings remain - I did have to change a few options on the map an download the nav data. But this did fix the problem.

Skip

Thanks for the update. I’ll give that a try. Lee

[toto]

I know this thread is about ForeFlight, but I’m curious whether others have had similar issues connecting to Garmin Pilot.

In my a/c, I can pair Bluetooth with both the GTX and the G3X, with both the panel and the iPad showing connected. But Garmin Pilot only ever shows the GTX connected on the “devices” page. I’ve tried pairing and unpairing, and confirming the pair on the panel vs the iPad, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The iPad is happily connected to both Bluetooth sources but Garmin Pilot can’t see the G3X. 

I thought that removing the GTX Bluetooth source from the iPad might force GP to recognize the G3X, but GP still shows nothing when the iPad is connected to the G3X. 

[ArtVandelay]

I know this thread is about ForeFlight, but I’m curious whether others have had similar issues connecting to Garmin Pilot.
In my a/c, I can pair Bluetooth with both the GTX and the G3X, with both the panel and the iPad showing connected. But Garmin Pilot only ever shows the GTX connected on the “devices” page. I’ve tried pairing and unpairing, and confirming the pair on the panel vs the iPad, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The iPad is happily connected to both Bluetooth sources but Garmin Pilot can’t see the G3X. 
I thought that removing the GTX Bluetooth source from the iPad might force GP to recognize the G3X, but GP still shows nothing when the iPad is connected to the G3X. 

Check the Bluetooth page on the G3X.

[toto]

1 hour ago, ArtVandelay said:

Check the Bluetooth page on the G3X.

The Bluetooth page on the G3X shows the iPad connected and happy, as far as I can tell. It’s only Garmin Pilot that doesn’t seem to recognize the G3X. 

[RoundTwo]

11 hours ago, toto said:

I know this thread is about ForeFlight, but I’m curious whether others have had similar issues connecting to Garmin Pilot.

In my a/c, I can pair Bluetooth with both the GTX and the G3X, with both the panel and the iPad showing connected. But Garmin Pilot only ever shows the GTX connected on the “devices” page. I’ve tried pairing and unpairing, and confirming the pair on the panel vs the iPad, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The iPad is happily connected to both Bluetooth sources but Garmin Pilot can’t see the G3X. 

I thought that removing the GTX Bluetooth source from the iPad might force GP to recognize the G3X, but GP still shows nothing when the iPad is connected to the G3X. 

Mine pairs equally well to both G3X and GTX. It always paired automatically to the GTX but I always had to manually connect the iPad to the G3X. This weekend while coming home from Florida with some not so friendly winds , I had lots of time to play around with settings and was able to find the Auto Reconnect setting on the G3X under Manage Paired Devices. Hopefully I’ll no longer have to manually connect things in the future.

[RoundTwo]

5 minutes ago, toto said:

The Bluetooth page on the G3X shows the iPad connected and happy, as far as I can tell. It’s only Garmin Pilot that doesn’t seem to recognize the G3X. 

GP has some good info for troubleshooting on the Devices page. Have you looked into any of these tips?

[toto]

1 minute ago, RoundTwo said:

GP has some good info for troubleshooting on the Devices page. Have you looked into any of these tips?

I have - this is the page that always displays when I manually select G3X Touch on the iPad devices page. I’ll take another look at it the next time I’m in the plane, but I think I’ve tried all of their suggestions. 

[RoundTwo]

29 minutes ago, toto said:

I have - this is the page that always displays when I manually select G3X Touch on the iPad devices page. I’ll take another look at it the next time I’m in the plane, but I think I’ve tried all of their suggestions. 

When I connect my iPad to the G3X, I never do anything except connect from iPad Settings > Bluetooth. I never look at the devices on GP, so I’m unable to say what it shows.

[toto]

On 1/30/2024 at 7:16 AM, RoundTwo said:

When I connect my iPad to the G3X, I never do anything except connect from iPad Settings > Bluetooth. I never look at the devices on GP, so I’m unable to say what it shows.

I was able to take some photos the other day - as far as I can tell, both the iPad and the G3X are reporting that they are correctly connected. It’s Garmin Pilot that doesn’t seem to recognize the G3X exists. (Every time I try to access the G3X on the devices page, it shows me the info on how to connect.)

If you see any clues here about what I’m doing wrong, please advise

 

 

[Fly Boomer]

9 hours ago, toto said:

I was able to take some photos the other day - as far as I can tell, both the iPad and the G3X are reporting that they are correctly connected. It’s Garmin Pilot that doesn’t seem to recognize the G3X exists. (Every time I try to access the G3X on the devices page, it shows me the info on how to connect.)

If you see any clues here about what I’m doing wrong, please advise

This is a long shot, but I carry both a phone and my iPad everywhere and, when I get into my car, it sometimes gets flummoxed by having multiple Bluetooth devices available.  Now that I think about it, something similar also happens at home when I fire up my laptop.  I have an Alexa that I use as an external speaker and, with three devices to connect to, she gets confused.  Maybe try turning off all the devices you don't want participating in your Bluetooth connections?

[PT20J]

On 1/30/2024 at 5:16 AM, RoundTwo said:

When I connect my iPad to the G3X, I never do anything except connect from iPad Settings > Bluetooth.

If you enable auto reconnect on the G3X and GTX Bluetooth, the will connect directly to the iPad without you taking other action if the iPad Bluetooth is on. 

[toto]

7 minutes ago, PT20J said:

If you enable auto reconnect on the G3X and GTX Bluetooth, the will connect directly to the iPad without you taking other action if the iPad Bluetooth is on. 

This seems to be what happens. I don’t touch the Bluetooth settings at all, and the iPad automatically connects to both the G3X and the GTX. The only issue (which might be an issue with GP, I don’t know) is that GP never shows the G3X connected on the devices page. 

[toto]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:51 AM, toto said:

This seems to be what happens. I don’t touch the Bluetooth settings at all, and the iPad automatically connects to both the G3X and the GTX. The only issue (which might be an issue with GP, I don’t know) is that GP never shows the G3X connected on the devices page. 

Well, I think I’ve solved this. I have only ever tried to connect an iPad to the G3X before, never an iPhone. But I tried connecting my iPhone just to see what happens, and I got the message below (“PFD config module not Apple compatible”). Apparently the G3X has a little module in the connector that can be either Apple compatible or not Apple compatible, and mine has the wrong one. It’s a brand-new G3X, just picked it up last month. I contacted Garmin support to make sure that it’s a hardware thing and not a software thing, and they confirmed that the hardware module needs to be replaced. 

Hopefully this will help someone else avoid lots of hair-pulling

ETA: According to the install manual, Garmin seems to be prepared to swap the module on request. 

[PeteMc]

3 hours ago, toto said:

Garmin seems to be prepared to swap the module on request. 

I was about to ask if they were going to charge you for the swap or not.  Glad to see they'll just swap it out.