Try this neat Garmin watch trick to save a little time every day

Cat Ellis
·1 min read
Woman checking sports watch during run
Woman checking sports watch during run

Your Garmin watch has a handy feature that you might not know about, and which could save you a few valuable seconds each time you want to browse through your health data, then get back to business afterwards.

The little trick, described by Reddit user Slurp_123 on the Garmin subreddit, allows you to return to the main watch face, and turn off the backlight by simply placing your palm over the face for a second (or giving it a quick slap if you're really pressed for time).

The writer noticed that a friend's Apple Watch returned to the home screen when slapped, and found that their Garmin Forerunner 955 worked the same way,

This feature requires a touchscreen, so won't work on devices like the Instinct 2 that rely on buttons. Nor will it work if you've deactivated touch controls, or have selected a workout. This makes sense; it would be a nuisance if you accidentally hit your watch just as you were about to begin tracking a race.

However, it could be extremely handy if you need to quickly deactivate the backlight to avoid disturbing your partner at night, or don't want to spend time working your way back through menus after checking your sleep score or the weather forecast.

For more things to do with your Garmin watch, take a look at our list of to 23 easy Garmin badges to grab this weekend. Some of them are a bit cheaty, but we won't tell if you don't.