You just finished an amazing ride on Zwift. Your legs are burning, your heart rate was perfect, and you crushed some serious watts. But when you check your Garmin Connect app, there’s nothing there. No ride. No data. Nothing.
This happens more often than you’d think, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Your hard work deserves to be tracked properly. Let me walk you through why this happens and exactly how to fix it so you never lose another ride again.
Why Your Zwift Activities Won’t Show Up on Garmin
When Zwift and Garmin refuse to talk to each other, it’s usually because something broke the connection between the two platforms. These apps need to communicate through your accounts, and sometimes that link gets disconnected or confused.
Zwift sends your completed activities to Garmin Connect through an automatic sync process. This happens in the background after you finish each ride or run. Your activity gets packaged up with all your metrics, then transmitted to Garmin’s servers. But several things can interrupt this handshake.
Sometimes the problem sits on Zwift’s end. Other times, Garmin’s servers might be having a bad day. Your internet connection plays a role too. Even your account settings can throw a wrench into the whole process.
The good news is that most sync issues are simple to fix. You’re not dealing with anything complicated or permanent. Your data isn’t lost forever, and you won’t need any special technical skills to get things working again.
Zwift Not Syncing to Garmin: Common Causes
Several factors can prevent your Zwift activities from appearing in Garmin Connect. Let me break down the most frequent culprits behind this annoying problem.
1. Disconnected Account Link
Your Zwift and Garmin accounts need to be connected for automatic syncing to work. This connection can break without warning.
Maybe you changed your Garmin password recently. Perhaps you logged out of one of the apps. Sometimes the link just expires on its own after a few months. When this happens, Zwift tries to send your data but can’t because the authorization is gone.
You’ll need to reconnect the accounts manually. This takes about two minutes but solves the problem immediately.
2. Poor Internet Connection
Zwift needs a stable internet connection to upload your completed activities. If your connection drops right when you finish a ride, the sync fails.
This happens a lot with WiFi networks that cut out randomly. Your router might be too far from your training setup. Or maybe multiple devices are hogging bandwidth while you’re trying to sync.
The activity stays stuck in Zwift’s queue, waiting for a proper connection. Once your internet stabilizes, you can trigger the sync manually. But if you don’t realize there was a problem, that ride just sits there indefinitely.
3. Server Issues on Either Platform
Both Zwift and Garmin run massive server operations. Sometimes these servers go down for maintenance or experience technical difficulties.
When Garmin’s servers are offline, Zwift can’t deliver your data. The same thing happens if Zwift’s upload system is having problems. These outages are usually temporary, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.
4. Duplicate Activity Detection
Garmin has built-in protection against duplicate activities cluttering your feed. If it thinks you’re trying to upload the same ride twice, it blocks the second upload.
This can trigger accidentally if you’re using multiple apps during the same workout. Maybe you had your Garmin watch recording while also riding on Zwift. The timestamps overlap, and Garmin’s system flags the Zwift upload as a duplicate.
5. App Version Bugs
Outdated versions of Zwift sometimes have sync bugs that developers fix in newer releases. If you haven’t updated your app recently, you might be running software with known sync issues.
New updates also occasionally introduce fresh bugs. A version that worked perfectly yesterday might suddenly have problems after an automatic update. This is rare but happens sometimes with major platform changes.
Software conflicts matter too. Your operating system might have updated and created compatibility issues with Zwift’s current version.
Zwift Not Syncing to Garmin: How to Fix
Getting your Zwift activities back on track with Garmin is easier than you think. Here are the most effective solutions that actually work.
1. Reconnect Your Garmin Account in Zwift
The first fix you should try is refreshing the connection between your accounts. This solves about 70% of sync problems right away.
Open Zwift and head to your settings menu. Look for the connections or integrations section. You’ll see a list of apps and services that Zwift can connect to. Find Garmin Connect in that list.
If it shows as connected, disconnect it first. Wait about 10 seconds, then reconnect it. Zwift will ask you to log into your Garmin account. Enter your credentials and authorize the connection. Make sure you’re using the same Garmin account where you want your activities to appear.
2. Manually Upload Missing Activities
When automatic sync fails, you can still save your ride by uploading the activity file manually. Zwift stores every completed workout on your device.
Find your Zwift activity files on your computer. They’re usually in a folder called “Activities” inside your Zwift installation directory. On Windows, check Documents/Zwift/Activities. On Mac, look in Documents/Zwift/Activities as well. Each ride gets saved as a .fit file with a date and timestamp in the name.
Locate the file for your missing ride. Head to Garmin Connect on your web browser and log in. Click the upload icon, usually in the top right corner. Select your .fit file and upload it. Within seconds, your ride appears in your activity feed with all the data intact.
3. Check Your Internet Connection
A wonky internet connection causes more sync problems than anything else. Test your connection speed and stability before trying anything else.
Run a speed test on your device. You need at least 3 Mbps upload speed for reliable syncing. If you’re below that, move closer to your router or switch from WiFi to a wired connection. Restart your router if speeds seem unusually slow.
Try syncing again once your connection improves. Open Zwift and check if any pending activities upload automatically. Sometimes just fixing your internet makes all the stuck uploads go through at once.
4. Update Your Zwift App
Running an old version of Zwift can prevent proper syncing. Developers regularly patch bugs and improve connectivity features.
Open your app store or visit Zwift’s website to check for updates. Download and install the latest version. This might take a few minutes depending on your internet speed. Restart Zwift completely after updating.
Launch the app and try completing a short test ride. Check if it syncs to Garmin properly. Updated software often fixes mysterious sync issues without any other changes needed.
5. Clear Your Zwift Cache
Corrupted cache files sometimes interfere with the sync process. Clearing this data gives Zwift a fresh start without affecting your saved activities.
On Windows, go to your Zwift folder and find the cache directory. Delete everything inside but keep the folder itself. On Mac, the process is similar. You might need to show hidden files to access these folders.
Restart Zwift after clearing the cache. The app will rebuild these files automatically. Log in and check your connections settings to make sure everything still looks correct.
6. Contact Zwift or Garmin Support
If you’ve tried everything and your rides still won’t sync, reach out to the support teams. They have access to backend tools and can spot issues you can’t see.
Start with Zwift support since the problem usually sits on their end. Explain what you’ve already tried so they don’t make you repeat steps. They can check your account for sync errors and sometimes manually push stuck activities through.
Garmin support can help if the issue involves duplicate detection or account problems on their platform. They can also check if their servers were down when you tried to sync.
Wrapping Up
Syncing problems between Zwift and Garmin are frustrating but almost always fixable. Most issues come down to disconnected accounts, internet hiccups, or simple software glitches that clear up with basic troubleshooting.
Start with the quick fixes first. Reconnecting your accounts takes two minutes and works most of the time. If that doesn’t help, manually uploading your .fit files ensures you never lose a ride. Keep your apps updated and your internet connection stable, and you’ll rarely face these problems again.