Setup guide

The organiser's walkthrough. Participants have their own, shorter one on the joining page — that is the link to send them.

What Marshal is

Marshal shows every participant in a group event on one live map, with their heart rate, pace, distance and — most importantly — how long ago each device was last heard from.

It works on Garmin watches and Edge bike computers, for any activity they can record: running, cycling, trail, hiking, skiing, multi-sport. Participants use the activity they normally would; Marshal rides along inside it as a data field.

Marshal is a situational-awareness tool, not a safety system. Telemetry passes over Bluetooth to a phone and onward over the mobile network. Any of those links can fail silently. Do not use it as the means by which someone in trouble is detected.

1 · Create the event

Every event has a code — a short string that participants enter on their watch, and that you enter in the dashboard. It is the shared secret that links devices to your event.

  1. Sign in and open My events.
  2. Name the event and choose a join code. The code is suggested from the name; change it if you like. Keep it short and unambiguous — participants type it on a watch or Edge. Letters, digits, hyphen and underscore only, 4 to 64 characters.
  3. Share the code. Every participant enters exactly this code in their device settings. Use the copy button next to it.
If the code is already taken you will be told so when you try to create it. Codes cannot be listed or searched by anyone — that is what keeps them secret — so a clash can only be discovered by attempting it.

Afterwards, Close the event from the same screen. Devices are refused from that moment, and everything already recorded is kept, so a closed event can be reopened.

2 · Set up each device

Once per participant, before the event.

Do not relay these steps yourself. Send participants marshal-live.com/join — the same instructions written for them rather than for you. Add their code to the link (/join?code=YOURCODE) and it shows up on the page, so there is nothing for them to copy out of a message.
  1. Install Marshal from the Connect IQ store. On the phone, open Connect IQ, search for Marshal, and install it to the device — or send participants the direct store link. It arrives the next time the device syncs.
    Nothing to plug in and no files to copy. If it does not appear in the search, check the device is on the compatible list below.
  2. Add it to a data screen. On the watch or Edge, open the activity you will use, then Settings → Data Screens → (a screen) → Edit, choose a field slot and pick Marshal from the Connect IQ list.
    Marshal only runs while an activity that shows it is recording. If it is not on a data screen, it never runs.
  3. Enter the event code. In Garmin Connect on the phone, find the device, open its Connect IQ apps or data fields, choose Marshal, and open its settings (usually a gear icon).
    Garmin renames these menus between app versions and devices, so there is no single path that is right for everyone. The landmarks are: the device → its Connect IQ apps / data fields → Marshal → settings. The standalone Connect IQ Store app reaches the same screen under your installed apps.

    You are in the right place when you see these four, in this order:

    SettingsSave
    Event codeWINTERTRAIL-K7QM
    Your nameThandeka M
    Send heart rateon
    Send every (seconds)60

    Drawn from the real screen. Only the first two need filling in, and Save at the top right must be pressed or nothing applies.

    Only the first two need filling in. There is no server address to enter.

    If the settings entry is missing entirely, the device has not finished syncing since Marshal was installed. Open Garmin Connect, let it sync, then look again. This is the most common snag.
  4. Keep the phone with them, paired and with mobile data. Marshal sends over Bluetooth via Garmin Connect; no phone means no telemetry.

3 · Run the control room

  1. Open the dashboard. If the event has public viewing switched on, the code is all you need — no account. If it does not, sign in as the account that created the event.
  2. Enter the event code in the header. It is remembered on that browser.
  3. Watch the field. Devices appear as they start reporting. Fit zooms the map to everyone currently on it.

Participants report every 60 seconds by default, so allow a minute after someone starts before expecting them to appear.

Letting others watch

By default only you — the account that created the event — can open its dashboard. On My events, Public on lets anyone holding the event code watch without an account at all.

Think before you switch this on. The code is what participants type into their watch, so everyone taking part has it — and so does anyone they pass it to. With public viewing on, all of them can see every participant's live position and heart rate. Codes are short and you chose yours, so do not assume it is hard to guess. Tell participants first: under the organiser terms that is your obligation, not ours.

You can switch it off again whenever you like, and closing the event ends public viewing at once. Without it, viewers need to be signed in as you.

Breadcrumb trails

On My events, Trails on draws each participant's recent track behind their pin, in the same colour as their status. It is off by default and set per event. A line that stops and turns red shows you where contact was lost, not just that it was.

A trail is history, not a live position. It shows where a device reported from while it was reporting. It does not mean anyone is still there, and a trail that ends is the same signal as a red pin — treat it as out of contact, not as stationary.

4 · Reading the display

On the dashboard

GreenHeard from within 75 seconds. Reporting normally.
Amber75 seconds to 3 minutes. One or two reports missed — usually a brief signal gap.
RedOver 3 minutes. Treat as out of contact, not as stationary.

Ages are measured against the server's clock, not your computer's, so a laptop with the wrong time cannot mislead you.

Only metrics the device actually reports are shown. A missing heart-rate cell means no strap or no reading — not zero. Speed marked ~ is calculated from distance rather than reported by the watch.

On the watch

42sWorking. Seconds since the last confirmed report — it should reset each interval.
42s +3Working, with 3 reports queued waiting to send.
...Started, nothing confirmed yet. Normal for the first minute.
NO EVENTNo event code entered in the device settings.
E-101Phone unreachable over Bluetooth.
E401Rejected — usually a wrong or closed event code.

A number that climbs past the send interval and keeps going means writes are failing.

Device compatibility

Marshal needs Connect IQ 5.0 or later. That is the release in which data fields were allowed to use the network directly — on older devices a data field simply cannot send anything, so they cannot be supported at all.

82 devices supported.

Watches 62

  • Enduro™ 3
  • epix™ (Gen 2) / quatix® 7 Sapphire
  • epix™ Pro (Gen 2) 42mm
  • epix™ Pro (Gen 2) 47mm / quatix® 7 Pro
  • epix™ Pro (Gen 2) 51mm / D2™ Mach 1 Pro / tactix® 7 – AMOLED Edition
  • Forerunner® 165
  • Forerunner® 165 Music
  • Forerunner® 170
  • Forerunner® 170 Music
  • Forerunner® 255
  • Forerunner® 255 Music
  • Forerunner® 255s
  • Forerunner® 255s Music
  • Forerunner® 265
  • Forerunner® 265s
  • Forerunner® 570 42mm
  • Forerunner® 570 47mm
  • Forerunner® 70
  • Forerunner® 955 / Solar
  • Forerunner® 965
  • Forerunner® 970
  • fēnix® 7 / quatix® 7
  • fēnix® 7 Pro
  • fēnix® 7 Pro - Solar Edition (no Wi-Fi)
  • fēnix® 7S
  • fēnix® 7S Pro
  • fēnix® 7X / tactix® 7 / quatix® 7X Solar / Enduro™ 2
  • fēnix® 7X Pro
  • fēnix® 7X Pro - Solar Edition (no Wi-Fi)
  • fēnix® 8 43mm
  • fēnix® 8 47mm / 51mm / tactix® 8 47mm / 51mm / quatix® 8 47mm / 51mm
  • fēnix® 8 Pro 47mm / 51mm / MicroLED / quatix® 8 Pro 47mm / 51mm
  • fēnix® 8 Solar 47mm
  • fēnix® 8 Solar 51mm / tactix® 8 Solar 51mm
  • fēnix® 9 43mm
  • fēnix® 9 47mm / 51mm
  • fēnix® 9 Pro 43mm
  • fēnix® 9 Pro 47mm
  • fēnix® 9 Pro 51mm
  • fēnix® 9 Pro Solar 47mm
  • fēnix® 9 Pro Solar 51mm
  • fēnix® E
  • Instinct® 3 AMOLED 45mm
  • Instinct® 3 AMOLED 50mm
  • Instinct® 3 Solar 45mm / 50mm
  • Instinct® Crossover AMOLED
  • Instinct® E 40mm
  • Instinct® E 45mm
  • MARQ® (Gen 2) Athlete / Adventurer / Captain / Golfer / Carbon Edition / Commander - Carbon Edition
  • MARQ® (Gen 2) Aviator
  • Venu® 2
  • Venu® 2 Plus
  • Venu® 2S
  • Venu® 3
  • Venu® 3S
  • Venu® 4 41mm
  • Venu® 4 45mm / D2™ Air X15
  • Venu® Sq 2
  • Venu® Sq 2 Music
  • Venu® X1
  • vívoactive® 5
  • vívoactive® 6

Bike computers 8

  • Edge® 1040 / 1040 Solar
  • Edge® 1050
  • Edge® 540 / 540 Solar
  • Edge® 550
  • Edge® 840 / 840 Solar
  • Edge® 850
  • Edge® Explore 2
  • Edge® MTB

Golf watches 3

  • Approach® S50
  • Approach® S70 42mm
  • Approach® S70 47mm

Dive & aviation 7

  • D2™ Air X10
  • D2™ Mach 1
  • D2™ Mach 2
  • D2™ Mach 2 Pro
  • Descent™ G2
  • Descent™ Mk3 43mm / Mk3i 43mm
  • Descent™ Mk3i 51mm

Handhelds & rugged 2

  • eTrex® Touch
  • GPSMAP® H1 / H1i Plus

Derived from the Connect IQ SDK's own device definitions, not from a marketing list. A device missing here either predates Connect IQ 5.0 or does not run data fields.

Install as an app

Marshal is a progressive web app. On a phone or tablet, open the dashboard and choose Add to Home Screen; on desktop Chrome or Edge, use the install icon in the address bar. It then opens full-screen like a native app.

It always fetches fresh data first and only falls back to its cache when the network is unavailable — so it will open without a connection, but it will never show you stale positions dressed up as live ones.

Limits & troubleshooting

Where it will not work

  • Swimming, especially open water. Bluetooth does not pass through water and the phone is rarely with the swimmer. Expect no telemetry at all until they are out and back in range.
  • Anywhere without mobile coverage. Reports queue on the watch (up to 20) and backfill when signal returns, so the track fills in — but the control room is blind until it does.
  • If the participant's phone is flat, absent or unpaired. The device keeps recording their activity normally; only the live feed stops.

Common problems

Device never appearsMarshal is not on a data screen, the activity is not started, or the event code is wrong.
Appears then goes redSignal loss, or the phone left behind. The track backfills if they come back in range.
No position, other metrics fineGPS has not locked yet. Common indoors and in the first minute outdoors.
No speed shownSome devices report speed as zero. Marshal derives it from distance instead, which needs two reports.
Cannot open the dashboardYou can only open events you created. Check you are signed in as the account that created this one.