A teardown of Garmin Connect 5.25 found a database column called screenlessDeviceCapable, alongside flags for SCREENLESS_DEVICE_CAPABLE, isScreenlessCapable, and a LimitedUI handler. The APK doesn't name Cirqa anywhere. It doesn't need to. Garmin is building a new device category into its app infrastructure, and the only product that fits the description is the one it trademarked earlier this year under wording around stress recovery, alertness, and performance.

Garmin isn't chasing Whoop. It's building a device that makes Whoop's subscription model look like the worse deal.

The same APK update changed several instances of the word "watch" to "device" throughout the codebase. Small edit. Significant intent. A screenless band cannot navigate menus, start workouts, or display recovery scores on its own. Garmin Connect stops being a companion app and becomes the primary interface. That reframes what Connect Plus actually is.

The Connect Plus additions in the same build are worth reading carefully. According to Gadgets & Wearables, the update adds offer screens referencing Exclusive Offers, Reveal Code, Hidden Code, No codes remaining, and GC+ Required. Annual subscribers, or users with at least six consecutive months of paid subscription, appear to unlock discount codes for Garmin hardware and accessories, up to two codes within a 180-day window. A $6.99-a-month software subscription turns into a hardware purchasing program. Garmin is building the flywheel: pay for Connect Plus long enough and it subsidizes your next device.

Which brings the pricing problem into focus. A Ukrainian retailer listed the Cirqa at 19,999 hryvnia, roughly $450 at current exchange rates, according to Forbes. This retailer prices other Garmin products above U.S. retail, suggesting to Forbes that $450 is probably a ceiling, not the actual number. Even a $300 screenless band is a tough sell when a Vivosmart 5 with a screen is priced at $149.99. Whoop's pricing model includes a charge of $199 a year, which includes the hardware. Google's Fitbit Air is priced at $99.99 and does not require a mandatory subscription. The Cirqa needs a very specific argument to justify its price, and "no subscription required" is the only one that works.

The subscription-free positioning, reported by Geeky Gadgets, is the Cirqa's clearest differentiator from Whoop. Pay once, own the data, no monthly fee. That's a compelling pitch for a specific kind of buyer, someone who hates recurring charges and just wants recovery metrics without a subscription clock ticking in the background. Garmin has always had that customer. The Cirqa is built for them.

The more interesting angle is what the band could do alongside an existing Garmin watch. An unverified Reddit claim, since deleted, from an anonymous account, with no supporting documentation, described a dual-wear setup where Cirqa on one wrist and a Garmin watch on the other would combine heart rate, gyroscope, and accelerometer data to auto-detect workouts and even trigger GPS recording automatically. Treat that claim with appropriate skepticism. But the underlying logic is sound: Garmin's Move IQ already attempts background activity recognition, and a second sensor position on the opposite arm would give the system more signal to work with. Cirqa as a passive 24/7 tracker is useful. Cirqa as a sensor that makes your Fenix or Forerunner smarter is a different pitch.

The breathwork and meditation additions in the same APK, new live-session files, structured layouts, animation assets, and strings for Breathe In, Breathe Out, and Hold Breath, point toward guided sessions where the phone screen does the work the band's display cannot. That's the design logic of the whole product: the band disappears, the phone becomes the interface, and Connect Plus becomes the reason you stay in the Garmin ecosystem.

Garmin isn't chasing Whoop. It's building a device that makes Whoop's subscription model look like the worse deal.