Garmin's budget Vivoactive 6 gets beta 18.23 with crash fixes and better Morning Report

Garmin's budget-friendly Vivoactive 6 smartwatch has received a new beta firmware, version 18.23. The update addresses several critical bugs, including random device reboots and issues with incident detection that could cause the system to crash.

Launched in April 2025, the Vivoactive 6 remains one of Garmin's most affordable models at $299, just above the Forerunner 70 at $249. Despite being nearly 18 months old, the watch continues to get priority treatment in the company's beta program. Users have already seen builds 18.12, 18.14, and 18.19, and now 18.23 joins the lineup.

The new firmware lists ten changes, though two of them relate to translation updates and bumping the Garmin Connect Mobile app to version 4.30. The main fixes target system stability: developers have resolved crashes when saving an activity, viewing the Morning Report, and during incident detection. They also fixed an issue where Morning and Evening Reports would not time out automatically.

Training gets special attention, with fixes for pace and speed dropouts, particularly noticeable during interval workouts. The update also corrects a bug where silent mode could fail to activate during activity focus mode, as well as sporadic device reboots.

Beta 18.23 is available as a free download, but it won't install automatically. Owners of the Vivoactive 6 need to manually navigate through the main menu to Settings, System, and Software Update, then select "Check for Updates." The full changelog also includes fixes for other minor issues and updated translations.