After being still high (or tired?) after my very first mini-TRY-triathlon, I accidently deleted Triathlon Activity from Garmin Connect app on my iPhone (in other words, after the watch synchronised it with the app). Activity still was visible on the watch but won’t appear in the list of the activities in the app even after 10+ attempts to synch (both with the app and directly with Garmin Express).
Two hours of trying different solutions from tens of forums dated 2012 and vuolia- the activity is back! If you are in the same situation, here is what you need to do:
- Plug in your Garmin to the computer with the USB-cable that you normally charge it with. Computer will recognise it as an external USB-drive.
- Open GARMIN – ACTIVITY folder.
- Find a *.fit file that looks right according to the “date modified” field.
- Save it locally on your computer.
- Go to Garmin Connect website and choose Activities – All Activities. In the top right corner there will be a link “Import”.
- In a new import page open a *.fit file that you saved earlier.
- Enjoy the data 🙂
Work. Tri. Travel. 
ty 🙂
You are welcome 🙂
Wow! Thank you!
Or you can just delete the app, reinstall it and voila!
It works. So happy to get back my stats.
Well, I cannot even find the activity. It seems ridiculous to have a Discard button right next yo save. I came back from a tough 120 kilometers 50 in the pouring rain (twice over Snaefell mountain IOM) and have no record of it.
Agreed. Disappointing for me also.
You’re fantastic.
Awesome, worked perfect! My problem was I couldn’t get Garmin Connect to sync with Strava, but deleting the activity and re-adding manually this way worked. Also, just FYI, the .fit files are not named with the date so you have to right-click and go to properties to make sure you have the right file.
Great point – I am pretty sure that is how I found the right file as well. Happy that it worked for you!
YES! Thank you!
Hi! What will I do if run app in the watch itself has been deleted? How to re install the run app?
Install Connect IQ to install apps.
A factory reset could also work.
It worked and was easy to follow. Thanks.
You are welcome, glad I could help.
What if the activity was discarded from the watch before syncing with Garmin Connect? I’ve searched every folder on the watch and can’t find today’s activity. I’d pressed “stop” and then look down to see the watch was discarding my run all on its own. – my longest ever run – such a disappointment.
This happened to me, did you find a way to restore the data?
Did you recover your activity information? I really worked hard on this training and I lost it! So sad!
When at the website and upload the .fit file. I get “we do not support the file type you tried to import”
My ride this morning not even save to the activity folder. How to recover the file if it is not even store in here?
Can we look at the delete folder?
Thanks – that works 🙂
Thank you. Well explained, simple and it works.
Thanks a lot! It works!
I can’t find mine in my activity folder 😦
Now it says the file is not compatible!! HEEEEEEELP…and its a .fit file
Fantastic. This meant so much to retrieve / save this ride. This was my new-beginning ride…A salute to the fallen 5 during year 2020.
DA
Thank you very much! It worked like a charm 🙂
I can’t find the Garmin watch on my macbook? 😦
Thank you so much!!! You saved an hour of running for me.
As of 2022/12/19, GARMIN – Activity fold has only saved activity-files, not deleted ones
As of 2022/12/19, GARMIN – Activity fold has only saved activity-files, not deleted ones