Can I share trips/routes from the XT to my phone?

[Y767]

I’d like to share a couple gpx files of trips/routes from my XT to my phone to use in other navigation apps. How do I do this?
I’ve tried using the Share option in the XT Trip Planner app. Garmin Drive is open on my phone, connected to the XT. I open the Trip Planner app on the XT, click on a trip I want to share to the phone, click the spanner to open the “Trip Options” screen and click “Share” and then “Garmin Drive”. The device then displays “preparing data”, and then “Sharing items to the Garmin Drive app” with an “Go” button. This suggests to me that the XT should be able to send the trip/route gpx to my phone. If I click the “Go” button the screen reverts to the “Trip Options” screen. A banner appears in the phone screen withers the Drive logo, stating that a”GPX file has been downloaded…” but I can’t find it anywhere in the Drive app, or on the phone; nor can I find anywhere in the Drive app which lists the downloaded gpx file(s).

What am I doing wrong? Any help appreciated.

To avoid any confusion, I do know how to use Garmin Drive to send gpx files the other way, ie from my phone to the XT.

[lkraus]

I just now tried this for the first time, out of curiosity. I shared a route from the Trip Planner, with Drive already open on my Android phone. My phone screen showed

first time.jpg (25.14 KiB) Viewed 2469 times

Tapping Share, I had a choice of several apps to share the file with:

screen2.jpg (17.41 KiB) Viewed 2469 times

I picked Solid Explorer, my file manager, where I was able to browse to a destination folder, and then the route was available as "bt_shared_routes.gpx". It imported easily into Locus.

And that was the only time sharing from the XT to my phone worked.

I've tried sharing from the Tracks app, I've tried using the Share Routes app, I've tried from Saved/Favourites, I've tried again from the Trip Planner.

Sometimes, if Drive is connected but not open, I receive a notification that I can tap to share, but I am given no choices and nothing happens when I do tap. The notification just disappears. Press and hold instead of tap and there are two small gray boxes (options?), but I cannot see them under my finger and they also disappear when I release.

screen3.jpg (84.31 KiB) Viewed 2469 times

More often, I do not even receive the notification. I've tried restarting the phone and the XT, still cannot share from the XT to the phone.

And now I cannot share from the phone to the XT....

Maybe an XT reset and reinstall of the phone app will help? It's too late tonight and I don't want to fiddle with this stupid thing.

[Y767]

Thanks for doing all this work, Ikraus. I’ve been getting exactly the same results as you when my phone and Garmin Drive are connected to my XT, but I haven’t tried it with Drive actually open on my phone.

Before I get caught out, are you saying that when you had Drive open, you succeeded just one time, but after that one success, the app locked up somehow, and now you are unable to transfer any routes from or to your XT using Drive?

[lkraus]

That is correct. Last evening it worked once. Now nothing at all seems to happen if I have the Drive screen open when I try to share from the XT, not even a notification.

If Drive is not open (but connected) I receive the sharing notification (sometimes). The notification is useless, as a tap just makes it disappear. A long press on the notification shows what I think are some options, but they cannot be read under my finger and they disappear when I lift my finger. I will try to find some time to try again later tonight.

[FrankB]

@lkraus

I have a samsung S9 Android. Mostly I can get it to work. You do have to:

1) Make sure the Drive App is open, and running in the Foreground, before you start the transfer.
2) Be patient. Wait for the message that the tracklog has been received. Large tracklogs can take a long time.
3) Make sure that before you start the next transfer, you open the Drive App in the foreground.

If the communication between the XT and S9 is stalled (hangs), only this helps:

1) Power off the XT.
2) Close the Drive App.
3) Go to Settings on the phone
4) Apps, Find the Drive App.
5) Close forcibly.
6) Storage, Clear Cache.
7) Now start the Drive App and power on the XT
8) Try again

My Phone is set to Dutch Language, actual English Texts may be different.

[Y767]

Thanks Ikraus.

I use a Samsung S22. When I try to transfer from the XT with Garmin Drive connected but not open, I see exactly the same occasional notification of file download on the phone but with no trace of the file itself.

Tomorrow I’ll have a go with Drive open and in the foreground of my phone and report back.

[Y767]

Well, I tried sharing from the XT with Garmin Drive open on my phone and in the foreground, and nothing happened at all!

So I closed the app completely and I shared a route/trip from the XT. This time the banner advising “GPX File received from zumo … Tap here to save or share the file” came up on the phone as before, and as before, when I tapped it, Garmin Drive opens but there’s no sign of the GPX file.

I suspect this is a “Trip Options” feature on the XT which isn’t actually available.

[Peobody]

I just tried this on my iPhone. I get the Garmin Drive notice on my iPhone saying that the route has been received and at the bottom of that is the word 'Share'. Tapping that brings up a number of options like AirDrop, Messages, Mail, and a number of other Apps but also Copy, New Quick Note, and Save to Files. I selected Save to Files which then prompted me to specify where in my iPhone files I wanted to save it, allowing me to assign a meaningful name to the file (default is "bt_shared_routes.gpx"). I did this twice, with two different routes. I was then able to open both in the GPX Viewer app as well as Share them via the normal methods (AirDrop, Text, EMail, etc.). Unfortunately this doesn't help Android phone owners.

One thing I noticed is that the files on the phone were significantly smaller in size than the original exports from Basecamp that were copied to the SD card and then imported. That may not be a fair comparison since I don't know what happens when a .gpx on the card gets imported and converted to a .trip and then shared out as a .gpx but I'm guessing that all of the Basecamp ghost points are gone.

[Y767]

I tried clearing the Drive app cache on my phone, but that made no difference. I then uninstalled the app and reinstalled it. It worked, but only once. After the one success, it no longer works at all. I don’t even get the banner notifying me a GPX file has been downloaded, there is nothing at all!

[Y767]

I’ve been in touch with Garmin support and it looks like they’ve identified what was causing my problem. It seems that having the Drive app notifications switched off on my phone (Samsung S22) was preventing the transfer.

Garmin support suggested I allow app notifications for Garmin Drive. I did this, and now sharing works every time, both from the XT to the phone, and from the phone to the XT via the Drive app.

To share from the XT to the phone, Garmin Drive must be open on the phone. The route/trip gpx file will be saved in the “Downloads” folder on the phone.

When sharing from the phone to the XT, you click on the gpx file you want to send, and the phone asks which app you wish to use to open the gpx file. Select the Drive app and it will ask if you wish to transfer it to the XT. Click “ok” (or “yes”; sorry, I can’t remember which) and the file will transfer to your XT, appearing in the “Saved Trips” list.