A Morse (CW) trainer that works with buttons only.
- Alphabet with hint words in 17 languages. Every syllable sits under its own dot or dash.
- Lessons by the Koch method: a letter plays, you pick the answer, 90 % adds a new letter.
- 12 signals: SOS, CQ, AR, SK, 73 … with an explanation.
- Messages: five texts from Garmin Connect, sent by tone, vibration or light.
- Keyer: the START button is your telegraph key, the watch reads what you send and learns your tempo.
- Beacon: SOS or a message on repeat with the watch flashlight or a white screen.
- Works with buttons only (Instinct, Forerunner) as well as touch. In 17 languages.
1What the app is for
Morse Coach teaches you Morse code right on your watch. You remember the letters by memory words, train them by ear, by vibration or by light, and in the end you send them yourself with the START button.
Every letter has its memory word: a word whose syllables match the dots and dashes. In Czech a syllable with a long vowel is a dash and a short one a dot, so a·kát is A (dot, dash). The words come in 17 languages, and on the screen every syllable sits right under its own sign. English has no such tradition, so it shows the di-dah rhythm and the NATO spelling word instead.
The app is free and without ads, and it works with buttons only as well as with touch.
2Installing and the menu
- Open the Connect IQ app on your phone, search for Morse Coach and install it on your watch.
- Start it from the watch’s app list. The menu opens.
- UP / DOWN choose an item, START opens it, BACK goes back.
The menu has Learn, Alphabet, Signals, Message, Keyer, Beacon, Settings and Support. Next to each item its first letter shines in Morse code.
Hold UP (the MENU button) anywhere to open the settings.
3Alphabet with memory words
UP / DOWN go through the letters, START plays the letter. While it plays you can see where it is: the dots and dashes already sent stay lit, the one sounding now is bigger and brighter, and the ones still to come are dim. The syllable under a sign lights up with it.
After the letters and digits come the signs the lessons teach: . , ? / =. Languages with letters of their own that have their own code (Polish or German, for example) have them in the alphabet too.
The language of the memory words follows the watch language. To change it, tap the language label at the top, hold UP or use the settings.
4Lessons by the Koch method
You start with two letters, K and M. The watch plays a letter and you pick what you heard. A round has 10 questions. With 90 % right a new letter is added, in the order LCWO uses: K M U R E S N A P T L W I . J Z = F O Y , V G 5 / Q 9 2 H 3 8 B ? 4 7 C 1 D 6 0 X.
- The cursor starts on ▶ again: START plays the letter once more.
- DOWN moves to the answers, START confirms one.
- BACK leaves the lesson at any time; your progress is saved.
The letters take turns evenly. The newest comes a little more often, and letters you miss come back until you know them.
5Signals
Twelve international signals, each with a short explanation: SOS, MAYDAY, CQ, DE, K, AR, SK, BT, error (eight dots), QRS, 73 and 88.
UP / DOWN go through them, START plays a signal on repeat and stops it again. Prosigns such as SOS or AR are sent as one sign, without gaps between the letters.
MAYDAY is called by voice over the radio. In Morse code you call for help with SOS, which is why MAYDAY has a different colour on the screen.
6Messages
You write five messages of your own on the phone: in the Connect IQ app open the Morse Coach settings and fill in Message 1–5. An empty field means the default text in the watch language, such as “I am OK”. On watches with a keyboard you can also type a message right on the watch.
The watch spells the message by the rules of the memory-word language and sends it by tone, vibration or light, whichever you have switched on. While it sends you see the letter, its code and its memory word. The gaps between letters are longer (Farnsworth) so you can follow.
7Keyer
The START button is a telegraph key. A short press is a dot, holding it is a dash. While you hold the button, the key on the screen shows a dot that turns into a dash the moment the press is long enough.
When you stop for a moment, the watch closes the letter and reads it; after a longer pause it adds a space. The watch learns the length of your dots, dashes and pauses, so at first it waits longer and speeds up once it knows your tempo. At the bottom it shows your tempo in words per minute (WPM).
DOWN clears the text. On a touch screen a tap is a dot and holding is a dash.
Some older watches don’t report how long a button is held. On them the keyer switches to two buttons by itself: START = dot, DOWN = dash, UP = clear.
8Beacon
The beacon sends SOS or a message on repeat with light: with the watch flashlight (LED) where the watch has one, or with a white screen at full brightness. UP / DOWN choose the text, START starts and stops sending, holding UP switches between LED and screen.
Light is read by eye, so the beacon flashes slowly like a signal lamp: a dot shines for a quarter of a second, a dash for three quarters. SOS takes about six and a half seconds.
9Settings
On the watch hold UP or choose it in the menu; on the phone in the Connect IQ app.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hint words | Language of the memory words; by default the watch language. |
| Letter speed | Speed of each letter, 5–20 WPM (default 12). |
| Gaps (Farnsworth) | Longer gaps between letters to give you time to think (default 8 WPM). |
| Tone, Vibration | How the watch plays. |
| Flashlight while playing | The flashlight blinks along, where the watch has one. |
| Message 1–5 | Your own messages (phone only). |
If the watch neither beeps nor vibrates, check that Do Not Disturb is off and that tones and vibration are on in the watch settings. The app says so in red in the lessons and the alphabet.
10Touch watches
Touch-only watches (vívoactive, Venu) work with swipes and taps: a swipe is the next letter or signal, a tap plays it. In a lesson a tap replays the letter, then you tap the answer. The hint at the bottom of the screen changes to match.
Watches with buttons and touch (fēnix 8, Forerunner 965 and others) do both.
11Supported watches
Morse Coach runs on 115 Garmin watch models:
- fēnix 5 Plus, 6, 7, 8, 9, fēnix E, epix (Gen 2), epix Pro, Enduro, Enduro 3 · tactix · quatix
- Forerunner 55, 70, 165, 170, 245, 255, 265, 570, 645, 745, 945, 955, 965, 970
- Venu, Venu 2, 3, 4, Venu Sq, Sq 2, Venu X1 · vívoactive 3 Music, 4, 5, 6
- Instinct 2, 2S, 2X, 3, Crossover, Instinct E
- MARQ · D2 · Descent · Approach S50, S70
On the black-and-white Instinct watches the app has its own layout with the round window at the top right. The beacon uses the flashlight on watches that have one.
12FAQ
I can’t hear tones on my fēnix 8.
Watches with a loudspeaker (fēnix 8 and others) don’t play tones from apps; that is a bug of the watch. Lessons there run by vibration and light.
The watch doesn’t vibrate.
Switch vibration on in the watch settings and turn Do Not Disturb off. The app points it out in red.
My letter falls apart while keying.
The watch learns your gaps. At first it waits about a second and a quarter, then it adapts. Keep the pauses inside a letter shorter than between letters.
Does the app need my phone or the internet?
No. The phone is needed only to set your own messages.
Found a bug or have an idea?
Use “Contact Developer” on the app’s Connect IQ Store page.
1.0.0 2026-09-22
- First release: alphabet with hint words in 17 languages, lessons by the Koch method, 12 signals, messages, a keyer that learns your tempo and a light beacon (watch flashlight or white screen). In 17 languages.
