COROS August 2026 Update: Live Tracking, Sleep

COROS released its August 2026 software update at the turn of July and August. It covers the current watch lines: Pace 3 and 4, Pace Pro, Apex 2 and 2 Pro, Apex 4, Vertix 2 and 2S, and Nomad. Three areas change: live tracking, a rebuilt sleep model and a new way of showing heart rate. All of it free.

Live tracking, the answer to Garmin LiveTrack

The loudest addition is a feature Garmin owners have had for years. A link goes out to family or friends, and they watch the athlete’s position move on a map in a browser, in real time. The link can be scheduled in advance along with a GPX route, or shared mid-activity straight from the phone.

COROS previously offered only group tracking and a basic safety-oriented version. This is now a full LiveTrack equivalent.

That is where the catch starts. COROS watches have no modem of their own. The feature needs a Bluetooth connection to the phone for the whole activity, with the app running in the background and mobile data switched on. On a long training ride that is no problem, since the phone is sitting in a jersey pocket anyway. At a triathlon, where the phone stays behind from transition to the finish line, the feature is useless.

So this is an addition for training and for running races, not for triathlon. Big races run their own athlete tracking anyway.

Sleep: a new algorithm and two metrics that were not there

The change here runs deeper than the release notes suggest. COROS rewrote the sleep algorithm and changed what carries weight in the score.

The score now counts naps. Forty minutes added during the day after a night shift or a hard morning session gets counted. Sleep regularity and sleep stress also weigh more heavily on the final grade.

Two new metrics join the charts: bedtime regularity and that sleep stress figure. The second is the more interesting one, because it is meant to flag when alcohol, coffee or a late session is wrecking a night. For an age-grouper who gets on the trainer at 21:30 because there is no earlier slot, that is potentially useful feedback.

There is a practical detail too: recorded sleep sessions can now be trimmed, extended and merged. If a night-time waking runs long enough that the watch logs it as two separate sleeps, merging them by hand stops the score lying. Merging works only when less than two hours separate the two sessions.

Whether the new algorithm actually lands sleep stages more accurately is unknown. That needs independent polysomnography testing, and none exists yet. Changing how a score is calculated is a different thing from changing measurement accuracy.

Heart rate and a metronome in the headphones

The heart rate widget has been rebuilt. It now splits the data into three categories, daily, sleep and training, each with a trend view. No new measurements and no new metrics, only the way it is presented.

Separately there is a model-dependent change: the cadence metronome can play through Bluetooth headphones on Nomad, Pace 4 and Apex 4. Three models, not the whole range. Vertix owners do not get this one.

How to install it

All of this requires a new version of the COROS phone app. Update the app from the store first, then the watch software. The other order ends with the new screens simply not appearing.

What it means for a watch choice

This is the same pattern as the spring 2026 update, which brought Hill Alerts, Pace Strategy and a Hyrox mode. Large feature packs land on older models, with no fee and no subscription.

For anyone choosing between COROS and Garmin and looking at how long the hardware stays current, that is an argument the spec sheet does not show. A watch bought a year ago gains features it did not have on release day.

Anyone shopping specifically for live tracking in triathlon should not buy for this feature. Without a phone in a pocket, it does not work.