How to take Stripe payments in a Garmin watch app

A Garmin watch can't show a card form, so a Stripe payment for a Connect IQ app happens on the buyer's phone: the watch shows a QR code, the phone opens Stripe Checkout, and a server tells the watch it's paid. You can build that server yourself, or use WearCheckout, which runs it on your own Stripe account for a plan from $9 a year. Stripe's US fee is 2.9% + 30¢ a card payment, so you keep $4.55 of a $4.99 sale.

How does a Stripe payment reach a Garmin watch?

Through the buyer's phone and a server, in six steps.

1. The watch sends its ID. Connect IQ gives each app a device ID that is unique to your app and stays the same across uninstall and reinstall, from API level 2.4.1.
2. A server creates a Stripe Checkout session tied to that ID.
3. The watch shows a QR code for the checkout. Connect IQ can also push a link to the phone with openWebPage(), which needs the phone connected over Bluetooth.
4. The buyer pays on the phone. Stripe's hosted checkout shows Apple Pay and Google Pay where the phone has them.
5. Stripe tells the server the payment went through, with a checkout.session.completed event.
6. The watch asks the server, over Wi-Fi or through the phone, and unlocks.

So each design ends with the watch asking a server whether it has been paid. We make WearCheckout, so weigh our view with that in mind. WearCheckout is not affiliated with Garmin.

What does Stripe charge on a Garmin app sale?

2.9% + 30¢ for a US card, with no monthly fee for standard payments.

Checked 23 October 2026, on Stripe's pricing page (see Sources).

• Cards from abroad: cards from outside the US add 1.5%, and a currency conversion adds 1%.
• Subscriptions: Stripe Billing adds 0.7% of billing volume on its pay-as-you-go plan.
• Tax: Stripe Tax, if you use it, costs 0.5% a transaction where you are registered, on its no-code Basic plan.
• Countries: Stripe signs up businesses from its own list. Japan and Brazil are on it, and India is marked as a preview.

The fixed 30¢ is most of the fee on small prices. Below about $10, PayPal's micropayments rate costs less: see the PayPal guide.

What do you build to use Stripe yourself?

A server and the watch code, and you keep both running. These are the parts:

• A server that creates checkouts and records which watch paid.
• A webhook that checks each Stripe event and matches it to the right watch, amount and currency.
• Locking again after a refund, a dispute or a failed renewal.
• Watch code that asks the server, copes with offline watches, and draws the QR code on round, square and Instinct screens.
• A background service for watch faces and older data fields. Garmin lets it run at most every 5 minutes.
• Memory checks on older watches. A watch app gets 128 KB on watches such as the fēnix 5 and vívoactive 3, and a data field 32 KB.

Per sale it is the cheapest way to charge, since only Stripe's fee comes off.

How does WearCheckout connect to Stripe?

You connect your Stripe account once, and WearCheckout creates each checkout on it. Buyers pay you directly. WearCheckout never holds the money and never sees a card number.

• Connecting. Stripe's own onboarding sets up a Stripe account in your name, connected to WearCheckout's platform. It can copy your verified details from a Stripe account you already have. You get the full Stripe dashboard.
• Or your own key. Paste a restricted key with read and write on Checkout Sessions, and read on charges and refunds. A secret key is refused.
• No webhook to add. Stripe sends your account's events to WearCheckout.
• Ways to pay. Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay with no setup, in 135 currencies. Alipay, WeChat Pay, iDEAL, Bancontact, EPS, Przelewy24 and BLIK show where they fit the price's currency, once you turn them on in Stripe.
• Payouts. On Stripe's schedule, with Instant Payouts where Stripe makes your account eligible.
• Testing. Pay with 4242 4242 4242 4242 in test mode, and make a test dispute with 4000 0000 0000 0259. Test mode is free.

An app unlocks within about a second if its buy screen is open. See Connect Stripe and the quick start.

What does the watch do after a Stripe refund or dispute?

It locks again at its next check, or at once if its buy screen is open.

A paid watch keeps its purchase for 30 days without an answer from the server. So a watch kept offline holds a refunded purchase for 30 days at most. See refunds, disputes and renewals.

Is building it yourself cheaper than WearCheckout?

Per sale, yes, by the plan's price: both pay the same Stripe fee.

At 1,000 sales of $4.99 a year, your own server pays Stripe $440, plus hosting and your time. WearCheckout's Starter plan adds $9, plus 2% of the $3,990 past its included $1,000, which is $79.80. That is $528.80 in all. Pro would cost $440 + $99 = $539, with $10,000 of sales included.

The plan buys the parts above, built and kept running, plus trials, subscriptions, refunds that lock the watch, and a dashboard. The comparison of every option adds Garmin's store, KiezelPay and PayToUse.

Sources

Facts about Stripe and Garmin come from their own pages, checked on 23 October 2026.

• Stripe: pricing (2.9% + 30¢, 1.5% for international cards, 1% conversion, Billing 0.7%, Tax 0.5%)
• Stripe: countries it serves
• Stripe: Checkout, its hosted payment page
• Garmin: DeviceSettings.uniqueIdentifier (unique per app, stable across reinstall)
• Garmin: Toybox.Communications (makeWebRequest over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth; openWebPage)
• Garmin: Toybox.Background (background events at most every 5 minutes)
• Garmin: Connect IQ SDK (device files with each model's memory limits)
• WearCheckout: connect Stripe
• WearCheckout: refunds, disputes and renewals
• WearCheckout: plans and fees
• WearCheckout: terms of service (your Stripe connection, you are the seller)