The Begining of the End for ANT+ Wireless

First off, no, your ANT+ devices aren’t going to stop working. In fact, companies are not only supporting them going forward, but will continue to make ANT+ devices for some time to come. Instead, ANT+ (or more technically, Garmin), has announced a policy change that effectively and officially ceases the development of new ANT+ standards. Though practically speaking, that mostly happened long ago.

The core reason for this change is the European Union’s Radio Equipment Directive (simply called EU RED), which will ultimately take full effect next summer (it’s currently in a transitional phase). That directive covers a flotilla of different areas, but one of the most applicable pieces is that it requires authentication and encryption for wireless communications of personal information. Or, at the very least, it requires manufacturers to make you aware when data is being transmitted without such protections.

While ANT+ has long offered the ability to authenticate and encrypt data streams, it hasn’t been implemented in common profiles like heart rate or cycling power. Garmin says that to do so going forward would effectively break backward compatibility, as it significantly increases the payload sent in any message. Given the landscape of devices and Bluetooth in 2025, there’s virtually no appetite from other manufacturers to re-create the wheel when it comes to ANT+.

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