Hi, I have the app two months ago and becomes my favourite app. I use it for trail running, I import routes to apple watch in gpx format and its a fantastic guide. When I finish the route, I export it to my PC and the to Strava. I would recommend a direct export to Strava and turn by turn voice directions, it will be possible??... would be the perfect app. Thank you very much and keep on with the updates
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Apps New version of WorkOutDoors, the Workout app with a Map
- Thread starter cfc
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I am very happy to hear how much you like the app. It's always great to get such enthusiastic feedback!
I plan to add direct uploading to Strava at some time, but not in the next version. In the meantime you could use other apps to upload to Strava from your iPhone without needing a PC. For example HealthFit or RunGap both allow you to upload workouts from Apple's Health system into Strava.
Turn by turn voice directions are also on my To-Do list. They will not be in the next version (which concentrates on workout functionality) but are very likely for the version afterwards, in which I plan to improve the navigation aspects.
Thanks again for your kind words!
I’m having a great time in this 50 degree weather when we should be in the 30’s, learning more and more about WorkOutDoors. Today I went for a short walk on one of the urban trails we have here, and the app worked fantastic, giving me all the data I could hope for. Only one little problem, Apples activity app doesn’t recognize the hike. This, of course throws my “rings” all out of whack, showing only 7 exercise minutes for a 40 minute walk with an average heart rate in zone 3. Any ideas?
I am glad that you are enjoying the app so much.
Your question about the exercise ring is a common question from Apple Watch users. It seems that Apple's definition of what constitutes "brisk exercise" is difficult to understand. They use lots of complex algorithms based on the heart rate and also on your usual level of exercise. Zone 3 sounds plenty high enough to me but maybe if you normally push further then Apple Watch expects more from you.
It's an issue for all workout apps and not specific to WorkOutDoors. Here is a link to a support thread that may help, if only to reassure you that you are not the only one confused by it:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7015725
Your question about the exercise ring is a common question from Apple Watch users. It seems that Apple's definition of what constitutes "brisk exercise" is difficult to understand. They use lots of complex algorithms based on the heart rate and also on your usual level of exercise. Zone 3 sounds plenty high enough to me but maybe if you normally push further then Apple Watch expects more from you.
It's an issue for all workout apps and not specific to WorkOutDoors. Here is a link to a support thread that may help, if only to reassure you that you are not the only one confused by it:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7015725
Thank you for the reply, well, I think part of the problem is that I normally use my Suunto Ambit 3 Peak to track my exercise, as it gives the data that I need, like Peak VO2Max, and EPOC. Then, I use Rungap to import that data into other apps, like Health. Movescount (The web based version of the software for the Suunto Products) is down, they had a hiccup, and I couldn't import the moves. Not really a problem, except the ring isn't closed, and I'm sort of OCD about that.. (Aren't we all?). I still love WorkOutdoors for the info, and real time mapping, not just the breadcrumb, but I do appreciate your "on the ball" attitude toward this excellent app.
Thanks
Thanks
Hi all, I am interested in this app, just a couple of questions. Is it possible to turn off Glonass with it (or any app)? The research on the fellrnr.com site seems to suggest better accuracy with many gps watches if it is disabled. Also can you alter the sampling rate from ‘smart’ to custom? My old 310xt (10yr old tech) is set to 1/sec and results are always very consistent. Thanks
As far as I know there is no way for any Apple Watch app to specify which satellite types to use.
The GPS sample rate seems to default to every second, which sounds like what you want, but there is no way to change this in the app.
Sorry about that. I hope you try out the app anyway!
The GPS sample rate seems to default to every second, which sounds like what you want, but there is no way to change this in the app.
Sorry about that. I hope you try out the app anyway!
I don't have any immediate plans to add it, but it is definitely on my radar in the future, possibly in conjunction with specific triathlon support.
Well that would be fantastic. Basically I bought the watch for sports, outside of that to me it’s just a toy. I was going to just get a Garmin tri-watch but decided to give the AW3 a go for a bit first as I think the hardware is now in place.
I love the screen (not bothered about always on display like some people).
Charging every day doesn’t bother me either like some, we charge our phones every day anyway!
Music on board is great, one less thing to carry.
In the pool, fantastic, no more lap count memory lapses!
Open water, the real reason I bought it over Garmin, not tried yet but the reviews look great.
My only initial concern was running distance discrepancy, it was 30% out on the first few days then settled down (whether it was building a satellite cache or working out my stride pattern to use alongside gps, who knows?)
It’s now down to about 2% against the 310xt which is acceptable for me (although that does equate to just under half a mile over marathon distance!) it’s hard to kick my paranoia about this though.
Gps track does seem a bit ‘floaty’ on the bike (both with assisted and standalone)
I will persist with it in the meantime and your app seems to be one of the few actually worth downloading for my needs so will give it a try
I love the screen (not bothered about always on display like some people).
Charging every day doesn’t bother me either like some, we charge our phones every day anyway!
Music on board is great, one less thing to carry.
In the pool, fantastic, no more lap count memory lapses!
Open water, the real reason I bought it over Garmin, not tried yet but the reviews look great.
My only initial concern was running distance discrepancy, it was 30% out on the first few days then settled down (whether it was building a satellite cache or working out my stride pattern to use alongside gps, who knows?)
It’s now down to about 2% against the 310xt which is acceptable for me (although that does equate to just under half a mile over marathon distance!) it’s hard to kick my paranoia about this though.
Gps track does seem a bit ‘floaty’ on the bike (both with assisted and standalone)
I will persist with it in the meantime and your app seems to be one of the few actually worth downloading for my needs so will give it a try
That would be great, thanks. Please let me know what you think.
If you haven't already then you might want to check out www.dcrainmaker.com for loads of detailed (and I really mean detailed!) comparisons of all types of fitness technology, including watches.
If you haven't already then you might want to check out www.dcrainmaker.com for loads of detailed (and I really mean detailed!) comparisons of all types of fitness technology, including watches.
First, I think this is a great app and I recommend it. I don't "need" maps on my wrist, but when I do this is the app to use. It can be really useful to check my location on a map on my wrist in those hiking/snowshoeing/skiing in locations I know pretty well and were I am not navigating.
My comment/request/question is can you turn on tracking and writing "floors climbed" as part of the data? If I use this app to track a hike or a walk, I get credit for 0 floors climbed. My guess is this is because if this app writes the data for steps and activity, that prevents the watch from directly writing the same data for the activity, and so floors is left out.
For me, I am finding that floors climbed is a better and more useful goal than steps. If I climb 1000 ft on a hike, I want to get credit for the 100 floors.
Thanks for developing this.
My comment/request/question is can you turn on tracking and writing "floors climbed" as part of the data? If I use this app to track a hike or a walk, I get credit for 0 floors climbed. My guess is this is because if this app writes the data for steps and activity, that prevents the watch from directly writing the same data for the activity, and so floors is left out.
For me, I am finding that floors climbed is a better and more useful goal than steps. If I climb 1000 ft on a hike, I want to get credit for the 100 floors.
Thanks for developing this.
I'm very glad to hear that you find the app useful.
Flights climbed will be in the next version, which is due out in a few weeks (it has a lot of new features). It will be one of the live stats that you can show anywhere on the screen and it will also be saved to Apple's activities system for credit there.
Thanks for buying the app!
Flights climbed will be in the next version, which is due out in a few weeks (it has a lot of new features). It will be one of the live stats that you can show anywhere on the screen and it will also be saved to Apple's activities system for credit there.
Thanks for buying the app!
I would think that an elevation profile such as offered on the app would be better than a "floors climbed", unless you're hiking indoors. Hopefully, this is a shot of a little test walk I did the other day, showing the elevation profile.
Yes, I definitely look at elevation gained when hiking and it is a key piece of info for navigation. But for day to day, I was looking at "floors climbed" just for fitness as a goal, so currently set at 25 floors per day but I may keep pushing that up. I have a short trail in my woods that has a hill that is about 35 feet of elevation to climb. I do this loop more than once a day. The climb part of the loop is steep, as steep as reasonably steep mountain trail. So if I add climbing the hill up and down 5x or 10x that immediately becomes a workout. If I do it 100x, that simulates climbing a mountain in an hour workout (doing that would be very rare).
If I use workoutdoors for the hike for the loop, it tracks elevation but not only does it not track floors, it blocks my watch from saving the floor data separately. But this will get fixed so that is great.
I didn't want to request this as feature for this app, but as far as I can tell, no app exists for tracking stairs climbed directly, and it is not clear how to force the watch (or the phone) to track changes in elevation that happen quickly. Meaning if I go up and down my stairwell or work, or run up and down my hill in my woods. It seems to me that the watch doesn't update its reading of relative elevation quickly enough to capture those changes.
If I use this app to track running up and down my hill, and look at the elevation profile you show up, the track is obviously a jagged line up and down showing each hill climb. But it "rounds" off the elevation change (at the bottom of the hill maybe more than the top), so it shows about 20 to 25 feet of elevation for each climb, not 35.
If I use workoutdoors for the hike for the loop, it tracks elevation but not only does it not track floors, it blocks my watch from saving the floor data separately. But this will get fixed so that is great.
I didn't want to request this as feature for this app, but as far as I can tell, no app exists for tracking stairs climbed directly, and it is not clear how to force the watch (or the phone) to track changes in elevation that happen quickly. Meaning if I go up and down my stairwell or work, or run up and down my hill in my woods. It seems to me that the watch doesn't update its reading of relative elevation quickly enough to capture those changes.
If I use this app to track running up and down my hill, and look at the elevation profile you show up, the track is obviously a jagged line up and down showing each hill climb. But it "rounds" off the elevation change (at the bottom of the hill maybe more than the top), so it shows about 20 to 25 feet of elevation for each climb, not 35.
Hi,
first of all I want to congratulate for this wonderful app. I really like it.
The offline maps are very cost saving in a country where the mobile data rate can be extremly high (23 Cent/ MB in Germany, or "packages" with 500 MB/month for 10€)
Especially for hiking it is fantastic. With walking stiks in your hands you can easy find your way without trying to hold your mobile phone.
I have been using it during a desent on an volcanic mountain at a Canary Island when crossing a java field in a very dark cloud. You saw nearly nothing and I mostly followed the track back on my watch. (Ok, there were also some white dots on some bigger stones.) Regarding the way length there was a huge plus on the watch compared with the Vivoacive HR.
What is missing are the kilometer marks on the map.
But mostly I use the watch for running, loving to run marathons all over the world. With a running time arround four hours also the battery last long enough.
For trainings in unknown terrain the map is very helpful. For example during business trips. Its easy to run a different route back without getting lost.
But I want to give you some remarks and wishes to make your app even more better for runners:
- Please create some user definable pages like on Garmin watches, make all data avaluable you can get out of the interface from ios.
- I realy need the average pace for the actual kilometer.
- Please show the kilometers above 10 also with decimal point, as it is not on the map face.
- Make the digit as big as you can. Have you ever seen older runners with contact lenses trying to read small digits on their watches?
- And the temperature out of the hardware is also useful, as I've seen, that the Vivoactive temperature ist mostly near to the outdoor temperature and the influence of the warm arm is not realy high.
- During my trainings I found out, that the watch counts nearly 2% too much of the distance. Unfortunately during my last marthon in Barcelona the watch shows an 5:30 min/km pace and at the half marathon point my time was 2:01 h, because the kilometer counter was at 22 km. 5% to much.
- In the end the watch shows 43,9 km. The vivioactiv had 42,8 km, which looks very good for a marathon. So maybe you could realize a correction factor with which its possible to correct the data from the hardware during the run. A factor of 2% less should work until Apple corrects the counter.
- Please give a signal for every round.
- Watch settings: Please explain what "GPS on" means? It is not during workouts? Maybe in standby?
- After a strenouos marathon it is very hard to hit the save button. I don't know why my running watches have this feature. Please save every run or activity. If I don't need it, i can delete it later.
- Is it possible to show the activity logs on the watch?
- After a strenouos marathon it is very hard to hit the save button. I don't know why my running watches have this feature. Please save every run or activity. If I don't need it, i can delete it later.
- Is it possible to show the activity logs on the watch?
- Until now I found no way to stopp the app. The map stays active unless I cancle the application with the two buttons.
Live tracking and group tracking
One aditional and fantastic feature for the watch with LTE will be a group tracking function. Running marathons with my partner, who is nearly as fast/slow than me, we sometimes have problems to stay in touch.
Showing the distance between a runners group will be a kill criteria on the market. And you need no aditional smartphone for this!
The iPhone App is very helpful. My training track is along a river, so if I zoom in the map, the bottom display not zooms in if I zoom around the start/finish. Moving the map to the turning point the bottom maps zooms in. This is understandable because you want to show both directions from above in the bottom display. But I find no chance to zoom in at start/finish.
Please show also the round markers. The different colours are very good.
I am happy to read your comments
first of all I want to congratulate for this wonderful app. I really like it.
The offline maps are very cost saving in a country where the mobile data rate can be extremly high (23 Cent/ MB in Germany, or "packages" with 500 MB/month for 10€)
Especially for hiking it is fantastic. With walking stiks in your hands you can easy find your way without trying to hold your mobile phone.
I have been using it during a desent on an volcanic mountain at a Canary Island when crossing a java field in a very dark cloud. You saw nearly nothing and I mostly followed the track back on my watch. (Ok, there were also some white dots on some bigger stones.) Regarding the way length there was a huge plus on the watch compared with the Vivoacive HR.
What is missing are the kilometer marks on the map.
But mostly I use the watch for running, loving to run marathons all over the world. With a running time arround four hours also the battery last long enough.
For trainings in unknown terrain the map is very helpful. For example during business trips. Its easy to run a different route back without getting lost.
But I want to give you some remarks and wishes to make your app even more better for runners:
- Please create some user definable pages like on Garmin watches, make all data avaluable you can get out of the interface from ios.
- I realy need the average pace for the actual kilometer.
- Please show the kilometers above 10 also with decimal point, as it is not on the map face.
- Make the digit as big as you can. Have you ever seen older runners with contact lenses trying to read small digits on their watches?
- And the temperature out of the hardware is also useful, as I've seen, that the Vivoactive temperature ist mostly near to the outdoor temperature and the influence of the warm arm is not realy high.
- During my trainings I found out, that the watch counts nearly 2% too much of the distance. Unfortunately during my last marthon in Barcelona the watch shows an 5:30 min/km pace and at the half marathon point my time was 2:01 h, because the kilometer counter was at 22 km. 5% to much.
- In the end the watch shows 43,9 km. The vivioactiv had 42,8 km, which looks very good for a marathon. So maybe you could realize a correction factor with which its possible to correct the data from the hardware during the run. A factor of 2% less should work until Apple corrects the counter.
- Please give a signal for every round.
- Watch settings: Please explain what "GPS on" means? It is not during workouts? Maybe in standby?
- After a strenouos marathon it is very hard to hit the save button. I don't know why my running watches have this feature. Please save every run or activity. If I don't need it, i can delete it later.
- Is it possible to show the activity logs on the watch?
- After a strenouos marathon it is very hard to hit the save button. I don't know why my running watches have this feature. Please save every run or activity. If I don't need it, i can delete it later.
- Is it possible to show the activity logs on the watch?
- Until now I found no way to stopp the app. The map stays active unless I cancle the application with the two buttons.
Live tracking and group tracking
One aditional and fantastic feature for the watch with LTE will be a group tracking function. Running marathons with my partner, who is nearly as fast/slow than me, we sometimes have problems to stay in touch.
Showing the distance between a runners group will be a kill criteria on the market. And you need no aditional smartphone for this!
The iPhone App is very helpful. My training track is along a river, so if I zoom in the map, the bottom display not zooms in if I zoom around the start/finish. Moving the map to the turning point the bottom maps zooms in. This is understandable because you want to show both directions from above in the bottom display. But I find no chance to zoom in at start/finish.
Please show also the round markers. The different colours are very good.
I am happy to read your comments
Wow, thanks for the very detailed feedback! I am glad that you like the app so much. A lot of the things that you ask for will be in the next version, which will have many workout-related enhancements. These include many more fields (over 100, including average pace); much more configurability (including very large text); lap functionality; haptic and voice notifications (e.g. every mile or km); limit notifications; and a lot more.
The next version will always show at least 1 decimal point. The current version only omits it when using the largest text setting, but future versions will reduce the text automatically if required.
Unfortunately the Apple Watch does not have a temperature sensor, but I may include weather details with workouts in the future.
I'm sorry that you find the Apple distances too long. This could be due to the hardware not getting a decent GPS lock. I will consider adding some sort of correction factor but you are the first person to ask for it.
The "Keep GPS on for" setting only appears when you select "Map-Only" mode instead of starting a workout (for when you want a map but don't want to exercise). There is no need for the setting during a workout because then the GPS is always on. The setting controls how long the app keeps GPS on for after the user lowers their wrist.
If the user is in Map-Only mode and it is set to 0 then GPS is switched off immediately the display disappears and switched on again when the display reappears. This may cause a delay whilst the watch determines its location. Also whilst GPS is on the app stores breadcrumbs for the user's trail. Some users do not want GPS unless they need it, whilst others want breadcrumbs to know where they have been recently, so the app offers several time spans. The default is 15 minutes, so if the user hasn't used the app for 15 minutes then it switches off the GPS. This is just for Map-Only mode though - the GPS is always on during a workout.
I will look into changing the Save or Discard function to automatically save. It has been asked for before so I will raise it up my To Do list.
What do you mean by activity logs on the watch? Do you mean a list of previous workouts? If so then this will probably be in a future version.
When you say that you cannot stop the app what do you mean? Like all watch apps in the dock it is effectively always running, but it should only appear on the wrist when in a workout or Map-Only mode. If the main menu is shown then the app should behave like any other.
I must admit that I haven't thought about any group tracking functionality. I will have a look into that. In the meantime the next version (available in a couple of months) will have a Target Pace function where you can set a target pace or speed and display the distance and/or time that you are ahead or behind of that pace.
I know what you mean about the profile view on the iPhone app. It only shows the same area that is visible on the main map, so if you zoom into an area on that then the profile also reflects the section of the route in that area. However, as you say, if you zoom into the start/end then it shows the whole route in the profile because both the start and end are in the profile. I could make it so it shows 2 profile graphs with the start in one and the end in the other but I must admit that no-one else has asked for it so it won't be high on my ToDo list. Sorry about that, but I will bear it in mind.
Thanks again for taking the time to write such detailed feedback. It's great to see such enthusiasm for the app!
Hi,
I'm happy to get so fast such a nice and friedly reply. I had a lot of work to do the last days and it needs some time to write a text in English. By the way: I'm a little bit old fashioned, so I started four months ago to collect my impressions on Workoutdoors and send all of them in one post.
So here are my answers:
First of all: With the new fields and the work-out related „surprises“ my biggest wish will be satisfied.
My last run was with the smaler text setting and the decimal point appears.
The activity log will be a nice but not realy important add on: Without iPhone you should be able to see the last activities with some information. Like the status at the end of the workout. That will be a gadget i.e. sitting in a meeting and checking the last trainings.
Unfortunately since my post I was unable to reproduce the issue with the non stopping app. I think it was in the map only mode. Please forget this topic unless I can reproduce it.
I'm really curious to get the new version.
I'm happy to get so fast such a nice and friedly reply. I had a lot of work to do the last days and it needs some time to write a text in English. By the way: I'm a little bit old fashioned, so I started four months ago to collect my impressions on Workoutdoors and send all of them in one post.
So here are my answers:
First of all: With the new fields and the work-out related „surprises“ my biggest wish will be satisfied.
My last run was with the smaler text setting and the decimal point appears.
The activity log will be a nice but not realy important add on: Without iPhone you should be able to see the last activities with some information. Like the status at the end of the workout. That will be a gadget i.e. sitting in a meeting and checking the last trainings.
Unfortunately since my post I was unable to reproduce the issue with the non stopping app. I think it was in the map only mode. Please forget this topic unless I can reproduce it.
I'm really curious to get the new version.
Thanks for the reply, and for collecting all your impressions over the months. Hopefully you will find the next version even more useful.
I think it is a good idea to add the ability to view old workouts on the watch, so I will add it in a future version. As you say, it would be perfect for boring meetings!
I think it is a good idea to add the ability to view old workouts on the watch, so I will add it in a future version. As you say, it would be perfect for boring meetings!
How soon.....? Can’t wait to try.Thanks for the reply, and for collecting all your impressions over the months. Hopefully you will find the next version even more useful.
I think it is a good idea to add the ability to view old workouts on the watch, so I will add it in a future version. As you say, it would be perfect for boring meetings!
Probably not in the next version I'm afraid. I have delayed that for too long already because I keep adding new features to the code. I am now tidying things up before testing and then releasing the next version.
Sorry about that. I will try to include it in the following version.
Probably about a month or two. I have made so many enhancements that it will need a reasonably long testing period. Sorry about that.
Glad you love the app!
Hi,
Just bought this app based on the warm recommendations in here. It's a good app in what I actually find to be a pretty dissapointing selection of outdoor workout apps in general for the apple watch.
However I find that the GPS-data doesn't sync to the Apple Watch activity app and in turn doesn't sync to Strava, Garmin etc. Everything is tracked when I look in the app itself, but I can't seem to export the GPS data.
Is there something I'm overlooking?
Just bought this app based on the warm recommendations in here. It's a good app in what I actually find to be a pretty dissapointing selection of outdoor workout apps in general for the apple watch.
However I find that the GPS-data doesn't sync to the Apple Watch activity app and in turn doesn't sync to Strava, Garmin etc. Everything is tracked when I look in the app itself, but I can't seem to export the GPS data.
Is there something I'm overlooking?