Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[theruz]

Hello,

I've been using WOD for a while, and I really loved it!

Recently I started using it for ski-mountaineering (walking up using skin under your skis, and skiing down). As there is no activity type for it, I have been recording under the ski activity.

I have a couple of questions / suggestions

A. Would it be possible to have a dedicated activity for skimo (ski-mountaineering) ?

B. A very useful metric in skimo is the VAM (Vertical Ascent in Meters per hour). It is also a useful metric in trail running for the uphills. Would it be feasible to have it displayed in the workout page (per interval / per lap) ?

C. Yesterday I recorded a tour (on the map, from bottom to top x3), and used manual intervals to split the workout between ascents and descents (I set the auto-lap to off as I wanted to see metrics for the different uphill laps).
However in the workout page, it looks there are a few issues. (tcx and gpx files attached here)

1. The 2nd ascent has a distance of -2.24 km, and the 3rd ascent a distance of 0km. The total distance is incorrect as well (3.98km, Strava shows 12.6km) (number 1. on the image)
2. The elevation graph seems incorrect. On the image bellow, I was still going uphill, but the elevation graph shows downhill. (we can see the dashed interval lines that correspond to top and bottom) (number 2. on the image)
3. The last 3 intervals displayed (in the 2nd image) don't really make sense (the 1st is the whole workout, and 2nd and 3rd are duplicated). Moreover the last interval downhill is not showed, although we can see the dash line on the elevation graph.

 

[alphasports]

Also, can I just say - this app introduces features to the AW that many Garmin's don't have until you spend £600. This app is an absolute steal.

Agreed. I am a big Garmin user (Garmin Connect can't be beat) but instead of going over the top on the new $1200 Epix I am picking up another AW7 today strictly to use WOD (and RunGap to sync back to GC), it's such a great app...the gold standard. Did I mention I like it?!

 

[Akrapovic]

Literally the only thing the AW is worse on is battery life. I'd love a longer battery life.

I'm going on a 9 day trip around Scotland hiking and I'll be based in a van. My AW4 only gets 7 hours of a hike now on a charge. I need a proper charging strategy for it. For everything else, it's amazing.

Does anyone here have an AW7 and can tell me what sort of battery life they get with WoD? I'd hope for 5 hours of running and 10 hours of hiking.

 

[leescottdavis]

Literally the only thing the AW is worse on is battery life. I'd love a longer battery life.

I'm going on a 9 day trip around Scotland hiking and I'll be based in a van. My AW4 only gets 7 hours of a hike now on a charge. I need a proper charging strategy for it. For everything else, it's amazing.

Does anyone here have an AW7 and can tell me what sort of battery life they get with WoD? I'd hope for 5 hours of running and 10 hours of hiking.

I created a shortcut to disable Wi-Fi, cellular and raise to wake then launch WOD. You can easily go over 12 hours. The screen is the big killer of the AW battery.

 

[Akrapovic]

I created a shortcut to disable Wi-Fi, cellular and raise to wake then launch WOD. You can easily go over 12 hours. The screen is the big killer of the AW battery.

Oh fantastic idea. Thank you for that! Is there any other minor tips and tricks you know of? I'm looking to get as much as I can. Are you on an AW7?

 

[leescottdavis]

Oh fantastic idea. Thank you for that! Is there any other minor tips and tricks you know of? I'm looking to get as much as I can. Are you on an AW7?

Yes AW7. No other tricks needed. There used to be a small Belkin power brick with a built in AW charger so no cables needed. Not sure they are still available or if they would charge the AW7 fast enough.

 

[johnl1275]

I created a shortcut to disable Wi-Fi, cellular and raise to wake then launch WOD. You can easily go over 12 hours. The screen is the big killer of the AW battery.

I have a shortcut like that too, except I do not disable wifi... Mine turns off always on, opens WOD, sets my focus status to fitness... Are you disabling cellular and wifi or just wifi?

 

[leescottdavis]

I have a shortcut like that too, except I do not disable wifi... Mine turns off always on, opens WOD, sets my focus status to fitness... Are you disabling cellular and wifi or just wifi?

Both

 

[cfc]

Hello,

I've been using WOD for a while, and I really loved it!

Recently I started using it for ski-mountaineering (walking up using skin under your skis, and skiing down). As there is no activity type for it, I have been recording under the ski activity.

I have a couple of questions / suggestions

A. Would it be possible to have a dedicated activity for skimo (ski-mountaineering) ?

B. A very useful metric in skimo is the VAM (Vertical Ascent in Meters per hour). It is also a useful metric in trail running for the uphills. Would it be feasible to have it displayed in the workout page (per interval / per lap) ?

C. Yesterday I recorded a tour (on the map, from bottom to top x3), and used manual intervals to split the workout between ascents and descents (I set the auto-lap to off as I wanted to see metrics for the different uphill laps).
However in the workout page, it looks there are a few issues. (tcx and gpx files attached here)

1. The 2nd ascent has a distance of -2.24 km, and the 3rd ascent a distance of 0km. The total distance is incorrect as well (3.98km, Strava shows 12.6km) (number 1. on the image)
2. The elevation graph seems incorrect. On the image bellow, I was still going uphill, but the elevation graph shows downhill. (we can see the dashed interval lines that correspond to top and bottom) (number 2. on the image)
3. The last 3 intervals displayed (in the 2nd image) don't really make sense (the 1st is the whole workout, and 2nd and 3rd are duplicated). Moreover the last interval downhill is not showed, although we can see the dash line on the elevation graph.

View attachment 1963785 View attachment 1963786

Sorry I have only just seen this. I have never seen strange intervals like that before but it is probably being you are using the Skiing workout, which is designed for downhill skiing. It uses Apple's run detection system to detect runs and then creates intervals for each run. So my guess is that algorithm is probably being very confused by ski-mountaineering. You could switch off the detection in the settings or just ignore the intervals.

I don't think Apple offer a ski-mountaineering activity so I can't add one to the app. If you don't want to use Skiing then you could use the Other Outdoor activity instead.

In terms of vertical ascent speed the app has vertical speed metrics that uses relative elevation but not one for ascent. I will add it to my ToDo list but it won't be high on the list because I think you are the first person to ask for it. Sorry about that.

 

[noel18]

To be honest I could release the beta now but there are a couple of issues that I want to sort out first.

Are you referring to AOD or turn by turn? If you are referring to AOD then that is really good news!

 

[noel18]

Lol! That would be great but I can't see it ever happening. They like simple and elegant apps, and WorkOutDoors is neither!

To be honest I don't think they have even heard about it because the app has never been featured on the App Store anywhere in the world. Or maybe they are aware of it but just don't like it!

Apple seems to only like options that have check boxes. They never get more complex than that. I can understand that stance but they really should promote your app a bit because without WOD the Apple Watch is kind of a joke for running. I think they could take a good chunk of Garmin users if they realized this app existed and that the battery is nowhere near as bad as it's hyped up to be. The only other thing I think Apple should do is add an API that lets devs force onboard GPS. One more physical button would also be nice.

 

[cfc]

Are you referring to AOD or turn by turn? If you are referring to AOD then that is really good news!

Neither I'm afraid - bluetooth sensors and topographic maps are the headline features in the next version. The plan is then AOD and then turn by turn, but whatever Apple reveal at WWDC in June may change that plan.

 

[jon08]

I have a shortcut like that too, except I do not disable wifi... Mine turns off always on, opens WOD, sets my focus status to fitness... Are you disabling cellular and wifi or just wifi?

What about a shortcut to turn off Bluetooth (to force the AW to use its own GPS rather than iPhone's)? Would that be a good idea for even better GPS accuracy?

 

[leescottdavis]

What about a shortcut to turn off Bluetooth (to force the AW to use its own GPS rather than iPhone's)? Would that be a good idea for even better GPS accuracy?

It would but I did it for battery life, so happy for the watch to be a slave to the phone.

 

[noel18]

It would but I did it for battery life, so happy for the watch to be a slave to the phone.

I was shocked you could get 12 hours of tracking but if it's really the phone handling the GPS that makes a lot more sense. The phone is really terrible for GPS though. Probably fine for hiking but for running it's bad.

 

[leescottdavis]

I was shocked you could get 12 hours of tracking but if it's really the phone handling the GPS that makes a lot more sense. The phone is really terrible for GPS though. Probably fine for hiking but for running it's bad.

The phone is excellent for GPS. The problem is people put their phone in a backpack or waist pack when exercising. this compromises the signal. I have it on my handlebars. When running I don’t take phone as I typically run 5-15k runs so battery is a non issue.

 

[cfc]

I was shocked you could get 12 hours of tracking but if it's really the phone handling the GPS that makes a lot more sense. The phone is really terrible for GPS though. Probably fine for hiking but for running it's bad.

It is worth noting that by default the app uses Apple's calibrated distances, which come from the pedometer, so the GPS accuracy is not an issue for running. Distances and Paces come from the pedometer.

However WorkOutDoors does also offer the option to use GPS distances instead, in which case the GPS accuracy is important!

 

[920cody]

Update: Never mind about this. After emailing you and getting your reply to change to km for the distance, I did this and see that it changes .05 km to 50 meters, and .1 km to 100 meters automatically! This is perfect!!!

I'm a sprinter that is in training for summer competitions. I do a lot of hill sprints and other types of sprint workouts.

May I suggest an additional value to be added to your Distance types? You currently have miles and km. Can you also add Meters, in intervals of 50? When doing sprint workouts, I need to be able to do 10 intervals of 100 meter sprints, followed by 10 intervals of 50 meter sprints.

On other days, a workout may involve 5 intervals of 800 meter fast pace, followed by 5 intervals of 400 meter fast pace.

Adding meters would be a great improvement and make it easier to create an interval workout that is meaningful for these types of workouts. Interpreting a distance of .03 miles as 50 meters is not intuitive.

Thanks, and I hope this is something you can accommodate, hopefully quickly.

 

[spacemnspiff]

I have a minor issue, I have notifications during a run or a activity that stays persistent until I dismiss it. During cold weather when I have gloves on, it's hard to dismiss the notifications with finger swipe. This obscures the WOD screen and I am not able to see the workout details. Any solutions for this?

 

[cfc]

I have a minor issue, I have notifications during a run or a activity that stays persistent until I dismiss it. During cold weather when I have gloves on, it's hard to dismiss the notifications with finger swipe. This obscures the WOD screen and I am not able to see the workout details. Any solutions for this?

I assume you mean notifications from watchOS because WOD notifications are temporary. If they are from watchOS then the app has no control over them. Sorry about that. If you can't swipe then try pressing the crown a few times, as I think that sometimes helps. I don't know for sure though.

If you want to prevent notification completely when doing a workout then there is also a Workout Do Not Disturb option, although I think Apple have now hidden that away somewhere in the Fitness section of the new Focus functionality.

 

[muellered]

@cfc which workout type between Running and Hiking is better suited for trail running? Or it doesn't matter as long as I set up a screen in either of the modes with the specific metrics I want to view?

 

[cfc]

@cfc which workout type between Running and Hiking is better suited for trail running? Or it doesn't matter as long as I set up a screen in either of the modes with the specific metrics I want to view?

Most people use Running. Their running algorithms should handle the speed changes, whereas the walking algorithms may struggle with the running. That is just an educated guess though. It is hard to know for sure because Apple do not give much detail about that sort of thing.

 

[spacemnspiff]

I assume you mean notifications from watchOS because WOD notifications are temporary. If they are from watchOS then the app has no control over them. Sorry about that. If you can't swipe then try pressing the crown a few times, as I think that sometimes helps. I don't know for sure though.

If you want to prevent notification completely when doing a workout then there is also a Workout Do Not Disturb option, although I think Apple have now hidden that away somewhere in the Fitness section of the new Focus functionality.

Yes, that's right, WatchOS notifications stay on top of WOD screen indefinitely until dismissed. I thought there was set duration for that notification to stay on screen. Is that a bug?

Is there a setting for 'notification duration to stay on' so that they automatically disappear during WOD use after the set 10-15sec time?

I hadn't thought of the Crown press, I will try that next time. I have to look into Workout Do Not Disturb option, is that a phone setting or a watch setting?

Thx a lot.

I love the app, using for a few years now. I hope you don't run into situation where you have to sell it. Then it will turn into an ad industry leech.

 

[max2]

I love this app.

 

[cfc]

Yes, that's right, WatchOS notifications stay on top of WOD screen indefinitely until dismissed. I thought there was set duration for that notification to stay on screen. Is that a bug?

Is there a setting for 'notification duration to stay on' so that they automatically disappear during WOD use after the set 10-15sec time?

I hadn't thought of the Crown press, I will try that next time. I have to look into Workout Do Not Disturb option, is that a phone setting or a watch setting?

Thx a lot.

I love the app, using for a few years now. I hope you don't run into situation where you have to sell it. Then it will turn into an ad industry leech.

I don't think there is any way to control how long watchOS notifications appear. I can't see anything obvious in Apple's settings but maybe someone else knows how to do this?

I definitely have no plans to sell the app!