Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[920cody]

About the feature: would it be an option to give each last part of the repeats a "duration type" of "manual"? That way the last part of the repeat must be "ended by user" which can be set via a shortcut for "new interval". This shortcut can be set to (for example) "both side buttons" or even to a (single, double, triple or quadruple) tap on the watch.

For me, an automatic pause after the repeat iteration ends would be best. Currently I have the interval set as Repeat x 10 [Fast + Recover]. So, once it reaches 50m (prefer 55m) in the Fast type, it begins the Recover type, set for 60m (I walk back to the starting line.) What I'd prefer is Repeat x 10 [Fast + Pause]. So, once I complete the Fast type, it goes into Pause type, waiting for me to begin the next repeat when I manually start it again.
I've gotten tripped up with the Recover type set to 60m as I'm walking back to the starting line, the GPS isn't 100% accurate and sometimes starts the next repeat before I even get to the starting line again. So, that is why I'd prefer the pause. I manually start it once I'm at the starting line again and ready to do the next repeat.

Make sense?

 

[cfc]

For me, an automatic pause after the repeat iteration ends would be best. Currently I have the interval set as Repeat x 10 [Fast + Recover]. So, once it reaches 50m (prefer 55m) in the Fast type, it begins the Recover type, set for 60m (I walk back to the starting line.) What I'd prefer is Repeat x 10 [Fast + Pause]. So, once I complete the Fast type, it goes into Pause type, waiting for me to begin the next repeat when I manually start it again.
I've gotten tripped up with the Recover type set to 60m as I'm walking back to the starting line, the GPS isn't 100% accurate and sometimes starts the next repeat before I even get to the starting line again. So, that is why I'd prefer the pause. I manually start it once I'm at the starting line again and ready to do the next repeat.

Make sense?

It sounds a useful feature. Maybe a "Pause at end of interval" option for each interval. It won't be in the next version, which is due soon, but I will bear it in mind in the future.

 

[920cody]

It sounds a useful feature. Maybe a "Pause at end of interval" option for each interval. It won't be in the next version, which is due soon, but I will bear it in mind in the future.

Excellent! A pause at end of interval option would work. Once implemented, I'd be happy to test it out for you. Thanks!

 

[NME42]

Maybe a noob question: is the only way to get to the „Now Playing“ screen to go to Settings and then press the command for Now Playing?

 

[cfc]

Maybe a noob question: is the only way to get to the „Now Playing“ screen to go to Settings and then press the command for Now Playing?

All commands can be associated with a gesture by using the Shortcuts screen on that Commands screen. So you can make the Now Playing screen appear when you double/triple/quadruple tap, swipe left/right, press both side buttons etc.

The next version also has new gestures for shaking your wrist and using the crown. It also has the ability to configure up to 6 command buttons in the menu that appears when you touch the screen for a second. This is up from 4 buttons in the current version.

You can also configure a button on any screen to perform any command.

 

[southpaw2five]

All commands can be associated with a gesture by using the Shortcuts screen on that Commands screen. So you can make the Now Playing screen appear when you double/triple/quadruple tap, swipe left/right, press both side buttons etc.

The next version also has new gestures for shaking your wrist and using the crown. It also has the ability to configure up to 6 command buttons in the menu that appears when you touch the screen for a second. This is up from 4 buttons in the current version.

You can also configure a button on any screen to perform any command.

Is it a possibility to make an entire screen the now playing screen, so that when you swipe to that screen it will be brought up? Similar to how the stock app operates.

 

[cfc]

Is it a possibility to make an entire screen the now playing screen, so that when you swipe to that screen it will be brought up? Similar to how the stock app operates.

When you invoke the Now Playing command then the app asks watchOS to display the Now Playing screen, which takes up the whole watch screen.

It is possible for apps to use a "paging" control where the user swipes between different pages, and one of those pages can display the Now Playing screen. This is what Apple's app does but WorkOutDoors cannot use that paging control for technical reasons (because of the map).

 

[NME42]

In preparation for the Stryd sensor support release coming soon, I switched back from Stryd app to WOD this week.
Love it.

What I noticed: when I do export my runs from WOD to RunGap via TCX, the track display is cutting corners a lot heavier on known courses than the Stryd app did. I compared two track files with mygpsfiles and interestingly, the track from WOD contained only a third points than the one from the Stryd app.
When looking at the track within WOD, the corners are not cut.

Could it be that exporting TCX does reduce GPS points in the exported file?

 

[cfc]

In preparation for the Stryd sensor support release coming soon, I switched back from Stryd app to WOD this week.
Love it.

What I noticed: when I do export my runs from WOD to RunGap via TCX, the track display is cutting corners a lot heavier on known courses than the Stryd app did. I compared two track files with mygpsfiles and interestingly, the track from WOD contained only a third points than the one from the Stryd app.
When looking at the track within WOD, the corners are not cut.

Could it be that exporting TCX does reduce GPS points in the exported file?

The current version of the app does export slightly fewer points to save memory, but certainly not a third of the points, so something else must be causing that.

All the points are stored in Apple's Health system, so if you want all the points then you can export them from there (via RunGap or HealthFit etc).

The next version of the app will export every point. If you want to try the beta then please email me at info@workoutdoors.net

 

[NME42]

The current version of the app does export slightly fewer points to save memory, but certainly not a third of the points, so something else must be causing that.

All the points are stored in Apple's Health system, so if you want all the points then you can export them from there (via RunGap or HealthFit etc).

The next version of the app will export every point. If you want to try the beta then please email me at info@workoutdoors.net

Thanks for the info. This sounds great.
No, I am patiently waiting for the next official release. Was asking out of curiosity, fewer points are not an issue for me as long as distance is correct.

 

[p4p4j4ck4l]

Tnx for the beta-invite. Gonna do the first run with it very soon (today or tomorrow) to test stryd support. I was missing voice feedback in de stryd app so I really want to switch back to WOD.

 

[NME42]

The current version of the app does export slightly fewer points to save memory, but certainly not a third of the points, so something else must be causing that.

To check that, I repeated a run I did a week before. 10.5 km (1:02) and compared the exported GPX-files.

Run with Stryd app: 3754 points
Run with WOD: 1280 points

So my guess with about 1/3 of the points was quite right. Stryd seems to record 1 data point per second.

Good example that shows the corner cutting is here (yellow is Stryd app, blue is WOD):

Can you send the link to mygpsfiles if you want to compare the runs. Btw, the runs have almost the exact same distance which is great.

 

[NME42]

Another question, might be newbie, but I can't figure it out.

Configured six screens and my screens 2+3 are custom. Whenever I edited one of the screens, I end up both being the same and only of them is displayed in WOD.

So I first had screen 2 with metrics about distance, time, etc. and screen 3 about paces. Result: had only screen 2.
Found that screen 3 showed the same metrics as screen 2. Corrected screen 3 again to show paces and now screen 2 shows the same as screen 3.

Hope my question is clear, I screenshot my WOD app:

Most probably I do not understand what "Profile" means.

 

[cfc]

Another question, might be newbie, but I can't figure it out.

Configured six screens and my screens 2+3 are custom. Whenever I edited one of the screens, I end up both being the same and only of them is displayed in WOD.

So I first had screen 2 with metrics about distance, time, etc. and screen 3 about paces. Result: had only screen 2.
Found that screen 3 showed the same metrics as screen 2. Corrected screen 3 again to show paces and now screen 2 shows the same as screen 3.

Hope my question is clear, I screenshot my WOD app:
View attachment 1989712

Most probably I do not understand what "Profile" means.

Yes, there is only one configuration for a combination of profile/activity/layout/text size. As those screens have the same combination then changing one will change the other.

This gets pointed out surprisingly rarely. I remember thinking that it could be confusing when I coded it many years ago, and that I may have to work around it, but I think you are only the second or third person to ever mention it.

 

[NME42]

Yes, there is only one configuration for a combination of profile/activity/layout/text size. As those screens have the same combination then changing one will change the other.

This gets pointed out surprisingly rarely. I remember thinking that it could be confusing when I coded it many years ago, and that I may have to work around it, but I think you are only the second or third person to ever mention it.

Thanks. That explains it. Changed my second screen to profile Pace.

But still don’t get what semantics a profile has. Nevermind.

 

[NME42]

Tested course functionality today and love it. Really great. Especially for an ex-Garmin user where map usability was not so good.

One thing I did not understand fully: why is there no option to select a course when starting a run (via ...) just like an interval schedule? As it is done today, having a permanently selected course via settings is something, I do not need as I typically run a course only once and have to unselect the course after the run.
By starting the run with a selected course, WOD could unselect it after the run.

Also, leaving a course with a command while running would be great too.

 

[cfc]

Tested course functionality today and love it. Really great. Especially for an ex-Garmin user where map usability was not so good.

One thing I did not understand fully: why is there no option to select a course when starting a run (via ...) just like an interval schedule? As it is done today, having a permanently selected course via settings is something, I do not need as I typically run a course only once and have to unselect the course after the run.
By starting the run with a selected course, WOD could unselect it after the run.

Also, leaving a course with a command while running would be great too.

Glad the route functionality went well. At the moment routes are simply displayed and there is no concept of "following" them. I plan to add that in the near future and I will then allow the user to select a route at the start of a workout like they can with interval schedules.

This will also mean that the "time/distance remaining" etc fields will work when selecting a route (at the moment they only work for fixed length workouts and intervals), and I will also add extra metrics such as "remaining ascent/descent", a graph of the elevation profile etc.

I also plan to add turn-by-turn navigation, but only if the GPX file contains the directions as waypoints. Otherwise I would have to pay for a server to create directions for a route, which wouldn't work with the app's business model of a one-off payment. There seem to be many providers of GPX files who do include the directions so hopefully it will be a reasonable compromise.

 

[Lars34]

Wow that sounds awesome! I'm still using a series 0, but I plan to upgrade in September when the new watch is released. Really looking forward to being able to use this app for my road cycling. Right now I'm using three separate data sources: a Garmin gps for route tracing/navigation, the Wahoo app to connect my speed/cadence sensors and the Apple Watch workout app for heart rate monitoring. Looking forward to just being able to use my Apple Watch for that. (I bought the speed and cadence sensor because the GPS says it supports ANT+, but apparently it only supports ANT+ sensors made by Garmin)

I read you're looking into using the iPhone as a cycling computer display, so that will be awesome as well!

 

[NME42]

Glad the route functionality went well. At the moment routes are simply displayed and there is no concept of "following" them. I plan to add that in the near future and I will then allow the user to select a route at the start of a workout like they can with interval schedules.

This will also mean that the "time/distance remaining" etc fields will work when selecting a route (at the moment they only work for fixed length workouts and intervals), and I will also add extra metrics such as "remaining ascent/descent", a graph of the elevation profile etc.

I also plan to add turn-by-turn navigation, but only if the GPX file contains the directions as waypoints. Otherwise I would have to pay for a server to create directions for a route, which wouldn't work with the app's business model of a one-off payment. There seem to be many providers of GPX files who do include the directions so hopefully it will be a reasonable compromise.

That sounds excellent. The simple display of routes is very good, no real need for TBT. What would be nice though would be an arrow pointing to the direction how to get back to the route in case you had to leave the route or when the route does not start where you are.

One good option to create a route with TBT is through Garmin Connect. Found the routes they are creating based on their user base quite good. They can be exported also if I remember correct.

 

[southpaw2five]

Glad the route functionality went well. At the moment routes are simply displayed and there is no concept of "following" them. I plan to add that in the near future and I will then allow the user to select a route at the start of a workout like they can with interval schedules.

This will also mean that the "time/distance remaining" etc fields will work when selecting a route (at the moment they only work for fixed length workouts and intervals), and I will also add extra metrics such as "remaining ascent/descent", a graph of the elevation profile etc.

I also plan to add turn-by-turn navigation, but only if the GPX file contains the directions as waypoints. Otherwise I would have to pay for a server to create directions for a route, which wouldn't work with the app's business model of a one-off payment. There seem to be many providers of GPX files who do include the directions so hopefully it will be a reasonable compromise.

Off the top of your head, do you know if routes from strava would contain the TBT navigation directions? Or garmin.

 

[cfc]

Off the top of your head, do you know if routes from strava would contain the TBT navigation directions? Or garmin.

I haven't looked into that yet, but if they do then I will make sure that the app supports them.

 

[sam3k]

Sorry if this is really obvious... but I have a route on my watch (that's not on my phone) that I wish to delete and I can't figure out how!

 

[stridemat]

Thanks @NME42 and @cfc

I don't own a Stryd, but it's really hilly where I live (and therefore very windy too), so it's been on my mind for a while.



Maybe in the future, an automatic save FIT file to iCloud drive might make it a tiny bit easier to deal with manual imports to other platforms.

Loving the beta - though do agree manual upload is a pain. Hopefully they bring this sooner rather than later. Some sort of auto export option in the interim would be very beneficial so when I go to my Mac all the files are there ready to upload to Power Centre.

 

[jwall0804]

Hi - new user here and loving the app! It made my decision to stay with AW over swtiching to Garmin or some other platform. I was wondering if there was a way to display the GAP (Grade-Adjusted-Pace) live while running? I may not know the setting if it's available but would like to be able to see it live rather than afterwards when exporting to Strava. Thanks!

 

[cfc]

Sorry if this is really obvious... but I have a route on my watch (that's not on my phone) that I wish to delete and I can't figure out how!

Sorry - that is not possible with the current version. In theory it should not be possible to get a route on the watch that is not on the phone, but I have heard that it can happen, so you will be able to remove it in the next version of the app, which has a "Remove Route" button when viewing the route.