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Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features
- Thread starter cfc
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Sorry about this but it is a watchOS issue as far as I can tell. Did you try rebooting both devices? I have heard users of other apps saying that works for them. It was only added in watchOS 4 so hopefully it will be more reliable in watchOS 5.
Odd, I have an outdoor walk I did this week, and everything came right over into AH, and My Fitness Pal. It did take a bit, but it eventually came. I'm still wondering about an earlier comment on another thread about the calorie count, as I had a half hour walk that stated only 90 calories, while the (virtually) same walk in other apps shows closer to 150. I remember someone said that there was a big difference as to whether the phone was also on the person when the activity was completed, and yes, mine was. It's my intention to go for another walk at the same place, along the same route, and either turn off Bluetooth on the phone, (to disconnect it) or simply leave it in the car, and see if that does make a difference.
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Glad your map made it to the Activity app. It usually does but sometimes watchOS 4 seems to lose it.
The calorie calculations are provided by Apple, so there isn't much that the app can do about them. I will be interested to see if taking the phone makes a difference. It does in other respects such as GPS, so Apple may also be doing something different with calories if the phone is present.
The calorie calculations are provided by Apple, so there isn't much that the app can do about them. I will be interested to see if taking the phone makes a difference. It does in other respects such as GPS, so Apple may also be doing something different with calories if the phone is present.
One last update on my testing. It appears not to matter which app is in the top spot of the dock...Intervals always takes over focus from the default Workouts app, but WorkOutDoors can stay in focus with Intervals running in the background. Turning off voice prompts in WorkOutDoors solved the quiet prompts from Intervals issue. With that solved, I am ready to declare the Combination of WorkOutDoors/Intervals Pro the winner on the watch when it comes to tracking outdoor runs, including interval training plans. Your wealth of tracked data really does rival a Garmin running watch in my opinion. I am very excited to see what Apple brings to the Series 4 regarding sensor improvements.
That's great to hear! The intention with this version was to provide the sort of workout features, configurability and metrics that you get on a top-end dedicated sports watch, so I am very happy to hear that you think that is the case!
Okay, a somewhat scientific/off the cuff analysis here. On the above shown activity, I had my phone, and used your app, and walked 1.23 miles, for a total of 94 ACTIVE calories. That equates to 76.42 cal/mile. (94/1.23). Today, I took another walk at the same place, and because my knee was bothering me, I only walked .52 miles, and used 40 calories. This equates to 76.92 cal/mile using the same comparison as above. Virtually the same, and I would probably say that the "increase" in cal/mile would come from the stress/pain which would cause a bit higher heartbeat. (124 BPM vs 121 BPM). So, in my somewhat limited analysis, it would appear that using the watch with the phone, or without the phone would be the same. Now to figure out why indoor walks are so much higher calorie burn. My watch is pretty well calibrated, although I doubt it's as well calibrated as my Garmin was.
That is interesting. So the presence of the iPhone does not affect the calorie calculations, which is good to know.
I can't really help on indoor workouts I'm afraid but Apple probably use a different algorithm. For example one possibility is that they may not take the distance into account (because of the calibration-dependent accuracy) and only use the other paramaters such as heart rate, time, etc. Unfortunately they do not reveal much about how they calculate things, which is understandable but can be annoying!
I can't really help on indoor workouts I'm afraid but Apple probably use a different algorithm. For example one possibility is that they may not take the distance into account (because of the calibration-dependent accuracy) and only use the other paramaters such as heart rate, time, etc. Unfortunately they do not reveal much about how they calculate things, which is understandable but can be annoying!
HOLY COW - I just have to say, I have no need for this app at all, but I had to stop and comment about how amazing it looks. The configurability and options, as well as the excellent design to make use of the small screen in the most optimum ways. Really impressive.
Great job developer!!
Great job developer!!
Yep, now I know if I want one of those big chocolate covered cinnamon rolls, I need to do an INSIDE walk! LOL
Very impressed with the app. I was using it alongside a Fenix 5 and for the 1st half, it was bang when overlapping the data. The app then took a little crazy spell. When you long press to reveal the menu to pause/end etc it wouldn't work and the heartbeat data froze. I had to keep force closing and re-opening it for the venue to re-appear and for the heart data to work again. This could be teething problems with the new OS5.
The map works great and is nice and clear.... the selection of data fields is excellent and triple tap navigation with and without gloves was a breeze. Very promising.
AW 4 with WatchOS5 of course.
The map works great and is nice and clear.... the selection of data fields is excellent and triple tap navigation with and without gloves was a breeze. Very promising.
AW 4 with WatchOS5 of course.
Glad you like the app despite the "crazy spell". A couple of people have mentioned being unable to pause but it is so rare that I have never been able to reproduce it. However the next version will use a completely new way of creating and pausing workouts that Apple introduced with watchOS 5, so hopefully that will fix it.
WOW this looks amazing.
One thing I am always on the look out for is Intervals. I used iSmoothrun and it was flaky. Runkeeper is ok
But what I want is to be able to setup Intervals for Running. start with a 5 min warm up, then run 400meters then rest 2minutes then repeat the 400m and 2min rest a set number of times. Would something like this be possible?
One thing I am always on the look out for is Intervals. I used iSmoothrun and it was flaky. Runkeeper is ok
But what I want is to be able to setup Intervals for Running. start with a 5 min warm up, then run 400meters then rest 2minutes then repeat the 400m and 2min rest a set number of times. Would something like this be possible?
This isn't possible in the current version of the app, but is high on my "to do" list.
In the meantime there is a workaround as described by Otto Pilot in this thread. He uses Intervals Pro to provide the alerts whilst WorkOutDoors does the rest. You need to disable "fitness tracking" in Intervals Pro so that you do not have two workouts running at once (which results in the second one being killed). It sounds like it works really well, although I must admit that I haven't tried it myself yet.
@cfc I had an experience today that I don't believe is with Work Outdoors, but was using the app when it happened. Has to do with a really strange GPS action. I don't know if you can help, and I'd rather not post the thread here, but if you get a chance, could you check out my post in the "Apple Watch" forum, and see if you have any idea what happened? Here's the link:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/what-happened-to-my-gps.2143016/#post-26571286
Thanks, 'preciate any input, and yes, I suppose the honest thing to do is to try to recreate the problem.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/what-happened-to-my-gps.2143016/#post-26571286
Thanks, 'preciate any input, and yes, I suppose the honest thing to do is to try to recreate the problem.
@cfc I have a couple questions about this app.
Is there a list of workouts that are supported by this app? Is pool (open water and/or pool) swims on there?
Is there any way to record how many miles are on a particular pair of running shoes/bike tires/etc.? That is one feature I love on the current app I am using. It lets you set a pair of shoes for example that were used on that workout.
Thanks and I really wish I could trial this app for a couple workouts to see if it can dethrone my current app!
Is there a list of workouts that are supported by this app? Is pool (open water and/or pool) swims on there?
Is there any way to record how many miles are on a particular pair of running shoes/bike tires/etc.? That is one feature I love on the current app I am using. It lets you set a pair of shoes for example that were used on that workout.
Thanks and I really wish I could trial this app for a couple workouts to see if it can dethrone my current app!
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Helloooo !
I just purchased an Apple Watch (4) 2 days ago and one of the use I had in mind was to replace my Garmin watch. But I have found most of the running app pretty useless. Even app like Strava are very minimalist. Was desperately looking for an app that was actually using a map or at least breadcrumb (nice for trail running) and here YOU are !!
I was so excited I had to get out for short walk to test it as I'm already in PJ tonight !!!!
Now quick question. I can extract the GPX file for manual upload on Strava but it requires using the computer
...
Any other way to export directly from the app to Strava ? or to Garmin Connect ?
From the app on the phone or even from the watch directly, using wifi or cellular ?
Thanks.
Oli.
I just purchased an Apple Watch (4) 2 days ago and one of the use I had in mind was to replace my Garmin watch. But I have found most of the running app pretty useless. Even app like Strava are very minimalist. Was desperately looking for an app that was actually using a map or at least breadcrumb (nice for trail running) and here YOU are !!
I was so excited I had to get out for short walk to test it as I'm already in PJ tonight !!!!
Now quick question. I can extract the GPX file for manual upload on Strava but it requires using the computer
... Any other way to export directly from the app to Strava ? or to Garmin Connect ?
From the app on the phone or even from the watch directly, using wifi or cellular ?
Thanks.
Oli.
Helloooo !
I just purchased an Apple Watch (4) 2 days ago and one of the use I had in mind was to replace my Garmin watch. But I have found most of the running app pretty useless. Even app like Strava are very minimalist. Was desperately looking for an app that was actually using a map or at least breadcrumb (nice for trail running) and here YOU are !!
I was so excited I had to get out for short walk to test it as I'm already in PJ tonight !!!!
Now quick question. I can extract the GPX file for manual upload on Strava but it requires using the computer
Any other way to export directly from the app to Strava ? or to Garmin Connect ?
From the app on the phone or even from the watch directly, using wifi or cellular ?
Thanks.
Oli.
Many thanks for buying the app! As @rbart said on the other thread, you can either upload using a third party app like HealthFit (which allows you to send the workout to many different services) or wait for the next version of WorkOutDoors (released in the next few days), which will have direct uploading to Strava. It will also make the most of the larger screen on your AW4.
@cfc amazing work! Thank you for continuing to work on the app and interact with the community.
I am very! positively surprised by the accuracy of my AW S4's GPS and heart rate monitor, as confirmed by the recent review done by DC Rainmaker;
There are two things that will make your app an absolute game changer for a number of us:
1) Stryd support
2) Having an icon, that confirms that one has acquired HR+GPS lock so that there are no data gaps during the first minute of working out
Thanks,
Nick
I am very! positively surprised by the accuracy of my AW S4's GPS and heart rate monitor, as confirmed by the recent review done by DC Rainmaker;
There are two things that will make your app an absolute game changer for a number of us:
1) Stryd support
2) Having an icon, that confirms that one has acquired HR+GPS lock so that there are no data gaps during the first minute of working out
Thanks,
Nick
Glad you like the app! Sorry that it doesn't support Stryd yet. I am waiting for Apple to add support for sensors other than HR.
The problem is that there are hundreds of sensors, so I can't connect to all of them, partly due to time and partly because I cannot afford to buy them to test! So I decided to only connect via Apple's health system because they have done all the work for me.
However I may add Styrd support in the future if enough people ask. I wasn't going to include direct Strava uploading because other apps can do it, but I have added it to the next version because so many people asked for it. So you never know with Stryd, but it is not in my plans at the moment. Sorry about that.
In terms of HR and GPS lock, the app does show the GPS signal strength on the main menu, specifically so that you can wait for it to get a lock before starting the workout.
The HR is another matter though. I will look into it. At the moment I only request the HR when a workout is started but I could request it when the main menu is displayed, like I do for GPS. I will investigate and see whether that is possible.
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There may be ways around it, especially via the iPhone, but I don't really want to add an iPhone dependency to the app.
I just hope that Apple add support for more types of sensors soon because it is a major limitation of the AW versus the competition.
Incorrect. Stryd’s AW app has Stryd support (clearly) and so does one other.
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Thanks for the reply, adding HR lock would be much appreciated.
Especially if you can make this show on the screen you get when you “start” a workout and wait until you are certain that GPS/HR lock is completed through a solid indicator on the screen (versus flashing that indicates still acquiring);
As for sensors, Stryd already have this on their own app (since Series 2 I think); it can be used fully independently ie doesn’t require an iPhone to be around
That's good to know. I may add support for it in the future, but I am hoping that Apple do it so that I don't have to!