Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

I have to say Ian, well done indeed. Refatoring, no rewriting the UI to Swift UI and having no feature regressions is so admirable. Seen so many mobile apps do something like this with a relaunch and being really feature deprive so my hat is off to you.
Also, it must make you feel much better in terms of being able to maintain this very much loved app.

Thanks for your kind words. It's been a hard 8 months or so learning Swift and SwiftUI and rewriting the app's UI in them. But, as you say, it does make me feel better about supporting future features provided by Apple because most of their new APIs seem to require Swift or SwiftUI.

The app is now written in a combination of 5 languages: SwiftUI, Swift, Objective C, C++ and C (for ultimate efficiency with the map renderer). It's a tribute to Apple's development systems that they all work well together!

 

[SisyphusMD]

Sorry about the lack of colour highlighting. I missed it in the rewrite. I will make sure that it is in the next version, which will be a bug fix release for exactly those sort of issues. It will probably be available in a couple of weeks or so, which will allow for time to fix any issues when running the release version of watchOS 10.

If you’re looking for subtle changes like this that may have been missed in the re-write, I’ve found another that’s only a minor inconvenience. Previously when selecting a distance for a fixed length exercise, you could hold touch the +/- buttons to get a list of selectable race distances. I particularly liked this because choosing the exact miles for a race based on km was otherwise tough. But now it seems holding the plus sign doesn’t give me the distance options.

 

[cfc]

If you’re looking for subtle changes like this that may have been missed in the re-write, I’ve found another that’s only a minor inconvenience. Previously when selecting a distance for a fixed length exercise, you could hold touch the +/- buttons to get a list of selectable race distances. I particularly liked this because choosing the exact miles for a race based on km was otherwise tough. But now it seems holding the plus sign doesn’t give me the distance options.

Thanks for the heads up. To be honest I hadn't realised that keeping your finger on the button did that in the previous version. I guess it was a feature of the old type of button.

I probably won't reproduce it with the new version. The idea is that the crown is used for fast changes and then the buttons for fine tuning. Also I have too many other tweaks to make for the next version!

 

[nexusone2012]

I’m getting about 10% battery drain per hour with AOD. Is that about what’s expected? I don’t mind turning off the AOD display to go back to the 5% per hour I’m used too, especially on long days. I’m also on Watch OS 10 Dev Beta 8 which to be honest has been rough on battery life vs Watch OS 9 as a whole. I can’t tell what’s normal behavior because I am trying Watch OS 10 beta. I’ve restarted the watch fresh prior to my 3 hour hike yesterday too.

 

[cfc]

I’m getting about 10% battery drain per hour with AOD. Is that about what’s expected? I don’t mind turning off the AOD display to go back to the 5% per hour I’m used too, especially on long days. I’m also on Watch OS 10 Dev Beta 8 which to be honest has been rough on battery life vs Watch OS 9 as a whole. I can’t tell what’s normal behavior because I am trying Watch OS 10 beta. I’ve restarted the watch fresh prior to my 3 hour hike yesterday too.

Apple claim 10 to 12 hours of workout usage for the Ultra, depending on whether you are using LTE, so 10% is probably about right, especially on a watchOS beta.

There are a few ways to improve it, including disabling AOD for the watch. Enabling low power mode is even more effective because it disables AOD but also other things like cellular and WiFi (although the watch can still have a data connection via the iPhone if you have it with you).

Low power mode can be enabled to come on just for workouts (in the Workout section of Apple's Settings app): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213336

Another possibility is disabling wake on raise so that you need to tap the screen to see it. This is an unacceptable cost for some people, but it can make a big difference with any activity type.

With some activities it can even be almost essential. For example the movement of your arms when Paddling can mean that the screen is almost permanently at maximum brightness unless wake on raise is disabled.

And then there are the usual battery saving hints such as not listening to audio (especially streaming audio) or running any other apps. Also don't install a new version of watchOS in the days before a very long workout, and it's a good idea to reboot on the day.

 

[SisyphusMD]

Thanks for the heads up. To be honest I hadn't realised that keeping your finger on the button did that in the previous version. I guess it was a feature of the old type of button.

I probably won't reproduce it with the new version. The idea is that the crown is used for fast changes and then the buttons for fine tuning. Also I have too many other tweaks to make for the next version!

Thanks for the explanation! Do you think it’d be possible to add the option to switch units in that screen so for example I could make a 5k or 10k distance without having to switch all my units from miles? I like to think of my pace in min/mile, but distances are often metric.

 

[youngguns]

Hi~
I have a problem about the [Map Rotation]. I turned off map rotation, but it still works when hiking.

 

[cfc]

Thanks for the explanation! Do you think it’d be possible to add the option to switch units in that screen so for example I could make a 5k or 10k distance without having to switch all my units from miles? I like to think of my pace in min/mile, but distances are often metric.

No-one had ever asked to switch units on that screen but it makes sense, especially for running. I will bear it in mind but other features are higher priority at the moment. Sorry about that.

 

[cfc]

Hi~
I have a problem about the [Map Rotation]. I turned off map rotation, but it still works when hiking.

Sorry, that is a bug. I have fixed it in the code so it will be ok in the next version, which will be released soon after watchOS 10.

In the meantime tap the red compass in the bottom right corner of the map (the compass does not need to be visible). You may need to tap a couple of times at first (not a double tap).

The problem is because the screen is not reflecting any orientation changes made in the settings. I always tap on the compass to change between north up and rotating so I never tested changing it by going through the settings. Sorry about that.

 

[Akrapovic]

I’m getting about 10% battery drain per hour with AOD. Is that about what’s expected? I don’t mind turning off the AOD display to go back to the 5% per hour I’m used too, especially on long days. I’m also on Watch OS 10 Dev Beta 8 which to be honest has been rough on battery life vs Watch OS 9 as a whole. I can’t tell what’s normal behavior because I am trying Watch OS 10 beta. I’ve restarted the watch fresh prior to my 3 hour hike yesterday too.

Just on this - I've begun a spreadsheet tracking the workout battery life of the Ultra under various conditions. I'm tracking OS version, app, distance/time worked out, percentage used, low power mode, wifi, data. I only have 3 data points so far, but right now the maths says that with the standard workout all will last around 12-14 hours during a run.

I'll be adding WoD to this soon, but as you can expect, it takes a long time to collect this data. So in a few months I'll be able to tell you if WoD uses more than the standard app. I suspect it doesn't, but we'll find out soon enough.

 

[juanjer]

Hi,just a quick question.

Is it possible to create alerts when an interval is going to start or is ending? I mean, if I have a scheduled training session of 20' warm-up and 10x1 kilometres, let the watch notify that the 20' are ending and the series are arriving and also let it notify when the end of the kilometer series is being reached.

For example, Garmin notifies you of the last 5 seconds of each interval.
It's one of the options that I miss compared to Garmin.

Thanks in advance.

 

[skinprid]

Just have to say, it’s an amazing app. I use it all the time as I travel around, I use it to navigate on runs in areas I don’t know. I use Kamoot to generate the routes and WorkOutDoors to give me a visual of where to go. One issue this morning I could not deselect the route, I had to select another to clear it from the area I was in. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem. Not had time to read through the entire thread. Again love the app and the tip system.

 

[cfc]

Hi,just a quick question.

Is it possible to create alerts when an interval is going to start or is ending? I mean, if I have a scheduled training session of 20' warm-up and 10x1 kilometres, let the watch notify that the 20' are ending and the series are arriving and also let it notify when the end of the kilometer series is being reached.

For example, Garmin notifies you of the last 5 seconds of each interval.
It's one of the options that I miss compared to Garmin.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, the app should notify you when the end of an interval is approaching and also when the next one starts. Are you not getting these alerts, or are you maybe not a user of the app and just interested in it?

 

[cfc]

Just have to say, it’s an amazing app. I use it all the time as I travel around, I use it to navigate on runs in areas I don’t know. I use Kamoot to generate the routes and WorkOutDoors to give me a visual of where to go. One issue this morning I could not deselect the route, I had to select another to clear it from the area I was in. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem. Not had time to read through the entire thread. Again love the app and the tip system.

Sorry - that is a bug. I will fix it in the next version but in the meantime if you zoom in or out then the route should disappear. Someone else spotted this today when they changed route. It's a bug where the map doesn't immediately update when the route is changed in the settings.

It's actually similar to the map rotation bug that was mentioned earlier. In both cases the map is not being informed of a change in the settings. Both bugs will be fixed in the next version, which should be released soon after watchOS 10.

 

[skinprid]

Sorry - that is a bug. I will fix it in the next version but in the meantime if you zoom in or out then the route should disappear. Someone else spotted this today when they changed route. It's a bug where the map doesn't immediately update when the route is changed in the settings.

It's actually similar to the map rotation bug that was mentioned earlier. In both cases the map is not being informed of a change in the settings. Both bugs will be fixed in the next version, which should be released soon after watchOS 10.

Amazing support, this should be the main, workout app on the Apple watch, period. 💪

 

[Mauki]

I tested always-On while running this morning. Apparently it doesn't work the way I thought. I assumed that with always-on I no longer have to turn my arm to activate WOD, and that WOD is always active.

Did I misunderstand that?

I activated always-on in the WOD settings when running and I also set the AWU itself to always-on. Was that right?

Otherwise never use always-on.

 

[cubodado]

Are you sure you did not activate low power mode on activities?

I quote cfc:

“
If the watch app is v5.1 then please check if you have low power mode on, because that disables the always on display. There is an option in Apple’s Settings app on the watch where you can enable low power mode during workouts, so please check that. It is in the Workout screen at the bottom of the main screen. If it is enabled then a yellow circle appears at the top of the screen when in a workout.

If none of that explains it then please try rebooting the watch, as that often fixes strange problems.”

 

[MLVC]

On a screenshot the corners look correct but on the actual watch they are rounded off, cutting off text, e.g. I can’t see the E from ROUTINE. Is there a setting to fix this as it looks a bit sloppy.

 

[Mauki]

Are you sure you did not activate low power mode on activities?

Ok, that‘s it. Yes i have low power mode activated.

 

[cfc]

View attachment 2258888
On a screenshot the corners look correct but on the actual watch they are rounded off, cutting off text, e.g. I can’t see the E from ROUTINE. Is there a setting to fix this as it looks a bit sloppy.

Sorry about that. The app is so configurable and uses up so much of the screen that there are times when some properties do not fit perfectly in some of the positions, especially with the rounded corners.

It would be a lot of work to handle those situations so I tend to leave it to the user to decide what they like and what they can live with. If I shrunk the text so that it would fit in those confined positions then it would probably look a bit odd unless I shrunk the text elsewhere on the screen, in places when it didn't need to be shrunk.

I try to make some of the positions wider than others. For example the middle position is slightly wider than the side positions. This is mainly for the time metric, because that is generally wider than other metrics, but you could put the button there, where it would be out of the way of the corners.

The way the app handles these issue (or doesn't in most cases) is far from perfect but I'm not sure there is a perfect solution whilst making the most of the limited real estate on the watch screen, especially whilst providing so much configurability.

 

[dblue]

@cfc not sure there is anything to be done by you, but any reason the ascent and descent are so far off? I have an AWU and if I use Always on Altimeter it is hilariously off. I did a run I know to be about 1800ft of gain and WO had be at 6800 ascent and 6300 descent. I change it to GPS and it is still way off occasionally. I did a run that is less then 200ft of ascent/descent and WO had me at over 600ft for both. Even more odd, using GPS altimeter I did an out and back run, the ascent was 1000ft (which is close enough to the Garmin I would buy it) but the descent was over 1600ft. Not sure how an out and back would have different numbers by that much. Is this just crappy Apple numbers, or is there any tweaks that can improve that? Cheers.

 

[Miggui]

Hi Ian, as I said, for running, when I press the action button (new interval) on my Apple Watch ultra, my interval screen switches by itself to one of the other two screens. I configured with a double tap to change screen. (previously it was a left or right swipe) but even changing it is the same thing. I don't know if others have the same problem but it's annoying because I can't track my interval data when I do interval training. THANKS

 

[cfc]

@cfc not sure there is anything to be done by you, but any reason the ascent and descent are so far off? I have an AWU and if I use Always on Altimeter it is hilariously off. I did a run I know to be about 1800ft of gain and WO had be at 6800 ascent and 6300 descent. I change it to GPS and it is still way off occasionally. I did a run that is less then 200ft of ascent/descent and WO had me at over 600ft for both. Even more odd, using GPS altimeter I did an out and back run, the ascent was 1000ft (which is close enough to the Garmin I would buy it) but the descent was over 1600ft. Not sure how an out and back would have different numbers by that much. Is this just crappy Apple numbers, or is there any tweaks that can improve that? Cheers.

The always on altimeter can have sudden spikes which is why it is not the default and I don't recommend it. My suspicion is that watchOS occasionally recalibrates and when it does then that correction causes a spike. That is just a guess though.

The default of not using the always on altimeter means using a combination of the GPS for absolute elevation and the barometer for relative elevation. This is usually ok but can struggle if the weather changes (which affects air pressure) and is also not great for generally flat routes because the barometer only reports to the nearest metre.

 

[cfc]

Hi Ian, as I said, for running, when I press the action button (new interval) on my Apple Watch ultra, my interval screen switches by itself to one of the other two screens. I configured with a double tap to change screen. (previously it was a left or right swipe) but even changing it is the same thing. I don't know if others have the same problem but it's annoying because I can't track my interval data when I do interval training. THANKS

I haven't heard of the screen changing when changing interval apart from the expected change of showing the screen configured for the new interval. Each interval has a configurable screen and if you don't change to a different screen then the app will show the configured screen for the current interval.

 

[Drock1119]

First off, thank you for everything that you do. I have toggled end of workout confirmation on and off and can’t get it to work. Once I hit end workout, it just goes back to the menu. Any advice?