Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[iamasmith]

All LGTM again, the wastchOS 10.1 didn't fix the missing complications direct but for anyone still experiencing this switch it to something else then back to WOD. Possibly something in the watchOS hanging on to a previous implementation mechanism. Anyway all good again.

 

[kalatos]

Hello,

Just discovered info about this brilliant app and would like to ask developer about the specific workouts and its options before buy the app.

I am using my AWU to register my outdoor swimming workouts as well as winter swimming. Is the application supports such workouts? Are you able to put somewhere in the configuration of workout to show current water temperature? Unfortunately Apple on their apps shows temperature only in diving app but as the sensor is build in it might be useful to show this value on the different apps like WOD.

Thanks in advance!
Łukasz

 

[cfc]

Hello,

Just discovered info about this brilliant app and would like to ask developer about the specific workouts and its options before buy the app.

I am using my AWU to register my outdoor swimming workouts as well as winter swimming. Is the application supports such workouts? Are you able to put somewhere in the configuration of workout to show current water temperature? Unfortunately Apple on their apps shows temperature only in diving app but as the sensor is build in it might be useful to show this value on the different apps like WOD.

Thanks in advance!
Łukasz

I haven’t added water temperature yet. I will do that when I next revisit the sensor functionality, but unfortunately that won‘t be in the near future because other features are currently higher priority. Sorry.

 

[kalatos]

I haven’t added water temperature yet. I will do that when I next revisit the sensor functionality, but unfortunately that won‘t be in the near future because other features are currently higher priority. Sorry.

Hello. Thanks for fast answer. When it might be when it comes to the timing ? How about swimming activities?

 

[cfc]

Hello. Thanks for fast answer. When it might be when it comes to the timing ? How about swimming activities?

I don't like to set myself deadlines because priorities change but it probably won't be until the second half of next year at the earliest, because navigation and custom activities are higher priority at the moment and both will take a long time.

When I finally get around to improving the sensors then if the water temperature is available for swimming (which I think it is) then I will make sure that the app will use it.

 

[blimundus]

I don't like to set myself deadlines because priorities change but it probably won't be until the second half of next year at the earliest, because navigation and custom activities are higher priority at the moment and both will take a long time.

When I finally get around to improving the sensors then if the water temperature is available for swimming (which I think it is) then I will make sure that the app will use it.

But, if that was also one of the questions, "swimming" is obviously already supported by WorkOutdoors, including indoor and outdoor, swimming strokes, etc...

 

[SisyphusMD]

During a recent run, near the end, all 3 bluetooth devices disconnected (AirPods, Polar H10, and next gen Stryd Pod). I'm sure this was a WatchOS issue, not a WorkOutDoors one. However, it meant that my power, cadence, heart rate, etc. data was broken for the rest of the run. Fortunately, distance, and therefore pace information continued to work as WorkOutDoors appeared to revert to taking that data from the Watch's GPS.

This had me thinking, when devices disconnect, could WorkOutDoors also revert to taking the above other data from the watch directly too? I.e., the heart rate, power, etc. data from the watch of course is not as accurate as the chest strap and stryd pod, but it would be better to use that data in a pinch rather than have not data at all.

 

[cfc]

During a recent run, near the end, all 3 bluetooth devices disconnected (AirPods, Polar H10, and next gen Stryd Pod). I'm sure this was a WatchOS issue, not a WorkOutDoors one. However, it meant that my power, cadence, heart rate, etc. data was broken for the rest of the run. Fortunately, distance, and therefore pace information continued to work as WorkOutDoors appeared to revert to taking that data from the Watch's GPS.

This had me thinking, when devices disconnect, could WorkOutDoors also revert to taking the above other data from the watch directly too? I.e., the heart rate, power, etc. data from the watch of course is not as accurate as the chest strap and stryd pod, but it would be better to use that data in a pinch rather than have not data at all.

In an ideal world it would work like that but it's not as easy as it sounds. The app tells watchOS at the beginning of the workout that it doesn't want those metrics so it would have to change that in the event of a disconnection. Also disconnections are usually temporary, so the sensor may reconnect a minute or so later and then you get a possibly inconsistent period of data (for example power varies a lot between sensors and watchOS). So it would be useful if the app pointed out the different sources during analysis, which is extra work.

The upshot is that it is a lot of work for something that doesn't happen very often. That's not to say that I won't add it in the future (possibly when I next look at sensors) but it's not high priority at the moment.

 

[wrj0]

Trying to get WOD on my AWU2 to show pool swim distance in yards. In More Settings, I've set Pool Length in Yards, and have the start screen set to 25 yd pool length, but after pressing Start, the display shows distance in meters - screen shots below. What am I missing? Thanks.

 

[cfc]

Trying to get WOD on my AWU2 to show pool swim distance in yards. In More Settings, I've set Pool Length in Yards, and have the start screen set to 25 yd pool length, but after pressing Start, the display shows distance in meters - screen shots below. What am I missing? Thanks.

Sorry, you can't show pool length in yards. The app allows to to specify the length in yards because that is how some pools are physically measured, but swimming distances are always shown in metres.

 

[wrj0]

Sorry, you can't show pool length in yards. The app allows to to specify the length in yards because that is how some pools are physically measured, but swimming distances are always shown in metres.

OK, thanks for your reply. Here, we're still going metric an inch at a time.

 

[dUnKle]

Ever since most recent update the icon for “workout doors” no longer shows as a complication.

Tried restarting watch but icon refuses to show

 

[cfc]

Ever since most recent update the icon for “workout doors” no longer shows as a complication.

Tried restarting watch but icon refuses to show

Try changing the complication to another app and then back to WorkOutDoors. Do this on the watch instead of the iPhone as that often fixes it for some reason.

The complications changed in the latest version of the app and watchOS seems to need prompting to realise it.

 

[dUnKle]

Try changing the complication to another app and then back to WorkOutDoors. Do this on the watch instead of the iPhone as that often fixes it for some reason.

The complications changed in the latest version of the app and watchOS seems to need prompting to realise it.

Thanks. Tried that as well as uninstalling it on watch and reinstalling. Still same sadly. For some reason I actually have two entries on the complications. One shows nothing and does nothing when pressed. The other shows nothing but at least opens app when tapped

 

[cfc]

Thanks. Tried that as well as uninstalling it on watch and reinstalling. Still same sadly. For some reason I actually have two entries on the complications. One shows nothing and does nothing when pressed. The other shows nothing but at least opens app when tapped

Hopefully it will appear at some time. It does seem to reappear for most people eventually. Are you using watchOS 10.1.1? It seems to have reappeared more often since that was released.

 

[dblue]

Setting up a new watch and running into an issue I don't remember from before. I set up the button commands to be

->Action button = pause/Resume
->Side and Crown = Lock Screen
->Side and Action = End workout

Action alone and side and crown work, but Side and Action look to be co-opted by the Apple Workout App. It shows the splash screen telling me it is going to pause the workout, then actually kicks me back to the Activity Select screen in Workoutdoors. This all worked fine on my old Ultra. What am I missing?

Also, is there a way to get rid of the splash screens (the apple ones, not the workoutdoors ones) when you hit the action button during a workout? I feel like those were not on my last watch, but they pop up anytime I hit action in a workout currently.

 

[cfc]

Setting up a new watch and running into an issue I don't remember from before. I set up the button commands to be

->Action button = pause/Resume
->Side and Crown = Lock Screen
->Side and Action = End workout

Action alone and side and crown work, but Side and Action look to be cooped by the Apple Workout App. It shows the splash screen telling me it is going to pause the workout, then actually kicks me back to the Activity Select screen in Workoutdoors. This all worked fine on my old Ultra. What am I missing?

Also, is there a way to get rid of the splash screens (the apple ones, not the workoutdoors ones) when you hit the action button during a workout? I feel like those were not on my last watch, but they pop up anytime I hit action in a workout currently.

The side and action button together are doing what you have configured them to do, but Apple have changed things in a recent version of watchOS to display that "Pause" screen, regardless of what the app actually does.

In your case it has correctly ended the workout. However it does not show the summary screen because presumably you are testing and the workout was less than 1 minute. In that case the app assumes that the workout was started in error and goes back to the main menu.

Unfortunately I don't think apps can control that orange screen that is displayed by watchOS when you use the action button.

 

[dblue]

D'oh. That makes sense (and worked correctly when I just let a test run for over a minute). Thanks for the prompt reply.
That splash screen is annoying, but as long as everything is working behind the scenes, I can live with it. Thanks!

 

[gr4z]

The watch can be unreliable if you wear it on top of a sleeve. Not because of the heart sensor but because of the security aspect. The fact that it was necessary to disable the passcode shows that it is not happy.

I just tested it on top of a sleeve and it worked fine for a couple of minutes. The always on display worked well and it could even read my heart (!) during those minutes but then it suddenly required the passcode. So I switched off the passcode and then I occasionally (but not often) experienced the same as you: it went black and took a while to wake up. This is because it thinks it is no longer on your wrist.

So unfortunately this is controlled by watchOS and there is nothing the app can do about it. However I did find that it worked well most of the time with the thin material that I used, so it may be worth experimenting with different sleeves if possible.

Hi, I have returned back to a AW after a long time with Garmin and first app to download is WOD. I have a question around wearing long sleeves during a workout.

I find WOD seems to try and end the workout frequently when wearing a coat or similar. I assume this is because erroneous touch screen inputs by my sleeve. I don't seem to get anywhere near the amounts when using the native workout app. Any typical reason?

I assume the best way forward would be to start with the water lock, but then I cannot easily swipe between screens. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

 

[cfc]

Hi, I have returned back to a AW after a long time with Garmin and first app to download is WOD. I have a question around wearing long sleeves during a workout.

I find WOD seems to try and end the workout frequently when wearing a coat or similar. I assume this is because erroneous touch screen inputs by my sleeve. I don't seem to get anywhere near the amounts when using the native workout app. Any typical reason?

I assume the best way forward would be to start with the water lock, but then I cannot easily swipe between screens. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

I haven't had many reports of workouts accidentally ending but it can happen. You could enable the Confirm Workout End option, which asks "Are You Sure?" but if your sleeves frequently do phantom touches then the Yes button may be pressed accidentally as well.

You could remove the End button from the long touch menu (Settings / Commands / Shortcuts) but make sure to enable it with some other shortcut (maybe using physical buttons).

 

[nexusone2012]

Is there a possibility we could see a trail running specific activity profile? I would like to have it differ slightly from running. Is there a way to make that already? Also, one feature I loved from Garmin was their trail running profile broke down time running and time walking within the total activity. I’m healing an injury and would like to see how much total walking vs running I’ve done on my weekly trail runs each session.

 

[cfc]

Is there a possibility we could see a trail running specific activity profile? I would like to have it differ slightly from running. Is there a way to make that already? Also, one feature I loved from Garmin was their trail running profile broke down time running and time walking within the total activity. I’m healing an injury and would like to see how much total walking vs running I’ve done on my weekly trail runs each session.

The app uses Apple’s workout system, so it is limited to the activity types that offers, which unfortunately do not include trail running. However in the future I plan to allow the ability to create custom activity types that map to Apple’s types, so you could create new activity types. Custom activities are probably top of my to-do list after I have added the navigation improvements, but that will take some time.

In terms of the times spent running and walking the app can display pace zones, including the time and percentage spent in each zone. So if your zones are configured to separate running from walking then you should be able to use that to see the times spent doing each.

 

[eulin87]

Hi, I have returned back to a AW after a long time with Garmin and first app to download is WOD. I have a question around wearing long sleeves during a workout.

I find WOD seems to try and end the workout frequently when wearing a coat or similar. I assume this is because erroneous touch screen inputs by my sleeve. I don't seem to get anywhere near the amounts when using the native workout app. Any typical reason?

I assume the best way forward would be to start with the water lock, but then I cannot easily swipe between screens. Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

maybe its the issue I was having because I thought the same thing but it was actually a bug that was closing my app. Happened when I downloaded the new beta version of Apple Watch. The only thing that has been ehlping is making sure to be on latest WOD and fully shutting down AW and restart.

 

[nyco]

Importing schedules from FIT files is on my to-do list. I have coded it up to work with the current interval schedules, but they don’t yet support nested repeat loops.

I asked on these forums a few months back and most people said there would be complaints if I released without supporting nested repeats. So I decided to hold fire because nested loops would take a while to implement and there are higher priorities at the moment.

However watchOS does not allow nested loops in structured workouts either and watchOS 10 allows other systems to send it workouts. So the nested loop restriction doesn't sound too bad now.

My current plan is to wait and see how Training Peaks and other systems utilise the new watchOS 10 schedule importing and then decide what to do.

Glad you like the app!

Hi. Apologies for the basic question: I see that Final Surge has now implemented a way to feed the native workout app with their intervals. Once completed, the training is then pushed back to Final Surge. If that is possible with the apple app, why is it not in WOD?

I am now using the native app because of that integration but miss all the extra perks of WOD.

Thanks!

 

[cfc]

Hi. Apologies for the basic question: I see that Final Surge has now implemented a way to feed the native workout app with their intervals. Once completed, the training is then pushed back to Final Surge. If that is possible with the apple app, why is it not in WOD?

I am now using the native app because of that integration but miss all the extra perks of WOD.

Thanks!

Unfortunately intervals created in one app (such as Final Surge) are not visible to other apps such as WOD. They can only be seen by Apple's native Workout app. So I couldn't use that as a mechanism to get intervals from FS to WOD.

At least that is what I was told by Apple during a one-to-one session during WWDC.