Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

I have an issue where WOD occasionally doesn't provide any of the voice alerts for several minutes into my run, then will suddenly reel all the missed alerts off simultaniously before continuing on-time. I haven't done any specific testing but this seems to happen predominantly when listening to music on my airpods. It's not a huge issue but it has been annoying recently when not getting pace notifications during intervals.

I would guess this is something to do with WatchOS not having the resource the play them and queing the alerts up for when it does?

Any suggestion on how to fix this? I'm using an Apple Watch Ultra 1, Airpods Pro - Not connected to phone.

Thank you.

I have heard of this a couple of times over the last couple of months and both times were from people using voice alerts on the iPhone. Are your headphones connected to your phone?

I assume that either watchOS is batching up the messages that the app sends to the phone (maybe because the watch is sending data from another app) or the phone is not waking up the app in response to those messages. Unfortunately it’s very rare and so impossible to reproduce and maybe not possible to work around. I assume it is something in your setup (maybe a particular iPhone or watch app) that causes the problem.

If you can then try connecting the AirPods to the watch. Also try to minimise the apps used on both devices in case one of them is causing the problem.

 

[cfc]

I have heard of this a couple of times over the last couple of months and both times were from people using voice alerts on the iPhone. Are your headphones connected to your phone?

I assume that either watchOS is batching up the messages that the app sends to the phone (maybe because the watch is sending data from another app) or the phone is not waking up the app in response to those messages. Unfortunately it’s very rare and so impossible to reproduce and maybe not possible to work around. I assume it is something in your setup (maybe a particular iPhone or watch app) that causes the problem.

If you can then try connecting the AirPods to the watch. Also try to minimise the apps used on both devices in case one of them is causing the problem.

Sorry, just seen that you said that your AirPods aren't connected to the phone. In that case I haven't heard of that. Maybe try rebooting the watch now and before a run and making sure as few apps as possible are running.

 

[Mauki]

Is there a way to get an graphical pacer like in the Apple Trainings App? I use thes App for 5 KM runs. I love this bar where I can see if I am too fast or too slow. I can see it graphically better than a number.

 

[cfc]

Is there a way to get an graphical pacer like in the Apple Trainings App? I use thes App for 5 KM runs. I love this bar where I can see if I am too fast or too slow. I can see it graphically better than a number.

No-one has ever asked for that before. I hadn’t seen it but did a quick google and it looks useful. I will add it to my list but it will be low down unless it becomes a popular request. Sorry about that.

 

[Mauki]

No-one has ever asked for that before.

Really, I can't imagine this

I hadn’t seen it but did a quick google and it looks useful.

Yes very useful, better than a number.

I will add it to my list but it will be low down unless it becomes a popular request. Sorry about that.

Ok, I will wait.

 

[cfc]

Really, I can't imagine this

I honestly had to google it to see what you meant.

I probably don't check out what other apps offer as much as I should...

 

[Mauki]

I honestly had to google it to see what you meant.

I probably don't check out what other apps offer as much as I should...

That's why there are us users who send you suggestions for functions

Look, what I found

WorkOutDoors: New workout features

Is there a pacer function in WOD? I like the pacer from the Apple Sportsapp.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[cfc]

That's why there are us users who send you suggestions for functions

Look, what I found

WorkOutDoors: New workout features

Is there a pacer function in WOD? I like the pacer from the Apple Sportsapp.

forums.macrumors.com

My memory isn’t great either!

 

[jimmyjoy]

Sorry, just seen that you said that your AirPods aren't connected to the phone. In that case I haven't heard of that. Maybe try rebooting the watch now and before a run and making sure as few apps as possible are running.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I will try giving it a reboot and closing other apps before use.

I really don't ue many apps on the watch, bar music and WOD but I have had this issue for several months.

 

[cfc]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I will try giving it a reboot and closing other apps before use.

I really don't ue many apps on the watch, bar music and WOD but I have had this issue for several months.

Maybe try unpairing the watch from the iPhone and then re-pairing it. It is a lot of hassle but often fixes strange problems.

 

[longhilljohn]

Ever since I walked through the manual update to WOD 5.4.8 on the watch, I'm unable to get the Action button on my AWU (1) to obey. My preferred Action button sequence is first press launch WOD. In app, Action does precision start of a workout, then pause, resume, pause, resume. That's how it has worked for me for almost as long as I've had an action button (and thank you so much for WOD being an early adopter... you truly made the AWU a better device for this hobbyist triathlete than my old Garmin). I hate to send a tech support style question for what feels like a settings issue, but I'm starting to think it's a bug because no matter how many settings I change related to Action, I can not get back to the old behavior. The current flaw is that I get first press behavior at the START screen, just looping me back to WOD (not starting the workout). Doesn't sound like a huge deal, as I can click start with my finger and then the action button does pause and resume the way I want it. The problem is I'm so accustomed to using the Action button for precision start that I've had a few runs where I don't even realize my first Action button click while sitting at the menu waiting for a HR lock is failing to actually start my activity, therefore I'm failing to record the activity until I get to my first need to pause, e.g. at an intersection and then when I click Action to pause I look down only to see "START" still staring at me.

WOD 5.4.8 (both phone and watch)
watchOS 10.5

Sorry for the boring action button story. It's just driving me insane. Thanks for reading.

 

[cfc]

Ever since I walked through the manual update to WOD 5.4.8 on the watch, I'm unable to get the Action button on my AWU (1) to obey. My preferred Action button sequence is first press launch WOD. In app, Action does precision start of a workout, then pause, resume, pause, resume. That's how it has worked for me for almost as long as I've had an action button (and thank you so much for WOD being an early adopter... you truly made the AWU a better device for this hobbyist triathlete than my old Garmin). I hate to send a tech support style question for what feels like a settings issue, but I'm starting to think it's a bug because no matter how many settings I change related to Action, I can not get back to the old behavior. The current flaw is that I get first press behavior at the START screen, just looping me back to WOD (not starting the workout). Doesn't sound like a huge deal, as I can click start with my finger and then the action button does pause and resume the way I want it. The problem is I'm so accustomed to using the Action button for precision start that I've had a few runs where I don't even realize my first Action button click while sitting at the menu waiting for a HR lock is failing to actually start my activity, therefore I'm failing to record the activity until I get to my first need to pause, e.g. at an intersection and then when I click Action to pause I look down only to see "START" still staring at me.

WOD 5.4.8 (both phone and watch)
watchOS 10.5

Sorry for the boring action button story. It's just driving me insane. Thanks for reading.

I don't know of any specific action button issues with 5.4.8. It was a small bug fix release. People often report action button issues but that isn't one that I have heard of recently.

The action button is my least favourite area of watchOS. It has been flaky since the Ultra first appeared. I probably need to revisit it at some time because the app was such an early adopter. Apple didn't tell developers how to do it for several months, so I was just working with unofficial stuff on Twitter. I probably need to go back and check that it conforms to the official documentation that was eventually published. However I hated coding it so much because of the lack of documentation and the fact that it was so unreliable, so I am in no hurry to get back to it.

I will add it to my list of things to look at but to be honest I am busy on other stuff and unless more people start having problems then it probably won't get to the top of the list. Sorry about that.

 

[Backe]

Maybe try unpairing the watch from the iPhone and then re-pairing it. It is a lot of hassle but often fixes strange problems.

I have the same problem every now and again. Before it crashed, now it's just s delayed voice notification on the first kilometer. Once I reach the second km, I get the first readout, then the second. Then it works fine after that. Really odd. I run with watch only, not connected to anything. I suspected it had something to do with forgetting to close the last run (the finish screen), and only just close it a few minutes before the new one. But that's just a theory.

 

[mgmooij]

I would also be very interested to hear how people are getting on with it. I have heard from a couple of people who have had communication issues when using it, but watchOS 10.5 seems a bit flaky in that area, so those issues may not be related to watchOS 11.

Today I ran a simple run (no intervals or route) with the latest beta’s. WOD and also Wathos dev beta. I had no specific issues with WOD, all went as before 🙂. I had some troubles starting music on my Airpods but that was Watchos related and before I even started WOD. I also tried sending maps before the run, and during the run I switched twice to the map screen and all looked normal 👍.

I ran without phone, with LTE and music on Airpods.

The new training load functionality didn’t work automatic after the WOD session but I can add it manually if I want.

WOD 5.4.8 - iPhone 15 pro - AWU1 - IOS 18 beta 1 (522A5282m) Watch OS 11 beta 1 (22R5284o)

 

[cfc]

Today I ran a simple run (no intervals or route) with the latest beta’s. WOD and also Wathos dev beta. I had no specific issues with WOD, all went as before 🙂. I had some troubles starting music on my Airpods but that was Watchos related and before I even started WOD. I also tried sending maps before the run, and during the run I switched twice to the map screen and all looked normal 👍.

I ran without phone, with LTE and music on Airpods.

The new training load functionality didn’t work automatic after the WOD session but I can add it manually if I want.

WOD 5.4.8 - iPhone 15 pro - AWU1 - IOS 18 beta 1 (522A5282m) Watch OS 11 beta 1 (22R5284o)

That's great feedback, especially as it worked so well. Many thanks!

 

[conrados]

Amazing and very complete app.

Only thing that I miss would be pace over 500 m, standard in rowing.

Keep up the good work. 👍

 

[cfc]

Amazing and very complete app.

Only thing that I miss would be pace over 500 m, standard in rowing.

Keep up the good work. 👍

That is on my to-do list (as well as pace / 100m for swimming), but probably not in the near future. Sorry about that.

Glad you like the app!

 

[pina]

Is it possible or will it be possible to have weather data included in the workouts? It's always interesting to be able to know whether it was got because it can affect performance pretty much

 

[cfc]

I may add weather information in the future but only if I can find somewhere that provides the data for free (which I can't at the moment).

Apple started providing it for free up to a point in watchOS 9 but I am not sure how much it would cost me after that point. The app’s business model of a one-off payment doesn’t allow for any more on-going costs. I will probably look into it again at some time but it isn't in my immediate plans. Sorry about that.

 

[kabzior]

I may add weather information in the future but only if I can find somewhere that provides the data for free (which I can't at the moment).

Try here:

https://klimat.app/

This is the application I used when using Suunto - after connecting the accounts, the training was sent from Suunto to the klimat.app and was supplemented with weather data, came back and then was displayed in the Suunto history with weather information.
I don't know how it works and whether you could use it, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look

 

[cfc]

Try here:

https://klimat.app/

This is the application I used when using Suunto - after connecting the accounts, the training was sent from Suunto to the klimat.app and was supplemented with weather data, came back and then was displayed in the Suunto history with weather information.
I don't know how it works and whether you could use it, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look

Unfortunately that is intended for users rather than for apps. And ideally I would want to provide weather information ahead of and during a workout, as well as when analysing a workout. Thanks for the link though. I hadn't heard of them before.

 

[noel18]

Is it possible or will it be possible to have weather data included in the workouts? It's always interesting to be able to know whether it was got because it can affect performance pretty much

As a workaround, if you sync to Strava they add weather data to your runs. I can't recall though, that may be a paid feature. There are also free services that use Strava's APIs to add weather to you runs after syncing to Strava. I use one called DewMe which is more focused on the dew point which is a much better metric than the temp or RH. DewMe also include the wind. For example, it will tell you how many miles of your run were into a headwind. It also gives you an adjusted pace based on the weather.

 

[JohnTheBaton]

Have you tried rebooting both devices? The communication between iOS and watchOS seems to have got less reliable recently (especially with the bug in iOS 17.5) and this seems more common. If rebooting doesn't help then reinstalling the watch app (not the iPhone app) can help, and sometimes it is even necessary to unpair and re-pair the watch. Sorry about that.

I was hoping that the comms would be more reliable with iOS 18 / watchOS 11, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case.

On the upside no-one has yet reported an issue with the betas that isn't in the current release versions. I can't remember the last time that was the case with the first betas at this time of the year, so I am cautiously optimistic about the new versions of the operating systems.

Not sure what’s different, but I just did a 13 mile hike and had no problem transferring the maps from iPhone to Apple Watch. I had tried closing everything and rebooting both devices prior. I think it just seems to not quite work every time. But that’s typical of most apps I use that involve transferring data to the watch, including Apple’s native apps, so I think it’s just the reality of how Apple manages data transfers.

In any case, WorkOutDoors was the least buggy of all the apps on my watch! Everything was perfectly smooth on the watch developer beta. Meanwhile the Apple Maps app closed 5-6 times, the watch complications are all buggy, and the compass app has slowed to a crawl. I’m glad WOD is working so smoothly this early in the developer beta!

 

[cfc]

Not sure what’s different, but I just did a 13 mile hike and had no problem transferring the maps from iPhone to Apple Watch. I had tried closing everything and rebooting both devices prior. I think it just seems to not quite work every time. But that’s typical of most apps I use that involve transferring data to the watch, including Apple’s native apps, so I think it’s just the reality of how Apple manages data transfers.

In any case, WorkOutDoors was the least buggy of all the apps on my watch! Everything was perfectly smooth on the watch developer beta. Meanwhile the Apple Maps app closed 5-6 times, the watch complications are all buggy, and the compass app has slowed to a crawl. I’m glad WOD is working so smoothly this early in the developer beta!

That is good to hear! Usually at this time of year I have to explain to watchOS beta testers that the app may not work on their watch until September (or until I release a beta with workarounds), so this year is a refreshing change. Of course everything could change with beta 2...

In terms of data transfer sometimes working and sometime not working, as you say that could be because of how file transfers are managed. It seems that they can only happen one at a time, so if another app is transferring a file then WorkOutDoors has to wait. And if that app is transferring a very large file (e.g. audio) then it can be a long wait.

A couple of people have reported that starting a dummy workout can help but I have never been able to confirm this. It would make some sense though because an app running a workout is considered more important by watchOS in some ways, so that may include prioritising file transfers. Although as I say I have never been able to confirm this and for them the other data transfer could have just finished when they started a dummy workout.

 

[Yeahbsolutely]

Unfortunately that is intended for users rather than for apps. And ideally I would want to provide weather information ahead of and during a workout, as well as when analysing a workout. Thanks for the link though. I hadn't heard of them before.

What about Yr.no (Norwegian Meteorological Institute)?