Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[blimundus]

Over the weekend, I restored my Running Screens back to their defaults, created a 12k route in RideWithGPS (exported as a TCX route), put in my headphones, and went for a run with the latest WOD beta.

- The navigation was excellent. The voice prompts came at exactly the right time, my podcast player paused and started playing again etc.
- I changed some settings while I was running: I disabled the haptics because I don't need those when I have headphones.
- Not sure whether this information came from the RideWithGPS or from WOD itself, but for some turns, WOD started using streetnames (also for the voice prompts). This was confusing for two reasons: (i) the navigation prompt simply mentioned the streetnames, without indicating whether I should go left or right, and (ii) since I don't live in an English speaking area, the pronunciation of the street names did not make any sense (even more so because in a number of cases the street name appeared to be truncated). And for a couple of turns, WOD just said "Sharp" rather than "Sharp left" or even "Sharp streetname".
- Opening the TCX file in a text editor shows that there are indeed streetnames embedded in there. Not sure whether WOD was adding anything on top of that.


My takeaway:
- After all those years of fiddling with settings, going back to the default screens was a good experience.
- Street names in voice alerts is complicated, especially when mixing different languages... Simply using left/right is easier to understand... Although seeing the street name on screen in case of doubt could be useful.
- I went through the WOD log of the run, which is always very helpful. Voice alerts are not shown there, just Screen messages. But that was enough to confirm what I had been hearing during the run.

All in all, a good run.

 

[cfc]

Over the weekend, I restored my Running Screens back to their defaults, created a 12k route in RideWithGPS (exported as a TCX route), put in my headphones, and went for a run with the latest WOD beta.

- The navigation was excellent. The voice prompts came at exactly the right time, my podcast player paused and started playing again etc.
- I changed some settings while I was running: I disabled the haptics because I don't need those when I have headphones.
- Not sure whether this information came from the RideWithGPS or from WOD itself, but for some turns, WOD started using streetnames (also for the voice prompts). This was confusing for two reasons: (i) the navigation prompt simply mentioned the streetnames, without indicating whether I should go left or right, and (ii) since I don't live in an English speaking area, the pronunciation of the street names did not make any sense (even more so because in a number of cases the street name appeared to be truncated). And for a couple of turns, WOD just said "Sharp" rather than "Sharp left" or even "Sharp streetname".
- Opening the TCX file in a text editor shows that there are indeed streetnames embedded in there. Not sure whether WOD was adding anything on top of that.


My takeaway:
- After all those years of fiddling with settings, going back to the default screens was a good experience.
- Street names in voice alerts is complicated, especially when mixing different languages... Simply using left/right is easier to understand... Although seeing the street name on screen in case of doubt could be useful.
- I went through the WOD log of the run, which is always very helpful. Voice alerts are not shown there, just Screen messages. But that was enough to confirm what I had been hearing during the run.

All in all, a good run.

Glad it went well. In the latest beta I changed what is read out for navigation waypoints from the description to the name.

However from the feedback I have received (thanks everyone!) I have now realised that I probably need to allow the user to configure what is read out. For some route files the name of the waypoint is perfect and the description is too long. But for others the name is often truncated and the description is better because it includes more detail.

My latest plan is to offer the ability to choose between description, name and also the image. So if the image is a left turn then it would just say Turn Left. I could then translate that for the current language, which would be my first attempt at translation for this app!

I will probably make it so that the image is used by default because I have more control over that, and because it would work in different languages. I haven't decided yet though.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[daanjj]

If you implement this 3-way option (name, description or image where WOD translates the image to spoken word) that would be an absolute fantastic solution to this issue. Somebody said a few days ago that WOD now is perfect - I think it is going to be far beyond perfect!

 

[muellered]

The usual reason for file transfer problems is because you use an audio app on your watch and this is transferring large files. Unfortunately iOS / watchOS only allow one app to transfer data at a time, so when this happens WorkOutDoors has to wait. The reason I mention audio files is because they can be large and take a long time to transfer.

There are a couple of things that may help. Firstly try switching Bluetooth off on both the phone and the watch. If both are connected to WiFi then any data transfers will be much faster and the audio file will finish transferring much quicker. Apple use Bluetooth by default because it uses less power, but it is very slow.

Secondly some people have reported that starting a dummy workout on the watch can help because it gives the app higher priority in the eyes of watchOS. However I can’t confirm this because I never get any file transfer problems (probably because I rarely use audio apps). An outdoor activity type is apparently best because it makes the app use GPS which may increase its priority.

I tried the bluetooth off option and starting a workout as well, neither worked.

For some reason the next time i opened the app it opened as a new instance and the maps then got transferred, so thankfully somehow it worked this time!

 

[cfc]

I tried the bluetooth off option and starting a workout as well, neither worked.

For some reason the next time i opened the app it opened as a new instance and the maps then got transferred, so thankfully somehow it worked this time!

My guess is that the other transfer finished by then. Out of interest were you using the beta and were you transferring the standard Mapbox maps or Thunderforest maps?

 

[oboe5150]

Please let me know if you spot any issues with the app running on iOS 26. I have had a quick look and can't see anything obvious but I haven't fully tested it yet.

Hi all - watch and iOS 26 installed, initial testing looking good (fancy visual when hitting the Action button on the Ultra). Will test further over the coming days. Great update

 

[lucco78]

So... made the first run with WOD (the last beta) on WatchOS 26 beta 1: for me, no problem at all!
I made an interval run, with music from my Apple Watch Ultra 2. Always On screen OK, notify OK, voice OK, pause & resume OK.

Bye and Thanks

 

[cfc]

Hi all - watch and iOS 26 installed, initial testing looking good (fancy visual when hitting the Action button on the Ultra). Will test further over the coming days. Great update

So... made the first run with WOD (the last beta) on WatchOS 26 beta 1: for me, no problem at all!
I made an interval run, with music from my Apple Watch Ultra 2. Always On screen OK, notify OK, voice OK, pause & resume OK.

Bye and Thanks

That is great to hear! Thanks for testing it. Hopefully it will continue to work well through the watchOS / iOS beta period over the Summer.

I am pleasantly surprised because there are usually a few issues with the first few watchOS / iOS betas, especially when the user interface has changed so much. So this is very promising from the point of view of WOD and also in terms of the stability of iOS / watchOS 26 generally. It's early days though...

 

[muellered]

My guess is that the other transfer finished by then. Out of interest were you using the beta and were you transferring the standard Mapbox maps or Thunderforest maps?

Nope, I am using the latest public release version available on the App Store, on an Apple Watch SE.
And transferring Thunderforest maps.

P.S.: eagerly yet patiently waiting for using the new version with the navigation on upcoming hikes, so hoping it goes through beta testing as smoothly and fast as possible!

 

[BrianGGG]

Seems like turn-by-turn is quite good and IOS 26 won’t be a huge problem. So @cfc will have lots of time on his hands for enhancements. 😃

I’d like to put in a vote for iCloud support to save profile screens workouts etc because

1 importing restoring transferring WOD is a bit fragile at the moment.
2 it would allow me to analyze workouts on the bigger screen of an iPad

Any possibility of this showing up in the future ?? I’m getting a new iPhone soon and I’m dreading the process of getting WOD running with all of my settings on the new device

 

[cfc]

Seems like turn-by-turn is quite good and IOS 26 won’t be a huge problem. So @cfc will have lots of time on his hands for enhancements. 😃

I’d like to put in a vote for iCloud support to save profile screens workouts etc because

1 importing restoring transferring WOD is a bit fragile at the moment.
2 it would allow me to analyze workouts on the bigger screen of an iPad

Any possibility of this showing up in the future ?? I’m getting a new iPhone soon and I’m dreading the process of getting WOD running with all of my settings on the new device

I will add iCloud support at some time, but not in the near future. Sorry about that. The navigation release and then the new hardware and software in September will probably keep me busy until November (especially if there is a new Ultra 3 with a different screen size). After that custom activity types and the ability to import interval schedules are top of the list. So iCloud support won't happen for this year's new iPhones. Maybe next year.

If you don't restore a new iPhone from the full backup of an old iPhone then you can copy all the files to a computer by using Apple's File Sharing mechanism and then copy them to the new phone afterwards. It also means that you have a backup if necessary.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201301 (Windows)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598 (MacOS)

I have no plans to build an iPad version of the app. If you want to analyse on a bigger screen then I recommend Strava or other similar systems. WOD is more about the experience during a workout. Even the iPhone app is just for configuration before a workout and basic analysis afterwards. Unfortunately an iPad app would not even be able to offer configuration because it can't connect with an Apple Watch.

 

[BrianGGG]

I will add iCloud support at some time, but not in the near future. Sorry about that. The navigation release and then the new hardware and software in September will probably keep me busy until November (especially if there is a new Ultra 3 with a different screen size). After that custom activity types and the ability to import interval schedules are top of the list. So iCloud support won't happen for this year's new iPhones. Maybe next year.

If you don't restore a new iPhone from the full backup of an old iPhone then you can copy all the files to a computer by using Apple's File Sharing mechanism and then copy them to the new phone afterwards. It also means that you have a backup if necessary.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201301 (Windows)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598 (MacOS)

I have no plans to build an iPad version of the app. If you want to analyse on a bigger screen then I recommend Strava or other similar systems. WOD is more about the experience during a workout. Even the iPhone app is just for configuration before a workout and basic analysis afterwards. Unfortunately an iPad app would not even be able to offer configuration because it can't connect with an Apple Watch.

Thanks, and it's understood that iCloud is not a high-priority item.

I didn't have anything to suggest that would be "iPad only". I was thinking about a few things:

1) I like the WOD analysis of workouts a lot better than Strava or anything else. It would be nice to have access to the workouts tab on other devices with larger screens.

2) Routes and Screens would be easier to maintain on a larger screen (my opinion)

I guess I didn't realize that this would be more of an effort. Thanks for commenting on this.

 

[zach471]

I’m not getting a notification when coming up to a turn point. I get other notifications (e.g., climbs), but not turns. Wondering if this is because I’m using the wrong kind of GPX file. These are my current settings

 

[cfc]

I’m not getting a notification when coming up to a turn point. I get other notifications (e.g., climbs), but not turns. Wondering if this is because I’m using the wrong kind of GPX file. These are my current settings

Does the route have navigation waypoints? To check go to the Waypoints tab for the route in the iPhone app.

If it doesn't then the app has a Detect Bends option if you tap the '...' button in the top right corner. This option looks at the shape of the route to try to determine bends. It is not perfect but probably better than nothing.

 

[zach471]

Does the route have navigation waypoints? To check go to the Waypoints tab for the route in the iPhone app.

If it doesn't then the app has a Detect Bends option if you tap the '...' button in the top right corner. This option looks at the shape of the route to try to determine bends. It is not perfect but probably better than nothing.

It does have the waypoints. That was my first thought, maybe I was using a course as opposed to route.

 

[zach471]

Does the route have navigation waypoints? To check go to the Waypoints tab for the route in the iPhone app.

If it doesn't then the app has a Detect Bends option if you tap the '...' button in the top right corner. This option looks at the shape of the route to try to determine bends. It is not perfect but probably better than nothing.

Wait…. You’re right. Doesn’t have the turns.

 

[cfc]

It does have the waypoints. That was my first thought, maybe I was using a course as opposed to route.

Have you looked at the waypoints in that tab? The 5 waypoints shown in the tab title are probably the ones auto-generated by WOD: start, half-way, end, highest point and lowest point.

 

[estesbubba]

1) I like the WOD analysis of workouts a lot better than Strava or anything else. It would be nice to have access to the workouts tab on other devices with larger screens.

HealthFit is way better than Strava or anything else for analyzing workouts, works on the iPad, and is like $6.