Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

@cfc First of all, I got to say thanks for being so active on these forums and for addressing comments as they come up! Great app too!

I noticed that if you have the voice command on for pause/resume the activity that is stops the audio from other apps (in my case, a podcast). The podcast won't continue playing after the voice command is finished. I tried to restart my podcast from the now playing feature and also tried by reopening the podcast app but neither of these solved the issue. If you turn the voice commands off for play/pause, there is no issue. Somehow the two sources of audio conflict with each other.

Sorry - this is a bug in the current version. Apps need to negotiate with spoken audio in a different way to music and it is not doing this correctly. I have fixed it in the code, so it should be ok in the next version (with the Apple podcast app at least).

Sorry about that.

 

[Bob190]

I purchased your app a few years ago and really just started using it. I will echo others and would really love to see Stryd support along with other sensor support like cadence and speed sensors for cycling.

Just one thing to add to the wishlist .. I really like using a data field called "Wind Field" on my Garmin Edge. It displays the current wind direction and speed which is a great metric for cycling. Would be great to have something like this added to WOD as a custom field. Other weather fields would be welcome also, like temperature, etc.

Love the app, started using it as my primary running app, and for my cycling road rides. Keep up the great work.

 

[cfc]

I purchased your app a few years ago and really just started using it. I will echo others and would really love to see Stryd support along with other sensor support like cadence and speed sensors for cycling.

Just one thing to add to the wishlist .. I really like using a data field called "Wind Field" on my Garmin Edge. It displays the current wind direction and speed which is a great metric for cycling. Would be great to have something like this added to WOD as a custom field. I assume you have access to the weather data provided by Apple in WatchOS which does have the wind speed/direction. Other weather fields would be welcome also, like temperature, etc.

Love the app, started using it as my primary running app, and for my cycling road rides. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for buying the app; glad that you are now using it! As I say I am waiting to see what Apple announce next month before adding Stryd support. Hopefully they will do a lot of the work for me!

Unfortunately neither iOS nor watchOS give developers access to weather data. I am hoping that this may change in the future now that they have bought Dark Sky, but I doubt that will have any effect for a while. In the meantime I could get the weather data from a third-party, but this would involve on-going costs, which I couldn't afford with the current one-off payment business model.

If I do ever add a subscription for the features with on-going costs (such as topo maps, satellite maps, turn-by-turn navigation etc) then I will include the weather data in that. However I know that subscriptions put people off, so I have no plan to introduce one at the moment.

 

[Otto Pilot]

Speaking of external sensors that I would love to see supported....do you have any experience with the Runn treadmill sensor from North Pole Engineering. It appears that apps can support it and it gives accurate pace and distance metrics on a treadmill. This would be an awesome device to support if possible. My current use case need for this is having set up a walking desk on my treadmill and needing (ok wanting out of obsessive OCD) a way to track distance walked while not necessarily swinging my arms as I work on the computer. I suppose the Stryd would probably accomplish this too.

 

[Significant1]

Speaking of external sensors that I would love to see supported....do you have any experience with the Runn treadmill sensor from North Pole Engineering. It appears that apps can support it and it gives accurate pace and distance metrics on a treadmill. This would be an awesome device to support if possible. My current use case need for this is having set up a walking desk on my treadmill and needing (ok wanting out of obsessive OCD) a way to track distance walked while not necessarily swinging my arms as I work on the computer. I suppose the Stryd would probably accomplish this too.

Yes Stryd can accomplish this and not restricted to the treadmill. you can also switch treadmill during a workout and still keep track.

 

[cfc]

Speaking of external sensors that I would love to see supported....do you have any experience with the Runn treadmill sensor from North Pole Engineering. It appears that apps can support it and it gives accurate pace and distance metrics on a treadmill. This would be an awesome device to support if possible. My current use case need for this is having set up a walking desk on my treadmill and needing (ok wanting out of obsessive OCD) a way to track distance walked while not necessarily swinging my arms as I work on the computer. I suppose the Stryd would probably accomplish this too.

I haven't heard of that sensor. To be honest I don't really want to write lots of specific code to connect to each different sensor, so I will probably concentrate on the popular ones, starting with Stryd and seeing how that goes.

I am still hopeful that Apple will do most of the work, like they have with external heart rate sensors. However I have been hoping for that for several years now with nothing ever being added. Last year they announced practically nothing in terms of workout improvements so I am hoping they will make up for that this year.

 

[Joerot]

Hi, just a small question. If you run with WorkOutDoors, should the app also calculate a VO2 max and send this to the Apple Health app?

 

[cfc]

Hi, just a small question. If you run with WorkOutDoors, should the app also calculate a VO2 max and send this to the Apple Health app?

Yes, although it is calculated by watchOS/iOS rather than the app. I am avoiding showing Apple's VO2 Max in WorkOutDoors at the moment because of all the limitations. It is only calculated for walking or running and even then you need to exercise hard just to get a single reading.

I am sure there are good reasons for these limitations but I know that if I added it as a metric to the app then I would get lots of "why don't I see it?" and "why is it not updating?" questions. So when people ask I just say that they can see it in Apple's apps.

 

[Joerot]

Yes, although it is calculated by watchOS/iOS rather than the app. I am avoiding showing Apple's VO2 Max in WorkOutDoors at the moment because of all the limitations. It is only calculated for walking or running and even then you need to exercise hard just to get a single reading.

I am sure there are good reasons for these limitations but I know that if I added it as a metric to the app then I would get lots of "why don't I see it?" and "why is it not updating?" questions. So when people ask I just say that they can see it in Apple's apps.

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately I don't see VO2max in the health app. I have lots of running and bike workouts, but 0 VO2max calculations. Under 'data source' I only see WorkOutDoors, not the watch. I checked all privacy settings etc, but all seem ok.

 

[cfc]

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately I don't see VO2max in the health app. I have lots of running and bike workouts, but 0 VO2max calculations. Under 'data source' I only see WorkOutDoors, not the watch. I checked all privacy settings etc, but all seem ok.

If you go to the Summary tab and tap Show All Health Data, then scroll down to find VO2 Max (maybe in the Past 7 days section). Tap that and it shows the readings, as well as a long description of the limitations. As I say iOS/watchOS only seems to calculate it under certain circumstances, but you should see some readings if you have run hard enough, for long enough and with a decent heart rate signal.

It is all completely out of the control of the app. Hopefully Apple will improve the VO2 stuff, because at the moment it has too many limitations.

 

[Joerot]

If you go to the Summary tab and tap Show All Health Data, then scroll down to find VO2 Max (maybe in the Past 7 days section). Tap that and it shows the readings, as well as a long description of the limitations. As I say iOS/watchOS only seems to calculate it under certain circumstances, but you should see some readings if you have run hard enough, for long enough and with a decent heart rate signal.

It is all completely out of the control of the app. Hopefully Apple will improve the VO2 stuff, because at the moment it has too many limitations.

I understand this. However, I have 0 VO2max readings... Also in my Apple activity app, I never see heart rate data from 3rd party apps. I checked again and everything is 'checked' in the data source tabs...

 

[cfc]

I understand this. However, I have 0 VO2max readings... Also in my Apple activity app, I never see heart rate data from 3rd party apps. I checked again and everything is 'checked' in the data source tabs...

It sounds like the lack of heart rate is the problem and the lack of VO2 is a symptom of that problem. Apple require heart rate data in order to calculate VO2. When you look at workouts in WorkOutDoors can you see heart rates?

I suggest switching off the heart rate permissions; then rebooting both the watch and the iPhone; and then switching the heart rate permissions on again. There is a very rare bug in iOS / watchOS where it forgets the health permissions and this procedure seems to get them working again. Hopefully you will then see heart rates and VO2 for future workouts.

 

[Joerot]

It sounds like the lack of heart rate is the problem and the lack of VO2 is a symptom of that problem. Apple require heart rate data in order to calculate VO2. When you look at workouts in WorkOutDoors can you see heart rates?

I suggest switching off the heart rate permissions; then rebooting both the watch and the iPhone; and then switching the heart rate permissions on again. There is a very rare bug in iOS / watchOS where it forgets the health permissions and this procedure seems to get them working again. Hopefully you will then see heart rates and VO2 for future workouts.

I thought so as well, however WorkOutDoors perfectly shows heart rates. Also when I go to Apple Health, all heart rate data is shown. I'll try your suggestion.

 

[cfc]

I thought so as well, however WorkOutDoors perfectly shows heart rates. Also when I go to Apple Health, all heart rate data is shown. I'll try your suggestion.

In the Health permissions are both the reading and writing of the heart rate permitted? It sounds like the app can read the heart rate data but not write it.

If they both look fine then it could be the iOS/watchOS bug that I mentioned and hopefully the disable/reboot/enable procedure will fix it for the next workout.

 

[Joerot]

In the Health permissions are both the reading and writing of the heart rate permitted? It sounds like the app can read the heart rate data but not write it.

If they both look fine then it could be the iOS/watchOS bug that I mentioned and hopefully the disable/reboot/enable procedure will fix it for the next workout.

Yes everything is enabled, both read and write. Just to make sure, which 'heart rate permissions' do you exactly mean? Do you mean in the Apple watch app - privacy - heart rate. Or do you mean in the Apple health app all the different permissions for each reading?

 

[cfc]

Yes everything is enabled, both read and write. Just to make sure, which 'heart rate permissions' do you exactly mean? Do you mean in the Apple watch app - privacy - heart rate. Or do you mean in the Apple health app all the different permissions for each reading?

I was meaning in the Settings app on the iPhone: Privacy / Health / WorkOutDoors. But make sure the heart rate is enabled in the watch app as well. To be honest I didn't know that it was possible to control the permissions in the Health app as well.

This is getting quite confusing and probably not of much interest to others, so do you want to continue by emailing me at info@workoutdoors.net?

 

[q50]

Side Buttons and New Lap. This feature has worked before so that the screen has been dark and the new/manual lap has worked with both side buttons. Now I need to activate the screen by raising my hand up or pressing the screen first for the New Lap to work when press both side buttons. I removed the WOD (version 4.1.3) application from the Apple Watch (Series 4 (GPS), version 6.2.1) and reinstalled it, but the result is the same. No matter what the activity in question, everyone seems to work the same way. I have tried to force restart - the same result.
I don't like this feature. Is this a new feature or a bug or something else?

 

[cfc]

Side Buttons and New Lap. This feature has worked before so that the screen has been dark and the new/manual lap has worked with both side buttons. Now I need to activate the screen by raising my hand up or pressing the screen first for the New Lap to work when press both side buttons. I removed the WOD (version 4.1.3) application from the Apple Watch (Series 4 (GPS), version 6.2.1) and reinstalled it, but the result is the same. No matter what the activity in question, everyone seems to work the same way. I have tried to force restart - the same result.
I don't like this feature. Is this a new feature or a bug or something else?

Sorry - this is an issue that has been in the app since it was first released 3 years ago, but was surprisingly never spotted, and only pointed out to me recently. I have fixed it in the code, so it will be fixed in the next version.

 

[q50]

Sorry - this is an issue that has been in the app since it was first released 3 years ago, but was surprisingly never spotted, and only pointed out to me recently. I have fixed it in the code, so it will be fixed in the next version.

No problem, waiting for update.

I really like the app a lot. Keep up the good work.

 

[Otto Pilot]

Random question...is there a way to force a workout to sync back to the watch? On this mornings run, the workout synced to Apple Health, Strava, and shows up in the workout history on the watch app, but is not showing up in the workout list in the app on the phone.

 

[cfc]

Random question...is there a way to force a workout to sync back to the watch? On this mornings run, the workout synced to Apple Health, Strava, and shows up in the workout history on the watch app, but is not showing up in the workout list in the app on the phone.

Go to the workout history on the watch and select the workout. Then press the screen hard and tap "Resend to iPhone". It may also be worth rebooting the iPhone and the watch because if it did not sync automatically then there could be an issue with iOS and/or watchOS.

 

[Otto Pilot]

Oh thanks! I looked in there but didn’t think to hard press! I love this app!
[automerge]1589806815[/automerge]
And that worked a dream! Obsessive tracking can continue.

 

[sdz]

Can I use Watch Fitness App rather than "WorkoutDoors" for my activity measurements ?
I am missing a good Outdoor-Map during walks / runs but want to keep every activity in the Apple Activity App. So I want to use both apps in parallel.

Basically I need an Apple Maps replacement because it is lacking many roads / forest paths here in the Black Forest.

 

[cfc]

Can I use Watch Fitness App rather than "WorkoutDoors" for my activity measurements ?
I am missing a good Outdoor-Map during walks / runs but want to keep every activity in the Apple Activity App. So I want to use both apps in parallel.

Basically I need an Apple Maps replacement because it is lacking many roads / forest paths here in the Black Forest.

WorkOutDoors saves every workout to Apple's Health system as well as to its iPhone app, so you do not need to run Apple's Workout app at the same time: you will still see all your workouts in Apple's Health and Activity apps, even if you just use WorkOutDoors.

It is possible to run both apps at once if you want to, although watchOS only allows one app to be running a workout at any one time, so the first app that starts a workout will find that workout terminated when the second app starts a workout.

Another possibility for you is that WorkOutDoors has a "Map Only Mode" where it does not run a workout but simply displays a map. So you could use Apple's Workout app to create the workout whilst using WorkOutDoors for navigation. However this can be a hassle when switching between the apps during the workout, so it is much easier to use WorkOutDoors for both workout metrics and navigation.

 

[oeagleo]

WorkOutDoors saves every workout to Apple's Health system as well as to its iPhone app, so you do not need to run Apple's Workout app at the same time: you will still see all your workouts in Apple's Health and Activity apps, even if you just use WorkOutDoors.

It is possible to run both apps at once if you want to, although watchOS only allows one app to be running a workout at any one time, so the first app that starts a workout will find that workout terminated when the second app starts a workout.

Another possibility for you is that WorkOutDoors has a "Map Only Mode" where it does not run a workout but simply displays a map. So you could use Apple's Workout app to create the workout whilst using WorkOutDoors for navigation. However this can be a hassle when switching between the apps during the workout, so it is much easier to use WorkOutDoors for both workout metrics and navigation.

I'm not sure but I think SDZ is referring to the map that is actually in use, perhaps he wants to use a different map within WOD, not the one that the Watch uses. Probably something like the ability to use different maps with a Garmin, but I don't think Apple allows other maps to be installed.