Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

I commented once before that the pace in my app during a running workout is all over the place. I adjusted the sensitivity of it and it was still totally inaccurate. It was anywhere from 9:00 to 12:00 pace, and one of my miles was in the 8’s.

Is there anything to fix this?? No other running app does this. I want to use this app because I feel the distance is more accurate than the stock Apple app but this pace issue is really bad.

As an aside, does this app use the GPS differently, like make more connections with the satellite? The distance is much more accurate than the Apple app on the same routes.

The instantaneous pace can be erratic for some people in the current version. Sorry about that. I have fixed this in the next version, which will be released in a few days.

By default the app uses Apple's calibrated pedometer-based distance estimates, so in theory the distances should be the same as other apps that use Apple's estimates. However there is also the option to calculate the distances purely from the GPS, which some people find more accurate. So maybe you have switched to using that?

To check press the watch screen hard and tap Settings then More, and look for the "Use Calibrated Distances" switch. Note that just using the GPS makes you vulnerable to poor GPS signals, whereas the calibrated pedometer distances should be unaffected by that.

 

[MJ22]

The instantaneous pace can be erratic for some people in the current version. Sorry about that. I have fixed this in the next version, which will be released in a few days.

By default the app uses Apple's calibrated pedometer-based distance estimates, so in theory the distances should be the same as other apps that use Apple's estimates. However there is also the option to calculate the distances purely from the GPS, which some people find more accurate. So maybe you have switched to using that?

To check press the watch screen hard and tap Settings then More, and look for the "Use Calibrated Distances" switch. Note that just using the GPS makes you vulnerable to poor GPS signals, whereas the calibrated pedometer distances should be unaffected by that.

Yes, I have it switched to just GPS - I’ll try what you said and look forward to the update!

 

[twisted-pixel]

just curious, but I often do the same route on my trail runs. Is there a way I can tag the route and get a comparison? eg if I'm running, I can glance at my watch and see that I am 15 seconds behind my previous run, or at the end I can see my time was 5th fastest that I've run the route.

just remembered the term. I want a ghost runner

 

[cfc]

just curious, but I often do the same route on my trail runs. Is there a way I can tag the route and get a comparison? eg if I'm running, I can glance at my watch and see that I am 15 seconds behind my previous run, or at the end I can see my time was 5th fastest that I've run the route.

just remembered the term. I want a ghost runner

Not at the moment but I plan to add that in the future. It will then work in the same way as the existing Target Pace feature. This offers metrics showing the time or distance ahead or behind the target, and the target indicated by a moving dot on the map. The only difference will be that the target position can be calculated from a previous workout instead of using a constant pace.

In the meantime you could use the Target Pace with the average pace from a previous workout. It's not as good as the varying pace of a previous workout, but may help.

 

[ElDuderino91]

Hi cfc, thank you for this awesome app! Here in Germany it is mentioned in a lot of blogs and online magazines. I use it for mountain biking, hiking, running and even walking with my dog. And it could also be the best app for metal detecting if a few improvements were made. There should be an easy accessible POI function so I could save the coordinates of special finds. And if I could tag them with a photo it would be the all-in-one package for us hardcore metal-detectorists! (If we find a ancient roman artefact for example, then we have to save the coordinates and document everything with fotos to report it to the archaeologists)

My Wishlist:
POI
Photos
Metal-Detecting (I mean if there is a Hunting mode in the training app, why not implement a md-mode.. )

What mode would you recommend for metal detecting? 6 hours of searching and digging in the ground can burn a lot of calories, i can tell....

Thanks

 

[SBruv]

Just complete my first hike with WOD, and I'm very impressed indeed. The customisation is deep and comprehensive, the vector-based map is responsive and accurate, and the amount of data presented after a workout is just mind-blowing. It feels like the walking/running app the AW was made for – amazing work, cfc!

 

[cfc]

Hi cfc, thank you for this awesome app! Here in Germany it is mentioned in a lot of blogs and online magazines. I use it for mountain biking, hiking, running and even walking with my dog. And it could also be the best app for metal detecting if a few improvements were made. There should be an easy accessible POI function so I could save the coordinates of special finds. And if I could tag them with a photo it would be the all-in-one package for us hardcore metal-detectorists! (If we find a ancient roman artefact for example, then we have to save the coordinates and document everything with fotos to report it to the archaeologists)

My Wishlist:
POI
Photos
Metal-Detecting (I mean if there is a Hunting mode in the training app, why not implement a md-mode.. )

What mode would you recommend for metal detecting? 6 hours of searching and digging in the ground can burn a lot of calories, i can tell....

Thanks

Thanks for buying the app. It is great to hear that it gets mentioned a lot in Germany! I suggest either Walking or Other Outdoor for metal detecting. The app offers a subset of the activities offered by Apple and unfortunately metal detecting is not one of them.

I will add POI creation in the future but in the meantime if you start a new interval when you want to create a POI then you can export a GPX file the contains waypoints for the new interval positions (in the Export Options settings). It's not proper POI creation, but may help.

No-one has asked for photo functionality before, but it is something that I am investigating as a side-project.
[automerge]1596203167[/automerge]

Just complete my first hike with WOD, and I'm very impressed indeed. The customisation is deep and comprehensive, the vector-based map is responsive and accurate, and the amount of data presented after a workout is just mind-blowing. It feels like the walking/running app the AW was made for – amazing work, cfc!

That is great to hear! Feedback like that makes my day. Thanks for buying the app.

 

[oeagleo]

Hi cfc, thank you for this awesome app! Here in Germany it is mentioned in a lot of blogs and online magazines. I use it for mountain biking, hiking, running and even walking with my dog. And it could also be the best app for metal detecting if a few improvements were made. There should be an easy accessible POI function so I could save the coordinates of special finds. And if I could tag them with a photo it would be the all-in-one package for us hardcore metal-detectorists! (If we find a ancient roman artefact for example, then we have to save the coordinates and document everything with fotos to report it to the archaeologists)

Just a thought here, I think you may already have the means with which to accomplish your task. If you are creating an activity, outdoors, (obviously), you can take photo's, and Apple's camera automagically "Geo-Tags" the photos upon creation. There is another app out there, (RELIVE) that will create a route of your exported .GPX file, and ask if you want to add photos. When RELIVE is done, you have a track of your activity, along with photo's that are placed where they were taken on the activity. Pretty slick, actually.

Let's see if this works: Here is a short walk around one of our urban lakes here.

<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-controls="0" data-card-key="f1631a41cb254ca5b035dc5747a5bd75"><h4><a href="https://www.relive.cc/view/vZqNPAY5V3O?r=embed-site">Relive 'Around Oquirrh Lake'</a></h4></blockquote>
<script async src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>

 

[thelorax76]

Let's see if this works: Here is a short walk around one of our urban lakes here.

<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-controls="0" data-card-key="f1631a41cb254ca5b035dc5747a5bd75"><h4><a href="https://www.relive.cc/view/vZqNPAY5V3O?r=embed-site">Relive 'Around Oquirrh Lake'</a></h4></blockquote>
<script async src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>

That looks pretty cool. Is it $6.99 a month though? It does otherwise look like it would work for the metal detector's purposes.

 

[oeagleo]

That looks pretty cool. Is it $6.99 a month though? It does otherwise look like it would work for the metal detector's purposes.

I know there is a subscription option, but I don't do that, I use the free version. Not even sure what the subscription model does, to be honest, everything I want is in the free one. Probably no advertising, but I can live with that for the money they want.

 

[ElDuderino91]

@oeagleo thank you! This sounds like the best solution at the moment.

 

[Seccados]

Hi cfc, first of all thank you for this fantastic app. In my opinion nothing else even comes close. There is one small thing that puzzles me as I am not sure if it is a bug or a feature.
I tried to find out if the topic ever has come up but I could not find it (quickly ;-)

I only get a heart rate reading at the watch when I enable in the health settings that WorkOutDoors is allowed to WRITE Training data. As soon is I disable it I will not get any heart rate data. It is completely reproduceable on my Apple Watch 4 with an iPhone Xs Max. It is not a real problem, but I export the data to strava and then I always have two apps writing training dat into the workout stream as i have to enable Strava for other reasons to do this.

Is this behavior normal or do I run in a "once in a lifetime" bug.

Txs for your reply

ralf

 

[cfc]

Hi cfc, first of all thank you for this fantastic app. In my opinion nothing else even comes close. There is one small thing that puzzles me as I am not sure if it is a bug or a feature.
I tried to find out if the topic ever has come up but I could not find it (quickly ;-)

I only get a heart rate reading at the watch when I enable in the health settings that WorkOutDoors is allowed to WRITE Training data. As soon is I disable it I will not get any heart rate data. It is completely reproduceable on my Apple Watch 4 with an iPhone Xs Max. It is not a real problem, but I export the data to strava and then I always have two apps writing training dat into the workout stream as i have to enable Strava for other reasons to do this.

Is this behavior normal or do I run in a "once in a lifetime" bug.

Txs for your reply

ralf

Thanks for your kind words about the app!

Whereabouts is the heart rate missing when the write permission is not set? In theory the heart rate should be fine in the WorkOutDoors watch and iPhone apps, but would be missing from the workout in Apple's Health system (used by the Activity and Health apps). This is because the app would not be allowed to save the heart rate to that system.

I have just tested that the write permission did not affect the heart rate appearing in the watch app, and it was fine for me. Out of interest I also removed the read permission and then it disappeared from the app (which is what I would expect).

If you are not seeing it in the watch app then it's worth disabling all the health permissions for WorkOutDoors; then rebooting both the watch and the iPhone; and then re-enabling the permissions. I have seen a rare bug in iOS / watchOS where watchOS does not seem to get informed of permission changes in iOS, and this procedure seems to nudge iOS into correctly sending the permissions.

 

[Seccados]

Thanks for your kind words about the app!

Whereabouts is the heart rate missing when the write permission is not set? In theory the heart rate should be fine in the WorkOutDoors watch and iPhone apps, but would be missing from the workout in Apple's Health system (used by the Activity and Health apps). This is because the app would not be allowed to save the heart rate to that system.

I have just tested that the write permission did not affect the heart rate appearing in the watch app, and it was fine for me. Out of interest I also removed the read permission and then it disappeared from the app (which is what I would expect).

If you are not seeing it in the watch app then it's worth disabling all the health permissions for WorkOutDoors; then rebooting both the watch and the iPhone; and then re-enabling the permissions. I have seen a rare bug in iOS / watchOS where watchOS does not seem to get informed of permission changes in iOS, and this procedure seems to nudge iOS into correctly sending the permissions.

The Watch App does not show any heart rate reading unless I have enabled the write permission for training. Consequently I do not get any heart rate in the iPhone App or in Health or in Strava where I export the trainings.
ONLY if training is on write permission I do get a reading on the watch. I will try what you have recommended and will come back with either a thumbs up or a don´t worry. I have an easy workaround and it seems I am the only one with this problem. So no good issue to waste any time on it.

txs for the quick reply.

ralf

 

[Significant1]

The Watch App does not show any heart rate reading unless I have enabled the write permission for training. Consequently I do not get any heart rate in the iPhone App or in Health or in Strava where I export the trainings.
ONLY if training is on write permission I do get a reading on the watch. I will try what you have recommended and will come back with either a thumbs up or a don´t worry. I have an easy workaround and it seems I am the only one with this problem. So no good issue to waste any time on it.

txs for the quick reply.

ralf

I may not matter, but make sure you are using latest version WOD on the watch, so you both are on the same page. Since automatic updating seems broken on the watch or needs lots of patience, it doesnt even show for me under updates if you manually go and check (on the watch). But looking up workoutdoors in the app store (on the watch) seems detect if there is an update.

 

[Torque73]

until WOD will handle stryd metrics I will use Stryd app to get metrics and WOD as a map. I hope to use only one app soon.

WOD is a very nice app.

 

[NME42]

Maybe I have written it before. ;-)

WOD with maps, interval schedules and the precision of a Stryd would be a combination from heaven.

 

[Seccados]

I may not matter, but make sure you are using latest version WOD on the watch, so you both are on the same page. Since automatic updating seems broken on the watch or needs lots of patience, it doesnt even show for me under updates if you manually go and check (on the watch). But looking up workoutdoors in the app store (on the watch) seems detect if there is an update.

Hi cfc,

Tried both but still the same behaviour. No heart rate reading on the watch until write permission for training data is given. It might be some very rare bug as no one else is reporting it. No worries, it is nothing bothering me as I just delete the WorkOutDoors training data once the Strava entry is there. it is a mattter of seconds. Txs anyway for your help.
cheers ralf

 

[cfc]

Hi cfc,

Tried both but still the same behaviour. No heart rate reading on the watch until write permission for training data is given. It might be some very rare bug as no one else is reporting it. No worries, it is nothing bothering me as I just delete the WorkOutDoors training data once the Strava entry is there. it is a mattter of seconds. Txs anyway for your help.
cheers ralf

That is strange but at least it doesn’t affect you too much. As I say I can’t reproduce it so I guess that it is some obscure bug in watchOS.

 

[Torque73]

Hello.

i have an Apple Watch 5 with WOD and now I am using Stryd. I was very happy using WOD for mu runnings but now with Stryd I started to use stryd app. I don’t like it but I need to do it if I want to see Power. Problem comes when I try to export runnings from Stryd to Strava, with WOD is very easy.

Please update app to have access to Stryd Power in WOD, please please.

 

[NME42]

Problem comes when I try to export runnings from Stryd to Strava, with WOD is very easy.

Have you enabled automatic export to Strava in Stryd Powercenter?

 

[Torque73]

Have you enabled automatic export to Strava in Stryd Powercenter?

Yes I did but it doesn’t work. What I am Doing is to export FIT file from Stryd app and to import to Strava, but this is not the right way of doing it.

 

[NME42]

I am using RunGap for that.

 

[Torque73]

The only way that works is importing runnings from Health to RunGap and then to share with Strava.

 

[NME42]

The only way that works is importing runnings from Health to RunGap and then to share with Strava.

No, there is another way. You can download it from the Stryd app and open it in RunGap via share sheet. No need for an extra step with health. This preserves power data. I do this daily.