Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

I am a big fan of WOD and have used it extensively since you announced it here on the forum. Thank you for developing it. I am curious if you have looked at the always on altimeter and what that adds in terms of elevation tracking? Previous watches (I have an S3) have altimeters, which tracks elevation now. WOD will draw an elevation profile of my hike or ride, accurately showing the climb on the map. some of that may be GPS assisted, but some of the data (I think) is clearly coming from the altimeter. The preS6 watches also track flights climbed as a health metric.

There has been little discussion of the S6 always on altimeter, by Apple or in reviews, but the sales pitch seems to be that it would offer "better" tracking during a "hike". I am wondering if that is true, or if that is true only for users that are not using a workout app, like WOD, strava, or the built-in activity, that turns on elevation tracking with the older watches. I bought a S6 and will happily take better elevation tracking, but my guess is this will be better tracking of small changes, so fights of stairs in a building, and not for "hike" where it already worked.

I wish I knew what the implications of the always on altimeter are, but as usual I can't find any details on it in Apple's documentation. I assume that the interface for apps works in the same way as before but we shall see. I just hope that it doesn't break the app, at least in terms of elevation.

My take is similar to yours: that it it won't make much difference for workouts. I like the idea of an elevation complication though!

 

[strangedesign13]

Have you maybe got Workout Power Saving mode on? It probably isn't the reason because it would affect all workout apps, but it is the only other thing I can think of that would prevent the HR. Also, before you uninstall the iPhone app it is worth unpairing and re-pairing the watch to see if that helps. That is the last thing to try for strange issues before resorting to uninstalling the iPhone app.

If you do uninstall the iPhone app then first consider backing up all the workouts etc by using iTunes File Sharing to copy the files to a computer. You can then copy them back after re-installing: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201301

Thanks. I already have the backups made, I just didn't want to blow it all away if there was something I could capture to send you. I work in tech and the #1 thing we hate is people telling us their issues and going 100% fresh install and removing any chance we had to get logs and data on the issue. I'll report back if a fresh install of WOD on the watch and phone works.

 

[cfc]

Thanks. I already have the backups made, I just didn't want to blow it all away if there was something I could capture to send you. I work in tech and the #1 thing we hate is people telling us their issues and going 100% fresh install and removing any chance we had to get logs and data on the issue. I'll report back if a fresh install of WOD on the watch and phone works.

I hope it works. I have been checking social media and a few people are reporting missing heart rate for the native app, so it sounds like another iOS/watchOS bug that only affects some people. Hopefully the extreme measures that you are taking will fix it. Good luck!

 

[strangedesign13]

I hope it works. I have been checking social media and a few people are reporting missing heart rate for the native app, so it sounds like another iOS/watchOS bug that only affects some people. Hopefully the extreme measures that you are taking will fix it. Good luck!

Well seems like that fixed it. Got my screens updated from the backup, but can't seem to get the profiles re-loaded, the .pfl files are greyed out and I can't select them, but no biggies as those are easy to recreate in the app.

 

[cfc]

Well seems like that fixed it. Got my screens updated from the backup, but can't seem to get the profiles re-loaded, the .pfl files are greyed out and I can't select them, but no biggies as those are easy to recreate in the app.

Glad that fixed it. Sorry it was so much hassle.

I suspect that it is a permissioning bug in either iOS or watchOS because permissioning is app-specific and it seems that people who have problems with one app often do not have problems with other apps. Also reinstalling the iPhone app would completely reset the permissions whereas reinstalling the watch app would not. That is just a theory though.

If you copy the profile files back to the Profiles directory on the iPhone then they should appear on the iPhone app. You can then send them to the watch app using an option in the File Management section of the Settings tab to "Send Profiles & Screens to Watch".

 

[strangedesign13]

Glad that fixed it. Sorry it was so much hassle.

I suspect that it is a permissioning bug in either iOS or watchOS because permissioning is app-specific and it seems that people who have problems with one app often do not have problems with other apps. Also reinstalling the iPhone app would completely reset the permissions whereas reinstalling the watch app would not. That is just a theory though.

If you copy the profile files back to the Profiles directory on the iPhone then they should appear on the iPhone app. You can then send them to the watch app using an option in the File Management section of the Settings tab to "Send Profiles & Screens to Watch".

Thanks. I did see all that, but when I selected "import profiles" from the Import menus on the phone app, the .pfl were not selectable (greyed out). I also couldn't get them into the profile folder via Finder either. No worries as those are easy to set back up though. It was my screens I was worried about and that worked flawlessly.

 

[pmxams]

Is there anyway to make the WOD app to work with the Always On display of Series 5/6?

 

[NME42]

Is there anyway to make the WOD app to work with the Always On display of Series 5/6?

Easy answer: no.

One of the greatest disappointments I have with watchOS 7. Technically there should be no obstacle for Apple to make this happen, but seems they do not want this.

 

[cfc]

Easy answer: no.

One of the greatest disappointments I have with watchOS 7. Technically there should be no obstacle for Apple to make this happen, but seems they do not want this.

My guess is that they do not trust third party apps to utilise the AOD without excessive battery loss. I was hopeful they would allow it this year but unfortunately not.

 

[NME42]

Do you really think that AOD would drain the battery so bad? It is only 1 frame per second screen updates. Not sure if it can be measured. Now, the screen is also active and displays the time. This should use a significant portion of the battery. A simple screen refresh once a second should do not much harm.

 

[cfc]

Do you really think that AOD would drain the battery so bad? It is only 1 frame per second screen updates. Not sure if it can be measured. Now, the screen is also active and displays the time. This should use a significant portion of the battery. A simple screen refresh once a second should do not much harm.

It depends on the app. Apps are tested with a scenario of infrequent usage and it's difficult to tell how they will perform if they are always on. It probably wouldn't take too much effort to optimise most apps for always on, but it would need testing. I know that I would definitely have to test and optimise WorkOutDoors for AOD.

 

[ecstaticax]

I solved the problem concerning missing maps and missing workouts from stock workout watch app and fitness ap on iPhone: something broke when updating to ios14 on iPhone. I reset my iPhone and did an iCloud restore. Then, after a few hours, when it finished, everything was ok.

 

[xxBlack]

Yesterday I went on a hike and did a break for an hour. After that I restarted my workout (worked fine) and after 5 min I wanted to look at the route and the workout disappeared. Just the normal Screen where you can start a workout. 3 sec after that I got the animation for achieving my calories and training. Would have been a 5:30h hike with over 2.200 calories. Would have been a new hiking record can I combine both workout ?

 

[cfc]

Yesterday I went on a hike and did a break for an hour. After that I restarted my workout (worked fine) and after 5 min I wanted to look at the route and the workout disappeared. Just the normal Screen where you can start a workout. 3 sec after that I got the animation for achieving my calories and training. Would have been a 5:30h hike with over 2.200 calories. Would have been a new hiking record can I combine both workout ?

Sorry - it sounds like either the app crashed or more likely it was killed off by watchOS. Please could you send any log files beginning with "WatchMap" or "Jetsam" to info@workoutdoors.net . To do this go to Apple's "Watch" app on the iPhone and tap General and then Diagnostic Logs.

The workout should be preserved in Apple's health system, but you can't easily merge it with the workout for the later portion because watchOS will not have preserved the route for the first part.

The next major version of WorkOutDoors will persist the workout every few minutes so that if this happens or if the watch runs out of battery then the workout will still be fully preserved (including the route) in the WOD iPhone app. I will extend that to automatically resuming the workout in a future version after that.

 

[xxBlack]

Thanks for the reply. I just have 2 Logfiles but none with Jetsam or Watchmap. Both workout are saved with the routes idk. I looked at the watch to navigate, walked a few meters, looked again and then was the starting screen. No way I ended the workout by myself (there were no summary, just the starting screen 2 sec after I looked again at the map)

 

[NME42]

Speaking about the next release... Now that watchOS 7 is out, is Stryd support next? Asking for a friend

 

[cfc]

Thanks for the reply. I just have 2 Logfiles but none with Jetsam or Watchmap. Both workout are saved with the routes idk. I looked at the watch to navigate, walked a few meters, looked again and then was the starting screen. No way I ended the workout by myself (there were no summary, just the starting screen 2 sec after I looked again at the map)

If there were no log files then it was probably a watchOS bug. If WorkOutDoors had crashed then there would be a WatchMap log, and if watchOS had killed it off deliberately for some reason then there would be a Jetsam log file, so I assume that something went wrong in watchOS.

What version of watchOS are you using? I have never seen a preserved workout that has the route, so maybe they have improved that recently. Alternatively it could have been because of the way the app died being unusual somehow allowed it to preserve the route.

 

[cfc]

Speaking about the next release... Now that watchOS 7 is out, is Stryd support next? Asking for a friend

I have a major release almost ready for testing that I have been working on for months. After that has been successfully released to the wild then I will work on a version with Stryd support and enhanced route functionality.

 

[xxBlack]

If there were no log files then it was probably a watchOS bug. If WorkOutDoors had crashed then there would be a WatchMap log, and if watchOS had killed it off deliberately for some reason then there would be a Jetsam log file, so I assume that something went wrong in watchOS.

What version of watchOS are you using? I have never seen a preserved workout that has the route, so maybe they have improved that recently. Alternatively it could have been because of the way the app died being unusual somehow allowed it to preserve the route.

The new watchOS 7

 

[cfc]

The new watchOS 7

I suspect that may be the problem. As usual new versions of iOS and watchOS are very flaky, with many bugs in the fitness area in particular. Mostly these are to do with permissions and missing data, but it wouldn't surprise me if it affects reliability.

The problem is that Apple are a hardware company and software quality comes a distance second in their priorities. The software gets released when the hardware is ready rather than when both are ready.

Also I am sure that the release versions are different to the betas that people test for 3 months. Apple are paranoid about keeping their announcements secret so I suspect that they only include code related to the announcements late on in the beta process, so that developers can't delve into the software to work out what will be announced.

As a result the code in those areas (in this case fitness+) is barely tested. Either that or they add so much new functionality late on in the beta process that it is not tested. It was the same last year with the always on display, and the year before with the new screen shapes/sizes.

Apologies for the rant, but it's always a nightmare when Apple release the '.0' versions of the operating systems. On the up side it's good that watchOS 7 stores the workout route even if the app is killed off though!

 

[strangedesign13]

Thanks. I did see all that, but when I selected "import profiles" from the Import menus on the phone app, the .pfl were not selectable (greyed out). I also couldn't get them into the profile folder via Finder either. No worries as those are easy to set back up though. It was my screens I was worried about and that worked flawlessly.

And.....it's broken again. And again it's only WOD that can't get the heart rate. Every other app on my watch has no problem reading the heart rate. I tested 5 different apps on the watch and all of them have no issue. Any other ideas to try?

 

[Significant1]

And.....it's broken again. And again it's only WOD that can't get the heart rate. Every other app on my watch has no problem reading the heart rate. I tested 5 different apps on the watch and all of them have no issue. Any other ideas to try?

Check permission in the health app. Press your profile picture in upper right corner>apps.

 

[strangedesign13]

Check permission in the health app. Press your profile picture in upper right corner>apps.

Already did that many times. If you read back in the thread you will see the only way I fixed it the first time was a full unintall/reinstall of WOD on the watch and phone. After that it worked one time but this AM no hear rate again and it's only impacting WOD.

 

[cfc]

And.....it's broken again. And again it's only WOD that can't get the heart rate. Every other app on my watch has no problem reading the heart rate. I tested 5 different apps on the watch and all of them have no issue. Any other ideas to try?

Unfortunately the iOS/watchOS bug seems to randomly affect permissions, so it will only affect one app whilst the permissions for others are unaffected. Some people cannot see information with Apple's native app but they can with WorkOutDoors.

There was a very rare bug with watchOS 6 where permissions were lost between the iPhone and the watch. This may just be a more common version of that. If so then you could try the procedure that worked for that: to switch off all the permissions; then reboot both devices; and then switch them on again. This nudged iOS into re-sending the permissions to the watch. I do not know if it helps with this more common watchOS 7 issue, but it is worth trying.

 

[strangedesign13]

Unfortunately the iOS/watchOS bug seems to randomly affect permissions, so it will only affect one app whilst the permissions for others are unaffected. Some people cannot see information with Apple's native app but they can with WorkOutDoors.

There was a very rare bug with watchOS 6 where permissions were lost between the iPhone and the watch. This may just be a more common version of that. If so then you could try the procedure that worked for that: to switch off all the permissions; then reboot both devices; and then switch them on again. This nudged iOS into re-sending the permissions to the watch. I do not know if it helps with this more common watchOS 7 issue, but it is worth trying.

I wonder what it is. The remove permissions, reset both devices, add permissions does seem to fix it, at least this time. I would argue that it's not really random though as it's only WOD that is having an issue so I would guess there is some bug that is being triggered either by WOD or by my specific devices configs and settings since it's so repeatable. Hoping the PB of 14.2 drops soon and that it fixes this though. I adore WOD so not being able to use it is killing me this past week.