Let's take a moment to give high praise to cfc. Best app dev of the best app ever! Always on here responding to people who have issues and listening to new suggestions. Bravo sir!
Many thanks for your kind words! Much appreciated. ?
Let's take a moment to give high praise to cfc. Best app dev of the best app ever! Always on here responding to people who have issues and listening to new suggestions. Bravo sir!
Now that would be quite the game changer (along with Stryd support, which you already confirmed is coming);
Having TbT navigation would make me seriously consider selling my Garmin!
There are essentially two stages of turn by turn navigation. The first involves the app relying on the navigation instructions being included in the GPX file. Some systems can generate such GPX files and for those I should be able to include turn by turn navigation as part of the route improvements that are top of my to-do list (along with Stryd).
The route improvements will involve keeping track of how far along the route you are, so it should not be too difficult to speak an instruction when you reach a certain point.
However full turn by turn navigation will not be so easy. This will involve the app being able to generate the instructions itself from a route, and ideally to be able to calculate a route and instructions between any two points. This is a non trivial problem (which is developer-speak for "too difficult for me") and would require the use of a server to calculate the route and the instructions.
The use of such a server would require me paying a third party every time it is used, so it wouldn't be possible without some premium version of the app. However I think that just the existence of this would deter people from buying the standard app. Hopefully this will change in the future though.
If I do ever implement such a premium version then it would only be for new features and probably only for those that have ongoing costs, such as TBT, route creation, topo maps, satellite maps, weather etc.
In the meantime, as I say, I am aiming to add the compromise solution where the app can give turn by turn instructions as long as the GPX files contain those instructions.
That should be perfectly fine (using GPS derived instructions); One of the ways for the likes of Garmin to be able to do this without tapping into a server (and having on demand fees to take into account) is by having offline maps on-device, which is something that WoD already has.
I bet that Apple Watches, no matter which generation, have far more potent hardware than even the top end Garmin watches. As such, the AW should be able to generate a route from point A on the map (my location) to point B (my destination) by using, preferrably, non-road routes for running and cycling paths. Or a round trip to take the user back to where the activity originally started.
Now, including the above and even something like the elevation profile of the generated route will be next level. I totally see myself happily paying for such functionality. Speaking of elevation, I find that the "always-on" altimeter on the Series 6 is pretty unreliable. Adding an option to calibrate the starting elevation to a known elevation (or, to borrow ideas from Garmin again, calibrate the elevation to my known location on a DEM map on the watch);
I think the gpx solution is fine and sufficient. For point to point navigation the watch already has Apple maps and I have used it simultaniously with the stryd app running, so chances are that it would also work in parallel with workoutdoors.There are essentially two stages of turn by turn navigation. The first involves the app relying on the navigation instructions being included in the GPX file. Some systems can generate such GPX files and for those I should be able to include turn by turn navigation as part of the route improvements that are top of my to-do list (along with Stryd).
The route improvements will involve keeping track of how far along the route you are, so it should not be too difficult to speak an instruction when you reach a certain point.
However full turn by turn navigation will not be so easy. This will involve the app being able to generate the instructions itself from a route, and ideally to be able to calculate a route and instructions between any two points. This is a non trivial problem (which is developer-speak for "too difficult for me") and would require the use of a server to calculate the route and the instructions.
The use of such a server would require me paying a third party every time it is used, so it wouldn't be possible without some premium version of the app. However I think that just the existence of this would deter people from buying the standard app. Hopefully this will change in the future though.
If I do ever implement such a premium version then it would only be for new features and probably only for those that have ongoing costs, such as TBT, route creation, topo maps, satellite maps, weather etc.
In the meantime, as I say, I am aiming to add the compromise solution where the app can give turn by turn instructions as long as the GPX files contain those instructions.
Hi Ian, what will this next major release be about? And when do you think you can release it to the beta testers?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.
Hi Ian, what will this next major release be about? And when do you think you can release it to the beta testers?
As always happy to test it ;-)
The lack of a GPS route is a bug in iOS 14 / watchOS 7 that affects a lot of people. It is the most complained about bug in the new releases and affects every workout app (including Apple's own app). Some people have found that it is fixed by unpairing and re-pairing the watch. Installing watchOS 7.0.1 has fixed it for some people but not for others.
Getting multiple crashes sounds like watchOS is having serious problems. I would normally recommend rebooting the watch but that won't be necessary if you need to re-pair or install watchOS 7.0.1.
So I did a unpair and re-pair of the watch. For now it seems like that solved the problem. Not just that... Also, the battery seemed to drain very fast, especially when using WOD. The watch sometimes crashed and rebooted itself. Many apps seemed to be very slow.
This all changed! Surprised how much an un-pair and re-pair can change. Thanks for your help and suggestions here!
Feature request for this great app: More flexible customization of screens, with individual sizing of rows/columns. Right now one has to choose between all full-row metrics (which, for graphs and HR zone charts look excellent) or all 1/2-split rows. It would also be nice to have, say, a row with the main metric of width 2/3 and height 1 and then two metrics stacked vertically of width 1/3 and height 1/2 and positioned to the left/right of the main metric.
@cfc. Lots of new praise for your app, and rightfully so.
So I did a unpair and re-pair of the watch. For now it seems like that solved the problem. Not just that... Also, the battery seemed to drain very fast, especially when using WOD. The watch sometimes crashed and rebooted itself. Many apps seemed to be very slow.
This all changed! Surprised how much an un-pair and re-pair can change. Thanks for your help and suggestions here!
@cfc Big round of applause for this great app! I only started using it recently while on a trip to a relative and I wanted to go for a run but wasn't super familiar with the neighbourhood. Having the maps on my watch was a game changer in that situation and i've been using the app ever since.
One thing I thought of while running was though: It'd be nice to have some kind of "take me home" feature. While I understand Turn by Turn is not feasible, all this could really need is some kind of line between you and the start position, just so you know which general direction to run to in order to make it back home (without having to do a lot of zooming and re-orienting).
Personally of course not a "must-have" feature, but more a "nice to have"
Keep up the good work!
Does it work on models without compas, since it is titled start compas in the documentation?The green compass is close to what you describe. It always points in the direction of the start, so if you follow it as close as you can then you should be heading back home. If you tap it then it will tell you the distance back as well as the direction.
Thanks for your kind words about the app!
Does it work on models without compas, since it is titled start compas in the documentation?
Hey cfc, thanks for beeing such a great and supportive dev! First I found out, turning off the pedometer gives even better results. At least for me.
Today i forgot to recharge my watch, and the battery died. Is there a way to recover the run? The watch does not show it in history, but adds the correct timestamp below the workout type.
Cheers
I would be down with this type of layout too!Feature request for this great app: More flexible customization of screens, with individual sizing of rows/columns. Right now one has to choose between all full-row metrics (which, for graphs and HR zone charts look excellent) or all 1/2-split rows. It would also be nice to have, say, a row with the main metric of width 2/3 and height 1 and then two metrics stacked vertically of width 1/3 and height 1/2 and positioned to the left/right of the main metric.
@cfc - Have you thought about new complications for watch faces? Like a quick start button that would start whatever you choose to be the default workout. Would probably an outdoor run for most people here
Or one that shows total miles for the month or the week or something like that. I would like to have that on a watch face.
Keep up the great work!! ?
Maybe shortcuts support too. Not that I personly need it or use Siri for anything else than setting a timer. But others might, if it is relatively cheap to implement.I plan to improve the complications at some point but they are not high on my list of priorities. I will probably wait until iOS 14 is more common (and reliable) and then look into widgets at the same time, as they would probably need to show similar information. Some time next year maybe.