Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[cfc]

After discussing with some fellow runners about the release of the new Garmin Forerunner 945LTE, maybe a cool feature for WOD would be LiveTracking. Just in case you need something to do after Stryd integration

Could also offer to develop the backend services that render the LiveTracking app. Maybe a MVP approach for this would be the best. Just having WOD send out packages every minute with the GPS points and a map that renders the path maybe hosted on AWS or elsewhere.

Like tracking would probably put some people off the app if they have privacy concerns. They like the fact that the app does not have the ability to share their data, even if it is optional as would be the case for that.

Also, to be honest, I am trying to avoid adding any sort of server-based functionality. Maybe if the app becomes more successful then I will pay someone to do that, but I would still be worried about the privacy aspect.

 

[NME42]

Like tracking would probably put some people off the app if they have privacy concerns. They like the fact that the app does not have the ability to share their data, even if it is optional as would be the case for that.

Also, to be honest, I am trying to avoid adding any sort of server-based functionality. Maybe if the app becomes more successful then I will pay someone to do that, but I would still be worried about the privacy aspect.

Fully understand your concerns regarding providing a server infrastructure. This is always a hassle.

When it comes to privacy, I am sure a solution could be made without any issues regarding GDPR. Of course, Live Tracking would be entirely optional and I would not store *any* personal data on a server infrastructure and Live Tracking would have to be enabled at the start of an activity. Sure, the GPS track could be used to draw conclusions, but that is an issue with all server based solutions.

 

[daanjj]

Have you maybe reduced the Siri volume? The app uses Siri to speak the alerts.

If not then please reboot both the watch and the iPhone to see if that helps. That is usually the best thing to try for strange problems.

If that doesn’t help then please contact info@workoutdoors.net

Thanks Ian. After a reboot I indeed in tests was able to get voice messages played on my iPhone again. I am going to try that Tempo Interval run tomorrow so hopefully it will also work in that run!

I forgot to mention that in my last runs, I was also using RunGo (on my iPhone only, I have deleted the RunGo Apple Watch app) for spoken navigation messages. Could that interfere with the messages that WOD wants to play on my iPhone and so cause those voice messages to stop?

 

[cfc]

Thanks Ian. After a reboot I indeed in tests was able to get voice messages played on my iPhone again. I am going to try that Tempo Interval run tomorrow so hopefully it will also work in that run!

I forgot to mention that in my last runs, I was also using RunGo (on my iPhone only, I have deleted the RunGo Apple Watch app) for spoken navigation messages. Could that interfere with the messages that WOD wants to play on my iPhone and so cause those voice messages to stop?

I am not sure what causes voice alerts to stop. There is quite a complex interaction between iOS, watchOS, apps, AirPods etc and I guess that they sometimes get confused and need rebooting.

 

[maurycyorlik]

After discussing with some fellow runners about the release of the new Garmin Forerunner 945LTE, maybe a cool feature for WOD would be LiveTracking. Just in case you need something to do after Stryd integration

Could also offer to develop the backend services that render the LiveTracking app. Maybe a MVP approach for this would be the best. Just having WOD send out packages every minute with the GPS points and a map that renders the path maybe hosted on AWS or elsewhere.

Tried Garmin Live Track, Strava Live track and ended up with share my location in Apple find my app. No battery drain, no subscription and my wife know where I am. It's much more reliable. I don't need to show my lap times and current speed there.

 

[NME42]

If I heard right at WWDC Keynote , Always on API is coming to watchOS 8.

 

[johnl1275]

If I heard right at WWDC Keynote , Always on API is coming to watchOS 8.

I was JUST about to post that!!

 

[mgmooij]

If I heard right at WWDC Keynote , Always on API is coming to watchOS 8.

The Always‑On display allows you to see your watch face without raising your wrist or waking your watch. And now it works with lots of additional apps, including Alarms, Maps, Stopwatch, and your favorite third‑party apps.

 

[danny121pt]

If I heard right at WWDC Keynote , Always on API is coming to watchOS 8.

Yep, see this.

• In watchOS 8, more Apple Watch apps support the Always-On display, including Maps, Mindfulness, Now Playing, Phone, Podcasts, Stopwatch, Timers, Voice Memos, and others. watchOS 8 is also making it easier for developers to keep their apps timely and relevant with a new Always-On APIfor third-party apps.
• 
  

 

[NME42]

Yep, see this.

• In watchOS 8, more Apple Watch apps support the Always-On display, including Maps, Mindfulness, Now Playing, Phone, Podcasts, Stopwatch, Timers, Voice Memos, and others. watchOS 8 is also making it easier for developers to keep their apps timely and relevant with a new Always-On APIfor third-party apps.

Great. So soon we have WOD with Stryd support and Always on. Love it!

 

[danny121pt]

Great. So soon we have WOD with Stryd support and Always on. Love it!

Use stryd myself, last few weeks, been testing native stryd app, iSmoothrun and also testing the workout app on garmin 645 to see what I prefer.

always on and stryd in WorkOutDoors will be a great addition, let’s hope all goes well

 

[cfc]

It does sound like I may be able to add Always on Display to WOD. We should learn more as the week goes on. There is the State of the Union talk later today, which will hopefully shed more light on it, and then a "What's new in watchOS 8" video tomorrow that will hopefully go into more detail.

The most interesting looking video is "Build a workout app for Apple Watch", which is released on Wednesday. The summary for it mentions supporting "the Always On state using timelines to update workout metrics". So it sounds like it won't be a simple switch to enable the always on display, and may be quite restrictive (so always on maps may not be possible). I just hope that what they offer will at least enable me to use the same customisable layout as the app currently offers. We should find out in a couple of days.

 

[cfc]

I have been looking through the documentation for watchOS 8 and it may be that supporting the always on display is as simple as just rebuilding the app, which would be good. It will need a lot of testing though because it will probably eat the battery fast until I have tuned it to be more frugal.

I will probably need to add a few settings to control exactly how "always on" the metrics are. For instance how often they update when the app is not active, whether the map rotates etc.

The only other change that affects the app that I have noticed in the documentation so far is the ability to request absolute altitudes from watchOS. This means that the app will not need to calculate them from relative altitudes and a base absolute altitude taken from the GPS. I don't yet know if this will require the always on altimeter in the series 6 and SE watches or if it will synthesise it for older watches.

This will hopefully result in more accurate absolute altitudes (although relative altitude metrics such as ascent and descent should be unaffected).

 

[taneff]

I sold my AW and don't own one atm but read about AOD and wanted to check back here for my all time fave AW app as a Garmin owner.

I just wanted to say again how amazing the support, and the app itself of course, is. You write back here in short time, check every new API features asap, listen to app owners, comment, write etc. I am a tech and sports watch user for many years and there are some good developers out there, but you, your app and most of all your support is simply amazing. The best!

To all non WOD users, this app is worth every single penny. The support alone is worth it. Really, congrats.

If Apple would get fitness and sport support as right as you do, I would still own an AW. As long as they don't, I won't. Still, not regretting investing in your app even without owning an AW for most of the time. But the first thing I do if owning an AW again, is installing your app. Well done!

 

[cfc]

I sold my AW and don't own one atm but read about AOD and wanted to check back here for my all time fave AW app as a Garmin owner.

I just wanted to say again how amazing the support, and the app itself of course, is. You write back here in short time, check every new API features asap, listen to app owners, comment, write etc. I am a tech and sports watch user for many years and there are some good developers out there, but you, your app and most of all your support is simply amazing. The best!

To all non WOD users, this app is worth every single penny. The support alone is worth it. Really, congrats.

If Apple would get fitness and sport support as right as you do, I would still own an AW. As long as they don't, I won't. Still, not regretting investing in your app even without owning an AW for most of the time. But the first thing I do if owning an AW again, is installing your app. Well done!

Wow! Many thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate it!

Hopefully one day Apple will be able to tempt you back.

 

[taneff]

Wow! Many thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate it!

Hopefully one day Apple will be able to tempt you back.

Hopefully. Love AW but a lot of things to do. Like battery life, all-day 1second HR recording, new health and activity app and more. But still, at least YOU have done a great job. Helped me so much back then coming from Garmin.

 

[firewire9000]

I sold my AW and don't own one atm but read about AOD and wanted to check back here for my all time fave AW app as a Garmin owner.

I just wanted to say again how amazing the support, and the app itself of course, is. You write back here in short time, check every new API features asap, listen to app owners, comment, write etc. I am a tech and sports watch user for many years and there are some good developers out there, but you, your app and most of all your support is simply amazing. The best!

To all non WOD users, this app is worth every single penny. The support alone is worth it. Really, congrats.

If Apple would get fitness and sport support as right as you do, I would still own an AW. As long as they don't, I won't. Still, not regretting investing in your app even without owning an AW for most of the time. But the first thing I do if owning an AW again, is installing your app. Well done!

Absolutely, I recommend this app to many Apple Watch users and I always say that the developer is very active and helpful, as he is always active in this thread. For me this app is a game changer.

 

[daanjj]

Have you maybe reduced the Siri volume? The app uses Siri to speak the alerts.

If not then please reboot both the watch and the iPhone to see if that helps. That is usually the best thing to try for strange problems.

If that doesn’t help then please contact info@workoutdoors.net

Thanks cfk, rebooting both devices helped me out! Already did 3 more runs and voice messages were perfect! I also love the '100m to go', '50m to go', '20m to go' alerts before a new interval starts.

Actually, it would be great to always have WOD speak when starting a run, so that you immediately know if it is working or not, and if not: stop the run before you've really started, fix the issue (reboot both devices) and your run. Or is that something I could already configure for regular (non-schedule runs) in the current app?

 

[cfc]

Thanks cfk, rebooting both devices helped me out! Already did 3 more runs and voice messages were perfect! I also love the '100m to go', '50m to go', '20m to go' alerts before a new interval starts.

Actually, it would be great to always have WOD speak when starting a run, so that you immediately know if it is working or not, and if not: stop the run before you've really started, fix the issue (reboot both devices) and your run. Or is that something I could already configure for regular (non-schedule runs) in the current app?

Hopefully the missing voice issue is rare enough that you will not need to check every time, but I will think about adding an option to speak at the start. Maybe for the countdown.

 

[lucco78]

Hi Boss @cfc, if you're interested I've watchOS 8 and iOS 15 beta installed on my Apple tools, and I was pleased to help you test the news version of your fantastic app!

 

[cfc]

Hi Boss @cfc, if you're interested I've watchOS 8 and iOS 15 beta installed on my Apple tools, and I was pleased to help you test the news version of your fantastic app!

That would be great! Please email info@workoutdoors.net and I will let you know when a beta will be available.

In the meantime if you notice any issues when running the release version of the app on the iOS/watchOS betas then please let me know. I am using the beta of the Xcode development system to install the app on my devices running the iOS/watchOS betas and that is different to running the release version of the app.

As a result I may miss some issues with iOS 15 / watchOS 8 so please let me know if you spot any. Thanks!

 

[neil_cm17]

I'm a regular workoutdoors user and it's a fantastic app especially for doing intervals. I've also got a Stryd footpad recently and I'm looking forward going back to using workoutdoors when it is capable of capturing Stryd power data. @cfc I was wondering if this new version will also support intervals with a power based target as well?

 

[cfc]

I'm a regular workoutdoors user and it's a fantastic app especially for doing intervals. I've also got a Stryd footpad recently and I'm looking forward going back to using workoutdoors when it is capable of capturing Stryd power data. @cfc I was wondering if this new version will also support intervals with a power based target as well?

Yes, the new version will have power integrated throughout, with interval targets, standard alerts, metrics, analysis, exporting etc.

 

[NME42]

@cfc : currently I discuss in another thread about the missing accuracy when running with an iPhone. Quite a while ago I (and some other folks) sent a feature request to Apple to offer either a configuration or API for 3rd party apps to allow for a selection which GPS to use while recording.
If you happen to come across the watchOS 8 APIs, maybe you can have a look if there is something. Very slight chance of course that they even read our requests though.

 

[cfc]

@cfc : currently I discuss in another thread about the missing accuracy when running with an iPhone. Quite a while ago I (and some other folks) sent a feature request to Apple to offer either a configuration or API for 3rd party apps to allow for a selection which GPS to use while recording.
If you happen to come across the watchOS 8 APIs, maybe you can have a look if there is something. Very slight chance of course that they even read our requests though.

The documentation allows you to display the API changes between versions and unfortunately Apple haven't added anything in that area. There are only a few minor changes to the Location API in the first beta of Xcode 13, and none of them allow the app to force the use of the watch GPS even when the iPhone is present.

It is one of the many features that I keep hoping that they will add, but which they never do. It is frequently requested so I assume they deliberately do not allow it rather than that they haven't got around to it. My guess is that they know the watch gets criticised for a poor battery life in comparison to other smartwatches with less power hungry hardware and they do not want to add to the problem. It sounds like a case of their PR department having more of a say than the engineers.