Apps WorkOutDoors: New workout features

[jnd0]

Hi Ian,

I've been using your app for years I have to say that is my favourite app as well as the one I use most.

I wanted to know if it would be possible to implement a new feature called "continue workout" after a workout has been ended. It happened to me before that I wanted to pause the workout for a few minutes but ended up ending it by mistake, I know there's the "confirm end workout" feature but trust me, sometimes is not easy to press the right thing, especially when you are exhausted after a 3h ride ?


The feature would also be useful for commuting rides, for example when you are going somewhere and you know you'll have to ride back home, instead of pausing the workout for a few hours with this feature you could end the workout, use the watch like you normally would without the watch putting the workoutdoors app in the foreground, and then resume that ended workout on the way back home. Ending with 1 workout instead of 2 different ones.

There's some free online tools that allow you to do that, I used them and they do it well however is not ideal.

Not sure if that would be very hard to implement but it would be very useful.

Thanks and keep it up with the great work.

 

[cfc]

Hi Ian,

I've been using your app for years I have to say that is my favourite app as well as the one I use most.

I wanted to know if it would be possible to implement a new feature called "continue workout" after a workout has been ended. It happened to me before that I wanted to pause the workout for a few minutes but ended up ending it by mistake, I know there's the "confirm end workout" feature but trust me, sometimes is not easy to press the right thing, especially when you are exhausted after a 3h ride ?


The feature would also be useful for commuting rides, for example when you are going somewhere and you know you'll have to ride back home, instead of pausing the workout for a few hours with this feature you could end the workout, use the watch like you normally would without the watch putting the workoutdoors app in the foreground, and then resume that ended workout on the way back home. Ending with 1 workout instead of 2 different ones.

There's some free online tools that allow you to do that, I used them and they do it well however is not ideal.

Not sure if that would be very hard to implement but it would be very useful.

Thanks and keep it up with the great work.

The problem with continuing a workout is that the app uses Apple's workout system, which doesn't allow that. Once a workout is saved then it cannot be edited.

I have often considered allowing workouts to be changed after being saved in WorkOutDoors (mainly from an editing point of view rather than continuing a workout, but the principle is similar). However that would make them inconsistent with the workouts in Apple's Health system.

This wouldn't be an issue for many people, and I will probably allow it at some time in the future (possibly by deleting the old Apple Health workout and creating a new one), but it would be a fair amount of work so it is not on my radar at the moment. Sorry about that.

 

[daanjj]

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.

If it would be for the countdown, it means you already have to start your run - and need to immediately stop it again if you don’t get the voice announcement.

I would prefer to have a sort of ‘test voice’ button, easily reachable in the (main?) menu system, that just reads out some of your most important settings. Like whether there is a route selected or not (I tend to forget to switch the route I used last time off). User configurable would be perfect… But just a test message would already be great!

 

[cfc]

If it would be for the countdown, it means you already have to start your run - and need to immediately stop it again if you don’t get the voice announcement.

I would prefer to have a sort of ‘test voice’ button, easily reachable in the (main?) menu system, that just reads out some of your most important settings. Like whether there is a route selected or not (I tend to forget to switch the route I used last time off). User configurable would be perfect… But just a test message would already be great!

You could use the Status Update feature in the Alerts settings. This allows you to display and/or show a set of configurable metrics in response to a configurable gesture. For example you could make it so that tapping the screen 3 times quickly makes it read out your heart rate and other metrics.

This is a general feature intended to allow users to request metrics on demand, however it would also be a good way to check the voice if you are worried about it. Note that you can configure up to 3 different status updates, so you can associate different metrics for different gestures. Each status update can display up to 3 metrics on the screen and speak up to 5 metrics.

 

[TheMixam]

I would prefer to have a sort of ‘test voice’ button, easily reachable in the (main?) menu system, that just reads out some of your most important settings. Like whether there is a route selected or not (I tend to forget to switch the route I used last time off). User configurable would be perfect… But just a test message would already be great!

Maybe this is useful?
iOS: workoutdoors - settings - voice - test (tap this row to test the current settings)
WatchOS: workoutdoors - settings - voice - change any of the settings

 

[maxrzaw]

Hi, recently got the app and am loving it. I do have a couple questions and things I noticed.

Heart Rate
I have noticed that at the beginning my runs, the heart rate monitor is not always active. I have noticed that if I open the heart rate app it begins recording. Is there a way to prevent having to open the heart app before starting my run?

Current Pace
I have seen in other posts that the pedometer pace is the most accurate for instantaneous pace. When setting the smoothing, what is the difference in the time span used at different points in the scale?
I am also curious if you know why the pedometer pace is more accurate than GPS for current pace.

Loving the app so far, keep up the great work!

 

[cfc]

Hi, recently got the app and am loving it. I do have a couple questions and things I noticed.

Heart Rate
I have noticed that at the beginning my runs, the heart rate monitor is not always active. I have noticed that if I open the heart rate app it begins recording. Is there a way to prevent having to open the heart app before starting my run?

Current Pace
I have seen in other posts that the pedometer pace is the most accurate for instantaneous pace. When setting the smoothing, what is the difference in the time span used at different points in the scale?
I am also curious if you know why the pedometer pace is more accurate than GPS for current pace.

Loving the app so far, keep up the great work!

Thanks for buying the app. I am glad that you like it.

The heart rate taking a while to get a lock is a sensor issue. I frequently hear about it during Winter but haven't heard about it for months because it is Summer in the northern hemisphere. Some people are more affected than others and unfortunately it sounds like you are one of those people.

I assume that the reason using the Heart app works is that watchOS uses a brighter light for a one-off reading than for the frequent readings during a workout. It is interesting that this kick starts the heart rate working for WOD for you because for most people it usually just means that WOD gets the new rate but then doesn't get any new rates afterwards. So you are quite lucky in that respect. I usually recommend that people who are struggling to get the heart rate should use an external sensor (either during the colder months or all year round) but if you can get away with kick starting it by using the Heart app, then you may want to keep doing that.

There are 3 watchOS systems that report current pace to the app: the pedometer, the GPS and the health system (indirectly via distance updates). In their documentation Apple do say that the GPS system pace is unreliable and this does seem to be the case in practice, presumably because the GPS Signal strength varies.

The current pace smoothing does not have a specific time window. By default the smoothing level is 1, which means that you just use the most recent reading reported by the watchOS pedometer/gps/health system. If you increase the smoothing by one level then the value reported to the user is the average of the last 2 values reported by watchOS to the app. If you increase it again then it is the average of the last 3 values. I hope that makes sense.

 

[lucco78]

Hi, a (little?) problem with iOS15 beta 1.
In my favorite 10km route, WOD in iOS15 makes several meters disappear, in a progressive way. (images attached)

• 70m at ~1.60km
• 170m at ~5.70km
• 230m at ~8.50km

Maybe this can help You with new versions of WOD.

 

[cfc]

Hi, a (little?) problem with iOS15 beta 1.
In my favorite 10km route, WOD in iOS15 makes several meters disappear, in a progressive way. (images attached)

• 70m at ~1.60km
• 170m at ~5.70km
• 230m at ~8.50km

Maybe this can help You with new versions of WOD.

Thanks for the info. The distances come from Apple (unless you have switched off calibrated distances?) so are out of the control of the app. It could be that you need to re-calibrate the watch with the iOS 15 beta. Apple describe how to do it here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516

If that doesn't work then you could switch the app to use GPS instead of the calibrated pedometer. To do this go to the Settings tab and then choose Other Settings and switch off "Use Calibrated Distances".

It's usually best to use the calibrated distances, so hopefully a re-calibration will work if installing the new beta has lost your calibration information. However if recalibration does not work for some reason (maybe a bug in the iOS/watchOS betas) then switch to using the GPS to calculate the distance.

 

[johnl1275]

@cfc When I create a interval schedule with a target pace is there a way to get the audio cues regarding whether you are in or out of the target? On the alerts page I have all the limit alerts set to off. I am sure it is somewhere but can't seem to find out where to go. I would either like to turn it off or have it not be based on current pace... I don't want to turn off all the voice notifications though. Does that make sense?

 

[cfc]

@cfc When I create a interval schedule with a target pace is there a way to get the audio cues regarding whether you are in or out of the target? On the alerts page I have all the limit alerts set to off. I am sure it is somewhere but can't seem to find out where to go. I would either like to turn it off or have it not be based on current pace... I don't want to turn off all the voice notifications though. Does that make sense?

To switch off alerts when you breach a target go to the Settings tab and tap Alerts and then Scheduled Interval Alerts and then use the Target Alerts section.

Alternatively to change the pace metric used for targets go to the Pace settings and change "Metric used for pace alerts". By default it uses the current pace but you can set it to use one of the rolling paces (the windows of which can also be configured on that screen).

 

[johnl1275]

To switch off alerts when you breach a target go to the Settings tab and tap Alerts and then Scheduled Interval Alerts and then use the Target Alerts section.

Alternatively to change the pace metric used for targets go to the Pace settings and change "Metric used for pace alerts". By default it uses the current pace but you can set it to use one of the rolling paces (the windows of which can also be configured on that screen).

Thanks!! I thought I had looked at all the options under Alerts! But I missed that one.

 

[daanjj]

Maybe this is useful?
iOS: workoutdoors - settings - voice - test (tap this row to test the current settings)
WatchOS: workoutdoors - settings - voice - change any of the settings

In the last runs, I again did not succeed in getting the voice alerts via my iPhone on my AirPods. I rebooted both the iPhone and the Apple Watch but to no avail. I also checked all the settings I could think of and I can't see anything wrong... the voice is just not coming out.

If I follow the WatchOS tip above, when I switch 'Device where alerts are played' to Watch I hear a spoken message. But when switching back to device= iPhone, there only is silence.
When following the iOS tip so pressing the 'Test line' in the iOS app, also nothing happens. I am trying while listening to Apple Music on my iPhone via my AirPods, so the connection iPhone-AirPods is not the problem.

I therefore have two call-outs:
1. It still would be great to have an easy to access 'voice test' button on the AW so that I *know* that voice alerting is working *before* starting a workout (especially useful for interval workouts when voice alerting is most important)
2. What could cause my alerts to continue to be silent? they were working 2-3 weeks ago...

 

[cfc]

In the last runs, I again did not succeed in getting the voice alerts via my iPhone on my AirPods. I rebooted both the iPhone and the Apple Watch but to no avail. I also checked all the settings I could think of and I can't see anything wrong... the voice is just not coming out.

If I follow the WatchOS tip above, when I switch 'Device where alerts are played' to Watch I hear a spoken message. But when switching back to device= iPhone, there only is silence.
When following the iOS tip so pressing the 'Test line' in the iOS app, also nothing happens. I am trying while listening to Apple Music on my iPhone via my AirPods, so the connection iPhone-AirPods is not the problem.

I therefore have two call-outs:
1. It still would be great to have an easy to access 'voice test' button on the AW so that I *know* that voice alerting is working *before* starting a workout (especially useful for interval workouts when voice alerting is most important)
2. What could cause my alerts to continue to be silent? they were working 2-3 weeks ago...

I have never heard of problems with the voice working on the watch but not the iPhone. Please try rebooting the iPhone to see if that helps.

In terms of testing if the voice is working, as I say you could set up a status alert so that double tapping the screen speaks out a few metrics, and then do that at the start of the workout.

 

[cherylzyx]

I’m a new user. Can you tell me what information the two circled graphics display

Also, would it be possible to add a place for notes? For example I had a particularly bad run recently and wanted to add a note that it was an asthma flair up so that in the future I’d know why that workout wasn’t on target.

Edit to add this question: with pace on pedometer, when I raise my wrist and hold it still to see my pace does it stop calculating my pace because my arm quit moving? I hope I explained that clearly enough to understand.

 

[stridemat]

I’m a new user. Can you tell me what information the two circled graphics display

View attachment 1808047

I always assumed it was GPS signal strength and watch battery life.

 

[stridemat]

@cfc, I had a need for integrated Stryd support today whilst running a trail route I hadn't run before. It was a right pain having to switch between apps. It can't come soon enough.

 

[cfc]

I’m a new user. Can you tell me what information the two circled graphics display

View attachment 1808047

Also, would it be possible to add a place for notes? For example I had a particularly bad run recently and wanted to add a note that it was an asthma flair up so that in the future I’d know why that workout wasn’t on target.

Edit to add this question: with pace on pedometer, when I raise my wrist and hold it still to see my pace does it stop calculating my pace because my arm quit moving? I hope I explained that clearly enough to understand.

As @stridemat says that is the GPS signal strength and the battery level.

In terms of notes you could change the name of a workout to mention asthma. You could then filter to only show workouts that mentioned asthma if you wanted, or exclude them when looking at weekly/monthly totals and averages. I may add a specific notes field in the future but it is not high on my list.

Whether or not the wrist is raised should make no difference to the pace calculations.

I hope that helps. Thanks for buying the app!

 

[cfc]

@cfc, I had a need for integrated Stryd support today whilst running a trail route I hadn't run before. It was a right pain having to switch between apps. It can't come soon enough.

Sorry Stryd is taking a bit longer than expected. I decided to add generic sensor support for all sensor types for both running and cycling.

I was planning to start with Stryd and see how it went but I realised that I was writing a lot of code that would be thrown away when there was more than one type of possible sensor, so I extended the functionality to work with many more sensor types.

 

[maurycyorlik]

Sorry Stryd is taking a bit longer than expected. I decided to add generic sensor support for all sensor types for both running and cycling.

I was planning to start with Stryd and see how it went but I realised that I was writing a lot of code that would be thrown away when there was more than one type of possible sensor, so I extended the functionality to work with many more sensor types.

That's great news! So speed, cadence, power?!?!

 

[andrewstirling]

Haha. Probably next year though

 

[cfc]

That's great news! So speed, cadence, power?!?!

Yes, plus distance and heart rate. The latter is already possible via watchOS but can now be explicitly controlled by the app. This should allow the app to display it before the start of a workout so that you can wait for a good lock before starting (although that is much less of an issue with external heart rate sensors).

 

[cfc]

Haha. Probably next year though

Hopefully before then!

 

[MLVC]

Maybe this has been asked before, but in case it hasn't: is there a way to set a shortcut to start a workout (like with the stock Workout app)? I have a focus "walking the dog" that I put in a shortcut so it also starts a walking workout. I always preferred WorkOutDoors but I don't think that's possible right now?

 

[cfc]

Maybe this has been asked before, but in case it hasn't: is there a way to set a shortcut to start a workout (like with the stock Workout app)? I have a focus "walking the dog" that I put in a shortcut so it also starts a walking workout. I always preferred WorkOutDoors but I don't think that's possible right now?

Sorry - the app doesn't work with shortcuts yet. It is on my list but quite far down because surprisingly few people have requested it.