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cfc

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Original poster
May 27, 2011
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FYI, I wrote a simple article on Workoutdoors on my new Apple Watch blog. I wanted to let people know about it, since it is without doubt one of the most valuable Apple Watch apps on the App Store! Anyone feel free to let me know if I missed anything or accidentally misspoke on anything.

www.ChronoMac.com
Thanks - that is great! I really appreciate you taking the time to write about the app.
 
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jon08

macrumors 68000
Nov 14, 2008
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Any chance you could add dehydration to workouts? It would be nice to have an estimation of dehydration at the end of each workout expressed in ml, for example.
 

cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
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Any chance you could add dehydration to workouts? It would be nice to have an estimation of dehydration at the end of each workout expressed in ml, for example.
I don't think anyone has ever asked for that before. I would imagine that it would require weather data, which I don't plan to add until I can find a free data source.

Apple bought Dark Sky a while back so I am hopeful that they will make weather data free to apps in the future, in which case I will then be able to look into dehydration (if enough people ask for it).
 

estesbubba

macrumors member
Nov 23, 2020
97
45
I just did my first outdoor cycling using the Apple Workout app, and let me say the auto-pause was annoying! I was continuously getting paused and resumed audio and haptic alerts while pedaling! I was riding my fat bike with my hands in bar mitts, so I don't know if that was part of the cause. It was also my first time using fall detection while working out, so at first I kept stopping making sure it wasn't trigger that.

I have no idea if WOD built-in auto-pause is better or not, but at least I can turn off the audio and haptic alerts with it (which I do).
 
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cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
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I just did my first outdoor cycling using the Apple Workout app, and let me say the auto-pause was annoying! I was continuously getting paused and resumed audio and haptic alerts while pedaling! I was riding my fat bike with my hands in bar mitts, so I don't know if that was part of the cause. It was also my first time using fall detection while working out, so at first I kept stopping making sure it wasn't trigger that.

I have no idea if WOD built-in auto-pause is better or not, but at least I can turn off the audio and haptic alerts with it (which I do).
This is the first feedback I have heard about Apple's auto-pause algorithm for cycling, so I hope your experience was a one-off. The next version of WorkOutDoors will offer it as an option like it does with Apple's auto-pause for running. I was planning to make it the default option but we shall see.

It is worth mentioning that auto-pause is much more difficult for cycling than it is for running, where you can use the pedometer. This isn't available for cycling so GPS is the main alternative, so if that is poor then the auto-pause will struggle. This is what WorkOutDoors uses but I was hoping that Apple would also be using other sensors such as the gyroscope but maybe not.

In the future I will improve the auto-pause to use a speed sensor if one is connected, which should be very accurate for cycling. However it won't be in the next version because I want to make sure that the sensor stuff works properly first.
 
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mgmooij

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2018
62
48
FYI, I wrote a simple article on Workoutdoors on my new Apple Watch blog. I wanted to let people know about it, since it is without doubt one of the most valuable Apple Watch apps on the App Store! Anyone feel free to let me know if I missed anything or accidentally misspoke on anything.

www.ChronoMac.com
Nice 👍. I read on your website that you can add up to 4 screens per workout, but I think it’s much more than that… for running alone I have about 8 😉. Ian, is there a max?
 
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cfc

macrumors 68040
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May 27, 2011
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Nice 👍. I read on your website that you can add up to 4 screens per workout, but I think it’s much more than that… for running alone I have about 8 😉. Ian, is there a max?
There isn't a limit but it can get a bit impractical if you add too many. 8 is definitely the most I have ever heard of!
 
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mgmooij

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2018
62
48
There isn't a limit but it can get a bit impractical if you add too many. 8 is definitely the most I have ever heard of!
Haha yes, I must say that some of the screens are just for testing and will be deleted at some point 😉
 

maurycyorlik

macrumors member
Feb 14, 2019
55
51
This is the first feedback I have heard about Apple's auto-pause algorithm for cycling
For me it works great. Not even one mistake on 20+ rides in different conditions (city, forest MTB etc.). When I stop - it pauses. After moving 2-6 meters - it resumes, always. Thats about the stock app with and without an iPhone.

AW 6 LTE and iP 11 Pro Max.
 
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yoak

macrumors 68000
Oct 4, 2004
1,678
202
Oslo, Norway
I’m just checking in to report that WOD has been rock solid the last few months on my AW5. It’s full winter, been out in -15c Xc skiing, alpine skiing and a lot of biking.
WOD has recorded everything without a hitch.
I had a few weird things happening last time I wrote here. I wonder if a restart of the watch and phone was what solved it.
Just wanted to make sure to post when things work great as well. Easy to only post when one have a problem.
Thanks again for the (only) great app for the Apple Watch
 
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cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
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I’m just checking in to report that WOD has been rock solid the last few months on my AW5. It’s full winter, been out in -15c Xc skiing, alpine skiing and a lot of biking.
WOD has recorded everything without a hitch.
I had a few weird things happening last time I wrote here. I wonder if a restart of the watch and phone was what solved it.
Just wanted to make sure to post when things work great as well. Easy to only post when one have a problem.
Thanks again for the (only) great app for the Apple Watch
That's great to hear! Rebooting both the watch and the iPhone is my usual suggestion for strange problems. It's the stereotypical I.T. fix but that's because it often works.

Thanks for posting!
 

jon08

macrumors 68000
Nov 14, 2008
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I don't think anyone has ever asked for that before. I would imagine that it would require weather data, which I don't plan to add until I can find a free data source.

Apple bought Dark Sky a while back so I am hopeful that they will make weather data free to apps in the future, in which case I will then be able to look into dehydration (if enough people ask for it).
Yeah, I believe it's calculated on weather data (including elevation), exertion level, calories burned.

What about OpenWeatherMap?
 
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cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
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Yeah, I believe it's calculated on weather data (including elevation), exertion level, calories burned.

What about OpenWeatherMap?
They have a pretty good free option but I would probably need one of the paid options. Those are pretty cheap but I will wait for Apple. Weather is not high on my list because it is rarely requested, so by the time I get around to adding it then Apple may have an integrated weather API like they have with maps etc. But if not then OpenWeatherMap is definitely a possibility, so thanks for the heads up.
 

jon08

macrumors 68000
Nov 14, 2008
1,886
105
They have a pretty good free option but I would probably need one of the paid options. Those are pretty cheap but I will wait for Apple. Weather is not high on my list because it is rarely requested, so by the time I get around to adding it then Apple may have an integrated weather API like they have with maps etc. But if not then OpenWeatherMap is definitely a possibility, so thanks for the heads up.
I see, sounds good! It would definitely be nice to have a dehydration estimate at the end of each workout (don't really care about the weather as such tbh - I have weather apps for that), much like a "competitor" app does already.

Btw, any plans to add a "Mirror on iPhone" option of sorts for workouts or will WOD remain AW-only?
 

cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
3,008
2,511
I see, sounds good! It would definitely be nice to have a dehydration estimate at the end of each workout (don't really care about the weather as such tbh - I have weather apps for that), much like a "competitor" app does already.

Btw, any plans to add a "Mirror on iPhone" option of sorts for workouts or will WOD remain AW-only?
In the long term I plan to add iPhone functionality during workouts. I will probably start with just mirroring metrics from the watch to the iPhone and that will be a stepping stone towards being able to perform a workout on the iPhone app without a watch.

However that is a long way off at the moment because I want to build more functionality into the watch app first. This includes topo maps and sensors (in the next version) and then AOD, turn-by-turn, improved routes and waypoints, schedule importing etc. If nothing else has become high priority after I have added all of those features then I may start looking into mirroring to the iPhone, but that won't be for a long while!
 

Limbeckx

macrumors newbie
Dec 14, 2021
6
4
Schedule importing should be so cool! Maybe you can contact the guys from Trenara they have a great scientific approach to trainingsplans but no app to track it. You have a app thats tracks but no trainingplans...
 
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aloper

macrumors 6502
Nov 23, 2015
454
466
Rocklin, CA
Just purchased the app yesterday and really liking it so far…but, I’m having an issue. Went for two walks/hikes today, once in the morning and another this evening. Each lasted about an hour. Those were recorded in the app, and also showed up in the Apple fitness app. Got credit in move and exercise but…no credit for the overall number of workouts for the week total.

Before today I had a total of 5 workouts for the week. I didn’t get any credit for the two I did today…still at 5…I did these two same walk/hikes earlier in the week and they were counted by the Apple workout app.

I double checked and all the settings are enabled in Apple health as far as access goes…I also resent them from the watch but still no credit…
 
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cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
3,008
2,511
Just purchased the app yesterday and really liking it so far…but, I’m having an issue. Went for two walks/hikes today, once in the morning and another this evening. Each lasted about an hour. Those were recorded in the app, and also showed up in the Apple fitness app. Got credit in move and exercise but…no credit for the overall number of workouts for the week total.

Before today I had a total of 5 workouts for the week. I didn’t get any credit for the two I did today…still at 5…I did these two same walk/hikes earlier in the week and they were counted by the Apple workout app.

I double checked and all the settings are enabled in Apple health as far as access goes…I also resent them from the watch but still no credit…
Sorry you are having problems. Whereabouts are you looking where the number of workouts is wrong?

If the workouts are visible in Apple's apps then WorkOutDoors has done its job. Any totals like that are maintained by watchOS / iOS so it is worth rebooting both the watch and the iPhone to see if that helps.
 

maurycyorlik

macrumors member
Feb 14, 2019
55
51
Hi there!

Ian, is I possible to add an option to write every second of the workout in the workout files no matter what happens? Stock app is doing that (besides very weak GPS signal). I've noticed that WOD is skipping some data points when I'm in one place (probably to avoid "dancing GPS track"). While I was walking up/down/up/down the stairs the data was not present in the file, because it probably thought I was standing in one place (from above I was moving maybe 5 m) but I was going up and down many times.

Thats not a big problem, but I (and maybe someone alse) would love that kind of control over the record process :)
 

cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
3,008
2,511
Hi there!

Ian, is I possible to add an option to write every second of the workout in the workout files no matter what happens? Stock app is doing that (besides very weak GPS signal). I've noticed that WOD is skipping some data points when I'm in one place (probably to avoid "dancing GPS track"). While I was walking up/down/up/down the stairs the data was not present in the file, because it probably thought I was standing in one place (from above I was moving maybe 5 m) but I was going up and down many times.

Thats not a big problem, but I (and maybe someone alse) would love that kind of control over the record process :)
The current version of the app doesn't record every GPS point in the WOD file if you have not moved far since the last point. This was originally to save space but I have removed the restriction in the next version, now that the watches have more space and faster data transfer.

If you want every GPS point with the current version then you can export from Apple's workout system using an app like HealthFit or RunGap. WOD uses Apple's workout system and that stores all the GPS points, and also smoothes them, so I often suggest this to people who are concerned about the way the GPS track looks. It doesn't make any noticeable difference to the metrics, especially if you use the default of getting calibrated distances from the pedometer, but I understand that some people are very focussed on GPS.
 

aloper

macrumors 6502
Nov 23, 2015
454
466
Rocklin, CA
Sorry you are having problems. Whereabouts are you looking where the number of workouts is wrong?

If the workouts are visible in Apple's apps then WorkOutDoors has done its job. Any totals like that are maintained by watchOS / iOS so it is worth rebooting both the watch and the iPhone to see if that helps.
The running total is sort of hidden, in the 7 workout a week award. It’s the last line in the award. As I mentioned, I was at 5 total so far for this week. Went on two, one hour walks after installing the app and I did credit for activity for the day, and those two walks show up in the activity app, along with my older workouts using the apple app. But for some reason, those walks done using Workoutdoors didn’t count against my total number of workouts for the week…

What tipped me off was I didn’t get the watch 7 workouts completed in a week award after doing those two using Workoutdoors which should have got me to 7…I did reboot the watch and phone and will give it another try tomorrow morning…
 

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cfc

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 27, 2011
3,008
2,511
The running total is sort of hidden, in the 7 workout a week award. It’s the last line in the award. As I mentioned, I was at 5 total so far for this week. Went on two, one hour walks after installing the app and I did credit for activity for the day, and those two walks show up in the activity app, along with my older workouts using the apple app. But for some reason, those walks done using Workoutdoors didn’t count against my total number of workouts for the week…

What tipped me off was I didn’t get the watch 7 workouts completed in a week award after doing those two using Workoutdoors which should have got me to 7…I did reboot the watch and phone and will give it another try tomorrow morning…
Apple say that it can take up to 9 days for workouts to be counted for awards, which seems pretty poor to me (and a strangely specific number). After that they say to contact them.

 
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