Apple Watch @ Equinox Gym (No Music?)

[blairh]

Does anybody here use their AW at Equinox gym by chance?

If so, is there any way I can leave my iPhone in my locker and access my music (via Apple's Music app) without having to add music directly onto the AW?

I thought by connecting to the gym wi-fi I would be all set. But when I did this, and left my iPhone in my locker, I was not able to play any music on my iPhone. And this was even without the red disconnected icon appearing on the top.

Any ideas? Right now I'm simply working out with my iPhone in my zippered gym shorts (and it's fine) but obviously I would prefer keeping my iPhone in my locker if possible.

P.S. I'm checking into the gym via the Wallet app on my AW. This is the proper method, correct?

 

[PackyP]

I do this at my gym every day. My phone stays across the room in a locker while I control songs from my watch. My bluetooth headphones are connected to the phone.

Long press inside the music app, and make sure you select your phone as the music source.

 

[blairh]

I do this at my gym every day. My phone stays across the room in a locker while I control songs from my watch. My bluetooth headphones are connected to the phone.

Long press inside the music app, and make sure you select your phone as the music source.

Shouldn't it by default be using my phone as the music source?

Also should I maybe disconnect my iPhone from the gym wi-fi? Or is that irrelevant?

 

[PackyP]

I don't know what the default source is, but its worth checking out.

As far as wi-fi goes, I know my phone is connect to the gym wi-fi and I don't have any issues. I assume if you take it off wi-fi, the phone would have to stay within bluetooth range of the watch, which may impact where you want to leave the phone.

 

[nicho]

Your headphones are connected to... your watch or your phone?

The only ways to achieve this are 1) do what the other poster does, control phone music using watch, headphones are in Bluetooth range of phone - so not that far away or 2) put music on apple watch and connect headphones to Apple Watch.

 

[blairh]

I don't know what the default source is, but its worth checking out.

Double checked this morning at the gym. Source is my iPhone.

 

[PackyP]

If you start playing music from your phone, does it play through your bluetooth headphones? Maybe you have the headphones connected to watch rather than phone?

 

[blairh]

Your headphones are connected to... your watch or your phone?

The only ways to achieve this are 1) do what the other poster does, control phone music using watch, headphones are in Bluetooth range of phone - so not that far away or 2) put music on apple watch and connect headphones to Apple Watch.

Headphones are connected to my iPhone.

Not gonna add music to my AW. I want to be able to access both my music and podcasts (via Downcast).

I'm just not sure why I can't access my music. I don't see a red disconnection icon.

 

[nicho]

Headphones are connected to my iPhone.

Not gonna add music to my AW. I want to be able to access both my music and podcasts (via Downcast).

I'm just not sure why I can't access my music. I don't see a red disconnection icon.

What's the wifi setup there?

I'm betting you aren't connected over Bluetooth. And even if you could access the music over wifi, the headphones won't be connected to your phone by Bluetooth - they'd also be out of range.

Next time you "don't see the disconnect icon" open the settings glance; do you see a green cloud in the top right?

 

[roguebear]

Not exactly sure what you're trying to do, but, to be clear, you cannot connect your headphones to your watch via bluetooth and then use wifi to play music/podcasts from your phone which is somewhere else connected to wifi (which sounds like what you may be trying to do)

Otherwise you can play audio from the phone if your headphones are in bluetooth range of the phone. But I doubt your equinox gym lockers are close enough to the work out areas (unlike PackyP's example of the locker being in the same room) for your headphones to connect to your iphone.

 

[blairh]

Not exactly sure what you're trying to do, but, to be clear, you cannot connect your headphones to your watch via bluetooth and then use wifi to play music/podcasts from your phone which is somewhere else connected to wifi (which sounds like what you may be trying to do)

Otherwise you can play audio from the phone if your headphones are in bluetooth range of the phone. But I doubt your equinox gym lockers are close enough to the work out areas (unlike PackyP's example of the locker being in the same room) for your headphones to connect to your iphone.

I want to be able to roam my gym playing music from my iPhone while it's in my locker with my headphones connected to my iPhone. I don't know if it matters whether I connect to my gym's wi-fi or not.

Right now I can roam the gym with the iPhone in the locker and I don't think I'm seeing the red disconnected icon. I need to see if the green icon appears in the glance as suggested. I'll be back at the gym Sunday.

 

[gsmornot]

I want to be able to roam my gym playing music from my iPhone while it's in my locker with my headphones connected to my iPhone. I don't know if it matters whether I connect to my gym's wi-fi or not.

Right now I can roam the gym with the iPhone in the locker and I don't think I'm seeing the red disconnected icon. I need to see if the green icon appears in the glance as suggested. I'll be back at the gym Sunday.

You have a few things going on here that are sort of related. Best we just layout the facts.

You can connect bluetooth headphones to your watch or your phone.
If you connect BT headphones to your watch, you will need music loaded on your watch.
If you do not have music on your watch then your watch is only controlling the interface on your phone.
Your headphones will need to be able to connect to your phone via bluetooth at the distance you are trying to use them.
You will not be able, no matter where everything is, play music from your phone through your watch to your headphones.
Your watch is a remote for your phone.

I, myself, build a playlist and sync it to my watch. I then play from my watch to my headphones. Its an easy process but a very slow process. You want to build your playlist then in the watch app select the playlist to sync and put everything on the charger at bedtime. When you get up it will be done and ready. To use the headphones with the watch assuming you sync, you will need to tell the watch what your music source will be by opening the music app then scrolling down and selecting the watch from that screen. It will be in red. Default is music from your phone. With the default you have a remote control.

In all of this, having wifi on your watch provides no benefit other than to keep a connection from watch to phone for functions normally provided through bluetooth. Playing music is not one of those options.

 

[blairh]

In all of this, having wifi on your watch provides no benefit other than to keep a connection from watch to phone for functions normally provided through bluetooth. Playing music is not one of those options.

So connecting to the gym's wi-fi on my iPhone plays no function in me wanting to play music from my iPhone as I use the gym, and controlling the music on my AW?

Should I disconnect from the gym wi-fi or does it not matter?

 

[nicho]

So connecting to the gym's wi-fi on my iPhone plays no function in me wanting to play music from my iPhone as I use the gym, and controlling the music on my AW?

Should I disconnect from the gym wi-fi or does it not matter?

It doesn't matter. Think about it - you have Bluetooth headphones. Whatever you do they must be in Bluetooth range of your phone

 

[roguebear]

So connecting to the gym's wi-fi on my iPhone plays no function in me wanting to play music from my iPhone as I use the gym, and controlling the music on my AW?

Should I disconnect from the gym wi-fi or does it not matter?

Basically, the watch does not permit you to do what you are trying to do. It won't show the red icon, b/c it can communicate with the phone over wifi. The watch cannot, however, stream music from the phone over wifi. So if you connect your headphones to your watch, you have to download music to the watch.

 

[Freida]

Doesn't bluetooth have a short range?

 

[nicho]

Doesn't bluetooth have a short range?

yes.

but apparently not for OP's magic headphones

 

[blairh]

Basically, the watch does not permit you to do what you are trying to do. It won't show the red icon, b/c it can communicate with the phone over wifi. The watch cannot, however, stream music from the phone over wifi. So if you connect your headphones to your watch, you have to download music to the watch.

So wi-fi has nothing to do with what I'm trying to do, is what I believe you are saying. I guess I was under the false impression that if my AW and iPhone stayed connected to each other over wi-fi then it would play a role in keeping that connection with respect to playing music off my iPhone as I roamed the gym.

That's really a shame. As I gather the bluetooth connection is simply too far for my Watch once the iPhone is placed in my locker.

I hope there comes a day in the near future where the Apple Watch can stay connected to the iPhone at longer distances.

 

[nicho]

So wi-fi has nothing to do with what I'm trying to do, is what I believe you are saying. I guess I was under the false impression that if my AW and iPhone stayed connected to each other over wi-fi then it would play a role in keeping that connection with respect to playing music off my iPhone as I roamed the gym.

That's really a shame. As I gather the bluetooth connection is simply too far for my Watch once the iPhone is placed in my locker.

I hope there comes a day in the near future where the Apple Watch can stay connected to the iPhone at longer distances.

for one, you've completely ignored the fact that your headphones are connected to your phone and not your watch...

 

[gppittjk]

So wi-fi has nothing to do with what I'm trying to do, is what I believe you are saying. I guess I was under the false impression that if my AW and iPhone stayed connected to each other over wi-fi then it would play a role in keeping that connection with respect to playing music off my iPhone as I roamed the gym.

That's really a shame. As I gather the bluetooth connection is simply too far for my Watch once the iPhone is placed in my locker.

I hope there comes a day in the near future where the Apple Watch can stay connected to the iPhone at longer distances.

Ok need some clarification here:

Taking the watch out of the equation, are you able to listen to music from your phone when it is in your locker and you are out on the gym floor? I'm not talking about being able to manipulate what is playing, just whether or not the audio signal reaches your bluetooth headphones at that distance. If not, your issue is a bluetooth headset range problem, which your watch is not going to help.

If you can listen to music from the far end of the gym while your phone is in your locker, then in theory you should be able to control the music/podcasts on your phone from your watch. However, there can be two issues at play. First, ignoring wifi, your watch may not be within bluetooth range of your phone and thus will not be able to communicate your commands to it. Second, the wifi at the gym may be set up in such a way that the watch is not connecting properly. One possibility is that your phone is attaching to a 5GHz band, which your watch cannot access (it only supports the lower band). Second, I've found it very difficult to tell whether the phone and watch are actually communicating over wifi, as there is no manual option for that kind of connection - it all happens automatically, in the background.

 

[melman101]

I still don't understand why you don't want to sync to the watch and connect the headset to the watch. That would solve your issue.

 

[blairh]

I still don't understand why you don't want to sync to the watch and connect the headset to the watch. That would solve your issue.

I don't want to sync music to my Watch. I want to be able to play any of my music or podcasts while I'm at the gym.
[doublepost=1460668306][/doublepost]

Ok need some clarification here:

Taking the watch out of the equation, are you able to listen to music from your phone when it is in your locker and you are out on the gym floor? I'm not talking about being able to manipulate what is playing, just whether or not the audio signal reaches your bluetooth headphones at that distance. If not, your issue is a bluetooth headset range problem, which your watch is not going to help.

If you can listen to music from the far end of the gym while your phone is in your locker, then in theory you should be able to control the music/podcasts on your phone from your watch. However, there can be two issues at play. First, ignoring wifi, your watch may not be within bluetooth range of your phone and thus will not be able to communicate your commands to it. Second, the wifi at the gym may be set up in such a way that the watch is not connecting properly. One possibility is that your phone is attaching to a 5GHz band, which your watch cannot access (it only supports the lower band). Second, I've found it very difficult to tell whether the phone and watch are actually communicating over wifi, as there is no manual option for that kind of connection - it all happens automatically, in the background.

So today I tried this again. Kept the iPhone in my locker, disabled wi-fi entirely on my iPhone, and connected my headphones to my iPhone.

I was able to play music in some areas of the gym, however as I got further away from the lockers the connection got worse to the point where it wasn't worth listening to.

So basically I can't do as I want. From what I gather, connecting to the gym wi-fi is entirely irrelevant to what I'm trying to do. So I guess the bluetooth range is simply too far for my iPhone to stay connected to my headphones while I workout.

Keeping my iPhone on me at the gym is not a big deal. But obviously not having to keep it in my shorts at all would have been better. I do hope someday I can keep my iPhone in my locker and just use the AW to control all my music and podcasts.

 

[nicho]

I don't want to sync music to my Watch. I want to be able to play any of my music or podcasts while I'm at the gym.
[doublepost=1460668306][/doublepost]

So today I tried this again. Kept the iPhone in my locker, disabled wi-fi entirely on my iPhone, and connected my headphones to my iPhone.

I was able to play music in some areas of the gym, however as I got further away from the lockers the connection got worse to the point where it wasn't worth listening to.

So basically I can't do as I want. From what I gather, connecting to the gym wi-fi is entirely irrelevant to what I'm trying to do. So I guess the bluetooth range is simply too far for my iPhone to stay connected to my headphones while I workout.

Keeping my iPhone on me at the gym is not a big deal. But obviously not having to keep it in my shorts at all would have been better. I do hope someday I can keep my iPhone in my locker and just use the AW to control all my music and podcasts.

Buy a fanny pack or join a smaller gym. They're never making Bluetooth headphones with a longer range.

 

[gppittjk]

I don't want to sync music to my Watch. I want to be able to play any of my music or podcasts while I'm at the gym.
[doublepost=1460668306][/doublepost]

So today I tried this again. Kept the iPhone in my locker, disabled wi-fi entirely on my iPhone, and connected my headphones to my iPhone.

I was able to play music in some areas of the gym, however as I got further away from the lockers the connection got worse to the point where it wasn't worth listening to.

So basically I can't do as I want. From what I gather, connecting to the gym wi-fi is entirely irrelevant to what I'm trying to do. So I guess the bluetooth range is simply too far for my iPhone to stay connected to my headphones while I workout.

Keeping my iPhone on me at the gym is not a big deal. But obviously not having to keep it in my shorts at all would have been better. I do hope someday I can keep my iPhone in my locker and just use the AW to control all my music and podcasts.

Yea unfortunately it's a Bluetooth problem. Ideally someday soon the range will get better on new headphones or they'll adopt a new wireless connection technology. There are a lot of great options for keeping your phone on/around you when you're at the gym though, and that will guarantee you can use your watch to manipulate what you're listening to. One option is a flip belt:

https://flipbelt.com

Certainly more discreet than a fanny pack and more comfortable/secure than a shorts pocket.

 

[friedmud]

I do feel for the OP... none of this is very straightforward. gsmornot gave a nice description of what the current situation is though.

For me... I would just like the Watch to be able to stream music on its own. Where is the Watch Spotify app that allows you to stream Spotify directly to the Watch if it's connected to Wifi?

I suspect that the Watch is simply too slow to allow this kind of stuff right now (I know that it can technically do it because I've played enough with the development kit)... maybe we'll see it in Gen 2.