Does it record heart rate from the watch, the app description does not mention heart rate, i'm hoping apple hasn't restricted this to their own apps.
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Apps Can someone try Strava
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What are you after. As said, their is no SDK to access the watch info directly. But it writes to the Health app so heart rate, calories burned (based on heart rate), etc are in there and can be read by other apps.
If Strava can read the info from health and save it back to strava to match up with my strava gps record from the same period I would be happy, or if I can export a workout and import to starva even. Ideally it would work the same as if you're using a chest strap with the strava app.
Ok went on a long ride with Strava yesterday.
Strava does not currently recognise the HRM from the apple watch which is a bit of a pain in the ass. I hope this changes or eventually learns to take the HRM from HealthKit.
My setup for the ride was to start an open outdoor cycle in the workout app, the switch to strava glance and set my strava recording.
Strava app is a little buggy and lags a little starting and stopping and sometimes doesn't load if you haven't preloaded the app on your iPhone (says you need to login) I am sure these are bugs that will be ironed out. Once you are riding this is fine and a quick glance at your watch gives you your time and average speed. I didn't notice any segment haptic feedbacks, i imagine it would be hard to notice unless the tapping was hard and numerous.
(After my main ride I decided to go for another mile to a friends set strava recording via the glance and once i got to my destination the app wasn't actually recording anything! This was only for a small section but this is not good)
Having the workout app running as well meant the watch was constantly taking my heart rate about 12 times a minute but sometimes this would drop to about 6-8 times ( I assume this was because I was wearing the milanese loop and not a sports band and the connection was not as snug as it should have been on the bumpy sections) but I thought it was totally adequate for my ride.
The heart rate data does not currently get imported to strava through health kit and health kits analysis and graph data for Heart rate over time is terrible.
Both Strava and the workout app logged the same distance cycled of 37.7 miles, the calories burned was 1342 for strava guessing without HRM and 1463 for the workout app, so pretty close! I'm not sure what different algorithms each use and if either account resting calories into that.
Overall pretty impressed but would rather control it all from strava and import into the workouts app via health kit if it were at all possible
EDIT: Just thought I'd mention that strava syncing with health kit is atrocious at best I spend ages refreshing my feed trying to get it to push workouts. Reinstalling the app helped a bit but the problem just reoccurs for new rides. Hopefully they sort this out I don't have problems with other apps
Strava does not currently recognise the HRM from the apple watch which is a bit of a pain in the ass. I hope this changes or eventually learns to take the HRM from HealthKit.
My setup for the ride was to start an open outdoor cycle in the workout app, the switch to strava glance and set my strava recording.
Strava app is a little buggy and lags a little starting and stopping and sometimes doesn't load if you haven't preloaded the app on your iPhone (says you need to login) I am sure these are bugs that will be ironed out. Once you are riding this is fine and a quick glance at your watch gives you your time and average speed. I didn't notice any segment haptic feedbacks, i imagine it would be hard to notice unless the tapping was hard and numerous.
(After my main ride I decided to go for another mile to a friends set strava recording via the glance and once i got to my destination the app wasn't actually recording anything! This was only for a small section but this is not good)
Having the workout app running as well meant the watch was constantly taking my heart rate about 12 times a minute but sometimes this would drop to about 6-8 times ( I assume this was because I was wearing the milanese loop and not a sports band and the connection was not as snug as it should have been on the bumpy sections) but I thought it was totally adequate for my ride.
The heart rate data does not currently get imported to strava through health kit and health kits analysis and graph data for Heart rate over time is terrible.
Both Strava and the workout app logged the same distance cycled of 37.7 miles, the calories burned was 1342 for strava guessing without HRM and 1463 for the workout app, so pretty close! I'm not sure what different algorithms each use and if either account resting calories into that.
Overall pretty impressed but would rather control it all from strava and import into the workouts app via health kit if it were at all possible
EDIT: Just thought I'd mention that strava syncing with health kit is atrocious at best I spend ages refreshing my feed trying to get it to push workouts. Reinstalling the app helped a bit but the problem just reoccurs for new rides. Hopefully they sort this out I don't have problems with other apps
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Watch aside I have been trying to get Strava to reliably send ride data to Health without much luck. I would use my Garmin Edge, Strava would pickup the data and show it in the app no trouble but never send it to Health. Hope this all gets better in the future.
I love Strava fort runs. Today was my first Apple Watch run. I decided to use both Strava and Apple's Workout app (to get my heart rate). Worked well using both but over time gonna have to settle on one. I'm hoping that if Strava can incorporated heart rate then that's all I will need!
I think it's pretty poor that 3rd party apps cannot use the HRM out of the box. I don't really see a huge point in there being an app for the watch if it can't do this yet. Adding heart data to my strava workouts is one of the main reasons I wanted to watch. I do hope this all becomes fluid when apps are allowed access.
I use Strava a lot on my iPhone but I've found the watch app to be pretty useless. It almost always tells me to open the app on the iPhone and login, which defeats the point of trying to start a recording on the watch.
I wish they'd post at least a FAQ about how to use the app and what its capabilities are, but even their support site is devoid of any information about the watch app
I wish they'd post at least a FAQ about how to use the app and what its capabilities are, but even their support site is devoid of any information about the watch app
I ran with app twice. The first time was a mess because I didn't know I could change the default action of "Show Watch Face" On Wrist Raise. So trying to run and tap the little Strava app circle was a nightmare.
The 2nd time I ran with it, I had trouble starting and stopping the app via my Apple Watch. After messing around with it, it finally started properly...I confirmed this by checking my iPhone. Anyway, unfortunately, I think this will be the last time I will be using this app via Apple Watch. Reason being, the Distance field barely updated during my 5+ mile run. It updated at very random intervals - .4, .8, 1.7, 2.2, and 4.1. I had to check my phone after a while to make sure the iPhone app was working properly. This issue is a deal breaker IMO. I opened up a ticket with Strava so hopefully, they look into this issue. Until then, I'm going to try other running apps but the apps needs to have the ability to export the run to a gpx file so I can import them into Strava (Strava is awesome in terms of keeping track of your runs).
The 2nd time I ran with it, I had trouble starting and stopping the app via my Apple Watch. After messing around with it, it finally started properly...I confirmed this by checking my iPhone. Anyway, unfortunately, I think this will be the last time I will be using this app via Apple Watch. Reason being, the Distance field barely updated during my 5+ mile run. It updated at very random intervals - .4, .8, 1.7, 2.2, and 4.1. I had to check my phone after a while to make sure the iPhone app was working properly. This issue is a deal breaker IMO. I opened up a ticket with Strava so hopefully, they look into this issue. Until then, I'm going to try other running apps but the apps needs to have the ability to export the run to a gpx file so I can import them into Strava (Strava is awesome in terms of keeping track of your runs).
I had same issue with Strava distance not updating properly on the watch. On the iPhone app it did but when I am running I would want it to do the same. Please let me know the outcome with your support ticket.
Thanks
Jeff
Strava tweeted today that they are working on an update that should be out next week to address the Health app integration problems.
I got out for my first mountain bike ride with the watch yesterday, bit of a mixed bag in terms of the watch. I wanted to measure the heart rate so I used the outdoor cycle mode and set that first. I then opened the strava app and pushed the one button available and the time started and left it at that, three hours later, I came back and found Strava hadn't been running at all, I'm thinking you need to open it on your phone first.
Re. the watch, on some steep climbs where I knew I was close to maximum heart rate, it blanked out, unable to find my heart beat, so that was disappointing, the times where I was working hardest it wasn't.
I actually quite like the workout app in terms of basic functionality, there is something quite satisfying seeing those circles do several laps of the ring but it needs more. I could live with that if it would allow me to export each ride and upload to Strava later, It would be useful if it also provided heart rate zones.
I'm hoping apple can improve the heart rate reliability at maximum effort with a software update, although not sure if that's even possible with just software.
Re. the watch, on some steep climbs where I knew I was close to maximum heart rate, it blanked out, unable to find my heart beat, so that was disappointing, the times where I was working hardest it wasn't.
I actually quite like the workout app in terms of basic functionality, there is something quite satisfying seeing those circles do several laps of the ring but it needs more. I could live with that if it would allow me to export each ride and upload to Strava later, It would be useful if it also provided heart rate zones.
I'm hoping apple can improve the heart rate reliability at maximum effort with a software update, although not sure if that's even possible with just software.
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I agree with the workout app exporting to strava, the problem with that is map routes though.
At the moment I double check strava is running on my phone when using the watch app to start, even though that defeats the point.
Also worth noticing although not technically the right place, I went out for a 7 hour cycle today with workout running the watch managed to last only around 6.5 hours, which isn't necessarily bad but its not great! I managed to save my workout on the 10% low then start a new workout to see how long it would last before it died, once it died and I recharged the watch the data was not lost from that small section which is a total bonus.
At the moment I double check strava is running on my phone when using the watch app to start, even though that defeats the point.
Also worth noticing although not technically the right place, I went out for a 7 hour cycle today with workout running the watch managed to last only around 6.5 hours, which isn't necessarily bad but its not great! I managed to save my workout on the 10% low then start a new workout to see how long it would last before it died, once it died and I recharged the watch the data was not lost from that small section which is a total bonus.
I spent a few hours in the woods with mine this weekend. I used the Strava app successfully via the Watch App. It is very slow to update and the distance didn't update at all. I used a Mio Link for HR and couldn't get it to work with the phone and the watch at the same time, so I used it with the the phone which worked okay, except the Strava app doesn't show HR and if I used the HR glance it took forever to update from the watch's HR sensor (only samples every 10 mins when not using the workout app).
Despite not using the workout app, I got the exercise circle to go around three times, which was only a bit short of my actual saddle time.
The health app showed HR from both the Mio and the watch, but my cycle time didn't get pulled from Strava -- which is a problem I've been having.
I think I'll try the workout app next time while running Strava at the same time to review my segments afterwards -- not even bothering with the Strava Watch App. I'll try using the Mio with the phone again so Strava will still have HR data.
Despite not using the workout app, I got the exercise circle to go around three times, which was only a bit short of my actual saddle time.
The health app showed HR from both the Mio and the watch, but my cycle time didn't get pulled from Strava -- which is a problem I've been having.
I think I'll try the workout app next time while running Strava at the same time to review my segments afterwards -- not even bothering with the Strava Watch App. I'll try using the Mio with the phone again so Strava will still have HR data.
I managed to get a quick mountain bike ride in after work today so a little update, I wore the watch higher up my arm and it was reading Hr much more reliably, never missed a beat that I have seen and max went up to 182 which seems more appropriate for the level of effort. My theoretical maximum (220-age) is 183.
So on the climb it was fine, on the way back down, the watch slipped after about 2 seconds, so I did it up a notch and it picked it up again, although I wasn't stopping to check and haven't looked at the history.
I think I'm going to try it with the sensor on the back of my wrist next time and see how that works.
I feel like one solution to avoid the issue of your wrist bone raising the watch would be to have some kind of curved strap, just a thought.
Onto Strava, I opened the app first this time, then opened it on the apple watch and it asked me to sign into Strava on the phone, epic fail, I gave up on it after that and have no plans to try again until its updated.
I'm not sure if its just because of the workout app being native and kinda stand alone but there is something really enjoyable about its simplicity and not having to worry about it controlling a phone app. Just hit workout, outdoor cycle and go! The simplicity is great and not having to fiddle with my phone and waste time starting it, putting it in my pack is very cool. If only I could export the data later to my preferred service.
I'm also surprised how motivating completing those circles is, I had a day stuck at my desk and the exercise circle barely moved, I had a bike ride planned with my buddy who ended up bailing. I figured I'd just go home but then thought about those circles and went for a ride anyway.
So on the climb it was fine, on the way back down, the watch slipped after about 2 seconds, so I did it up a notch and it picked it up again, although I wasn't stopping to check and haven't looked at the history.
I think I'm going to try it with the sensor on the back of my wrist next time and see how that works.
I feel like one solution to avoid the issue of your wrist bone raising the watch would be to have some kind of curved strap, just a thought.
Onto Strava, I opened the app first this time, then opened it on the apple watch and it asked me to sign into Strava on the phone, epic fail, I gave up on it after that and have no plans to try again until its updated.
I'm not sure if its just because of the workout app being native and kinda stand alone but there is something really enjoyable about its simplicity and not having to worry about it controlling a phone app. Just hit workout, outdoor cycle and go! The simplicity is great and not having to fiddle with my phone and waste time starting it, putting it in my pack is very cool. If only I could export the data later to my preferred service.
I'm also surprised how motivating completing those circles is, I had a day stuck at my desk and the exercise circle barely moved, I had a bike ride planned with my buddy who ended up bailing. I figured I'd just go home but then thought about those circles and went for a ride anyway.
I had an issue with Strava not recording my ride then failing to sync, kinda sucked. I did capture it in Apple Workout. Are you syncing strava to health kit AND recording with apple workout? I am nervous if I do that I will get duplicate data. I have been starting both apple workout and strava when i go on rides, and it seems to be working besides the few times strava didn't record my ride.
My Strava has never synced well with Health. I'm debating leaving Strava for now! I like the simplicity of the workout app, get out the car, stick my backpack on and hit go, no messing with the phone. I did bust my ass on that climb today though, it felt like a quick one so it was frustrating not being able to compare with previous times.
used strava twice, both times i used the outdoor cycle setting on the activity app.
Both times strava asked me to open my phone to start my ride, i was able to end my ride with my watch though - and it uploaded the data to my feed seamlessly.
Seems kinda useless though, because you can't start your ride w/o the phone.
The outdoor cycle setting seems to work just fine, the distances between the two apps were very close, and the added bonus of heart rate and 100% watch operation make the activity app the better experience.
Both times strava asked me to open my phone to start my ride, i was able to end my ride with my watch though - and it uploaded the data to my feed seamlessly.
Seems kinda useless though, because you can't start your ride w/o the phone.
The outdoor cycle setting seems to work just fine, the distances between the two apps were very close, and the added bonus of heart rate and 100% watch operation make the activity app the better experience.
another bike ride tonight, watch mounted on underside of my wrist this time, stayed in the one place and seemed to record well in exercise mode, funnily enough it struggled to get a heart rate like this in the HR glance and came up with a message saying the best place was on top of the wrist. For biking now I think i'll continue to mount it that way, albeit its hard to see any data without stopping to look. I'm a bit concerned about how well it would come off in an over the bars moment too.
https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/67396470-Feedback-for-Strava-on-Apple-Watch
Strava is updating this support note regarding the their apple watch app.
I've stopped using their Apple Watch app until they fix the distance display issue. And I'm currently using Runtastic Pro instead. Well, I used it once and it worked great. Displayed time, distance, and overall pace well. It does take about a second to refresh to current data when you turn your wrist...which I expected since I didn't think the bluetooth data feed was a persistent feed.
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So what will be the ideal way to use this once they fix it? I mean are you only going to sync from health kit and not to health kit? Won't it double count it.
I paused the outdoor cycle app today while hiding from a thunderstorm cell, but when resuming, I never got any data, other than elapsed time. Even quitting the app and restarting, Apple's Outdoor Cycled didn't record or save the data (iPhone 6 in jersey pocket).