Just walked out of the store with my 42mm SS!! Love it. I am trying to make it so i can run without a phone and just my wireless headphones watch music and a running app. Currently i use a Garmin Fenix 3 and spotify along with the wireless headphones with my 6+ in hand. I am willing to use a different running app that measures distance time and cals while the watch measures heart rate and cals. I wouldn't however like to move from spotify. (apple will probably make me due to the apple music release) However, that can be worked out also so long as apple mirrors spotify as far as my musical tastes go. I know I have a lot of variables to work through on this but it would be nice to get to a point where i can make my next run (tonite) my first apple watch run! Thanks!
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Runners please help.
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Here a list of running apps.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-running-apps,review-2285.html
I've used Nike+, Runtastic, and MapMyRun. I like mapmyrun but use nike+ because I have friends on it. Strava seems to be very popular but I have never used it.
You will not be able to use any of these without your phone. Maybe when watchOS 2.0 drops.
You can use the native workout app on the watch but you will not get course data. You will need to run with your phone a few times for the watch to calibrate.
As for music, if you want to run without your phone think of you watch as an iPod nano. you will load it with songs.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-running-apps,review-2285.html
I've used Nike+, Runtastic, and MapMyRun. I like mapmyrun but use nike+ because I have friends on it. Strava seems to be very popular but I have never used it.
You will not be able to use any of these without your phone. Maybe when watchOS 2.0 drops.
You can use the native workout app on the watch but you will not get course data. You will need to run with your phone a few times for the watch to calibrate.
As for music, if you want to run without your phone think of you watch as an iPod nano. you will load it with songs.
at the moment you're only able to move mp3's or apple playlist to your watch. Spotify has yet to make there playlist compatible with Apple. It may just be a matter of time, people have requested it on the Spotify support forums.
you also will watch to run with your watch and phone a few time so the watch will calibrate itself. Remember the watch does not have a GPS so it'll need to learn your run/walk stride to estimate the distance you're traveling. I've use the Workout Watch App and MapMyFitness for my runs. The distance is usually .1 - .3 miles off. I tend to lean towards my phone being more accurate since it has the GPS.
None of the running apps, I think, function without the phone. So, the Workout app would be the best available running app. If you run with the phone and watch, then pick your favorite phone app and use that. The watch a is just a remote start & stop for the app on the phone. (My caveat to this is that I have not played with all the running apps since getting my watch, so there may be apps that work independently from the phone.)
The better analogy is Mac > iPod. You create a playlist in Music on your iPhone, select the playlist in the Watch app for transfer to the Watch, it gets downloaded to the iPhone and transferred to the Watch.
Yes you can control Spotify on your phone in offline mode with the watch. It a bit cumbersome because you have to get the music controls and that can only be done as a glance since Spotify has not put out a watch interface.
I wear wired ear buds so I control Spotify with the buds and running apps with the watch.
It seems to me that Aplle should have made their app so that it mapped your run using the iPhone's built in GPS. I like seeing my course as I change all the time to challenge and avoid boredom. How hard would that have been?
By itself, probably not that hard, but all the little things they could do to make the watch experience better add up. So things get left out. I'm sure everyone has something they wanted that got left out of the first watch OS.
Right now your possibilities are quite limited. If your calibrate your watch correctly you won't need the phone. That's nice but you will lack the GPS mapping.
It is important to calibrate the watch without using other running apps in the background on the phone because this may avoid a correct reading. I had to do the calibration twice because of that. Now my phoneless runs are very accurate (distance is ~1% off). If you don't need the mapping feature you can be quite happy. IOS 9 Beta gives you split times for km/miles which for some is enough info. But if you go for (public) beta I'd advice not to upgrade the watch because some who did it said its not worth the frustration it may cause and iOS 9 works well with watchOS 1.0.1.
It is important to calibrate the watch without using other running apps in the background on the phone because this may avoid a correct reading. I had to do the calibration twice because of that. Now my phoneless runs are very accurate (distance is ~1% off). If you don't need the mapping feature you can be quite happy. IOS 9 Beta gives you split times for km/miles which for some is enough info. But if you go for (public) beta I'd advice not to upgrade the watch because some who did it said its not worth the frustration it may cause and iOS 9 works well with watchOS 1.0.1.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Agreed. However, Apple has obviously decided to leave that to the brain trust (3rd party apps). I highly suggest running with your iPhone. Then you can use 3rd party run apps, have access to your full music, podcast, audiobook collection, and have the most accurate GPS data.
With wOS 2.0 I might be able to leave my iPhone at home, but for the time being it's too limited
Additional info: I still also run the workout app on the watch so that I get continuous HR monitoring and the quick glance data on the watch face during my run. Then I simultaneously start Nike+ from my iPhone and just go!
Ditto this, except I start workout and simultaneously run RunKeeper on some of my runs. I also double-wrist with my Garmin 910XT on all runs as the primary fitness device.
I will probably always use a Garmin long-term, because it has better reliability than RunKeeper. RunKeeper totally flakes out a several times a year. My Garmin only seems to lose it once a year. I don't know if the RK flake out is because of the phone's GPS accuracy or the RK app itself. I tend to think it is the phone, because it as totally wrong location information that jacks up everything. And, it improved tremendously with the iPhone 6 (it is still way more flaky than the Garmin, though).
I would never leave my phone behind on a run. To much going on in my life to not be available.
Just seemed like a easy thing for Apple to incorporate the phone GPS with it's apps. If you can draw a "doodle" and send it, you would think . . . . .
Enjoy!
You have a $600 Fenix 3, why are you considering the Apple Watch for running? There is no way you will get the accuracy or features in this current generation of Apple Watch.
Agree on the Fenix 3 comment. I am not too concerned with the GPS i can get over that as i run the same routes pretty much everytime i run. I do want it to be accurate for distance and calories though not show me a map. (would be awesome if it would though) I would just love it if i could run with just the watch and my wireless headphones.
Ive made a running playlist on Apple music am i able to transfer it to the watch? if so how? i can't seem to figure it out
Ive made a running playlist on Apple music am i able to transfer it to the watch? if so how? i can't seem to figure it out
Not being a runner, I don't know how accurate the watch is, but it should totally track distance and calories without your iPhone. You should take your phone with you the first few times to calibrate your watch, and after that, you can leave your phone behind.
To sync music, place watch on charger, then open the watch app on your iPhone, tap "My Watch" at the bottom, scroll down until you find "Music," then tap that, and you'll see "Synced Playlist." Tap that, and you see a list of playlists you have on your phone, from which you can pick one to sync to your watch.
Thanks! Got a playlist synced, tested it out without my phone and it worked well. It'll be nice being able to workout and run without my phone. Did my first run with the watch and it seemed pretty accurate. For what it's worth I also did a walk on the treadmill and the distance was within .02 of the display on the treadmill and the heart rate was spot on with the treadmills.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Just don't forget to do a few runs at various speeds/inclines with your iPhone to calibrate the watch!
The best Apple Watch running app that I've used is iSmoothRun. It requires you to run with your iPhone, but it's a stable and customizable app. I used the Workout app exclusively for about 2 weeks and liked it at first, but then it grew more and more inaccurate.
That being said, I've gone back to running primarily with my Garmin 620. The Apple Watch is a fine smart watch, but a mediocre running watch. Some of that may change with Watch OS 2, but it won't change the fact that the display is difficult to see in direct sunlight and the touch screen/force touch is difficult to engage while running for pausing/resuming. I've just grown accustomed to knowing that my Apple Watch activity app will be missing 60-90 minutes of data the six days a week I run.
That being said, I've gone back to running primarily with my Garmin 620. The Apple Watch is a fine smart watch, but a mediocre running watch. Some of that may change with Watch OS 2, but it won't change the fact that the display is difficult to see in direct sunlight and the touch screen/force touch is difficult to engage while running for pausing/resuming. I've just grown accustomed to knowing that my Apple Watch activity app will be missing 60-90 minutes of data the six days a week I run.