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Voice Feedback on Workout - Anyone got this to work?

Hamster100

Hamster100

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 29, 2016
34
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I was very pleased to hear the subtle announcement Apple made to support voice feedback on the stock workout app. Much overdue but at least its supposedly there now. But I have not been able to get this to work at all? I tested today on a cycle and on different units Miles / Km's but on each milestone, nothing was announced.

Anyone else got this working yet? If so what stats are read out as I know Apple don't allow you to choose what you want or don't want to hear.

Thanks
 
No same issue here, I tried biking today, It didn't automatically asked me if I startet biking, and on my way back I startet the workout but no voice feedback :(
 
I'll try again later but it didnt work earlier, with AirPods on and connected to the Watch (tested using Music from watch), maybe better luck with walk / running too. I will come back later once tested. Its a shame that its still a very limited feature though, other apps allow complete customisation of what you want to hear and have done for years. But I do like the simplicity of Apple Workout so if this voice over works, I will use as main tracker.
 
Wasn't aware of the feature until today when starting a w/o w/ my strength coach, caught us both off guard & have silenced it for now.
 
When I select Distance goal for Outdoor Walk, I get voice feedback telling when I reached certain distances.

When I select Time goal for Outdoor Walk, I get voice feedback, saying something like: You’re at halfway point.

Tomorrow, I’ll select Open Goal for Outdoor Walk and I’ll see whether I get any voice feedback.
 
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So from I can tell the voice feedback is very limited. For walking / running as an open goal it will announce distance at the 1m/km mark and also pace. For cycling it will announce at the 5km distance and also pace. And that’s it. No way to configure or choose. Welcome addition but if you want more audio stats then I guess you’ll need to look elsewhere. WorkOutDoors is a good option. Check it out.
 
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Hamster100 said:
So from I can tell the voice feedback is very limited. For walking / running as an open goal it will announce distance at the 1m/km mark and also pace. For cycling it will announce at the 5km distance and also pace. And that’s it. No way to configure or choose. Welcome addition but if you want more audio stats then I guess you’ll need to look elsewhere. WorkOutDoors is a good option. Check it out.
Click to expand...

When you use this, do you hear the voice feedback from your Airpods or from the Watch speaker? I spoke with Apple Support about this and was told it should go through my AirPods Pro which it did maybe once. All other times it has announced through the Apple Watch speaker.
 
I have been running Watch OS betas and it worked for me on one of the recent Betas but then, sadly, stopped working more recently. Sadness.
 
richard13 said:
When you use this, do you hear the voice feedback from your Airpods or from the Watch speaker? I spoke with Apple Support about this and was told it should go through my AirPods Pro which it did maybe once. All other times it has announced through the Apple Watch speaker.
Click to expand...
If you have the AirPods connected to the watch via AirPlay then it will always announce through the AirPods but otherwise it will announce through the Watch speaker. One thing to check is that you might think it’s paired to the Watch but if your iPhone is used to play music or anything else your AirPods will be connected to the iPhone instead and thus announce through Watch speaker.

I use Apple Music and sync this on Watch so it’s always the source of music when on a workout. Quickest way to check is swipe up from the bottom of the Watch screen and tap AirPlay. Then make sure AirPods are checked.
 

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Hamster100 said:
If you have the AirPods connected to the watch via AirPlay then it will always announce through the AirPods but otherwise it will announce through the Watch speaker. One thing to check is that you might think it’s paired to the Watch but if your iPhone is used to play music or anything else your AirPods will be connected to the iPhone instead and thus announce through Watch speaker.

I use Apple Music and sync this on Watch so it’s always the source of music when on a workout. Quickest way to check is swipe up from the bottom of the Watch screen and tap AirPlay. Then make sure AirPods are checked.
Click to expand...
Good point. I usually run with my phone (and listen to music from it) but the one day I heard the announcements may have been a day I left the watch at home and was listening to music via the phone. I just ordered a new watch (my first cellular one since the series 3), so I hope to leave my phone at home more often.

UPDATE: Ran this morning with my airpods connected to my watch and I got workout updates in the airpods.
 
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I was wondering why Siri suddenly started talking to me during workouts. I seem to live under a rock lately. Didn't know this was a new thing. I thought I had done something wrong in my settings. I find it quite annoying in public. 😅
 
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Hamster100 said:
If you have the AirPods connected to the watch via AirPlay then it will always announce through the AirPods but otherwise it will announce through the Watch speaker. One thing to check is that you might think it’s paired to the Watch but if your iPhone is used to play music or anything else your AirPods will be connected to the iPhone instead and thus announce through Watch speaker.

I use Apple Music and sync this on Watch so it’s always the source of music when on a workout. Quickest way to check is swipe up from the bottom of the Watch screen and tap AirPlay. Then make sure AirPods are checked.
Click to expand...
Thank you. This definitely helped. I was able to play my music from the Watch and have Siri announce to my AirPods Pro this morning. One thing though, during my workout there was a notification from the watch which lowered my music way down (not unexpected). But then after I addressed the notification the music volume didn't raise back. So I told Siri to raise volume and it did a little. I did this several more times and Siri finally said it couldn't be raised anymore. Music didn't seem to get back to where it was originally, but ok. Well, when Siri finally did announce at my Mile 1 she was extremely loud. I went into Siri settings on the watch and found the volume set to half way. I lowered it way down to almost nothing. But at Mile 2 Siri was still way loud.

I think this functionality needs some more work from Apple.
 
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Alhagar said:
Good point. I usually run with my phone (and listen to music from it) but the one day I heard the announcements may have been a day I left the watch at home and was listening to music via the phone. I just ordered a new watch (my first cellular one since the series 3), so I hope to leave my phone at home more often.

UPDATE: Ran this morning with my airpods connected to my watch and I got workout updates in the airpods.
Click to expand...
Great to hear they are working. Apple just need to give us more options for what is announced now such as duration, heart rate, calories etc but Voice is a welcomed addition finally. The Apple Watch workout app is the only one that works every time for me, have tried all others MapMyRun, Run Keeper, Strava etc all of them have issues tracking in one way or another.
 
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richard13 said:
Thank you. This definitely helped. I was able to play my music from the Watch and have Siri announce to my AirPods Pro this morning. One thing though, during my workout there was a notification from the watch which lowered my music way down (not unexpected). But then after I addressed the notification the music volume didn't raise back. So I told Siri to raise volume and it did a little. I did this several more times and Siri finally said it couldn't be raised anymore. Music didn't seem to get back to where it was originally, but ok. Well, when Siri finally did announce at my Mile 1 she was extremely loud. I went into Siri settings on the watch and found the volume set to half way. I lowered it way down to almost nothing. But at Mile 2 Siri was still way loud.

I think this functionality needs some more work from Apple.
Click to expand...
I think I have experienced this before, its almost like there is a conflict for audio volume to and the music will not return to its set level. It might be an occasional issue that hopefully will be fixed with a future update. Glad its now at least worked as expected with the announcements.

One final thing I have noticed is that, unlike other devices, it appears that the AirPods cannot share a connection between the iPhone and Apple Watch, i.e. it has to connect to one or the other. Which is why its best to either just use the Watch as the main source of audio....or the iPhone as the main source
 
Hamster100 said:
I think I have experienced this before, its almost like there is a conflict for audio volume to and the music will not return to its set level. It might be an occasional issue that hopefully will be fixed with a future update. Glad its now at least worked as expected with the announcements.

One final thing I have noticed is that, unlike other devices, it appears that the AirPods cannot share a connection between the iPhone and Apple Watch, i.e. it has to connect to one or the other. Which is why its best to either just use the Watch as the main source of audio....or the iPhone as the main source
Click to expand...
I think you may be right about there being a conflict. Maybe between music volume and Siri volume. I re-paired my Watch 5 to my iPhone X and tried again this morning. I started my music from the Watch but today there were no prior notifications and Siri announced my progress on my first mile at a normal tone of voice. However, later I raised the volume of the music via the crown (and maybe skipped a song or two) but now Siri announced my 2nd mile via the Watch speaker. Sigh. I'm now more convinced this is a buggy implementation and hope it will be fixed in later updates.
 
It's iOS 15 bug. I also have it but not between iPhone and Apple Watch. For me it's iPhone and HomePod mini. When I play music on HomePod mini and notification comes up it will be very loud even though I set volume in Sound/Alerts very low.
 
matrix07 said:
It's iOS 15 bug. I also have it but not between iPhone and Apple Watch. For me it's iPhone and HomePod mini. When I play music on HomePod mini and notification comes up it will be very loud even though I set volume in Sound/Alerts very low.
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Yea, hopefully they fix the volume issue.
 
It worked for me out of the clear blue, and I was a little nonplussed to hear somebody talking to me since there was nobody around but my dog. For a minute there, I thought he was pretty smart. Well, he is… just not quite into announcing workouts yet.
 
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Update: This morning's walk started once again, connecting to my AirPods Pro to my Apple Watch 5 to start playing music. Mile 1 had Siri speaking in a normal tone of voice. Then I got a notification from the UHC Motion app which lowered the volume of the music and didn't return to normal volume. Left it alone, didn't skip songs. Siri announced Mile 2 and Mile 3 normally. So clearly the other app is doing (or not doing) something it should to keep things going regarding my music. I will attempt to silence all notifications from the app and see if both my music and voice feedback are normal tomorrow.
 
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