Yoga Workout in watchOS 5... How is this different from yoga in watchOS4?

[j-a-x]

I keep reading that yoga workouts is a big new watchOS5 feature, but I've been using yoga workout types in WatchOS 4 for a year now. So is there any difference?

One thing about Yoga in WatchOS 4 is it's sort of hidden. You need to do at least one "other" workout and then when you're done it'll ask you what kind of "other" it is and you can specify yoga, then the next time you go to the workout app, yoga will show as default. You can even customize the yoga workout to show heart rate, active energy, total calories etc. in Apple Watch settings.

Can anybody show me some screenshots of the yoga workout in iOS5 or explain what the differences are between the yoga workout view in iOS4 and iOS5?

 

[matrix07]

I believe Yoga in watchOS 4 is simply a label of Others workout while in watchOS 5 it is its own workout with its own algorithm.

 

[j-a-x]

I believe Yoga in watchOS 4 is simply a label of Others workout while in watchOS 5 it is its own workout with its own algorithm.

Does anybody with the beta know what the new algorithm does?

 

[friednoodles]

I remember hearing on a podcast (with Serenity Caldwell perhaps?) and in a few other places that it now makes use of heart rate data, but the specifics of the algorithm and how it integrates that with motion data are something only Apple knows. As with the other workouts, I don't think they've published anything about exactly how it estimates it, other than that they do a lot of real world profiling to build models that are used to compute it.

 

[j-a-x]

I remember hearing on a podcast (with Serenity Caldwell perhaps?) and in a few other places that it now makes use of heart rate data, but the specifics of the algorithm and how it integrates that with motion data are something only Apple knows. As with the other workouts, I don't think they've published anything about exactly how it estimates it, other than that they do a lot of real world profiling to build models that are used to compute it.

In watchOS 4 the yoga workout definitely tracks my heart rate and computed calories burned. Maybe in 5 it computed calories from heart rate differently during yoga? I figured regardless of what workout type you were doing the calculation of calories was always the same. I’m tempted to install the beta and find out but I hear it isn’t reliable enough for daily use yet.