May 7, 2015

The Good (and Bad) of Apple Watch So Far



Nearly three weeks with the Apple Watch on my wrist, and it’s been a lot of learning, adjusting, and tapping. Not that all three are bad things.

Like any new device you bring into your daily routine, there’s a learning curve. You’ll feel satisfying highs when technology makes your life easier and head banging against the table lows when something doesn’t work as you’d like. Here are three positives and three negatives that stand out to me three weeks into my time with Apple Watch so far.

Plus: Battery Life

You could count me among the skeptics on how long a charge would last with the Apple Watch. By Apple’s guidelines, typical use should let the watch go for 18 hours with regular use and six and half hours for workouts.

I put the battery to the test during my first week with the watch by deciding I’d try it during the Big Sur Marathon. Using the Apple Workout app paired with my iPhone for accurate GPS distance and pace monitoring, I was stunned that my 3:17 time left my watch with about 55 percent battery life remaining off a full charge.

Some settings certainly help with that. First, I wasn’t constantly using my heart rate sensor. You can also put your watch into “Power Save Mode” in the Workout app on your phone to turn off heart rate tracking completely during runs.

The other thing about the watch—it does take some getting used to—is that the watch face always turns off every 15 to 20 seconds. When you put your arms down and just run, the screen will go black. When you raise your wrist to see where you are, the screen returns.

If you sit around and play with the watch and several apps all day like people do with their phones or play music while working out, sure, it will drain faster. But if you only use it for more specific actions, I’m finding that it has no problem lasting all day until I charge it overnight.

Plus: Passbook

This app that can store your coupons, gift cards, boarding passes, and some credit/debit cards is not new. It’s been available on Apple devices since iOS 6. But with Passbook available on the watch, I’ve found myself using it almost every day.

I’ve documented how nice it was to not worry about paper boarding passes in the airport, but a recent run on a Sunday afternoon is a great example of its use. I completed a five-mile workout around my neighborhood that ended near a new Dunkin’ Donuts. With the watch I was able to finish out a low gift card balance and then finish off the order with my stored debit card.

The store had no issue scanning the device, making me feel less reliant on my wallet and all of my cards when I leave to work out or just run an errand.

Plus: Motivation

I really didn’t think I would use the Activity app with its three colored rings showing active calorie burn, amount of daily exercise, and number of hours standing that much. However, it’s probably one of the most frequent apps I tap throughout the day.

The motivating part of it mostly comes from the taptic pulses to your wrist and notifications that you’ve been idle for a long period of time. Maybe you’ve been sitting at your desk for more than an hour, so you’ll get a note that it’s time to stand.

Late in the afternoons I’ve often gotten messages that I’m just short of my Move (calorie burn) goal. And it was pretty amazing that as soon as I arrived at work on a Monday morning, I received a notification that my weekly Move goal was adjusted down because I wasn’t reaching the higher mark. Apple doesn’t want to let you slip into lethargy.

Minus: Where are the Maps?

Last week I went over some of the top running apps that can track your workout. Because you have to use your iPhone in conjunction with these apps, they also store your running routes—something that is fairly important to runners or cyclists.

While I enjoy the interface of the Apple Workout/Running app, the fact that it does not store your route information—even with your iPhone on you to use GPS for distance and pace—is almost a deal breaker for the app. I even reached out to representatives at Apple to make sure I wasn’t missing something, but alas, it’s just not something that’s available.

Minus: Running Without Your Phone

When I was first introduced to the Apple Watch, I knew there was no onboard GPS. I was intrigued when I was told that if I paid my due diligence and ran with my iPhone for five to six runs—with slow and steady runs, race pace, some quicker outings—that the built in accelerometer would “learn” how I move, what my stride is, and how I run.

I did this, running for a week with my phone in hand. But when I went on my first venture with the Watch running with me solo … it was a little underwhelming. While the pacing in the accelerometer isn’t too far off from the GPS watch I was wearing on my other wrist, the distance calculation seems to be more of a guess.

On probably half a dozen standard runs around town, where I generally know the distance covered and others’ watches agree, the distance seems to be almost half a mile off when I go about five miles. Maybe I need more time tied to my phone at this point, but I can’t say I recommend trusting the watch on your 20-mile training run.

Minus: Sweat

A little moisture on the screen—at least for me—has made the responsiveness of taps on the screen a little harder. In the middle of the day at the office, no issues with the great Apple Watch interface that’s become easier to use over time.

But when I’m sweating during a run and maybe need to hit start/pause? Tap … tap … TAPTAPTAP! The worst case was for me before a 5K this week. I had the Workout running app ready to go following my warmup for the race. I had a slight sweat going on a mild evening.

When we took off, I hit start like everyone does with their watch, except after five frustrating taps it wouldn’t begin the workout. At this point among a crowd of runners, I wasn’t going to stop and try to fix this. So it went ignored and I just focused on the accurate information and splits coming from the four-year-old GPS watch sitting on my other wrist.

Have you started running with your Apple Watch? Let us know what’s working (or not working) for you in our comments.

Friday, May 1

Taking Your Favorite Running Apps for a Test Drive

We tested five running apps, like Nike+ Running, on the Apple Watch.

A little more than a week into my Apple Watch test, one of the main questions I’ve been receiving (besides whether it has GPS … still no) is: How does [fill in the blank] running/tracking app work on the new interface?

To answer, we put five of the top running apps to the test. The protocol for the test was this: run a normal five-mile route in my neighborhood, switching apps on the Apple Watch around each mile marker. I was mainly trying to see how easy each app is to use, and how any additional features perform. (Before you try any of these apps, you’ll need to have them on your iPhone. They won’t work if the phone isn’t close.)

And make sure to change one particular setting before you try a third-party running app, or you'll be pulling you hair out in frustration. With every app besides the native Workout app from Apple, the workout screen decides to run in the background just minutes into a run.

For example, I was running along and glanced at the watch to see how far I'd gone. But the app wasn't visible—I saw only the main watch face. To return to an app, I had to hit the digital crown, scroll through the app screen, and reopen the app. This was way too much to do in the middle of a run.

You can fix this nuisance by going to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then going to General>Activate on Wrist Raise>Resume Previous Activity. Your phone is set to show the main watch face when you raise your wrist. Change this, and you’ll always see your information when out on a run or ride.

Strava App

One of the first third-party developers to announce an Apple Watch companion app was Strava. When you pop open the app, it allows you to swipe between a run or a ride depending on your workout.

An early bug? Strava's app wasn't tracking my distance on early runs.

Once you tap start and get running, the watch screen provides basic information such as your time moving, distance covered, and pace. Tap the screen lightly to pause your run at an intersection and do the same to resume. When you’re done, use a force touch (a stronger push) to bring up a button that allows you to finish. You’ll then get to see the same vital information about the run you just completed.

If you're a premium Strava user and have placed the app in your Glances (the home for your most-used apps that's just a quick swipe up from the main watch screen) the application will display your weekly progress toward a goal. Premium users also get alerts sent to their phone and watch when they are about to interact with their favorite segments while on a run with the app. After several tests, this notification feature still seems a little hit or miss, but the Strava team assured me the early bug will be fixed.

I also noticed on several early runs with the app that while the time and pace synched with my phone, the distance stayed stuck at 0.0. Developers at Strava told me they've heard a handful of issues similar to this, and by Friday morning the issue appeared to be fixed when I tried out the app.

A look at RunKeeper's clean interface.

Like Strava, you’re getting a scaled down version of what you see on your phone. Open the app and just hit “Go Running.” You’ll get time, distance, and pace to show on your watch, and pausing is a little simpler with a noticeable pause button on the bottom of the screen.

If you decide to stop your run from there, just hit save. Upgrade to RunKeeper Elite and you can get notifications during your workout that can tell you when to speed up or slow down on your tempo runs.

Nike+ Running App

This app adds a little bit of detail on the watch—and maybe too much. When you open up the app, on the first screen you can start your run, which then brings up a screen with the basic time, distance, and pace metrics.

You'll get time, distance, and pace on the main Nike+ watch face.

An easy tap toggles the bigger center metric, but it's probably best just to keep it set as it seemed a little finicky. At the start, you can also swipe left from the main screen to view your friend list or do another swipe to see how far you’ve gone on your last 10 runs. It’s nice that there is a storage component built into the watch.

Once you’ve started running, a swipe left from that screen allows you to control music you have stored on the watch (if you run without your phone, you’ll need wireless headphones). A final swipe can bring up your live GPS route, which no other watch we tested—including Apple’s Workout app—has.

You can easily jump into your playlists with Nike+ Running.

Force touch to end, pause, or change your music selection. Playing with all of these options is a little maddening if you just want to run. You’re tapping, swiping, changing playlists—at some point you just have to ignore it and go.

Finally, if you put the app in your Glances view, you can track the Nike+ leaderboard to see where you rank among your friends. Nike says you can also receive cheers from a friend on the run, even from the Lock Screen.

Simple is the main takeaway from the MapMyRun app. Not a bad thing.

Ahhhh, something simple. Open the app, hit the start button, and you’re off. (You can also change it to track a walk or cycling workout.)

Once it’s tracking your run, you get dedicated screens for your duration, distance, and calorie burn. And the fourth screen you can swipe to is the pause button. This app felt the most natural to use on the run. I didn’t feel distracted by an array of options.

My only complaint is that it would be nice if a force touch allowed you to pause the workout—it’s better to stop a workout in one touch than to swipe several times. MapMyRun does get bonus points for alerting me before my first run to the “Activate on Wrist Raise” problem I was having.

Runtastic App

Open the Runtastic app, and your first screen allows you to start a run or take a peek at your history or statistics. This is actually more detailed than the other apps I've tried, adding things like elevation gain/loss.

Runtastic's first screen lets you jump into your run or view your history.

Runtastic also has a couple more options for tracking, including mountain biking and Nordic skiing. The watch screen during your workout is to the point with duration, distance, and pace. One swipe over and you can pull up your splits—another detail that was nicely added in mini-graph form.

Finally, a force touch allows you to stop or pause your workout. Similar to Nike+, you can add a note how the run went with a series of smiley faces or describe the terrain you were on through the watch.

***

So obviously there’s good and bad with any first-generation app out there. The tracking of your distance works great as long as your phone's GPS is on point. If you’re dedicated to a particular app, you’ll learn its ins and outs through heavier use. One major issue I noticed is that all the apps had a little lag when I lifted my wrist to check the status of my run, taking a good second to sync with the iPhone’s information.

At first you might be alarmed that you can’t do everything possible on the watch with whatever app you choose compared to your iPhone. I’m learning that the Apple Watch is probably best used as a companion piece.

It’s still weird to take calls with the watch, even though you can. It’s still a little weird to dictate texts to Siri, even though you can. So maybe it’s best that you don’t get a fully built tracking app on your wrist as well.

But if you already run with your phone and hate pulling it out to see your workout, then yes, these apps will do the trick in giving you the basics at a glance.

Any apps we missed? Let us know in the comments below. In our next update, we’ll take you through running a marathon with the Apple Watch and how accurate it is when you run without the phone.

Friday, April 24

Our First 48 Hours with Apple Watch

It’s here.

The new Apple Watch is available today, which means fidgety and eager diehards of Apple will soon be wearing the newest product from the tech giant out of Cupertino, California.

The staff of Runner’s World has been excited as well. When details of the Apple Watch were released by CEO Tim Cook on March 9, the main question among those interested in the future of wearables was whether Apple could dominate the market.

That’s a big question for the business folks, but when it comes to the actual users—like runners, cyclists, or other athletes—more basic questions have popped up since I first started wear-testing the Apple Watch on Tuesday:

What does it do that’s different from your iPhone? What’s the coolest thing about it?

Both of those questions are surprisingly difficult to answer just 48 hours into using Apple Watch. Not because it’s a bad product—you can tell a lot went into developing this tiny supercomputer with the typical Apple flair—but because you really need to use it in your world to see if it makes your life better.

In fact, when I was provided this Apple Watch Sport with a 42mm aluminum case and lime green band (there is a 38mm version, and Sport has five different colored bands) I was told that the more you live with it, the more you’ll have wow moments when discovering how to use it.

So for the next several weeks here, it’s my goal to find those wow moments (or the lack thereof). I'll take the watch on as many runs as possible, to get a clear and thorough sense of how the watch stacks up for runners. We'll update this article regularly with new findings.

For starters, the First Look video at the top of the page shows how the two main fitness apps in the watch—Activity and Workout—aim to give you goals everyday, push you to be more active, and track activities like your runs. The Activity app is similar to other fitness trackers on the market that monitor your daily movements, though this shows your daily progress in three colored rings of calories burned, brisk activity, and amount of time standing.

If you're a runner, you'll be more interested in the Workout app. I’ve only done two outings with it as of early Friday, and no, there is no on-board GPS. You need to run with your iPhone to get accurate run data like distance and pace. On my second longer run of 10 miles, it actually had me at 11 miles even with the iPhone's GPS on. (I was wearing a second GPS-enabled watch that wasn't this off. To be fair, the route was off-road.)

It will be interesting to see how it performs when I take it for a run without the phone, but Apple reps have said the more you wear the watch the less you’ll need your phone over time, noting that the accelerometer built into the watch will "learn" your regular movements and specifics like cadence.

This is the main screen when you use the Workout app's run feature.

The interface within the Workout app hits all the basics without adding anything you haven't seen before. As Apple Watch seems to be all about goal setting, you can set up your run based on burning a certain number of calories, going a specific time, or hitting a certain distance. There's also the "open goal" option where you just run and go.

Hit the start button and you'll get a countdown before the run begins. You don't have to wait for the GPS to connect like other watches as long as you have your phone, so no standing around with your arm in the air.

On the run, the main screen will always have the time of day and your elapsed time going. You can swipe the bottom of the screen to change to stats like calories, heart rate, pace, or distance.

Two weird things took time getting used to. The watch face turns off quickly (I imagine it's to save battery). It's still going, and will turn on when it knows you have turned your wrist up to look at it. There's enough of a pause, though, that it can be frustrating. Secondly, I assumed tapping the "digital crown" would allow me to pause, but that actually pulls you out of the app. Then I noticed that if you keep swiping right on the screen, a pause button comes up. This seemed like way too much work, and then I discovered if you want to pause or stop, you need to apply "force touch" to the screen, which is more of an applied pressure push than the normal swipe or tap.

Beyond getting familiar with those apps, there are some other initial insights. First, the band is super light and flexible, making it one of the more comfortable activity trackers or watches you can wear. (See eight of the latest activity trackers here.) The touchscreen made of Ion-X glass is just as responsive as scrolling through your iPhone or iPad. All good things.

The digital crown on the upper right of the aluminum casing of the Sport lets you nimbly scroll through the screen with ease. A negative early on seems to be battery life; we'll see.

Pairing my phone with the watch was a breeze, taking five to 10 minutes. Then I could play around, furiously fumbling through the notifications of messages (a swipe down), glances at some of my main apps (a swipe up), and all my apps with a push of the digital crown. (The first few minutes I regularly hit the wrong apps, as they are so clustered it takes practice to nail your small target with a finger tap.)

A tap of the digital crown will bring up your app screen, which you can maneuver around and zoom in or out.

But back to that initial wow factor. The best thing I’ve done with it is load my boarding passes onto Passbook within my watch (you do it through your iPhone first, then it mirrors your phone). With a late connection into Phoenix on Thursday heading toward the Big Sur Marathon with the , I raced to our terminal without stopping to find my printed boarding pass or diving into my jeans to fetch my phone.

I just did two taps on my watch, pulled up the scan code, and headed through my gate in a few seconds. Did I save a crazy amount of time? Not really, but it did seem simpler.

It also leads to a lot of conversations like the one I had with a flight attendant named Amber.

“Oh, wow. Is that the new watch?” she asked before we landed in Phoenix.

“Yeah, here it is,” I responded, realizing I was roaming through the apps.

“I can’t wait to get one!”

“You can Friday. Hey … do you mind if I ask why you want to get one?"

“It just looks so neat. You can go online without your phone. Can’t you take calls with it? [Amber holds her wrist up to her mouth.] What about texting … and you can Facetime, yeah? That’s so cool.”

“From what I’ve seen, you still really need your phone to be around for a lot. No Web browser on here, not that I’m sure I really want to go online on such a small screen.

“You can take calls, but I actually haven’t yet. I hear it’s pretty clear. You can kind of text … there’s no real way to type, but you can dictate with Siri and use some programmed responses. I don’t think you can Facetime. … No, you can’t. There’s no front-facing camera or anything.”

“Oh …” Amber said. “I still think it’s really cool.”

Some people who have talked with me about the Apple Watch are like this, and will love it. Others have called it a glorified wrist-top iPhone companion.

As I continue to chronicle my experience with the Apple Watch over the next several weeks through outdoor runs, workouts, trips, and various other experiences, it will be interesting to see if my new wrist companion goes from being the hot new gadget to something I can’t see myself living without.

Two days can’t tell that experience. But it’s here, and now we'll see if Apple Watch is more than cool.

Brian Dalek Director of Content Operations, Runner’s World & Bicycling Brian has spent the last 10 years focused on creating compelling news, health, and fitness content—with a particular interest on enthusiast activities like running and cycling.

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