Apple Issues especially HealthKit

General Discussion
1

I’m a new user trying to get things setup and running into several problems and about to give up on Zwift before I even get started. I have the following: Bowflex C6 spin bike, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPhone mini, iPad Air.’

I first tried to run Zwift on the Apple TV. I had both the companion app and Zwift app on the Apple Watch (which seems to be the exact same thing), but no matter what I did, I could not get heart rate data to show up on the TV. When it came time to connect devices, I could connect the Bowflex C6 in other categories but Watch never showed up. I know Apple TV can only have two things connected but even though the C6 was in multiple categories I expected it to be only one device.

When I selected the use companion option, the Watch still did not show up. In all cases I made use the companion app was running. Overall though I just couldn’t do anything on the TV as the normal remote doesn’t work at all and the iPhone remote is barely a little better.

So I deleted the Zwift TV app and decided to run things on the iPhone itself, using AirPlay to mirror it to the Apple TV. This allowed me to control things on the iPhone, and eventually I got the Apple Watch to show up and did a beginning ride where it gave me a test. In the Companion app I can see the 4.71 KM ride that took 14m 25 sec, but in the Apple Fitness and Health app the record that Zwift wrote only has time, heart rate, calories, and no other data, not even distance.

I noticed that in Health the Zwift app has all permissions on, but the Companion app does not show up at all. I’m not sure if this is why I didn’t get a complete record or not. For the amount of data I got, I may as well have just done a Fintess+ Spin class.

So my specific questions:

  1. is the Apple TV app useless? The screen quality mirroring iPhone seemed ok?
  2. Is the Companion app supposed to be in Health?
  3. Why didn’t I get a full data set sent to Health? Can I retroactively force the record to be sent again with more data?
  4. Is this even worth doing for a Bowflex C6? I’m not highly competitive against other people, and I read somewhere the power data the C6 gives is flawed, so I don’t expect to ever race anyone. I don’t want to be called a cheater and I would rather compare against my own previous records than anyone else. Given that, should I be looking at other apps? I just wanted some variety from spin classes.
    Thanks in advance for any guidance. Happy holidays.
2

I am having issues with my loading the program on my IPhone. Zwift support reported that it might be a big with the Apple Watch and they are working on it. Maybe reload and not pair your watch.

3

Sorry, cannot help you - not an Apple user.
But a basic information - Zwift and Companion apps ARE NOT THE SAME!
You must run Zwift App, you can use Companion (it is a sort of “controller” when riding and can bridge you device BLE signal to your computer/ATV).
Connects with Zwift over WiFi.

4

It sounds like you don’t have the Zwift app installed on the Apple TV itself. You need to do that through the App Store on the Apple TV.

5

I understood Controller to be an extra app; i have both of them on the iPhone and can see they are different. But with Controller running on the iPhone and Apple Watch and normal Zwift on the Apple TV I could never get the Apple Watch to show up there, and combined with the horrible lag in working the TV interface with remote is why I gave up on it. So Steve, I did have the app running there but despite looking nice took about five minutes to switch from Imperial to Metric units, for example.

6

The remote on the ATV is a pain to use sometimes. But it’s fine most of the time, e.g. to just pick a route and ride.

There seem to be big problems with Apple Watch integration at the moment. You’ll find some threads on that in the Bugs & Support forum.