Worked on Ipad yesterday, however today on AppleTV again didn’t work. So not there yet Zwift!
J’utilise MacBookPro (2019), ZC sur IphoneXR, Applewatch pour le cardio…le tout en passant par ZC et depuis quelques jours impossible d’apairer mon applewatch et de suivre ma fréquence cardiaque.
Même problème, alors qu’avant la dernière mise à jour de Mon MacBook Pro ( Big Sur) il y a quelques semaines, tout fonctionnait à merveille, il m’est désormais impossible de connecter l’antenne ant+ pour zwifter.
Je confirme c’est extrêmement frustrant !!!
Vivement que le problème soit résolu quelque part. [quote=“Rob_ten_Haaft, post:43, topic:14035, full:true”]
Worked on Ipad yesterday, however today on AppleTV again didn’t work. So not there yet Zwift!
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I’ve noticed that it seems to be completely random as to whether it will connect on the first try for me. I’m using a Wahoo Tickr that is paired via Bluetooth to my Apple Watch (Series 5), and from there, the watch is paired to my iPhone XS Max (and by extension, the ZC app).
I’ll start the main app on my laptop (MacBook Pro running High Sierra), connect my smart trainer to the app, and then I’ll fire up the ZC app on my phone. Once that loads, the main app will recognize my Apple Watch, and on the watch itself, it will showed “selected,” for a few seconds before displaying “in game,” and displaying a heart rate. However, once I leave that screen and initialize a ride, the watch will show “unpaired.” At this point, I’ll go back into the pairing menu on the main app, where I’ll turn off bluetooth on my watch, and close out of the ZC app on my watch entirely. I’ll then turn Bluetooth back on, and then re-start the ZC app on the watch.
That seems to work out 80% of the time, and the other 20%, I have been finding myself just continually closing down the ZC watch app and starting it again until I’ll have a heart rate display, as during some of the other attempts, the watch app will show “in game,” but only display “–” where the heart rate should be. When I’ve tried to ride with the watch app showing the “–”, it won’t even register a heart rate and immediately display “unpaired.”
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Okay, had a great ride today. Everything stable as a house.
Setup:
- Tacx Flux 2
- AppleTV 4th generation
- Iphone 12 Pro (companion)
- Apple Watch 5
This time I left Iphone bluetooth off first. I connected trainer to AppleTV via Bluetooth.
Started the game (pair via companion OFF). Chose the ride and went to Menu. Started bluetooth on Iphone and opened Companion. Toen selected watch for HR. (Pair via companion still OFF). As said no heartbeat missed and Power worked nice.
Hope this helps.
This worked for me (turning off Wifi on my apple watch).
I do have both Zwift and Companionj app on my iPhone and using Apple Tv for Zwift.
When I disabled wifi on my Watch I then:
-Opened Companion app
-Turned on AppleTv and launched Zwift
-Choose the option to pair via Companion app (top left corner).
-It immediately paired with my Apple Watch and I saw my HR
-Started Ride
HOWEVER! It dropped the HR signal before I started riding, so I hit menu and ’pair’ and did not select anything, it automatically found the signal again for the HR. Then when back to Zwift and started pedalling. Worked the entire session!
So in short:
-turn your Watch wifi off (turn off from settings, not swipe up meni)
-In zwift, choose the option to pair via Companion
-go and ride. If the signal drops, simply go back to menu section and let it pair again. Go back to ride and start pedalling
Looking forward to trying this tonight…after another fail this morning of trying to reconnect my new Apple Watch…only to get no signal…fingers crossed!
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So by way of update, the Apple Watch has continued to be unreliable. I’ve given up and bought a Wahoo Tickr Fit. Just done my first ride and it didn’t miss a beat. Slightly annoyed that I’ve had to shell out, but pleased to have a reliable device at last!
I don’t think they can fix it guys. This has been an issue for so long. When it works it’s great which makes it that much more frustrating. Trying:
Start Zwift on iPad
Pair Trainer
Open Zwift Companion on phone
Like 50% of the time the watch pairs here. If not I just restart everything. $15/month
I don’t think they can’t, but it’s clear they’ve not prioritized it which is a shame.
They will never fix it. Apparently the world’s most popular heart rate monitor (Apple Watch) is low priority.
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Haha, good one!
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Steve, Apple has sold more Apple Watches than Garmin or Polar have sold any of their devices. It’s not even close. I didn’t say the watch was the best heart rate monitor, just the most popular.
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I’m back! I still get the occasional “No Signal” issue, but I now have a ritual which works for me to get it working within a couple of minutes (as opposed to me having a 20 min fight every time with 50% success).
My ritual is:
- Force restart the watch (Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support). While that’s happening, move on to getting setup in Zwift…
- Make sure the “Pair with Zwift Companion” is unselected
- Pair ‘Run Speed’ and ‘Cadence’
- Start up the Zwift Companion app (Yes - although using it is unselected, you need to use the app and it must open and in the foreground for the pairing process)
- If your watch is back up, pair ‘Heart Rate’ to the Apple Watch
- Lift your watch up to wake it up and make sure the Zwift app launched (if not, hit the crown and launch it manually)
- Getting a heart rate through? Wait a few more seconds, it might drop and/or give you a “No Signal”. If it doesn’t, you’re good to continue in to the game (I don’t usually get any trouble once it’s stable before continuing)
- Not getting a heart rate through or a “No Signal” straight away? Re-do the pairing for ‘Heart Rate’ until it becomes stable, as explained in the previous step.
In summary, the important thing for me was learning that I need the Zwift Companion app involved during pairing (and active in the foreground). Also, it will pair through Zwift Companion whether you select or unselect the “Pair with Zwift Companion” option, but I find it better with it unselected.
I wonder if there’s a Bluetooth connection fight between ‘Apple Watch to Phone’ vs ‘Apple Watch to the Zwift Companion app’. Maybe “No Signal” is because the phone got a lock on the device, when Zwift Companion is the better option? Strange how it’ll still connect via Zwift Companion with the option turned off.
My series 6 Apple Watch has been working fine after the last Zwift update, but after updating my watch yesterday it refuses to pair 
Here we go again…
I typically run into one of two scenarios:
Common: Watch initially pairs but then as soon as I drop the wrist and the Watch screen dims, heart rate disappears in Zwift. This happens nearly every single Zwift session and the fix is quick and simple. On the Watch, press the button to bring up running apps, select the companion app, tap the big red X button to kill it, then press the crown to bring up the list of apps, find the companion app and start it. At this point it will connect and stay connected for the entire ride.
Rare: Watch will not connect at all. For this, the only remedy is to power down and restart the Watch, wait patiently for it to come back, go to the device pairing screen in the main Zwift app, unselect the Apple Watch in heart rate monitors and wait patiently for it to show up again in options and pair. This process can easily take 10 minutes or more and is infuriating.
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Does this process work while riding? I might try it next time. The sort of dropout you describe is pretty common in my experience.
I practically never lose Apple Watch connectivity mid ride, it’s either working or not working from the start.
My experience is the same. And I’ve used this trick to reconnect, and it does work mid-ride. Sometimes I have to do it 2-3 times before it sticks.
Other things I found are important:
Watch must be on same Wifi as iPhone and MacBook laptop I run Zwift on.
Early on I had problems I now attribute to Bluetooth/WiFi interference. Our home network was setup to have an access point or router on each of the 3 2.4 GHz bands, and I learned bluetooth shares the same frequencies, and presume it kept having trouble finding one free of interference. I changed my home network to have only one 2.4 GHz band access point (still needed for an older Sonos speaker), and put that one as far as possible from my cycling spot in the basement. Noting issues with Bluetooth interference, I also disabled bluetooth on my laptop and use the pair to trainer via Zwift companion app option. This uses bluetooth from trainer (Saris M2) to iPhone, then iPhone and MacBook talk over WiFi (need to be on same WiFi network, for which I use the 5 GHz band for both). This really minimized my issues so my watch and trainer both connect most every time. Very infrequently (every 3-4 weeks) if pairing fails, I’ll reboot all devices.
Nowadays, my routine is to start up my gear in a particular order, with no need to delay between steps: wake MacBook, launch Zwift app; launch iPhone Zwift Companion App (watch ZC app usually launches automatically); then plug in trainer).
For me, I think it’s all become more stable with the latest updates. Before, when watch paired but there is no signal, I sometimes quit ZC on Watch, unpaired Apple watch in MacBook Zwift app, reopened ZC on watch, and repaired Apple watch in MacBook Zwift app. Lately I’ve not needed to do this.
Another important thing, when I first got started in November I found it important to install only the ZC app on my Watch and iPhone, and not both the ZC and Zwift Apps. I also followed guidelines in the Zwift article for setting up the Apple Watch.
Somehow I got the data sharing between ZC and Apple Health and Fitness apps and Strava all to work seamlessly… I finish my ride, and immediately my watch Fitness app credits my activity rings and shows I completed an indoor cycle ride (pulling from ZC). I’m very pleased with how it all works. If this is an issue for others, I could try to confirm how it’s all working interactively.
I use an Apple HDMI adapter to mirror my laptop screen on an older big screen TV as well. Happy with my setup, Love Zwift! >900 miles since November.
Doug
I do successfully use the “Pair with Zwift Companion” option, which works over WiFi and allows me to disable bluetooth on MacBook for less interference, and make sure my MacBook, Watch and iPhone are all on same, 5 GHz band wifi network to minimize bluetooth interference (which uses the 2.5 GHz band). YMMV. I posted more detail below.
I had a terrible experience trying to sync my apple watch with Zwift. I tried every suggestion on this topic, followed troubleshooting instructions and none worked. Shame on you Zwift, Apple watch support is super lame.
The only way I could get it working is by using a third party app called “Heartcast”. You need to install it on your iPhone and Apple Watch, and it emulates BLE device via your iPhone. The app is free (you can pay $2 if you want to express your gratitude to the developer, which I did, but it is not required). Using that app is the only way I could successfully pair my Apple Watch to Apple TV Zwift App.
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