I know there are a lot of threads about Apple Watch, with various ‘answers’ of how to get it to work. I was wondering if there has been any OFFICIAL response/statements from Zwift about this being an issue that they are working on. It is so hit and miss getting it to even connect, but then it randomly disconnects. What gives Zwift?
I like your question! Does Zwift produce Apple Watch? Is it sold as a designated ANT+ or BT heart rate monitor? Does Zwift have access to software installed on Apple Watch?
I would think, you should bring this question up with Apple. What Apple did to enable you to use your Apple watch with Zwift?
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Not sure what you’re getting at. I have/use many apps that utilise the Apple watch, and they don’t have these issues. Like any manufacturer of wearables, Apple realises the SDK (I think it’s called) that allows developers to utilise the watch’s heart-rate monitor. It’s up to the App developer then to implement it right, and any other’s that I have tried (Runkeeper, Mapmyride for example) do that perfectly. The fact that Zwift doesn’t, is well an truly Zwift’s issue. Would you also suggest it is Apple’s responsibiliyt that Zwift cannot get the Apple TV App, to use the remote properly, unlike any other ATV App developer?
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Does Zwift produce Apple Watch?
No, Zwift produces the Zwift Companion App on the Apple Watch. Which is a complete and utter hunk of garbage. None of my other fitness Apple Watch apps (such as Cyclemeter) fail to get HR from the watch and report it back to the iPhone.
Your response is not helpful and does nothing but confuse the issue at hand.
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Here is something helpful and less confusing for you: Zwift and Apple Watch Pairing
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Yeh thanks. That’s the guide I was following. The problem is that it’s so hit and miss. I follow all those steps and it works. And then another time it doesn’t. 
Yesterday, I did exactly the same as the day before and it worked fine. My real point of this post was to find out how I get an official answer from Zwift about the issue and what’s being done about it. It’s always hard with forums like these, which appear to be a place to engage with a company, but never are.
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I use my Apple Watch too and for the most part it works ok. On most rides it does have a tendency to drop for a few seconds, but then reconnects by itself. Maybe about 1 in 15 rides it drops and doesn’t reconnect, when this happens it seems like the Zwift companion app on the watch has crashed and opening it again the heart rate usually starts working again.
Rarely (maybe 1in 30) I just don’t get a heart rate when I start cycling, sometimes the app is open in the watch and sometime not. I’ve found killing the app on the watch and phone (my trainer is connected to the Apple TV so I can keep riding whilst doing this) and then reopening the app on my phone which causes the watch app to open as well usually works. Once none of this seemed to help and I restarted my Apple Watch and iPhone and that seemed to get it working.
I don’t know if it’s related, but I think this happened at least once and may have caused the problem. I sometimes open the Zwift app on my phone and start a ride so I can change my bike/wheels etc without having to use the Apple TV remote, then exit and will start a new ride on my Apple TV. When I started Zwift on my phone it opened the Zwift app on my watch and then when I started my ride on Apple TV I think the Zwift and Zwift companion app on my watch were somehow interfering with each other.
Always force quit the apps (i.e., Zwift, Companion, Zwift Apple Watch) after each ride !!
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Yeh, I don’t mind the time it drops out. My problem is getting it to start. I have followed every one of the many ‘how toys’ and they all work sometimes. None of them works every time. The one that helped the most is not having Zwift on the phone. Only the companion app. And force quitting on the phone and watch before starting.
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Yup, that is what helps the most. It just doesn’t work all the time. Yesterday for example. I force quite everything. ?Then started Zwift on iPad, then once my bike trainer was connected, started companion app on phone, watch started showing heart rate and Zwift found it. I started the cycle, and the watch stopped showing heart rate. Had to do the force quite thing twice before it worked. THere is clearly an issue, and that’s why I am looking for a response from Zwift.
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I must say I had the same problem. I found out that is seems the have to do something with the going to off-screen on older and to the low energy (dimmend) screen on watch 5&6.
When I start with Zwift and have my watch connected, I keep moving (turning my watch with my wrist) to keep the watch for at least 30 seconds “alive”. After that I did not lose connection any more in the last 2 rides (+45 min).
I keep trying this, and will report the results.
Maybe I helped someone with this…
Yeh I’d seen stuff about ‘waking the watch up’. It took me 4 tries tonight. Closing down the app on watch and phone and starting again, each time keeping the watch awake and it just worked on the 4th attempt. Annoying.