Scott,
Thanks for you continued vigilance and analysis of Zwift users experiencing these Bluetooth disconnects. I have asked on the email thread that the Zwift support team looking into this read through our replies (especially your latest one #120) and provided them the link to this Zwift forum topic.
Finally, Saris responds after over a month of silence. Had to ping the Developer email address as the Support address is a dead letter box. Letās see if any progress is made.
Sam K (Trainers)
Dec 21, 2020, 3:48 PM CST
Hello!
Thanks for the note, and sincere apologies for the delay as we work through this high number of incoming tickets.
And thank you for bringing this to our attention. From time to time, Zwift/Apple/etc will release an update that affects connectivity across the board for not only our trainers, but other manufacturers as well. Truth be told, this is something that tends to happen a few times a year, depending on specifically what is changing in the software and how - that said, itās generally something that is quickly remedied by the respective entity and things will return to normal. Often times, these updates and issues are released and then remedied so quickly itās a nonissue for most users, however I would anticipate that with things being as they are this year with resources and being close to the holiday, that might be adding a bit of a delay to their workarounds.
In the meantime Iāve brought our software and trainer category leaders into the fold, and we are also doing our due diligence to persuade an expedited resolution from Zwift/Apple.
We are truly grateful for your patience and understanding as they work toward a quick resolution. Let me know if you have any other questions, and happy holidays!
Sam K
Customer Support Supervisor
I can confirm that we experienced the Saris/iOS bluetooth drop again today and quitting Zwift was the only way to make the Saris H3 visible again. This happened just as the flag dropped on an event, so we had to abandon. We had upgraded to the latest iOS and the latest version of Zwift. Bluetooth was turned off on the second iOS device running Zwift Companion. (It was not an entirely clean Bluetooth environment. My trust Elite Direto was paired with an Apple TV in the same room). This problem only happens for us with the Saris and a sorely regret buying the H3. In three years with the Elite, Iāve never had this problem.
Everyone: Looks like Saris engineers/developers might be engaged on solving the H3 BLE link problem (see below).
Perhaps, we can help them by emailing ZG log files from rides in which the BLE connection to your H3 dropped? If anyone can send a log file from a ride using the Android version of ZG, that would be very helpful.
Send emails to:
Developers - developer@saris.com
with a cc: to Supportā¦
Support - support@saris.com
Sam K (Trainers)
Dec 23, 2020, 9:20 AM CST
Hello!
Thank you for sending the file over, weāve gotten it to our electronics and software engineers and have been running some diagnostics to see if weāre able to replicate the issue. Weāre still working through nailing down exactly where the discrepancy is occurring, and which respective radio communication is part of the issue. We definitely appreciate your continued patience. Have a great holiday weekend.
Sam K
Customer Support Supervisor
Same issue as everyone else. Saris H3. iPad and iPhone using companion app. Will get a glitch followed by dropout. Have to force quit. Disappointing part is that I cant jump back in and complete a route and get my badge. It doesnāt seem to remember what route I selected.
Is there any procedure on capturing these log files on a ATV?
Sorry, but you canāt capture the log files on Apple TV.
This is a little off topic but since almost everyone here has a H3 I thought Iād ask here.
My H3 is about a year old and when climbing 7 percent grade or more when resistance is applied it sounds like itās dragging/ rubbing. Itās only audible there is no difficulty as spinning and resistance seems fine. My drivetrain is new and my bottom bracket is silky smooth. Iām wondering if thereās an adjustment that can be made? Iāve emailed Saris support and I know they are backed up. So maybe one of you fine folks have some guidance for me.
I forgot to mention when I put the hammer down and nail a sprint I can hit about 750 watts and itās quiet (no audible dragging sound)
I got dropped twice today and once about a week ago. Each time my rider stopped moving and my watts and hr went to ā. Upon restarting Zwift the login screen showed my Tacx Neo 2 and my heart rate monitor as disconnected. I unplugged my trainer and restarted windows 10 on my laptop to get restarted.
Any help would be appreciated. I am doing the active off season program with 2.5 hour blocks between intervals and I know it is silly, but I hate to lose all that XP on a Bluetooth disconnect. I am very nervous now about doing any long rides.
I am assuming because both my trainer and hr lose blue tooth at the same time that it is a Zwift problem and not a problem with my trainer?
Suddenly on my appletv Iāve got No Signal from my HR monitor, I changed battery and it didnāt find any HR device at all. I put back old battrey and I saw No Signal again. I was riding with my Garmin Edge with HR working on it properly for a few rides.
Few days ago I moved from appletv to Mac, but my Mac can not find any BT device at all (latest macbook air). So I used Companion and it worked few days ago with no problem 1,45h ride.
today I connect again companion+mac and I lost signal after 13min. I was not able to reconnect, so I tried turn on appletv and everything connects succesfully (even the HR!!!). So I turned off tv and go back to companion+mac, everything connected for another 9 minutes so then I lost my patience and I have absolutely no idea where can be problem.
Is there any particular reason as to why zwift seems to have so many bluetooth issues?
I use many different apps across android and windows and rarely encounter any issues connecting trainers and sensors so unlikely to be my set up that is bad but with zwift it happens pretty frequently.
Have been running Zwift for 1 year using iPad and Hammer 3 with zero issues. Update IOS to 14.3 last week and now experiencing the bluetooth drop problem as others have described- usually between 10-30KM into a ride. Removed and downloaded Zwift again. Did a firmware update for the Hammer. Same issue happened again today with no other Bluetooth devices anywhere near my trainer. Tried turning Bluetooth off and on (on the iPad) and I could see it searching, but not connecting to anything. I could re-pair the Hammer to Zwift in the Zwift settings menu, but the connection would only last a few seconds before dropping again.
Then I broke out my old iPad with IOS 12.4.7 and did the Mega Pretzel with no issues (other than jerky graphics). Clearly the problem is IOS 14. ARG!
I did reach out to Saris and received a very prompt reply from their development team-
Sorry to hear about your problems. We have been notified of the Zwift forum thread where users are expressing their problems and we have received stack traces from peopleās Zwift rides.
Weāve pinged Zwift but we donāt have a direct line with their development team. The software that runs our trainers hasnāt changed in quite a while and the area in question that Zwift is having (connecting to a device) hasnāt changed for an extremely long time (on our end). If you are concerned that your trainer might be the issue, you can use the Saris Utility to open a connection in ERG mode and leave it on for as long as you like (you donāt have to pedal, you can leave your trainer) and the blue light on the trainer should stay lit. This is a sign that the trainerās connection is working and the device (whether that is a phone, tablet, tv) can hold the connection properly. If it canāt, then certainly there is something wrong with the hardware that we can work with you on.
We havenāt had any problems using the latest iOS operating system connecting through our application so we can only conclude that Zwift has made a change to their software that they will have to diagnose. The best we can do on our end is keep sending any stack traces their way to keep them notified of the problem.
And here is the completely useless response I received from Zwift support (I say their response was useless because Zwift will run perfectly fine on an iPad using an older iOS and ran without issues until I updated my iOS, so an āinterference issueā is clearly not the cause).
Hi Scott,
Thanks for reaching out to us! Iām sorry about the issue youāre experiencing with Zwift. Iām happy to help!
From what youāre describing, it sounds like your devices arenāt staying paired.
The usual cause for BLE dropouts is wireless signal interference. Check out this [article](link had to be removed to post this on the forum)ā for tips on how to prevent this from occurring.
ā
āāāIf you have any other questions or still need help with this, please let us know.
Ride On.
Adrianna G.
Member Experience Agent
Zwift
Interesting how Zwift place the blame on the userās equipment
In my case, after 3 WEEKS of wait, they told me to check if the problem was solved by a new version released meanwhile.
3 WEEKS for a totally useless answer for a paid subscription service and an issue not encountered with competitors.
UPDATE: Need your help to broadly confirm a new data set
HYPOTHESIS: The Saris H3 trainer appears to āwantā iOS Location Services to be active to maintain a stable BLE pairing (see below). However, ZG does not require that iOS Location Services are active in order to run ZGā¦and it appears that having iOS Location Services active on the device running ZG causes the BLE connection drops to the H3 that we have all experienced.
Toggle OFF the Location Services on your iOS device (Settings>>Privacy>>Location Services>>OFF), and ride to your heartās content. Report back to this thread as to whether your BLE connection drops go away.
If your rides are no longer interrupted with Location Services OFF, then toggle LS back ON and ride some more. Report back to this thread if your BLE connection problems reappear.
ATV Users: I donāt run ZG on ATV, but my friends who do tell me that ATV also has a Location Services toggle on its Privacy menu as well. You too can join the fun.
Like everyone on this thread, I was suffering repeated BLE (or āBTā, if you prefer) drops from my H3 while running ZG on an iOS14.2 (or higher device). After doing tons of experimentation, I identified a Workaround that worked for me (published previously on this thread). However, I have been bothered by two things:
#1. Many other users tried my Workaround, but reported that their BLE drop issues did not significantly improve. Sorry, folks. I really tried and did a ton of experiments, but I missed one critical variable (see below).
#2. I noticed that the Saris utility app requires that you must have the Location Services (hereafter āLSā) toggled ON for your iOS device in order to use the Saris app in any capacity. In fact, I have read Saris Developer email responses to bug reports filed on our BLE drop problem in which the Saris people tell users to make sure that LS is toggled ON. The Saris Developers claim that having LS toggeled ON permits some sort of āfiner peripheral scanning processā to occur. Sounds hokey, but thatās what they say.
So the question arose: Have I ever seen another app using BLE device pairings that requires LS to be toggled ON in order to use the app? No, I have not unless the app is actually using GPS data to perform its primary function. Frankly, it seems rather ridiculous that Saris requires LS to be ON to use their app, butā¦the Marketing department is probably calling the tune.
I will tell you that Zwift, Rouvy, etc do NOT require LS to be ON in order to use their apps successfully.
Some Tests That I Just Finished Conducting
I discovered that my LS setting on the iPad that I use to run ZG was switched to OFF. I look at my previous testing notes, and much to my chagrin, realized that I had turned LS to OFF during the testing that I was doing for the published Workaround. Ugh ā nobody likes an uncontrolled variable!
So to test the LS hypothesis, I switched LS back to ON for my iPad, and joined a group ride on ZG. Less than 30 secs after the gate dropped to start the ride, my avatar coasted to a halt, and the status light on my H3 went from solid blue (paired) to flashing green (unpaired). Bingo!
Next, I force-closed ZG and turned my iPadās LS to OFF. I restarted ZG and did a late join to the very same group ride. After 15 mins, no BLE drops and everything was great. Hey, maybe weāre getting somewhere. Quit the group ride and force-closed ZG.
Next up, toggled LS back ON and did a solo free ride in ZG. About 6 mins into the ride, the BLE pairing to the H3 dropped, and my avatar coasted to a halt. Wow! Can I really cause the BLE drop to happen by switching LS ON? Force-closed ZG again.
Finally, switched LS to OFF again, started a ZG session and went for a 30 min solo free ride. No BLE drops. Ride On!
No bone in this fight as Iām not having these issues (same setup) but I develop mobile software for a healthcare company and we require location services as well on our application in order for nearby devices to talk to the device the nurse is using. If you google Bluetooth Location Permissions youāll find plenty of people that need to turn on location services to allow bluetooth devices to talk to other nearby devices.
YMMV
John
Sounds good. I will give it a try on my ride tomorrow. Thanks for all the effort you put into solving this problem.