I joined Zwift to ride while I heal from a crash. I joined because a few friends already use it and they like it. I am already very active in Strava and I have my own blog and YouTube channel. I’m very socially active.
I want to add friends to ride with. Maybe this is easy, but I’m not seeing any way to do it in the app. In fact, aside from the right-side pop-up comments, I’m not seeing any social aspect to the app at all.
I noticed some requests to make it possible to add friends in the forums, but those were 4+ years old and I would hope the developers have made that a priority by now. But I’m not seeing that integration in the app or website.
Am I missing something? How do I build a “friends” list?
Thanks for the tip. I installed it and was able to add people easily. I do not yet know how they would show up in the app. I guess I’ll find out later when I ride.
FYI, I was not aware of that app at all. I had not noticed it’s existence in the riding app (iOS and MacOS), and I saw no mention of it when signing up.
Why wouldn’t this be integrated into the existing app?! Seems like a no-brainer to me.
This doesn’t make any sense to me unless the devs are building only one solution and shoehorning it into each platform. Doing that would create less workload for developers, but force the lowest set of standards (designed to work on the weakest hardware) onto every platform - even those which are far more capable.
This falls in line with the other issue regarding rider culling:
If the developers are limiting all systems to the feature set dictated by devices with the least powerful specs, then everyone loses.
Aside from that, iOS development makes it fairly easy to integrate the “game” app into the larger “companion” app. There is no good reason not to do this.
The only conclusion I can draw is that the development team is severely limited in terms of either resources or scope.
Regardless, I will give this a shot with the 30-day trial. Thanks for the reply.
The function of the companion app is very different from the Zwift app. The companion app is something that is fast to open on almost any device. I don’t want to install the Zwift app on my phone if I have a windows Pc.
The companion app make it easy to look up events check on your ride history, see when friends are riding.
The companion is also halve the size of the Zwift app.
I disagree with the way this system works, but how I feel is not important, as it will not change anything. I either have to be okay with this process, or not use it. I will decide in the next 30 days.
I hear you. But there is no need to have two apps for this functionality. for a good example, look at the way Waze works when using it with a CarPlay head unit. There is one set of functionality on the portable device, and a separate interface (in this case, a map) on the head unit screen.
I see no reason this needs to be any different on Zwift.
How would that work if I run the Zwift App on a PC or Mac (like a large majority of Zwifters)? Why would I need to install the full Zwift app on a phone, when the ZCA is lighter and runs on more devices.
I understand what you are saying, but it may not be the best solution.
Blockquote
look at the way Waze works when using it with a CarPlay head unit. There is one set of functionality on the portable device, and a separate interface (in this case, a map) on the head unit screen.
I see no reason this needs to be any different on Zwift.
That is precisely the way the Zwift Companion App complements the Zwift app on the PC / AppleTV. One seamless experience across two devices.
Give it time. I think maybe once you start to get a better sense for it, you’ll appreciate it.
I have to say that I don’t get it why Zwift have two apps either. I don’t want to have to go to different places depending on what Zwift related stuff I want to do. It’s totally wacko. The full Zwift app takes 1.66GB on my iPad and the companion app takes 37MB. It’s not like that is going to make the full Zwift app much bigger and the full app needs the front end changed so it doesn’t load all the resources to ride just when you open the app. The companion app should be more of the front end of the main app IMO. But that’s just me, I find it a poor experience
That’s exactly why a companion app is preferred: it’s lightweight. There is no overhead of loading the world graphics and pairing with devices, steps that the main app requires.
You can launch the lightweight ZCA to manage your profile, view activities, events, etc., even when the main app is not running on another device, such as a PC.
Having one app that behaves as a remote or as a main app depending on whether the main app is already running somewhere else actually makes the whole experience more confusing and, from a technical standpoint, makes the app bloated.
