I spend hours trying to get my apple watch HR to work with zwift, and manage it intermittently. I read it was in beta, so I figured everyone else seems to like the tickr, maybe that will be easier, and I bought one. While I can the heart rate to show on the wahoo app, zwift seems to be completely blind to it, until it isn’t, then zwift doesn’t seem to respond to the trainer. Get the trainer working, not HR.
I tried calling, and it said to leave a message, but it won’t let me leave a message. Chat is closed down, and it’s been 10 days since I sent in my email request.
I don’t know what’s going on or how to fix it. I can’t find any articles about it.
Does anyone have any ideas? Should I try one of the other services?
You also dont need the cadence sensor, the kickr has one built in, it estimates very well.
Gerrie is referring to the bluetooth receiver on your older mac, it might be too outdated. Try to see if you can update the drivers or if it is compatible with Zwift. You.might need to get a usb ant+ or BLE dongle for the PC.
I’ll say it’s a safe bet that the Bluetooth (electronic component and it’s firmware/software drivers) in a computer that old (be it Mac or PC) are not compatible with Zwift and possibly do not support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocols used by your sensors.
Do you have a reasonably current iPhone (9 10 or 11) or a current ipad? If so, try installing Zwift on them to test with. If that works then you could either:
buy a Bluetooth USB dongle (that will use current BLE protocols) to plug into your Mac, or
use your iphone or ipad to run Zwift from now on, or
leave your sensors connected to your iphone or ipad, run Zwift on your Mac and then bridge from your i device to your mac via wifi.
Or you could confirm that your sensors support ANT+ (they all should) and buy an ANT+ USB dongle for your Mac.
I run Zwift on a Windows 10 PC and use an ANT+ USB dongle to connect my 2018 Kickr, Tickr HRM and BlueSC cadence sensor. Works flawlessly.
If you do buy a BLE or ANT+ dongle DO NOT plug it directly into the USB ports on your mac. Too much electrical interference and you will get dropouts. Use a quality USB extension cable to move the dongle away from the Mac and other source of electrical interference and get closer to your sensors. Both BLE and ANT+ require ‘line of sight’ between devices to be reliable so make sure you are not blocking signal with your body or a desk for example. Keep the dongle off the ground and pointed in the general directuon of your sensors.
I think a 2013 Mac should already have BLE, but no need to guess. Go to About This Mac – System Report – Hardware – Bluetooth and check if Bluetooth Low Energy Compatible says yes or no. If yes (and your OS is reasonably up to date), the problem is something else.
I tried a couple of things. I switched to an iPad, the sensors connect much more quickly, but the tickr still wasn’t showing up. After some googling, it appears the problem with the tickr was the fact that it was all ready connected to my phone through the wahoo app. Despite all the instructions to the contrary, removing it from the list of sensors freed it up, and it worked. For now anyway.
Thanks to everyone who stepped in while I am ignored by zwift.
I’m probably going to try another service as a result when my trial runs out. It’s hard to justify that kind of money with 0 support.
Hi Jason,
Zwift support can be slower than Zwifters would like, but the response time here is really quick and the suggestions are generally spot on.
So hang in there if you can.
Seems odd that their paying customers have to help them support other customers only so they can make more money. But to each their own, I’m glad I got help.
No one has to help, but we are a community. Cyclists have always come together to support each other, same as other sports I guess. If someone on your local group ride had a mechanical 10 miles into the ride, wouldn’t you stop and help them out or offer them your extra tube if they got a flat?