Kickr Climb doesn't work with Companion app & Apple TV

Bugs and Support
#1

I’ve been using Apple TV for a couple of months, and only recently had an issue.
When pairing via Apple TV (Kickr18 as power source, controllable & cadence, Tickr for HRM) my Kickr Climb works as it should.
When using the Companion App, either on my iPhone or iPad (Favero Asioma pedals as my power source & cadence, Kickr18 as controllable, Tickr as my HRM), the Climb doesn’t respond to gradient changes. If in the middle of the ride I switch to pairing via Apple TV instead of the companion app, the Climb begins working. A few times I’ve done a U-turn, ridden for a minute or so, then another U-turn (while paired with the app), and the climb starts going up & down, like it’s catching up on all of the gradient changes that it missed. After a minute or two, it works fine.
Throughout, the Climb is paired with the Kickr.
This has only been recent, I wonder if it’s related to the game update, or app update (not sure when that was).

Thoughts anyone?

#2

@Peter_Ripper

1): the Climb responds to gradient changes in free-ride mode only (aka SIM mode). If you’re in ERG mode during a workout - it will not respond to gradient changes by design. Which mode are you using?

If this occurs in SIM mode:
2) If you’re logged into your Zwift account on two devices simultaneously - this will also cause all sorts of weird symptoms. If the Apple TV is your preferred device - try uninstalling the Zwift game app from the iPhone and iPad to ensure there’s no way a second instance can interfere.

#3
  1. I am not in ERG mode.
  2. I’m not logged on two devices at the same time.
    This only happens when I use my pedals as the power source on Apple TV through the companion app, not when I use the Kickr as my power source through Apple TV directly.
    I had an odd occurrence last night. I had the companion app open along with Apple TV.
    ATV did not have the “Pair with Zwift Companion” button lit with orange, and the App did not have the BT icon in orange either. But ATV showed my pedals as the power source, HRM & Kickr as my controllable. The climb worked fine.

Something is wrong with ATV, ZCA or both.

#4

I also have a second power meter (crank-based in my case). I get better results pairing my smart trainer’s power, cadence and controllable signals rather than using my cranks as the power / cadence source. Changes in resistance are quicker for me this way.

I imagine that’s because the trainer can respond more quickly to gradient changes when the feedback loop of power & cadence vs gradient is all coming from its internal data.

There are valid reasons to record the data from the pedals plus the Kickr, such as verifying your race performance data. Is this something that applies to you? If no - wondering if using the Kickr as power, cadence and controllable sources is a better setup for you?

#5

I like to use the Favero Assiomas as my power source to keep my numbers consistent, especially for training. I have specific power targets on long hill climbs, both outside & on Zwift, and the Climb is very useful for hill climb training, as well as making Zwift more interactive.
It’s also useful on hard efforts that result in a new FTP. For rides where I’m just cruising, warming up, cooling down etc. I don’t always use ZCA. I’ve found that in workouts using ERG mode, that using the pedals doesn’t work well, so I just use ATV.

#6

I should add that this is a fairly recent problem, I’ve been using ATV for about ten weeks and although I had this problem a time or two before, it’s really been bad since the game/app update.
Before that I was on a Win10 laptop with a 7th generation Core i3 processor, it only happened few times in two years, and unplugging/lpugging in the Climb fixed the issue.