Kinetic Road Machine Smart 2
Samsung S8 Phone
Apple TV
Here’s my problem. I turn on my TV, wake up the Apple TV, get Zwift up and running then turn on Zwift Companion on my phone . I then hop on the bike and start peddling to wake up the sensor and pair things up to the game, so far everything seems to be working. I get a route set up, workout selected then enter into Zwift. As I get going I look down and notice that my Zwift companion is not hooked up and is not reading anything.
For some reason it seems like the Zwift companion connecting is really spotty. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong, out of sequence or what. I’ve tried all kinds of different things to see if I can figure out what’s going on. I start up Z.C. before I start Zwift, after, and during. I’ve tried to connect Z.C. in the pair up screen before you enter into the world but then I am unable to pair up to the sensor on my Kinetic. I know its probably a real easy fix, I am just too new to Zwift at the moment. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong if anything at all? Or is it a bug. Could my phone be too old? Is there a way to hook up Z.C. in the middle of a workout, or do you have to shut everything down, reset and start from scratch.
Reason I ask all these questions is, trying to navigate through Zwift while riding with the Apple TV controller is a total headache and I find it much easier through the companion. Any advice is well appreciated.
I think I might have figured it out but not sure. Saw that if your phone and Apple TV are on the different frequencies of your wireless network (2.4GHz and 5.0 GHz) the Zwift Companion will not work. So I gave the 5.0 GHz band a different name and made sure everything is on the same bandwidth. Hopefully that will work. The post I saw about it on a different website was talking about an apple phone and not an android. I’m assuming what phone it is doesn’t matter, but then again this could be a bug. Not sure, still new so I am not educated on the bugs yet. If anybody knows anything that could help don’t be shy. If anything at least hopefully this will help someone else having similar problems and give them a direction.
A couple things. Zwift does require both your game application and your companion app be on the same network with the same SSID. Some users say that as long as your SSID is the same it shouldn’t matter if it’s 2.4 or 5GHz but I always try to get them on the same band.
Your trainer pairs with your ATV via Bluetooth and your companion app communicates with the ATV over the WiFi. So if your ATV is running Zwift ok but your companion app drops out it is Wifi. Sometimes Bluetooth can interfere with WIFi but that’s not common.
In summary I would make sure your phone and ATV are near each other and powered on. Reset your router by turning off the power and when it powers back up both your phone and ATV should connect to the same SSID and band.
Oh, one more thing, make sure that there are no apps open or in the background on your phone that could be trying to pair via Bluetooth with your trainer. It might add enough interference to cause a hiccup.
Some riders have to turn off cellular data on their phone. Their phone starts on the home Wifi but then it hits a low point and the phone defaults to cellular data and then the devices are no longer on the same network.
Oops… stupid phone was logged into my old week old account. Made a new account when I got my apple tv set up so I could start over fresh. Too bad they didnt make it so you could delete your toon and start over without having to make a completely new account.
Also, the Kinetic trainer can only pair to 1 blue tooth device at a time.
If the trainer is paired with the Apple tv via blue tooth, your phone won’t be able to see it to pair with the app.
I use Ant+ to pair to the game via PC and pair my Android phone to the trainer via bluetooth to run the Kinetic app.