I just spent over two hours banging my head against this after updating both Zwift and Apple tvOS from what was prior a very stable system. Here’s my current setup:
Zwift 1.29.0
Apple TV 4K A2169 (gen 2 / 32 GB) running tvOS 16.0
Wahoo KICKR v5 (paired to Apple TV over one bluetooth channel as controllable trainer, power source, and cadence sensor)
Wahoo TICKR X (paired to Apple TV via bluetooth)
Like others, as soon as I fired up Zwift after the updates I received the “Bluetooth Error” notification. Note that my Apple TV remote, which would normally take up one of the actual three available Apple TV BT channels, was NOT paired with the Apple TV, as I always use the Remote app on my iPhone (which works through WiFi) to control my ATV instead of the Apple TV’s BT remote.
I then followed the directions to unpair all devices, then repaired in the following order: KICKR (controllable trainer & power), Cadence (via KICKR), then Heartrate (TICKR X). This appeared to work, but after starting a workout I noticed problems with the Zwift cadence display; every couple seconds it was dropping from ~90 RPM (actual) down to the high 40s or low 50s, then popping back up to actual. About two minutes into the workout’s warmup protocol, during which everything but cadence display seemed to be working fine, the warmup’s target power and my actual power (I was running in erg mode) became uncoupled…my trainer seemed to be stuck regulating the power at 120W while the warmup’s target power continued to rise. The displays on both Zwift and the Companion App workout page confirmed this uncoupling, with the target power eventually rising over 20W higher than my indicated (and perceived) power output, which held steady after rising to 120W and never moved upward thereafter to follow the target as it should’ve. It appeared that Zwift had lost the ability to control the KICKR, and resistance quit changing to meet the workout’s target power, as it should’ve.
I then did a normal exit out of the ride, without saving. Once back at the intro screen I force closed Zwift, then power cycled both the Apple TV and the KICKR, then re-started Zwift. I again got the same BT error and did the unpair/re-pair as before. I then entered a simple Watopia free ride, where everything seemed to be working fine for about five minutes. So I quit, again without saving and this time without closing Zwift, then re-entered from the Zwift startup screen. Even though I’d just successfully paired, ridden, and hadn’t quit the app, I was again presented with the Bluetooth Error notification and had to go through the whole unpairing/pairing process again.
After this I entered a workout and everything seemed to work fine…except for the fact that most of the Zwift Academy 2022 long workouts are missing. So after two hours screwing with this crap, and finally getting it to work, I was again S.O.L. due to Zwift’s poor execution of ZA2022.
I will also note that like one other commenter above, I do NOT get the BT error if my TICKR heartrate monitor is not active at the time of Zwift auto pairing. In that case the Zwift automatically connects to the KICKR as Controllable/Power/Cadence, and then when I activate the heartrate strap afterwards it connects – no errors at all. If, however, I’m wearing the heartrate strap and it’s transmitting at the time of Zwift auto pairing, the power source, controllable trainer, and heartrate signals all pair, but then I get the BT error when Zwift tries to add the cadence portion of the KICKR pairing. This is 100% repeatable.
I use Zwift as a training system, not as some kind-of gamified means of self-validation and affirmation via pretend jerseys, socks, etc, so between the absolute dumpster fire that is ZA2022 and now this pairing junk it’s been a complete fail, and I don’t have time for it.
