Workaround for ERG-mode issues with AppleTV

General Discussion
1

Hi,

This workaround may be useful for anyone who has had issues with ERG-Mode not working properly while doing a workout running Zwift on AppleTV.

I typically start a workout on AppleTV and use the Companion App to enable the connection to more devices.

The problem is that sometimes ERG-mode simply doesn’t work, even though it says it is on. I’ll try turning it off, and then reactivating it, and sometimes it comes on, but recently mostly it does not.

I went to Zwift support, and of course went through the normal steps of checking for interference, Force closing the App… Reinstalling the App, etc. Those steps worked for a while, but now the problem came back.

One final suggestion they made was to start Zwift on Apple TV but without the Companion App running. Yes, it does limit the number of devices you can pair, but you may be able to work with that.

The result is that the ERG-mode problem went away. Starting Zwift without the Companion App enabled me to start the workout with ERG-mode working properly.

Another data point: Starting the Companion App after I’m in the workout also works fine, and doesn’t impact ERG-Mode with the workout in progress. It takes a minute for the Companion App to activate into the workout, but it is fine.

I haven’t tried pausing the workout to connect other devices now that that the Companion App is connected, since it is not really necessary. But having the Companion app running does make it easier to give bulk Ride-Ons and do the other stuff that is not possible via the AppleTV interface. So at least it works.

I’ve communicated this with Zwift support, or perhaps someday this obvious bug will be squashed.

Best…

2

Can I ask why you use Companion for the pairing?

3

ATV supports only two Bluetooth channels. With Companion App ATV can use upto four Bluetooth channels of the phone/tablet.

4

Yes. Exactly. I was using the Wahoo cadence sensor on my shoe, which was more accurate than the Kickr, plus heart rate plus the Kickr. So I just went back to using only the Kickr and heart rate to keep the device count to two.

5

I would suggest that the flakiness of the Companion pairing option isn’t worth trading off vs having the cadence sensor added, given Zwift doesn’t do anything with cadence other than display it (and for workouts with cadence you don’t have to achieve the cadence target to get stars).