Apple Health Step Data Sources
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Apple Health Step Data Sources

Byrichard

Yesterday I spent some time looking through Apple Health Data Sources. I see that there are plenty of data sources. These are the Apple watch, the iphone, Alltrails, move, connect, stepsapp, pacer, Suunto, Ingress and three more that are marked as inactive.


Move is the app that gets data from some Casio watches. Connect is Garmin connect and gets step data from Garmin devices. If I take steps and they are logged with a casio or a garmin device they do not count in iOS apps but if I take steps with Garmin and Casio devices without also wearing the Apple watch the same steps are not counted.


The Apple Fitness and Health apps have access to all the same data. Everything goes to a central database on the iPhone. It’s from the iphone that the data is not shared transparently between all other apps.


In practice whether you have a suunto, Garmin, Apple Watch or other fitness tracker each device should feed, or retrieve data from Apple health, and each should display that data, regardless of which device you wear.


Whether I wear my Garmin, Suunto or Apple watch I would like all three to access health data transparently so that I can choose which individual watch I want to wear on a specific day. I don’t want to have to wear all three of them. Not that I do. I only have two wrists. 😉 I can only wear two at once.


The privacy argument is moot, because each app can be granted access to Apple Health, and Apple Health can be granted access to each app. This means that all the data is already transiting both ways for all apps.


And Finally


When you buy a Casio or other watch the battery is expected to last from three years to ten years, and you are expected to replace the battery when it dies. With the Apple watch, now that it is four years old, the next step would be to swap the battery. The Apple watch is now at 70 percent. The battery costs 79 CHF to replace.


When the Suunto battery got low on the Ambit 3 I got a Spartan, but when I replaced the Spartan I went for a Garmin, so I lost the ability to keep my old log going, and had to migrate to the Garmin app. With the Apple Watch we’re on yet another silo. Every brand has a silo. With the Apple watch it’s worse, because you have the fitness app, but then you have all the third party apps. Everything would break at once if you stop using the Apple Watch.


I would love for Garmin, Suunto and Apple wath to allow the free flow of tracking data in both directions, so that I could choose the best device to wear, and the best app to fiddle around with. Strava is the giant in the room, but I don’t want to use an app where I have to pay a premium for added functionality.



Playing With Garmin Coach

Playing With Garmin Coach

Byrichard

Today I began playing with Garmin Coach. I decided to try one of the running programs. It’s the first of January, first day of the year, and I have already been for two walks and a run. The run was a calibration run so I ran too fast and too hard so I burned out on the first task. I ran at 16km/h and 230 steps per minute for a short burst before tiring and slowing a bit.


In the end I did not reach the 5 minute mark, but only by 45 seconds or so. With a different gradient I probably would have made the five minute mark, as well as with a more rational pace. I was tricked. I read that I was meant to do a hard run to the maximum of my ability so I tried.


When I got home I saw that it said “a moderate pace” so I think I pushed too hard for the first run. Now I feel physically tired. That’s due to the sound of fireworks for hours over the new year.



When you do a workout on the Garmin Instinct, without audio queues the watch asks “Do workout, you select yes, and it gives you the visual queues for when to warm up, run and rest. It then ends the workout but does not stop the track. This means that if you have to walk the rest of the way home, or to a car, you can, and it will be included in the workout.


That the watch displays workout information like this is practical because you don’t need to count “from 0 to 2 minutes I do this, then from 2 to 5 I do that, etc. You simply say yes to the workout and that’s enough. Next time I need to check audio queues from the watch, and another time, audio queues from the phone via earphones.


As I am just one workout in I have not formed a concrete opinion on the workout.

Running Around in Loops
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Running Around in Loops

Byrichard

Over the last week or two I decided to run and to swim. These are two sports that are easy to do if you have access either to a pool, or the right shoes. Swimming was in 14°c water for 17 and ten minutes. The first time my hands and feet were cold so I wore gloves. It’s a way of enjoying a different sport than usual. It’s a way of using different muscle groups too.


With walking and cycling you use your legs but the upper body doesn’t do much. By swimming my upper body has the opportunity to be kept in better shape.


Running is a very easy sport to do. You need shoes, and the motivation to go for a run. I often feel that I need to do bigger distances than I have the endurance to do. For two runs I went just one kilometre. After that, today, I went for 2.4km. This isn’t far, but it’s better than zero. I also want to preserve my knees. I stopped because I could feel pain in my knees begin.


The Casio Moves app displays run information in a similar way to Garmin. It shows the run with colours that represent heart rate and effort. Blue for easy, green for slightly harder, orange for another zone, and red for a bigger effort. I use the data imported from the Garmin instinct exported as a TCX file from Garmin to the Casio Moves web interface. It takes seconds, and doesn’t require a Casio watch. With Garmin, Apple and Suunto you do not have this option so it’s nice.


And finally, I will try to keep the habit of running at least one kilometre every day or two. It’s an easy habit to keep and it will keep me fitter. The advantage of running, rather than walking is that you cover the same distance in half the time. It makes the daily walk half as time consuming, once I increase my endurance.

One Year With The Garmin Instinct Solar
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One Year With The Garmin Instinct Solar

Byrichard

I bought the Garmin Instinct Solar because I was interested to see how the Solar option works. As with most watches the solar panels take several hours to recharge the watch, even during summer heatwaves. The Solar part is great, if you’re in Spain and leave your watch to recharge in the sun while you do something else.


This leaving the watch alone for hours, as it charges, is a paradox, since other metrics cannot be tracked, rest, heart rate, steps. They’re all stagnant whilst the watch charges for several hours in the sun. Having said this, if you use the watch as a watch, and you spend the entire day in the sun, then it will fill its role fantastically. I had it tell me that it had 99 days of power, at the current rate of charge and discharge, while in Spain.


Then Comes Winter


In winter we wear long sleeves, days are shorter, and we spend more time indoors. This means the solar aspect of the watch is barely used, unless we strap it to a bag, and make sure that it is facing the sun. This isn’t a likely scenario so it’s better simply to rely on recharging it from a usb port.


It Sulks


Of course it’s a computer, so it just runs programmed but I have found, on plenty of mornings, that it doesn’t want to sync with the phone. I will tell the phone several times “refresh” but nothing. I just have to wait until it decides that it wants to converse with the phone and update the stats. This frustrates me immensely. When I am supposed to wear a watch 24 hours a day, for it to get my HR, body battery status, step count and everything else and it doesn’t bother to connect with the phone I have a problem.


Forced Loyalty


I don’t like the term addiction so I’m going to use the term forced loyalty instead. Until the Garmin Instinct watch I was very happy with Suunto devices. I’d wear them and they’d sync all the data when I got home. Then Suunto offered the option of step tracking and heart rate monitoring and I was happy with that.


Then when I got the Apple watch Apple wanted the same loyalty, and then Garmin wanted the same loyalty and at this point you have to make a decision. “Am I the type of idiot who walks with two or three watches at all times? Do I wear just one and lose interest in the step data?


In the end I dropped the Suunto, retired from active service after several years of good use. It’s because of a weaker battery that I even shopped around for new devices.


Cycling and More


For a while I wanted to get a Garmin cycling computer, and as I cycle this would make sense. The issue is that I like quite a few sports, so having a device dedicated to just one sport would be a shame. It would lie dormant when I am not cycling, for weeks, or even months at a time. I workout every day so the Garmin Instinct made sense. I chose the colour and model I did for a simple reason. It was the cheapest option.


Aside from the watch I also saw that I could get the speed and cadence sensors at an affordable price, and wireless. They were easy to install and use within minutes and have been reliable sense.


Thinks I like


  • The Sunrise and sunset view. It shows both.

  • It also shows lunar phases

  • The body battery concept is interesting but I don’t real use it.

  • The Virb remote, should you own a VIRB that you have mounted for remote use.


The Challenges


Garmin has walking, cycling, running, yoga and body building challenges every month that you can participate in. Some of these challenges are short weekend challenges. Some challenges are month long challenge, for example 300,000 steps in a month of cycling 700 kilometres, or more. Some of them are easy to reach, and some of them are more challenging. Yet more are special day events, for example Halloween or other. You can participate in as many, or as few challenges as you like each month, and it doesn’t really matter whether you succeed or fail, except for collection of badges you end up with.


Insights


One of the encouraging, or discouraging screens is the Insights screen. On this screen you can see how well or how badly you are classed depending on sport, age and gender. I am in the top 1percent for floors climbed, top 22 percent for Sleep, top eight percent for steps per day but am not classed for cycling, swimming or running, due to not doing these sports enough recently.


Battery


After one year of use of this watch I have not had issues with this battery. I think it has always lasted throughout my workouts. After a year of daily use the battery still seems fine and I can still go for several days before having to recharge. I do turn off oxygen stats though because that halves the battery life from over 27 days to just 10. The data is not that accurate, so not that interesting anyway.


As I mentioned earlier if you wear the watch and use it as a step counter, then, with the Spanish sun it will eventually display that it has 99 days of battery left, so if you want a sports tracker that you forget about for three months then this is perfect. I say three months, but in practice that’s the maximum number of hours it can display. If I remember correctly it then displayed infinity.


And Finally


Two or three times I selected the wrong sport. I chose walking when I was cycling, which was frustrating as it meant that I missed some data from the start of a ride or two, and thus an opportunity to see how big an effort I made.


As with plenty of sports watches it takes a few seconds to detect the satellites and if you’re on a phone call or distracted in some other way, then you tell it to spot satellites but you forget to tell it to start tracking and timing. Result, you do an entire walk or bike ride and you are left with a step count.


Summary


If it wasn’t for the decision it takes not to synchronise on some mornings, despite being worn 24hours a day I would love this watch, instead of really like it. If it wasn’t for that I would never have considered replacing it. With 27 days of battery in theory, after over a year of daily tracking use for one and a half hours a day, it has been great for cycling walking, cycling, and hiking. It also plays well with the Garmin speed and cadence sensors. This provides us with a cheap versatile solution for cycling, without the nuisance of a single purpose device.


Compare the old and new watches


This watch was at least 100 francs cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 4 and I never worried about breaking it, or worried about the battery being too low to finish a walk or bike ride. It doesn’t need to be charged every day, and the strap doesn’t start to smell after weeks of being worn. If you’re looking for a lower cost watch then this is a good solution.


One of the reasons I switched from Suunto despite loving their products, and that they are a European company is that they went for Android and Google wear rather than their own watch OS. Their battery life declined and the niche they were in was lost. Suunto also stopped the web interface for Movescount, so that it became mobile only. That’s a shame because I loved Movescount and Sportstracker. Garmin Connect is a nice alternative nonetheless.

Garmin Etrex32x and Software Updates

Garmin Etrex32x and Software Updates

Byrichard

Updating software is something that we do every single day, often without knowing that it is being updated. WatchOS updated two or three days ago. iOS updated yesterday recently as well. The most notable was Xcode, because it requires several gigabytes of space or it fails to even try, if it detects that there is not enough disk space. I had the same issue with the Garmin ETREX 32x except that in this scenario Garmin Express wipes the device’s memory before it has checked that the computer from which you are running the installation has enough space to proceed.


This is interesting for two reasons. The first is that it demonstrates why applications should check that there is enough free disk space before starting an operation rather than afterwards. In this case the warning came too late.


My first thought was, “oh it doesn’t matter, I can try on the other laptop” as I know it has enough space. That’s when I got the “device cannot be found” error message. When I checked the device display it said “no system found, please wait for update to finish.” At this point you’re trapped.


If the device was not under warranty I would look for the device files that allow me to flash the rom, like I did with iphones and android devices, back in the day, or even PC and mac computers. In this scenario I have the skillset to revive the device but I need to find the software to do it with.


What surprised me in this scenario is that a device with so little onboard memory needs a 16 gigabyte system update, and the second that if the process is interrupted it has no safety features in place, to preserve the usability of the device. I update devices constantly and so far I’ve ended with this laptop being bricked once, and now a GPS device being practically bricked. This is rare.


Now I have to wait a little longer to play with that device. I will take it to be replaced on Tuesday. We have yet another stupid holiday during a pandemic on Monday, so that’s an additional day of waiting.


I would see this as an excellent excuse for a bike ride to the plague pit of Geneva but people in Geneva have normalised bicycle theft so I will go with the scooter. I go by scooter because I can park right next to the shop and avoid walking where people walk, unmasked. If it wasn’t for the pandemic I would be heading there now.


Some of us follow international news, and see that the pandemic is still thriving so we take precautions.

Spring Cycling
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Spring Cycling

Byrichard

The weather is relatively cold but the sun is out so the time for spring cycling has come. Spring cycling is like other forms of cycling, but you want to dress warm enough to be comfortable, but not so warm as to overheat. You also want to find routes that are short enough so that if it is cold you can get home without being cold for too long.


The conditions were mild today. The thermometer showed about 12°c so acceptable for cycling. For years I was cycling with Suunto devices but now I am playing with the Garmin instinct and the Garmin Speed Sensor 2 and Cadence sensor. I switched over to the Garmin Instinct Solar because I am curious to see how it copes this summer, and I got the speed sensor 2 and cadence sensor 2 because the Suunto device has finally failed, and I saw them offered at a good price so I decided to test them. So far I haven’t had to worry about them. They just work, no need to make sure the sensors are in the right place or anything else.


The speed sensor is self-calibrating so spend a few seconds attaching it to a wheel hub, and then pair it. Once that is done it will self-calibrate during rides. The cadence centre is easy to set up too. Strap it onto a pedal and you’re ready to go for a bike ride.


In the mobile application you can see the battery status for the sensors, so when the batteries are low you will know. With the Suunto device you would go for a ride and half way through stop getting data due to the battery dying without warning.


Eventually I may try to use these sensors in connection with Zwift. For two years now I haven’t used Zwift because my sensor failed and I didn’t want to spend hundreds of francs on a new indoor trainer. This is an affordable solution that I am happy with.


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Reading About Hiking While Charging A Watch

Byrichard

People Fishing.


Today I sat in the sun to charge my watch. I kept my left wrist facing the sun. My right wrist was employed in keeping a kindle in place, reading.


My goal was to get the watch to go up by one day of charge and it worked. I wouldn’t sit in the sun to get a tan, but I would to charge a device. I didn’t time how long it took to charge but it wasn’t more than half an hour. In the middle of summer, in the right mode, I could easily see this watch charging a few percent a day in the right conditions. With the right combination you could get this watch to be autonomous.



A watch that doesn’t need to be taken off to charge is ideal, because it can track your moves for weeks, months or even seasons at a time. It also means that you can carry one less charger.


I am still reading A Good Place For Maniacs. He has finally left California behind.

A Solar Powered Watch in Spain
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A Solar Powered Watch in Spain

Byrichard

A solar powered watch in Spain


If you were a solar powered watch would you prefer sunny Switzerland or sunny Spain? Luckily my watch has now tried both. The watch likes that you walk with your watch wrist facing the sun and the wrist without a watch to be on the shady side.


I know this is not an ordinary thing to think about but it is key to having a watch charge as you wear it. So are your sleeves. If your sleeves cover the watch then it will not charge either. There is even a sleeve mode for these watches. It tries to save power.


I tried strapping the watch to my bag but like a baby trying to sit up it falls flat on it’s face and does not charge. If you want to strap it to a bag find a way to keep it solar panel side up.


In the end I just held it in my hand on the sunny side, and tried to keep it facing the sun. I think that I managed to preserve the charge, but not to generate more power than I used.


The weather is still not summer weather. It is December weather in the north. On a summer day keeping the watch in the sun would be easy. I still managed to get 100 percent from the panel even just for short bursts at a time. I will keep playing and see how best to use it.