Unauthoritative Pronouncements

Dr. Drang wrote about how the Apple Watch doesn’t record his location during a paddling Workout, unlike when he uses another type of Workout, like hiking.

It gives you a dot where you started the workout but nothing else. A search of the web to see if I’d done something wrong soon told me that I hadn’t and that lots of paddlers were unhappy about this deficiency.

That’s a bummer. I have no plans to start kayaking, but I’m highlighting this because it seems sort of connected to a pet peeve of mine.

Apple emphasizes when they add Workout types, but they rarely seem to go back and improve ones outside of what really intense fitness people care about, like running and cycling.

I’ll hijack his kayak to complain about how there’s still no detection for resuming Workouts. I walk about an hour in a loop from where I live, and halfway through I stop to get a cold brew at a nice coffee shop. If I forget to start the walking Workout, the Watch will notice, and ask if I would like to begin a Workout, and retroactively note the time I left my house. It’s quite accurate.

However, that coffee shop is sometimes pretty busy, so I need to wait. The Watch will detect the decrease in activity and ask me if I want to pause my workout. The Watch can’t detect if I start walking again. It will stay paused until I remember to unpause it.

This has been like this forever. I have no idea if it is for philosophical reasons, or someone just doesn’t think it’s a problem, but Apple has all the pieces there. Just like how they have all the pieces to record Dr. Drang’s paddling path.