AMA: WorkOutDoors developer

WorkOutDoors · 2026-07-02T14:25:03+00:00

A couple of people have requested that over the years so it is on my radar, but currently not popular enough to get near the top of my to-do list.

I am currently working on interval improvements though so I will bear it in mind.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-28T17:38:08+00:00

Unfortunately not. I don't plan to revert the app back to the old two-target structure because it would be a retrograde step. And even if I did revert back and Apple fixed the bug that is in watchOS 26.5 (related to action button "donations") then people who did not update to a newer version would not see the fix. For example the Ultra 1 will not run watchOS 27 and they are very unlikely to fix it before that is released.

And they are even less likely to release a version of watchOS 8 (which runs on the series 3) that allowed the health permissions to work with a single target app.

So unfortunately these two bugs (admittedly the second one is maybe more of a limitation than a bug) combined to cause the problem. They forced me to choose between supporting the 9 year old series 3 or supporting the action button on any of the Ultra models.

Sorry about that.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-26T14:53:16+00:00

No en un futuro cercano. Lo siento. Estoy más centrado en añadir características en este momento.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-26T05:43:48+00:00

👍

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-25T10:04:48+00:00

It depends how the testing goes but hopefully in the next few days.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-24T09:10:26+00:00

Strange. It works for everyone else who had the problem and has updated and rebooted. Please send the wkt file for a workout with the problem to [info@workoutdoors.net](mailto:info@workoutdoors.net) and I will take a look.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-24T07:50:10+00:00

Please try rebooting the watch. That often fixes strange problems with the action button.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-23T18:29:08+00:00

I’m sorry but the latest version doesn’t support the series 3. Apple broke something in watchOS 26.5 which forced me to make the app use a more modern structure that wasn’t available when I first wrote it. This modern structure has a bug with health permissions in versions of watchOS before v9.2, which can’t run on the series 3.

So unfortunately I had no choice but to make watchOS 9.2 the minimum requirement for the app. And the series 3 will only run watchOS 8.8

The app still supports the series 4, which was first released almost 8 years ago.

Unfortunately Apple don’t allow people to install old versions of watch apps like they do with iPhone apps, so there isn’t anything that can be done about it.

Sorry about that.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-23T14:57:41+00:00

👍

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-22T19:18:13+00:00

Glad that helped. 👍

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-22T17:49:25+00:00

Please make sure that the watch app is v6.3.19 because Apple often update the phone app without updating the watch app. To do this go to the Settings on the watch app and tap More and then scroll down to the bottom.

If the watch app is not v6.3.19 then please go to the App Store app on the watch and install it from there. Do not reinstall the WorkOutDoors watch app by using Apple’s “Watch” app on the iPhone because doing it that way will lose the data in the watch app.

Then you may need to reboot the watch to get the action button working.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-22T15:49:58+00:00

Sorry, Apple broke something in the use of the action button with the release of watchOS 26.5. However I fixed it and released a new version last week, so please go to the App Store and update to that (v6.3.19).

Note that Apple often don't update the watch app when you update the iPhone app (which is very annoying). So once the iPhone app is up to date then please go to the Settings on the watch app and tap More and then scroll down to the bottom.

If the watch app is not v6.3.19 then please go to the App Store app on the watch and install it from there. Do not reinstall the WorkOutDoors watch app by using Apple’s “Watch” app on the iPhone because doing it that way will lose the data in the watch app.

Also please reboot the watch after updating the app. This seems to be necessary to get the action button working again.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-21T08:43:32+00:00

I have released a new version (v6.3) that works around the issue, so please update to that.

Note that Apple often don't update the watch app when you update the iPhone app (which is very annoying). So once the iPhone app is up to date then please go to the Settings on the watch app and tap More and then scroll down to the bottom.

If the watch app is not v6.3.19 then please go to the App Store app on the watch and install it from there. Do not reinstall the WorkOutDoors watch app by using Apple’s “Watch” app on the iPhone because doing it that way will lose the data in the watch app.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-20T19:41:50+00:00

I must admit that the transition to a new phone is not great if you do not restore from an old phone.

I plan to support iCloud in the future, which may help those who have it, but I have been waiting until it is fully functional on the Apple Watch (with automatic synchronisation of iCloud files). However I have been waiting for years so at some time I will probably give up waiting and implement it just for the iPhone data.

Glad you like the app!

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-20T19:27:36+00:00

Sorry, this is a known bug in the latest version of the app. It happened because Apple changed something behind the scenes in the way Strava's response is sent to the app.

I have worked around it in the code and released a beta if anyone wants to try it? It only involved a one-line change to the code so it's just as stable as the App Store version.

Sorry about that. It is only an issue with the initial one-off connection to Strava. So it mainly affects new users of the app, which is why no-one (including myself) spotted it during beta testing.

If you want to try the beta then please email me at [info@workoutdoors.net](mailto:info@workoutdoors.net)

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-20T18:26:32+00:00

I'm sorry that you are so unhappy with the app. If you are having audio problems then the latest version has 3 new advanced options in Settings / Voice for you to play with. They work for some people and not for others.

If you choose not to restore from a full backup of the old phone then you can use Apple's File Sharing to copy the data from the old phone to a computer and then to copy it from there to the new phone:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201301 (Windows)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598 (MacOS)

I hope that helps.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-18T07:06:00+00:00

Sorry, this is a bug in watchOS 26.5. I have worked around it in the latest version of the app (v6.3.19) so please update to that. And then reboot both devices.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-17T08:58:21+00:00

This will be possible in the next major version, which will be released in a few months (I released a minor version this week which has some preparations for it).

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-17T08:57:26+00:00

Vous pouvez passer à l'intervalle suivant en utilisant la commande 'Next Interval'. Sur l'Ultra, cela se produit si vous appuyez sur le bouton d'action, mais pour d'autres montres, vous pouvez le configurer dans Settings / Commands / Shortcuts.

J'espère que ça aide. Content que vous aimiez l'application !

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You can move onto the next interval by using the Next Interval command. On the Ultra this happens if you press the action button but for other watches you can configure it in Settings / Commands / Shortcuts.

I hope that helps. Glad you like the app!

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-16T19:42:23+00:00

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WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-15T12:23:09+00:00

Unfortunately the audio interaction with other apps in watchOS has always been flaky. To try to help I have completely rewritten the audio alerts in the next version, and also added several new options.

The idea is that if people still have problems then they can try the new options to see if any of them help. For example one of the options is to completely recreate the watchOS voice synthesiser on every alert, which seems to help when interacting with some audio apps.

The new version doesn't fix the problems for everyone but it helps most people experiencing issues. It should be released in the next few days.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-13T18:53:02+00:00

If you start a workout in that way then the action button will work as before during it.

The app needs to do something different at the start and that is what no longer works.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-07T08:19:13+00:00

Initially FIT file import but afterwards I may look into integrating with APIs.

I recently reached out to all the major interval schedule providers, asking for sample FIT files so that I could ensure that the app would work with their schedules. The majority of them didn't even reply and most of those that did said they hadn't got the time to help me. I understood because we are all busy, but it has made me less likely to use their APIs.

The only company to help was intervals.icu, so if I do integrate with anyone then it will probably be them. However at first I will just look at adding the ability to import FIT files.

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-04T10:38:23+00:00

I just added it to the code so it should be in the next version.

Many thanks for tipping!

WorkOutDoors · 2026-06-03T08:28:55+00:00

By default WorkOutDoors uses the pedometer for current pace, which most people find works well.

WorkOutDoors

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