Using your Apple Watch heart rate with the Karoo - (Beta test)
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Hi folks!
I've made a small free app for Apple Watch and iPhone so you can see your hr info on the Karoo.
Be aware, it's still very much in beta. I made this originally for TrainerRoad, but I want it to work with Karoo as well. However, the Karoo is a bit more picky on the bluetooth connection (and Apple is of course a bit weird as well).
So, before testing, keep these two remarks in mind:
- Alternative bluetooth mode seems to work better for Karoo (especially on pairing)
- After first connect, when the status stays in "searching", disabling and re-enabling did the trick for me
You can download the app using this link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/M4IsgvXN
For questions and feedback, don't hesitate to send me a message on heartbyproxy@jorritposthuma.nl !
PS: If any Karoo dev's are reading, I'd love to send you some details on the Apple Bluetooth weirdness so I can scrap "alternative bluetooth mode" as a whole :)
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@ Joel Cohen
If you have a power meter Karoo can show calories. If not it won't, despite many requests, probably because Hammerhead knows that HR to calorie estimates are _REALLY BAD_. I read an evaluation where the best in test tracker (Apple Watch) was still 27% off. Even formulas taking into consideration your max HR, resting HR, threshold HR, etc (and most don't) will swing wildly due to coffee, dehydration, sleep and more.
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@ Joen, I do have a power meter...the one thing I have to figure out -- unless some already knows -- is whether I can get calories to appear on the Karoo while I ride (i.e. I know the calories are displayed in the summary at the end of the ride but I like to see them as I ride)...will need to dig into this as well as Strava.
I hear you on the lack of accuracy when using HR to measure calories but a) something is better than nothing and b) Apple Watch is at least the best there is (for now).
Thanks for the feedback, it is greatly appreicated!
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Yup both calories burned and rate of burn are available fields (towards the bottom of the power section) :)
I still don't understand how wild guesses are "better than nothing" but there seem to be many people who are very attached to them. Guess it just became the norm at some point.
And no worries, glad to help!Edit: speaking of accuracy vs guessing, a nice bonus of all this is that Apple Watch will stop using its estimate for your workouts and actually use the true value as calculated from your power meter! At least as long as your sources are properly set up in Health with Strava at highest priority for active calories.
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Picking this question up again (has been posed a couple of posts ago): What about the Apple GymKit integration? This would be very helpful. Peloton does it the same way to sync an ongoing ride / session with your apple watch and also to sync back the heart rate of your watch to the peloton bike!
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You can also try using Watchlink.app
I've been using it for awhile now with my iWatch 7 series and works great. I use the pod. It basically works just like a normal chest strap HRM from the K2 / K1 perspective. It sees the pod as a HRM via ANT.
use promo code CHRISM for some savings.
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HeartCast has recently gone from spotty to almost entirely unreliable. I suspect caused by latest updates to iOS and WatchOS. I haven't upgraded to iOS 16 yet. I'm tempted to get a dedicated HRM and ditch trying to continue with Apple Watch integration. Has anyone experienced similar difficulties with HeartCast or tried alternate HRM via Apple Watch?
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Hi All,
I tried out a bunch of apps, including the aforementioned Heart Cast. The cleanest operation I have found is with the app called HRM Heart Rate Monitor - https://dominikmaglia.com/hrm-heart-rate-monitor-app/
All seems to work well, and the interface is very intuitive and smooth.
Go well!
Dill
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Hey Dillon. I downloaded the app which costs $4.99 per year. Pretty cheap. Before I subscribe could you please let us know if the iWatch app (https://dominikmaglia.com/hrm-heart-rate-monitor-app/) still connects to and works on your K2? Thanks and much appreciated.
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None of these apps or devices appear to be necessary if you record a ride whilst wearing your apple watch. When you have finished the ride, export the FIT file from Karoo (which will not have heart rate) and import into HealthFit. With HealthFit set to sync to Apple Health, Apple Fitness then somehow incorporates the heart rate .
Here is a screenshot of Apple Fitness, note the complete heart rate history has been magically added without me doing anything (and without starting an Apple Workout).
Note that the heart rate history doesn't exist in Karoo's or Healthfit's verison of the ride, it ONLY exists in the Apple Health workout. So if you want to have heart rate in Strava, sync from Apple Health rather than from Karoo or HealthFit.
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Ah I see: for now the only option is a watchlink device (https://www.watchlink.app/) or https://www.cyclepowermeters.com/other/ant-ble-wifi-converters/npe-heartbeatz.html or similar. Not ideal.
Also NPE's WYUR https://the5krunner.com/2023/03/07/npe-wyur-review-cord/
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I've been using HeartCast on most of my rides the past year actually, always flawless activation, never any issue!.
As of today it stopped working, maybe due to the latest Karoo update or maybe because of an iOS update. Both occurred in the past week since my previous ride. What happens is that on the HeartCast side the Watch app and iPhone app show a heartbeat. The Karoo says the HeartCast on iPhone is connected, battery status and all showing, but the HR field on screen shows 0, on the iPhone, the bluetooth on the bottom right stays red, suggesting it is not connected..
Very weird, maybe it is temporary, will try again tomorrow
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