Ionic is locked to specific workout in use. Unable to use other features.

[JeromyE]

Hello, 

While using my Ionic during workouts, to be clear I have this issue with every single workout program that is on my watch, I can't access the rest of the watches features. 

I perform the following steps. 

1. Tap Exercise

2.Swipe to the appropriate exercise

3.Open the appropriate exercise

3. Tap start button or start icon on screen.

4.The chosen exercise has started.

5. The screen is now locked to the exercise workout and I cannot use any other function.

What I want to achieve is:

1. Use the other features of my watch while workouts are running.

2. For example: I want to set a 25 second timer during my stretching routine. 

In this case I have started the "workout" exercise which I log as stretching.

However I can't access the timers because it's locked to the workout. 

I hope my issues and my walk through has been clear and I can get some positive feedback to correct this. 

For those responding, please remember, I do not carry my phone with me while training. Providing answers such as " just set a timer on your phone" are neither appropriate nor acceptable for this thread.

I did not buy, nor do I think anyone else who has the means, a $420 dollar smart fitness watch just to carry my phone around in the gym. 

Thank you for your time and effort. 

JE

[SunsetRunner]

You can only do one thing at a time with your Ionic. Once you are in a workout you cannot switch to other activities or apps until you finish the workout. The only exception I am aware of is that you can get to the music control screen during a workout by holding the top-right button on your Ionic.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @JeromyE, this is not a malfunction of your device, nor is there a way to correct this.  It is just the way the Ionic currently works.  When you are in workout mode you can control music but cannot use other functions of the watch.

However, you do automatically have a timer function during workout mode, as one of the stats you can view is time elapsed, so you can easily time your stretch routines, etc.  You can select what you see on your watch by tapping the gear icon (top left) and choosing your top, middle and bottom stats.  You can also swipe your screen to scroll through other stats.

I appreciate that this may not be exactly what you want to hear.

[Venkats]

What you want to achieve is not feasible and for this very reason I have a second watch to help me with time.

If I set timer controlled interval speed sprints, it does get recognized by smart track.

(BTW I use blaze)

[JeromyE]

That answer is unacceptable to me as a customer.

Boldly going where no one has gone before

[JeromyE]

I disagree.

These watches have more computing power than most computers c2000.

Asking of my 420 dollar computer watch to multi-task is feasible and achievable with today’s technology.

Just a question? Could the original iPhone run Mail and Safari at the same time? The answer is yes.

Is a Fitbit Ionic more powerful than the original iPhone? Yes.

This is a programming issue and I do not believe I am the only person who sees value in this.

To another posters point they have to wear TWO fitness watches to the gym.That is unacceptable.

Why? When you pay over $400 dollars and the device is supposed to be the MOST advanced fitness watch?

Again this a programming and developer issue that clearly has never been addressed.





Boldly going where no one has gone before

[WavyDavey]

Just use the smart track and you'll have access to everything on the watch during exercise.

[Venkats]

@JeromyE

Clearly you are not the only person that sees value in this. If I add myself to the list there are at least two. I will bet there will be many.

It is not impossible to facilitate. The screen face itself could have a timer icon which can take to various timer controls which can then activate in the background after a count down delay of 10 or 20 secs to begin the actual workout. Will that be too hard? Possibly a two or three day effort for a seasoned coder.

There are at a minimum, timer functions such as

1. a fixed time limit

2. Every minute on the minute for x minutes

3. Tabata

4. Work / Hold / Rest or inhale / hold / exhale with zero as a valid delay for Hold

5. count down / count up

should be easily programmable .

If the designers can't think about value addition it is a reflection on the design team's exposure.

They can even provide a manual rep counter facility.

[WavyDavey]

I'm sure they think about value addition. But how are they going to know about these ideas if no one takes the time to make an official Feature Suggestion for them? Voting for the Feature Suggestion is the only way Fitbit is going to know how much interest there is.

Not downplaying the idea, but just leaving it here will likely result in it getting buried and forgotten. If the goal is just to vent fine. But if you want implementation, it's probably best to follow the procedure Fitbit has set up.

[Julia_G]

@WavyDavey, not at all a solution.

1. You have no control over whether SmartTrack starts at all, or when it ends, or even if it records at all.  You have no way at all of oing iif it is working until later when you sync...  This excellent for people who want everything to be automatic.  That's probably oonlyy a small subset of the people who bought Ionic...

2. Even if it does record you don't get distance.

[WavyDavey]

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@Julia_G wrote:

@WavyDavey, not at all a solution.

1. You have no control over whether SmartTrack starts at all, or when it ends, or even if it records at all.  You have no way at all of oing iif it is working until later when you sync...  This excellent for people who want everything to be automatic.  That's probably oonlyy a small subset of the people who bought Ionic...

2. Even if it does record you don't get distance.

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@Julia_G, I didn't say it was a good solution.   You're correct it's more of a workaround (like using the time elapsed as a timer).  But it is an idea, that can be tried out today...while we wait for Fitbit to re-design the FitbitOS to be able to flip between different apps.

[nyreak]

I absolutely agree with this. I see that you can get updates for time within the Run app, but the lowest you can go is 2 minutes. I am a beginner at running and am training at short run walk intervals. I could manage with a notification at every minute, since I do a 15 second run followed by a 45 second walk. I did a one minute notification using MapMyRun before getting my ionic, and it worked fine since I count my running paces anyway. 2 minutes would force me to count every step in between as well, which isn't ok. Tonight was my first time out on a run using it, and I was very disappointed that I couldn't use both run and interval or timer at the same time. 

I know strava is on there, but I don't use it currently. I have read it doesn't share GPS data with strava anyway. 

[CrazyWillman]

I can't confirm your facts regarding computing power but anyone who has done any serious running knows intervals are usually just a part of a typical training run so come on ionic : do the programming so we can operate more than one feature at a time!!