- What's up.
This is Ali Tariq here from SMARTBikeTrainers.com.
Apple announced new cycling features
back in their September iPhone press event,
when they announced their latest Apple Watch 7.
But, if you already have an Apple Watch,
and don't want to upgrade to Series 7,
you'll be able to get all the cycling specific features
that were introduced.
As long as you can update your watch
to the latest watchOS 8.
Apple Watch Series 3,
Apple Watch Series 4,
Series 5, Series 6,
and Apple watch SE will be able to update to watchOS 8.
Now, you know,
if your watch is compatible with watchOS 8,
let's dive into all the cycling specific features
that were introduced in watchOS 8.
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Okay, the first feature.
The watch now will detect when you start a cycling activity.
Generally within three to four minutes
of starting your bike ride,
you'll feel a little tap on your wrist,
asking you if you will want to track your outdoor ride.
This is great if you happen to forget
to start your watch when you get going.
And this is nothing new or revolutionary with the watch.
The watch does this already for running,
treadmill running, and walking.
And this is all done using algorithm that analyzes GPS,
heart rate, accelerometer,
and gyroscope data to detect when you begin a ride.
So an elevated heart rate due to riding a bike is different
from traveling in a slow moving car, or riding a scooter.
So the watch is able to distinguish between the two,
and prompts you to start recording an outdoor bike ride.
And just like running and walking,
the watch will start tracking the activity
from the time you started your ride,
not when you press record.
This is actually important,
because if you are riding in a busy area,
and have both hands on the handlebar,
and can't hit the start button.
When you see that reminder,
you can just wait until you get to a stop,
or a safe area and hit the start button.
However, there is no detection for indoor cycling,
unless it is paired to a Peloton Bike.
So if you are riding indoors using a smart trainer,
or a gym bike, it won't prompt you
to start recording an indoor cycling activity.
Also, the watch now will detect your stop,
and automatically pause your ride.
Within seconds of stopping at a traffic light,
or stop sign, or a coffee stop,
the watch will pause your ride.
As soon as you start moving again,
the watch will resume recording your ride.
So that's really cool.
So you don't have to look for the pause button,
or constantly looking for that pause button
if you are riding in a busy area and constantly stopping.
Apple updated the algorithm to detect
when you are riding an E-bike,
and this is done to better measure calories.
In the past, measuring calories burnt
relied on combination of distance,
travel, time, and heart rate data.
Now, the algorithm detects
when you might be getting a little bit of help from,
say an E-Bike.
The algorithm looks to see if there is a difference
between your speed and where your heart rate should be
to give you a better calorie burn calculations.
So if you are going at 20 miles an hour,
and your heart rate is at an easy peddling pace,
it will know that you might be riding an E-Bike,
and reconfigure your calories calculations.
Finally, once you stop moving,
and the watch detects no movement for a few minutes.
It will ask you if you finished a workout,
and it will end the workout from the time you stop moving,
not when you press End Workout.
This is cool, because a lot of time you finish a workout,
and you get inside,
you're off to eat something real quick,
or shower,
and you forget to end the workout.
So this one will end the workout at the time
you actually ended the workout,
not when you press the button.
The last feature I want to talk about is fall detection.
Apple Watch now is able to detect if you fell off the bike
due to some kind of a crash.
Fall detection is not new to the Apple Watch.
Actually, they had it since Series 4.
However, they did not have it for cycling until watchOS 8
because of the motion of cycling
is different than just falling.
Apple updated the full algorithm
to look at the motion and impact during a workout.
So you're not getting an alert when you do not need it.
You need to enable this feature in the Health app.
You'll find it under summary, health checklist,
and you should see fall detection in there.
If you're watch detects a significant fall when cycling,
it will tap you on the wrist,
sound an alarm, and display an alert.
If you are okay, you can dismiss the alert,
or trigger Emergency SOS if you need it.
If your Apple Watch detects that you are moving,
it will wait for you to respond to the alert,
and won't automatically call emergency services for you.
If your watch detects that you have been immobile
for about a minute,
it will make a call to emergency service,
and automatically inform them of your location.
After the call ends,
the watch will go a step further,
and inform your emergency contacts with your location,
letting them know that your watch detected a hard fall,
and dialed emergency services.
You can set up your emergency contacts in your Health app,
which you can find under settings, emergency SOS,
emergency contacts.
This will work if you either have Apple Watch
with self-service,
or you have your phone nearby,
and it's paired to your phone,
and there is cell service in the area.
The Apple Watch will contact emergency service associated
with the ambulance services.
If your country have multiple emergency numbers.
Now, if you are a cyclist,
you or probably know of someone that's been involved
in some sort of a crash.
I know many of you who follow this channel,
probably have some kind of a bike computer.
Bike computers capture a lot more data,
and easier to look at, than an Apple Watch.
Also, some of them have
some sort of a crash detection feature,
and notify your emergency contacts,
or have real-time information on your whereabouts,
and offer live tracking to your contacts.
But the Apple Watch does this different,
and does it better than anyone out there, in my opinion.
And this raises a question,
would a feature like this make you get an Apple Watch
and use it to track your bike rides,
along with the bike computer?
The Apple Watch might not be
the best fitness watch out there.
And whether you like Apple or not,
they just do certain things so well,
better than anyone out there,
and just makes them so hard to just dismiss.
I want to know what you think.
If you are a cyclist or commute by bike,
would this feature alone make you consider the Apple Watch?
Let me know down in the comments, let's chat.
Okay, this is everything new with watchOS 8.
The new Apple Watch Series 7,
which was introduced back in September,
offer 50% thicker glass, and IPX6 dust resistance rating.
Great for mountain biking.
Other than that,
and it does have a faster charger,
and a slightly bigger screen.
There isn't much new with the new Series 7 Watch that
makes it worth the upgrade.
Okay, there you have it.
I will leave links below in the description.
If you are interested in an Apple Watch,
and these links are affiliate links,
and will help support the channel.
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(electric lightning discharges)
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