TheOverAnalyzed

The whole piece is worth reading, if for no other reason to make you feel better about showering with your Watch (if that’s something you want to do).

Speaking more generally about watchOS, THE CHOCK had this to say about the frustrating nature of the Workout app:

My biggest complaint about the Workout app is its usability at the end of a workout. There is a lot of pressing and navigation at a time where your muscles are barely working, your whole body is moving as it tries to replenish oxygen in your lungs, and blood is rushing to your head. You’re not at your best [emphasis added], yet the app requires some significant mental and physical gyrations.

First, you have to force press to get the “End” button. If your hand is sweaty or wet, this action is difficult to trigger because electrolytes are defeating the touch sensor [emphasis added].

I am in complete agreement with Hockenberry. Force Touching to invoke that “End” button—as difficult as that is—pales in comparison to the difficultly in remembering to End the workout at all. Immediately after running on the treadmill, I like to start lifting right away.^[1] And because I’m so focused on maintaining that elevated heart rate for as long as I can, I regularly forget to end my “Indoor Run” workout and start the dubious “Other” workout. It’s not a big deal, as working out is working out. But I’m sure watchOS uses a different algorithm to measure calorie burn for “Indoor Run” and “Other.” Moreover, staying on “Indoor Run” mode while lifting weights is not accurate. That’s not ideal. Apple could make ending the workout a lot easier.

But that’s not the half of it. The most terrifying aspect of ending a workout comes at the very end of ending the workout:^[2]

Then you have to remember that pressing “End” really isn’t the end of your workout. I’ve had to explain this behavior to more than one person who’s wondered why the activity isn’t displayed on their green ring.

It’s not obvious there’s a “Save” button because it’s at the end of a long list of data you couldn’t care less about at that moment (your main challenge is to stay upright!) If your hand is wet, getting to the end of that list means you have to use the digital crown, but fine motor skills are lacking, so even that’s hard.

Now you have two buttons to press: one is good, the other discards some data you worked very hard to get [emphasis added]. These buttons are placed next to each other and your motor skills are impaired. If your hand is wet, you’ll have to tap several times, increasing the chances of destroying your data [emphasis added].

This hasn’t actually happened to me yet. Still, I am acutely aware of how devastating it would be to lose all of that hard-earned workout credit. Note that I’m not someone who loves going to the gym. I don’t do it for fun. I would rather stare at a screen of some sort, or play guitar, or any other activity. Getting my rings—as I have deemed it while conversing with my wife—is work to me.

Imagine working a full day at a J-O-B, only to find out that the bosses had shorted your pay due to some technical error. How terrible would that be? That’s how I look at losing credit toward my Move goal.

As far as I can tell, Hockenberry is a prolific rdar-er. Here’s hoping his suggestions don’t fall on deaf ears.