Apple watch series 3 and nike+ run club app issues

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Level 1

32 points

Apple watch series 3 and nike+ run club app issues

I’m sure this problem have been discussed many times,but I seem to be not able to find any solution, so I decided to post a question here. So, I discovered nike+ run Club app for iPhone about a month ago. I started a plan for “getting fit” with it and started completing run after run. But what was really uncomfortable is that I always have to hold my phone in my hand. Because such runs as “Speed”, “Split” etc requires you manually constantly pausing and starting workout, so those arm straps are useless. That’s why I’ve started thinking about buying an Apple watch, so I can just run without holding my phone in my hand. And so I did, bought series 3 nike+, got home, made all connections, gave the app full access to any info on the watch, went outside, but the surprise was there was no “plan” runs on the watch. Okay, that’s not a big deal, I’ll just choose and start a run on my phone, and then I’ll just continue controlling everything using my watch. What happened after was a real disappointment. The watch just told me that I have already started a run with my phone, so in order to start a run using apple watch I have to stop a run on my phone! That’s ridiculous!

So the question is, it’s me doing something wrong, or is it an issue of the app itself? If it is, is it a known issue and all the owners of the apple watch can rest assured that an update will come out soon?

I just simply don’t get it, if it’s hard to realize that my watch would start a plan run without iPhone, but at list to show the info of the run on the watch and use the Watch’s accelerometer to track a run wouldn’t be such a great challenge for two great companies like Nike and Apple?

Waiting for your thoughts on this guys! Thanks

Posted on Feb 7, 2018 11:56 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 8, 2018 5:19 AM in response to mr_pal

Hello,

If you have the Nike+ Run Club (NRC) on your iPhone and Apple Watch you have to choice to either start the run from your iPhone or from your Apple Watch.

If you start your run from your iPhone, and have your Apple Watch on your wrist unlocked, it will automatically open the app on the Apple Watch and allow you to monitor the run and record the heart rate as well (AFAIK).

However, if you start the run from your Apple Watch, nothing will happen on your iPhone (you can't monitor from there) and if you start another run from the app on iPhone it will abort the run on your Apple Watch and start a new run.

To sum it up, if you want to use both devices to monitor your run - start the run from iPhone.

However, if you just need to monitor the run on your wrist, leave the iPhone at home and launch the run from Apple Watch. Since you have series 3 with GPS it will record your route and everything related to your run and save it to your Nike+ account when you get home.

Hope this has been helpful.

I have been using Nike+ since 2008 back in the days where you had to put a sensor in your running shoes and use a receiver connected to iPod and have used arm strap to hold the iPod. When I got an iPhone with GPS a few years later and the Nike Running App came out I preferred this option as the GPS was more accurate and it was nice to see on a map where you ran, and a larger arm strap to carry a heavier device was less comfortable. Until recently, I used to run with my iPhone 7 Plus in my hand, and that was Ok if I ran at moderate speeds, however it obviously became less comfortable for sprinting. Last year when I got the Apple Watch series 3 and AirPods I started running without the iPhone, and wow, it's so much more confortable. You can synchronize your music to Apple Watch for offline listening.

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Answer 2

Feb 8, 2018 7:10 AM in response to mr_pal

I understand better now and you are right. You can't start training plan runs from the watch, you have to do it from the phone and the phone's sensors are used, and like you said you can't put the phone down like on the treadmill tray, I also tried that, it would think that you stopped.

I share what you feel. The NRC app could be so much better. It's not easy to track interval runs on either iPhone or Apple Watch with the NRC unless you have an audio track that guides to sprint and recover in the intervals.

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Answer 3

Jonathan UK

Level 10

164,015 points

Feb 8, 2018 2:29 AM in response to mr_pal

Hi

I suggest that you consult Nike's support resources and/or contact Nike for assistance with questions and issues concerning the Nike+ Run Club app:

Nike+ Run Club Support resources:

http://nikeplus.com/support/

Contact Nike (support is offered by phone and via social media):

https://support-en-us.nikeplus.com/app/contact/l/4/t/4462/

More information:

Nike+ Run Club on the App Store

If you would prefer that the app offered any additional features, then you may wish to submit a feature request to Nike.

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Answer 4

mr_pal Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 8, 2018 12:24 AM in response to anonyme4321

How do I do that? When I longpress it as a link and open this in a new tab, I can see his page and info but no way to contact him, and when I just press the name in your message this webpage stops responding 🤔

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Answer 5

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Feb 8, 2018 12:28 AM in response to mr_pal

You're right, there's no way for you to directly contact him, sorry about that.

However, since I mentioned him in this discussion, he should receive a notification and will be able to answer your question.

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Answer 6

mr_pal Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 8, 2018 5:30 AM in response to Jonathan UK

Thanks for a reply and for the links, I’ll definitely check them out. I would have already gave them a call, but unfortunately I’m not living in the US, I’m long term in China, and for obvious reasons (language) can’t contact nike support in China) but I’ll try them on social media. Maybe some day they release an update and we will all be happy to use all the functionality of the Apple Watch and Nike run club on our wrists.

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Answer 7

mr_pal Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 8, 2018 6:52 AM in response to celio-likes-apples

Thank you very much for such a detailed reply! You see, the actual problem is not that my watch doesn’t show the info or the heart rate. The actual problem is that I can’t start the run which is inside my coach program directly from the watch, the watch version of the app Is not able to start runs from the training plans. Thus, you have to start those from the phone. And because you start a run from the phone, the app reads the movement from the phone sensors, not the watch. So if you run on a treadmill for example, you can’t put your phone down, because the app thinks that you’ve stopped. This is the first problem. The second one is, though you can’t put your phone down, you at list can see statistics on your watch, including heart rate. But some of the runs from training plans, like “split” or “speed”, those doesn’t even shows on your watch, after starting these runs on your phone you get a message on your watch, that you have started a run on the phone, and that’s all. That’s especially frustrating, because in these runs you have to pause run constantly, as it has intervals, so you have to glance at your phone every now and then to check your pace and time and distance, despite your $400 dedicated watch on your wrist😆 and in this case, the app on the phone doesn’t track your heart rate.

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