Workout Extension with BLE device - frustrating developer experience

[kvj]

Hi,
I've been working on a companion workout extension for Engo 2 HUD smart glasses (running, cycling), using by Bip 6 device for testing. Even though I somehow created a working prototype, I'm not sure there's a way to go.
The idea is to stream sport metrics to the HUD screen while you're on a workout. It has a Garmin CIQ application (Data Field type) which is quite usable.

My frustration points:

• getSportData fields availability. Why the list of available metrics is so limited? The list of available metrics of the SPORT_DATA widget is, like 3 times longer

  • Cycling, running power metrics aren't available, none of segments (structured workout) metrics are available
  • No possibility to know the workout status (stopped, paused, active). There's a weird way to find this via the state_error field, but that should be a field, not error state. Also some fields should be still available in paused state, tbh.
  • No access to the activity type (e.g. SubType like in the configuration). Therefore I can't make HUD metrics activity type dependent.

• Workout extension life-cycle. I understand the reasons why you put the widget in paused state when it's off-screen, but obviously it stops all communication with the BLE device and SportData metrics!

  • I can't go to another data screen and keep the HUD updated at the same time
  • I'm forced to re-implement the data screens functionality inside my DataWidget to keep watch screen and HUD usable at the same time
  • As there's no API for starting/pausing the activity (as well as I can't start the activity by long press of upper button), I have to leave the DataWidget (thus stop updating HUD) to start/stop the activity anyway

All of the problems above don't exist on the CIQ platform, and I find it very challenging to make a usable app, even targeting 4.0/4.5 devices only

[MyoungXUE]

Thank you for your suggestions. Many functions of the workout extension in the first version are not yet perfect. We are improving these functions and plan to launch them in the second half of the year. Thank you for your suggestions. They have been of great help to us.

Welcome to join the Discord channel https://t.zepp.com/t/b6e70. We are eagerly looking forward to the participation of professional sports developers. We can discuss this content in depth on Discord next.