Yoga & water polo among new activities coming to Apple Watch, latest code leak suggests [u...

AppleInsider

The built-in Workout app on the Apple Watch may soon gain many more activity types, such as yoga, wrestling, and water polo, according to the latest discovery in Apple's HomePod firmware. [Updated with corrected info]

Other activities may include generic "water fitness" and "water sports" options, as well as "dance-inspired training" and "mixed metabolic cardio training," code shared by TechCrunch indicates. Recently a developer noticed that skiing is mentioned as well.

Even on the Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3 offers a relatively sparse number of Workout options. These include Indoor Cycle, Outdoor Run, Elliptical, Outdoor Walk, Outdoor Cycle, Indoor Walk, Indoor Run, Rower, Stair Stepper, Pool Swim, and Open Water Swim. Many common activities like weightlifting are missing, forcing people to add them using a generic "Other" option.

Apple will presumably be adding some or all of the above activities to watchOS 4, coming this fall. The only confirmed addition so far is high intensity interval training, or HIIT.

Some activities listed in the HomePod firmware, which has let slip details about multiple Apple devices.

The company may also be planning to launch an "Apple Watch Series 3." Some rumors have hinted at the prospect of "smart" bands, enabling new functions without upgrading the Watch itself.

Update: TechCrunch now says that the code it found relates to "new labels for optional, manual workouts you can program yourself."

spamsandwich

How could yoga activity possibly be tracked? Much of it is holding poses for extended periods of time. I'd like to know how they solve that one.

UPDATE (following on the story being updated):  I see. They can't track yoga activity. LOL.

edited August 2017

strangedays

I think it will be designed to monitor HR and prepare calorie burn rates more accurately than Other. Likewise with the others...I view them more like the ipod EQ options that do slight tweaks to the output. 

jintech

Is there anything nestled in that HomePod firmware regarding the MacPro? /sarcasm

In all seriousness, that firmware has snippets of info on a lot of Apple devices!

soli

SpamSandwich said:

How could yoga activity possibly be tracked? Much of it is holding poses for extended periods of time. I'd like to know how they solve that one.

UPDATE (following on the story being updated):  I see. They can't track yoga activity. LOL.

Not every workout involves steps or a swinging arm movement. Cycling is a good example. Being a manual workout doesn't mean it can't track it. Fitbit (and I assume others) have had this feature for awhile. Saying you're doing yoga would mean it would look at your  HR and weight to figure out an approx. caloric burn, minutes of activity, and give you a standing hour. Frankly I'm surprised the "Made in California" company had added this sooner.

soli

JinTech said:

Is there anything nestled in that HomePod firmware regarding the MacPro? /sarcasm

In all seriousness, that firmware has snippets of info on a lot of Apple devices!

Plans to Apple Park and the one flaw built into the design by Galen Erso.

ihatescreennames

Is this actually something new or am I missing something?

Currently, if I choose "Other" as a workout option at the end of the session I have the ability to name the workout. Tapping "Name Workout" brings up a long-ish list of options including yoga, HIIT, Mixed Cardio and wrestling. Perhaps this is just an expanded list of what can be under "Other"?

razorpit

ihatescreennames said:

Is this actually something new or am I missing something?

Currently, if I choose "Other" as a workout option at the end of the session I have the ability to name the workout. Tapping "Name Workout" brings up a long-ish list of options including yoga, HIIT, Mixed Cardio and wrestling. Perhaps this is just an expanded list of what can be under "Other"?

Probably a little bit of that, and maybe some different calorie burn algorithms?

foggyhill

Soli said:

» show previous quotes

SpamSandwich said:

How could yoga activity possibly be tracked? Much of it is holding poses for extended periods of time. I'd like to know how they solve that one.

UPDATE (following on the story being updated):  I see. They can't track yoga activity. LOL.

Not every workout involves steps or a swinging arm movement. Cycling is a good example. Being a manual workout doesn't mean it can't track it. Fitbit (and I assume others) have had this feature for awhile. Saying you're doing yoga would mean it would look at your  HR and weight to figure out an approx. caloric burn, minutes of activity, and give you a standing hour. Frankly I'm surprised the "Made in California" company had added this sooner.

Because those "estimates" are almost universally bunk and Apple doesn't like to bullshit its users... My mother has a fitbit.
Calorie estimates in general have such a big margin of error that they're mostly indicative of trends vs actual calories lost.
So, maybe Apple has a criteria that they need their calculations to be within a X margin of error before they add it in; the margin or error is probably still wide though.

edited August 2017

georgebmac

ihatescreennames said:

Is this actually something new or am I missing something?

Currently, if I choose "Other" as a workout option at the end of the session I have the ability to name the workout. Tapping "Name Workout" brings up a long-ish list of options including yoga, HIIT, Mixed Cardio and wrestling. Perhaps this is just an expanded list of what can be under "Other"?

The update seems to confirm that:
"Update: TechCrunch now says that the code it found relates to "new labels for optional, manual workouts you can program yourself."

So, water aerobics, yoga, weight lifting, etc...  may all get the same algorithms applied.