How to connect your Apple Watch to Hydrow and share your workouts to Apple Fitness

(Pocket-lint) - You've got yourself a Hydrow rowing instrumentality and you privation to link your Apple Watch to it. It's a logical question and 1 that you deliberation would beryllium delivered with a elemental answer, but sadly not.

The Apple Watch can't straight link to Hydrow via Bluetooth to beryllium utilized arsenic a heart complaint monitor, nor tin Hydrow straight stock completed workouts with the Apple Fitness app.

Hydrow states that: "Hydrow is not compatible with Apple Watch arsenic it requires, among different things, a PIN fig to brace for immoderate Bluetooth Heart Rate functions which makes it incompatible with Hydrow close now. This is thing that could perchance alteration successful the future, either with changes to Hydrow oregon with improvement of an Apple Watch app. However, we person nary timetable for either of these features close now."

And earlier you ask, Hydrow doesn't enactment Apple's GymKit level that allows fittingness instrumentality to stock information and workout accusation straight to the Apple Fitness app either.

The bully quality though, is that determination are ways to get either the Apple Watch connected to Hydrow oregon Hydrow connected to your Apple Health information and stock those workouts. Read connected to find retired how.

Connecting your Apple Watch to Hydrow with Watch Link

Before you commencement immoderate workout connected Hydrow, determination is the enactment to adhd a Heart Rate Monitor via Bluetooth.

Even though the Apple Watch has a bosom complaint monitor, arsenic we've elaborate above, you can't straight link it to the Hydrow rowing machine. Instead, to link your Apple Watch to Hydrow you'll request to bargain a third-party dongle called the Watch Link that acts arsenic a span betwixt your Watch and the Hydrow rowing machine.

The Watch Link, which is presently lone disposable successful the US, costs $55-$60 and works wirelessly via ANT+ oregon Bluetooth. Once working, it volition let you to show your bosom complaint connected the Hydrow workout surface and person it grounds the information for analysing later.

It tin besides enactment with different fittingness instrumentality including Wahoo, Bowflex, Concept 2, Peloton, and others. You won't request to deterioration it, but it does request to beryllium adjacent to the Watch and Hydrow (30ft) to work.

To link it to your Hydrow travel these steps:

1. Download the Watch Link app to your telephone and Apple Watch. 
2. Open the app connected your watch, tap Tap to Start, past tap Connect Now. 
3. Bring the pod adjacent to your Apple Watch to brace (within 1" for champion results).
4. On Hydrow's touchscreen, brace Watch Link arsenic an Heart Rate Monitor
5. Select your workout benignant successful the Watch Link app.
6. Tap Row on Hydrow to statesman the workout!

It's worthy noting that you indispensable manually brace the Watch Link pod to the Apple Watch app earlier opening the workout, and past manually unpair the Watch Link pod aft your workout. You don't however, person to bash the aforesaid with the Hydrow each time.

Recording your workouts to the Apple Fitness app via Strava

If you privation to grounds your workouts and person the information shared with Apple Health and truthful the Apple Fitness app to number towards your rings etc, you'll person to make and link a Strava relationship to Hydrow.

The settings are managed via the Hydrow app connected your phone.

Once you've got a Strava relationship spell into the Hydrow app > Profile > Connections > and link to Strava. The process volition instrumentality you to a transportation leafage to o.k. the request.

Back successful the Hydrow app we would besides urge turning connected "Automatically stock workouts" to prevention you having to bash it manually each time.

This volition present automatically grounds your workouts to Strava, which successful crook volition stock your workout information with the Fitness app truthful you tin spot it erstwhile you cheque your enactment progress.

It volition inactive not grounds your bosom complaint however, unless you either person a bosom complaint show that is compatible with Hydrow oregon the Watch Link we've described above.

Sharing information with Hydrow via Apple Health

Where things tin get confusing is that wrong the Hydrow app you tin opt to let Hydrow to work Apple Health information to amended your workouts and personalise your experience.

Opting to o.k. this diagnostic means that Hydrow tin work your Health information for its understanding, but doesn't mean that it tin constitute immoderate of that information backmost to your Health app to share, successful the aforesaid mode it does with the Strava connection.

Writing by Stuart Miles. Editing by Britta O'Boyle. Originally published connected 30 November 2021.