What is the longest anyone has been able to use this app before the iPhone battery dies? I've tried it a few times (love the app and the web site), but the longest I could go was 12.86 mile before it died. Can't do much training in less than an hour and only 12 miles.
If you are getting better battery life...what settings are working for you?
I have had two successful 1 hour 40 minute captures, each about 24 miles. For those rides I had a freshly charged iPhone, I turned off blue tooth, turned off networking, and set auto lock to never. With these settings the phone still had some juice left when I ended the ride.
My experiences to date:
10/19: battery died after first 2 hours of ride
10/22: user error; failed to capture data
10/23: captured both my out and back commutes (each 1 hour 40; recharged iPhone at work)
10/24: captured ride (about 92 minutes elapsed time), but failed to upload
10/29: morning ride: gps wouldn't lock; gave up after 2 minutes
I tired using it for the LiveStrong Challenge this past weekend. Wasn't worth the weight of the iPhone (w/dead battery). I didn't even turn the iPhone on till I got to the start line. I'll keep trying.
I went for an 11 mile run this weekend. It took what seemed like forever (actually probably 15 minutes) to find the GPS signal and turn green. I turned off bluetooth & set it so it wouldn't lock. I was using iTunes for music. After 8.3 miles, it shut down. My 14 year old son thinks that the GPS signal turns off when battery life gets below 20%, unless you tell it OK. I think maybe it stopped timing when this screen popped up. Anyway, bottom line is that this app works pretty well as long as you can finish your workout in around 1:30. Anything longer than that you are taking chances. And I agree, you probably can't get over 1:40/1:45 before the battery is deleted. Has anybody tried anything else that may extend battery life?
I noticed that there is a trick to force the iPhone to lock on GPS. If you can't seem to get a signal there could be two causes: the app thinks the GPS signal is weak although it isn't or the iPhone indeed doesn't lock on GPS . Both have to do with how the iPhone uses its GPS.
Solution to number 1: Press the Start button eventhough the green signal is not displayed. In the pop up that warns for a weak GPS signal press Cancel. Quite often the GPS signal will turn green and you can start your workout by hitting Start again.
Solution to number 2: Quit the app and try to find you location in the Google Maps app. Once you see the blue flashing dot, quit the maps app and start iMapMyRun/Ride again. This should force it to lock.
By the way, the maximum length of a workout (actually, it was a car ride) that I managed to record with one battery was 2:55 hours. You do need to press OK on warnings for battery life otherwise the app stops recording. The last 20% of battery life (after the warning) lasted almost 40 minutes.
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rbroekman
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