Heartrate with Ergdata & Apple Watch and Apple Fitness

[MagicDude4Eva]

I just got a RowERG and have the Ergdata iOS app and Apple Watch. I would like to start practising to row using Apple Fitness. As soon as I start a Apple Fitness rowing exercise, the Apple Watch connects to the Apple TV and it seems that the PM5 is not tracking my heart-rate anymore. How do I manage to have the Apple Watch broadcast the Heartrate to the PM5 and the Apple TV?

[Dangerscouse]

I have no idea about your question, but I wouldn't recommend using a watch to measure HR, as they are notoriously unreliable.

Get a chest strap, or an arm strap otherwise you'll probably be working of mainly fictional data. I use a CooSpo and they're about £25 on Amazon, if you live in the UK

[MPx]

I second what Stu said about using a chest belt for HR rather than anything on your wrist - reliable data. FWIW I use a Garmin Dual.

I use similar products to you (without the watch) but do things in a different order.

First dampen the chestbelt and put it on to make sure HR is being transmitted.
Second press a button on the PM5 to wake it up to the main menu screen. [For the first time usage you can now use the connect button to connect the HR belt, but you can miss out this stage on any subsequent sessions if you say yes to "remembering" it]
Third fire up the Ergdata App on the iPhone and wait for a bit for all of the connections to be made (HR can take 15 or 20 secs). [First time usage you may have to manually connect Ergdata to the PM, but subsequent sessions it will connect automatically. In the Ergdata settings you need Apple Health to be connected in the App Connections but again once done once it always is connected - although on rare occasions can get turned off if C2 push out an Ergdata update].
Fourth set up your workout in Ergdata on the phone and click ready when you've done it - it appears on the PM screen.
Fifth do the session and then when finished press the menu button once on the PM and wait a few seconds for everything to be saved (and synch'd to your log if you've set one up with C2.) Some of the stats will also appear in Apple Fitness incl Time/Distance/KCAL/Avg HR and an HR graph. But the best access to the data in via your C2 Log as much more is captured there.

Have fun with it....

[Aquaman]

Your Apple Watch will only transmit HR data to 1 Bluetooth connection at a time (technically it can do more, but you would need to write some special software code to overcome these OS and app limitations). This single HR connection is controlled by the active app on your iWatch, and you can only run 1 of either Apple Fitness or Ergdata apps but not both simultaneously or transmit HR to both.

Echoing the others, best to use a dedicated HR device connected directly to the PM5.

Good luck on your rowing journey!