SmartRow 4+

Great app for WaterRower owners.

Admittedly this app doesn’t have all the features I wanted, but I have a feeling they’re coming. Things that are good... lots of rowing details, things that will help me become a better tower. I rely on Apple health a lot, so I’m glad it shares “workouts” with Apple health. The strava integration is great, and the integration with my polar H10 chest sensor is good too. I am coming to this app from polar beat, so there’s a few things on my wish list that I hope they include soon, like complete heart rate stats, and a split for fat burning vs aerobic fitness. My only concern is that the calories burned during exercise seems to differ from polar beat by about 25%, which is a considerable difference. Looking forward to the updates. 4 star rating reflects the missing features that would make it perfect for me. But to be clear, what is already included is fantastic!

A Good App Held Back by Faulty Hardware

This app requires each user to buy into Ergometer Innovations’ Bluetooth-enabled pulley for the WaterRower. On the face of it, there are a number of advantages with this upgrade kit and the associated software. It promises improved stat accuracy over the stock S4 monitor and durability of construction with its aluminum casing.

If I were to judge the app alone, I would be rating this four stars with only minor nitpicks. The software developers have been quick to respond to user requests and advance the capabilities of the software. In the last year they have added challenging workouts, races, and other features to improve iOS integration. It’s all good on the software side.

Unfortunately, the weak link remains the hardware itself. I bought a rev. B pulley for my home machine and the Bluetooth pairing mechanism eventually developed a fault and would no longer connect to my iPhone or the SmartRow app (no LED lights). The online FAQ is not very detailed when it comes to resolving this issue, so mine is either a corner case or just plain bad luck. Anyway, once the pulley goes, the software is no longer useful since you cannot use it with any other system. WaterRower states that these electronic add-ons have a limited 1 year warranty, so buyer beware.

Glad to see the recent updates

I purchased my SmartRow unit when I saw rumors of Zwift adding rowing to their features. Although Zwift shelved actually rowing, I still am pleased with the Smartrow app. Thumbs up for the power curve overlay. I find it useful for improving stroke consistency. Also glad to see the new broadcast feature. I enjoyed the EXR free trial and contemplating a subscription and hope Zwift changes their mind and adds actual on water rowing.
I would hope in future updates we could link directly to our Garmin accounts for uploading. When I rowed a set distance of a 1000 meters on the smartrow app broadcast to Zwift, Zwift recorded the session as 1400 meters.

Developer Response ,

Hi, thank you for your review! We are glad you like the new update. Some third party apps (like Zwift) prefer to use their own distance calculations. Therefore the overal distances are different. We contacted Garmin multiple times but they do not have an API for an automatic import of our data.