2014 Rowing Apps for Smart Phones: BoatCoach

Technology has come a long way since the old days of rowing, and now you can get accurate and in-depth personal statistics right in the palm of your hand. How? The \”BoatCoach\” android smartphone app by Dan Eiref is how!

BoatCoach is a smart little app that is the first we\’ve seen that works BOTH for indoor rowing and on water rowing.

It records stroke rate, stroke count, distance traveled and so much more by using the different features of your android smartphone. As you move, so do the statistics on the screen. It achieves this by measuring the position and environmental changes around the smartphone itself (such as using the inbuilt gyroscope to measure velocity of thrust between each stroke, thus identifying a single stroke).

Features

The app designer knew there\’s a bit of a difference between of and on water rowing, giving you the choice of both as soon as you hit the home screen. The measurement interface and features of each are unique.

The erging side of the app has a special \”ERGOUT\” game for ergathon enthusiasts with high scores and levels from Freshman to Steven Redgrave. The on-water rowing side of the app boasts a stroke analysis feature that shows your force curve and the intricacies within it that show your strengths and weaknesses.

Also included for both app sections is a logbook feature which keeps track of every session you row for!

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The interface

Presentation of the app is clean and sophisticated while making key information easy to identify. All elements (text, images etc) are extremely large so you can see it at a distance (if mounting it somewhere on your boat).

Design

Some features are a bit hard to navigate. For instance, once you\’re entered a workout session you seemingly have to quit the app to choose a different workout (on vs. off-water). Also your workout timer starts as soon as your app is loaded up, so be ready to go right into it when you select your workout type. This is mildly inconvenient as you cannot edit your settings before it starts recording statistics, forcing you to restart the application two or even three times to get ready.

Other than that the app is easy to manoeuver and decipher with features made accessible by swiping left or right and headings displaying in a top menu ribbon.

Final thoughts

BoatCoach is a useful little app that could make your workout that much more effective. You can analyse your workout stats across a number of workouts and see where you need to improve and where you\’re doing best. There is a great deal of sensitivity to the app though meaning that the slightest movement could add to your stroke rate and mess up your statistics. You really have to be strict with the way you move your smartphone.

Definitely worth a try if you bring your smartphone along to workout sessions. See how well the app works and tell us what you think!