Running iOS on and iPad, and want to watch Netflix while having TR running in the background. I have been doing the picture-in-picture thing but that leaves Netflix very small.
Question is, if I start a workout, is it ‘safe’ to just open up Netflix fully, and watch while riding? Will the TR application close or ‘sleep’?
I’ve been running TR on an upto date iPad Pro and account accidentally selected a notification and watched a vid in full screen and TR quite happily ran in the background.
I think it is no problem. Used the use my iphone and in rest intervals I was checking mail, reading this forum etc and TR kept running…
You can run it minimized.
In my experience I can run TR in the background while having other apps open on iOS (iPhone 8) but I just don’t get the countdown beeps for interval changes.
I think it really depends on the hardware that you are running it on. The TR app is designed to run in the background or in minimized mode so that you can watch other apps. I did see another post where someone was saying that their TR app was crashing and support recommended they not run anything else due to possible CPU limitations on their hardware. I have never had any issues doing it on my iPad or MacBook Pro.
That would be quite jarring on those workouts that go from 40% to 120%!
That would be brutal if it crept up on you unexpectedly!!
The most I do though is either have Podcasts, a radio app or sometimes the Zwift companion app running on the phone though and have a TV screen for my visual entertainment. Most of the time the TR app is open but it controls the erg whether is it on screen or running in the background.
I had a weird issue. I have power on my bike and trainer. My bike power flaked out while I was watching Amazon Prime. So, the system didn’t automatically change to use the trainer. It was an easy ride, so all that happened was I missed 30 minutes of ride time for logging purposes.
It would be great if it lost one power data source, it automatically switched to the other.
On my MacBook (Which I know you didn’t ask about,…) I use it in small mode, and stretch my entertainment window (YouTube or Netflix usually) above it. I still get my notifications, and I can watch progress, but I have a mostly full screen for video. I’ll try to screenshot it later.
Actually, the link posted by @1k2go is exactly what I do.
Great, thanks! I’ll try it out with a recovery ride then!
He’s asking about the iOS app. While it’s true that you can run the desktop app minimized, that’s not really relevant (though perhaps helpful to other readers). Notably, the desktop app cannot have this problem: a running program will continue to run, regardless. This is not the same as the app lifecycle for iOS and Android apps, which can be terminated if resources are low and the app is not frontmost.
A TrainerRoad software engineer really ought to be able to answer this question.
I would guess that it is fine. This guess is based solely on the fact that the Android app requests the “prevent phone from sleeping” permission, which usually indicates that a dev has thought about it. 
Try it out on an easy ride and let us know. Try to avoid switching back to the TR app for the whole workout.
Will do that and report back. It’s going to take some discipline to not look at TR at all but let’s see!
Really hope one of the software or product folks can chime in on this too
Nate already answered it, both in the podcast, and in a previous post on the forum. In fact, it was a feature highlight.
You may take note that I pointed out he didn’t ask about the desktop app when I posted it. Like a lot of people, I read the title of the thread and came here expecting him to be referencing the desktop app, which is why I posted it.
I agree that even though the app is designed to stay running on iOS I have had it shut off, most likely as you said due to competing resources on the device.
I did! I was not replying to you (since you correctly qualified your answer). I initially thought it was about desktop also.
It’s interesting that you’ve had it suspended on iOS. Useful information. I haven’t tested enough on Android to have sense for that platform.
yeah sorry for my wording, that sounded sassier when I reread it than I meant it to.
It’s only happened to me maybe twice, and usually when I was going into another workout app to disable its control over a bluetooth device, specifically once when I couldn’t get wahoo to tie my headwind to speed, and the TR app suspended. This was after Nate said it wouldn’t, so I made mental note of it.
I use both an iPhone and iPad (X and 2017 Pro for reference) depending where I’m doing my training and regularly switch to other apps, more YouTube than Netflix, but I can confirm both work without issue for me.
Reporting back!
Equipment: iPad (iOS) / Wahoo Snap / Bluetooth headphones
Started Taku and switched to Netflix for the whole duration with no issues!