Title: Longtime Customer — You Lost Me
I’ve been a paying Orange Zones customer for several years and genuinely liked the app, but I canceled my subscription today.
Orange Zones had been working perfectly well on my Apple Watch running watchOS 8. Then the Watch app disappeared without me removing it. When I tried to reinstall it, I discovered Orange Zones now requires watchOS 10, meaning I can no longer use a feature I’ve relied on for years.
What frustrates me most is that my existing setup worked. I didn’t need new features or a redesigned experience. An update simply made hardware that had been working with Orange Zones unusable.
I also own a Garmin that can broadcast heart rate, which would seem like an obvious solution. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, I have never been able to get the Garmin’s transmitted HR to connect reliably to Orange Zones on my iPhone. I’ve raised this issue with the developer in the past and received little interest, support, or help troubleshooting it, even though the functionality appears as though it should work.
That lack of support is ultimately what bothers me most. I was willing to troubleshoot the problem and find a solution that would allow me to continue using an app I enjoyed. Instead, I’m left with a subscription that remains active until July 2027, an Apple Watch that Orange Zones no longer supports, and a Garmin HR broadcasting solution that I can’t get working despite repeatedly trying to resolve it.
I’ve paid for and recommended this app for years. Longtime customers deserve better than having working functionality taken away while legitimate compatibility concerns go largely unaddressed.
Support older compatible versions, properly support external Bluetooth/Garmin heart-rate broadcasting, and—most importantly—listen to the customers who are trying to help you identify these problems.
Until then, I’m out. ✌️
Orange Zones had been working perfectly well on my Apple Watch running watchOS 8. Then the Watch app disappeared without me removing it. When I tried to reinstall it, I discovered Orange Zones now requires watchOS 10, meaning I can no longer use a feature I’ve relied on for years.
What frustrates me most is that my existing setup worked. I didn’t need new features or a redesigned experience. An update simply made hardware that had been working with Orange Zones unusable.
I also own a Garmin that can broadcast heart rate, which would seem like an obvious solution. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, I have never been able to get the Garmin’s transmitted HR to connect reliably to Orange Zones on my iPhone. I’ve raised this issue with the developer in the past and received little interest, support, or help troubleshooting it, even though the functionality appears as though it should work.
That lack of support is ultimately what bothers me most. I was willing to troubleshoot the problem and find a solution that would allow me to continue using an app I enjoyed. Instead, I’m left with a subscription that remains active until July 2027, an Apple Watch that Orange Zones no longer supports, and a Garmin HR broadcasting solution that I can’t get working despite repeatedly trying to resolve it.
I’ve paid for and recommended this app for years. Longtime customers deserve better than having working functionality taken away while legitimate compatibility concerns go largely unaddressed.
Support older compatible versions, properly support external Bluetooth/Garmin heart-rate broadcasting, and—most importantly—listen to the customers who are trying to help you identify these problems.
Until then, I’m out. ✌️
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Response from developer
Please reach out to us at support@pkfitness.com. If you Garmin watch supports the ability to broadcast as a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, open the Bluetooth settings in the Settings app on your iPhone and connect your Garmin as a sensor there. Once connected, open the Orange Zones app and the sensor should be automatically connected.
Great for OTF, kind of.
I started using this app years ago as it allowed me to use my Apple Watch and obtain the Orangetheory fitness-type experience. However, as I continued to focus more on my body and learn about health metrics, I discovered that that OTF uses their own HR Zone scale that deviates from the standard scale used by Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Health, Garmin, Polar, Apple, etc. This app uses the OTF HR Zone percentages rather than using the scientific/health community’s validated HR Zone percentages. The app also doesn’t allow adjustment based on Lactate Threshold. So, if you buy-in to OTF and only plan to focus on their system, this app will closely match OTF’s and you will have a great experience. Personally, I think OTF got it wrong here and this app is following the wrong formula. I’d rather follow my true HR Zone rather than OTF’s custom HR Zones.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your review. Based on your feedback and others, Orange Zones now supports a variety of industry standard zone model and even the ability to customize you own model. The latest version with this support is version 1.61.0. We have you will give this a try and let us know what you think. Since it's just been released, it may not be available in your territory yet. If you don't see version 1.61.0 as an option to update to, delete the app on your phone and watch and then re-install it from the App store. This should force an update to the 1.61.0 with custom zones support. Again, thank you for your review. support@pkfitness.com
No support
Hi, I’m very frustrated with this developer as I have reached out 3 separate times for assistance with connecting the app on my iPhone to my Garmin watch. As a paying customer I expect better service than this.
Life changer
Simple yet powerful. This app has helped me tons! It may not have an amazing UI but the functionality I need is there.
Loveeeee
Love OTF! Love that I can use orange zones to help me maximize my workouts outside of OTF. We locked in 🔒
App is motivating!
This app motivates me to workout harder at the gym, at home or on the trail. It is one of my most used apps on my watch, even more than music or maps! It keeps a record of each workout intensity (time, points, heart rate, steps, calories) on its calendar or a list for easy viewing.
I can go back all four years that I’ve used it!!
I can go back all four years that I’ve used it!!
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Baby it’s cold outside
But not inside. Thanks for a great class John!
Loveeeee
Love OTF! Love that I can use orange zones to help me maximize my workouts outside of OTF. We locked in 🔒
Need subscription
Unable to use without subscription
Doesnt work. Support doesnt work. Beware of Free Trial trap. I still got charged on 1st day
Didnt work for me. Contacting support doesnt help. Also, I tried it for 7 days but got charged right after signing up for trial. Trial is not really a trial? No way to know. They dont to respond to any support request.
Happy Thanksgiving Day
Thanks for a great class Jon. The playlist, encouragement and coaching was spectacular!
Paywall
On the AppStore it seems like this app is free. However, upon downloading, you can only actually set your max heart rate. That’s it. You can’t even start a workout without getting hit with a paywall. I might consider paying a subscription for this app if the prices weren’t so outrageous: $9.99/month or $89.99/year. I mean, in the long run, sticking with a regular OTF beat burn makes more sense: $119 flat fee. In addition, you actually CAN do most of this stuff on the Apple watch for free. Use the HITT workout feature, and orange theory provides your heart rate zones in conjunction with their grey-red zones in their app. Just look at your health data to see your heart rates and you can manually determine which zones your heart was in.
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Started charging
This app was useful when it was free. Might as well buy the OTF monitor instead of paying for another subscription based app.
Great app
Very easy to use with Apple Watch
It’s not free and Apple Watch HAS the zone feature
I saw a response to a review stating it is not free and the developer said that Apple Watches don’t monitor your zones.
They do. Go to workout -> Select High Intensity Interval Training -> you’ll see your calories and heart rate but then slide down one -> your zones.
I like the idea that this app uses the orange theory mode strictly and if it were a one time $20 purchase I’d probably buy it. But this costs the same as a heart rate monitor almost for a whole year.
They do. Go to workout -> Select High Intensity Interval Training -> you’ll see your calories and heart rate but then slide down one -> your zones.
I like the idea that this app uses the orange theory mode strictly and if it were a one time $20 purchase I’d probably buy it. But this costs the same as a heart rate monitor almost for a whole year.
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why did y’all start charging…?
i downloaded this app because of the stellar reviews i heard from OTF members about this awesome free app that is perfect for those who don’t want to use the heart rate monitor and i was so excited…..until I realized it’s apparently not free anymore 😭 immediately removed. very unfortunate!
A must have for OTF Members with iWatch
Get all of your OTF metrics in real time on your Apple iWatch.
Not actually free
This app is no longer free. It has essentially zero functionality unless you pay for a subscription. Users not interested in a subscription model should disregard old reviews that reviewed it when it was free.
DO NOT pay for this app
I have used this app for years and have loved it until recently. It no longer records my heart correctly, and I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get in touch with anyone who supports the app. I’ve submitted support tickets via the app as well as sent emails to their support team. No one has responded. I paid for a year subscription, and now I’m left with an app that doesn’t work and no one to help with my issue.
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🧡🧡🧡
So thankful for orange zones!! Perfect watch support and motivates me to go hard. Couldn’t be happier 😊🍊🍊🍊
