BoatRun iconBoatRun
BoatRun icon First time using BoatRun
5 minutes

Quick Start

The short version. Follow the steps for whichever role you are. Everything is already set to sensible defaults — you don't need to change any settings.

On this page

  1. Install the app
  2. First-time setup
  3. Row or Cox
  4. Erg
  5. Coach
  6. Reviewing a session
  7. Analyser

1. Install the app

Get for iPhone — TestFlight Get for Android — email request

iPhone users install TestFlight first, then tap the link again to install BoatRun. Android users email their Google account address and get an invite back.

2. First-time setup

  1. Open the app and pick a role You'll see ROW COX COACH ERG. Tap whichever you are. You can change it later, and it doesn't lock you out of anything. Not ready to go rowing? Tap one of the TRY A DEMO buttons instead — it replays a real session so you can look around.
  2. Allow the permissions it asks for Sensors, location and Bluetooth. The app can't measure anything without them.
  3. Go to HOME This is the tab you start and finish from.
  4. Connect Google Drive Tap ☁ Connect to Drive at the top right of HOME and sign in. Your sessions save to your own Drive, so they survive a new phone and can be opened in the Analyser.
  5. Check your role in Settings HOME → SETTINGS → ROLE. That's the only setting you need to touch. Leave everything else alone for now.

3. Row or Cox

On the water

Do the connecting on land, before you push off.

  1. Tap LIVE
  2. Connect to your squad — only if a coach is out with you Tap Connect Squad and enter the code your coach gives you. Skip this if you're on your own.
  3. Connect your heart rate strap — if you wear one Put the strap on first (it needs skin contact to wake up), then tap Connect HR.
  4. Get the boat on the water and mount the phone The phone must be lying within 30 degrees of flat in its mount, firmly mounted, not loose.
  5. Tap START CALIBRATION Sit still, hands off, boat settled, for 8 seconds. The Start button stays greyed out until calibration finishes — that's normal.
  6. Tap Start You're recording. Row.
  7. Use Lap to split up your session Tap Lap while moving and it just marks a split there and then. Tap Lap Ready while sitting still and the button turns green and says READY — the new lap is armed but the clock is paused. It starts by itself once you take a couple of strokes, or you can tap the green READY button to disengage the ready logic.
  8. Tap Lock to stop spray from affecting the screen. Locks the screen against splashes and accidental touches. Slide to unlock.
  9. Finishing up Stop → Finish Session → give it a name and save. It automatically uploads to your Drive on its own.

4. Erg

Concept2 PM5

No calibration and no phone mounting — the erg supplies the numbers. Set your role to ERG first.

  1. Wake the PM5, then tap Connect Erg Press a button on the monitor so it's awake, then connect from the LIVE tab.
  2. Heart rate — pair the strap to the erg, not the phone On the PM5: More Options → Utilities → pick your strap. BoatRun reads it through the erg.
  3. Connect to your squad — if your coach is running one Tap Connect Squad and enter the code.
  4. Either load a workout, or just row Tap Load Workout and push it to the erg — the monitor then ends the piece for you. Or start rowing with no workout loaded, and when you're done press Menu on the PM5 to end the piece.
  5. Finish Session and save

5. Coach

Launch or bank

Your crews send their live data to a squad code. You watch it. Set your role to COACH first.

  1. Get a squad code HOME → SETTINGS → CREATE SQUAD for your own code, or just use the shared testing code AAAAAAA for a first try.
  2. Connect to it, and give the code to your rowers Everyone in the squad — you included — must be on the same code. There's a QR code in Settings if that's easier than reading letters out.
  3. COACH tab — one boat at a time Tap a boat to open its detail view.
  4. SQUAD tab, phone upright — every boat listed
  5. SQUAD tab, phone turned sideways — race mode Boats shown side by side with the gaps between them. This is the one for pieces.
  6. INTERVALS tab — the results table Every piece each crew has done, so you can compare them afterwards. LAP ALL BOATS splits the whole squad at once.

6. Reviewing a session

HOME → LOG. Tap any session to see its detail — splits, rate, distance, heart rate, stroke curve and map.

Session missing after changing phones? Tap ☁ Sync with Drive at the top of the LOG list to pull everything back down.

7. Analyser — the bigger screen version

Open the Analyser

Open it in a browser on a laptop or tablet. Nothing to install.

  1. Tap Connect Google Drive Use the same Google account you signed into on the phone.
  2. Open a session Pick it from the list.
  3. Tap any tile to see that metric The tiles across the top switch what the chart is showing.
  4. Drag across a section of the chart, then tap ＋ Add to curves That averages the stroke curve for just that bit of the row. Do it again on another section and you can compare them side by side — start of the piece against the end, before a change against after.

Stuck?

The full User Guide covers everything in detail, and Support has the common problems. Anything else, email bigwig.91mash@icloud.com.