GearView is Here!

GearView is a companion iPad + iPhone app for the Stages SB20 smart bike.

Overview:

• Shows your virtual gear along with cadence power and heart rate. 
• Runs on iPads and iPhones. Portrait or landscape - your choice.
• Big, easy-to-read virtual gear display
• Supports Dream Drive and custom 2x12 gear setups.
• Color coded numbers + graphics based on your FTP, optimal cadence and maximum heart rate.
• Plays sounds when you change gears. A variety of sound schemes are included.
• Easy to set "favorite gears" that you can use for normal riding, hard efforts and all-out sprints.
• "Heart Rate Monitor relay" that forwards your HRM readings to other apps. This allows a single channel HRM to work with multiple apps.
• Automatically smooths power readings. Displayed values are more stable and steady.
• History graphs for power and heart rate.
• "Battery test" feature that lets you check fitness device battery levels before starting your workout.

🚀 Written for iOS 15.0 and above. This lets you use older devices and free up your newest iPad, iPhone or Apple TV to run your primary workout app.

📣 GearView currently works only with the Stages SB20 smart bike.

Other indoor bikes and trainers will be added soon.

Video: Best Companion for Zwift

Let's see how GearView works with Zwift:

GearView runs on a separate iPad or iPhone.  All you need is iOS 15 or higher. Devices like this can be purchased for around $50 or less,

Dashboard Features

GearView runs next to your favourite indoor riding apps.

Features:

1. Virtual gear display
2. Cadence
3. Left:Right balance
4. Power in watts and watts/kg
5. Heart rate with automatic data relay to other apps like Zwift
6. Power and heart rate history graphs
7. New! Relative time spent in different power and heart rate zones
8. Gear shifting sounds
9. Favourite gears for cruising, sprints and other types of rides
10. Toolbar access to battery testing, wireless connections, settings, ride restart and sound options. 

Video: Quick Tour 

Here's the one minute tour:

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GearView for iPad and iPhone is available in the Apple App Store. 

Support: https://gearviewsupport.blogspot.com/

Have questions? Contact: support@GearView.online 

Let's Get Connected

When you open GearView for the first time, or when you haven't selected the Automatically reconnect option, you will see the Connect page.

AVAILABLE DEVICES shows supported Bluetooth devices that are in range.  

1. Click the Stages Bike item to connect. It will move up to the CONNECTED DEVICES list. 
2. Optionally enable Use heart rate monitor to also find heart rate monitors. 
3. Click on a heart rate monitor listed to connect and move it up to the CONNECTED DEVICES list. 

When everything is ready, the Connect page looks like this:

    4.  All selected devices are shown as Connected.

↪️ Once connected successfully, devices automatically reconnect the next time GearView is opened.

 

📣 Some devices may send back a pairing request number. GearView doesn't use this type of connection. You can safely dismiss this request. 

ℹ️ Make sure you start GearView before opening any other apps.  GearView needs to send some initialization commands to the SB20 to get gear notifications.

Press Done to return to the main dashboard.

The top bar shows device status and signal strength.

To return return the Connect page at any time, click Connect at the bottom of the main dashboard.

Video: Get connected

Let's see how to connect to a smart bike and heart rate monitor.

What's New?

GearView  Version 1.5.2 is a small update that adds:

1. Selectable dark, light or auto color modes
2.  New, higher contrast color schemes
3.  Auto connect is now always on

GearView Version1.5.1 adds the following improvements:

1. Full iOS 18 support including light, dark and tinted icons.
2. Improved dashboard color schemes offering better contrast and visibility.
3. More advanced data smoothing algorithm that provides faster updates and steadier display.
4. New  “Zone Graphs” showing relative time spent in different power and heart rate zones.
5. New “Restart button” to clear history and restart ride.
   

 

Customizing GearView

GearView has many options to improve your experience.

To change options, click on Settings at the bottom of the main dashboard.

The Settings page is shown.

1. Number of Gears must match the number of gears you have set in the Stages Cycling app when in  Dream Drive mode. Custom 2x12 gear configurations are automatically detected.  No settings changes are required. 
2. Data Smoothing controls the GearView data smoothing algorithm. Higher means smoother data display.  
3. Weight is rider weight. It is used to calculate watts/kilogram.
4. Optimal Cadence defines your favorite pedalling RPM. Stay within 10% of this number to keep the cadence display green
5. FTP is your Functional Threshold Power. It causes power metrics and graphs to be colored as shown.
6. Max Heart Rate is your Maximum Heart Rate.  It causes HR metrics and graphs to be colored as shown.
7. Mode controls Light, Dark and Automatic display color modes.
8. Sound controls how gear change sounds are played.  You can select from a variety of sound schemes including "No Sound".
9. About this app... show the GearView version number.
10. Advanced settings... shows the Advanced page. Options include:

• Disable motion graphics turns off animations that may be difficult to display on older devices.
• Run animation test shows sample values for 30 seconds to ensure your device can keep up with animations.
• Clear Settings Removes all customizations. This is equivalent to installing and re-installing the app.

Video: GearView Settings

Here's how to change settings in GearView.

Battery Tests

Before starting any workout it is good to know: "How are the batteries in my power meters, heart rate monitor and other devices?".

📣 Many Bluetooth devices support only one connection at a time. It is best to run Battery Tests before opening any other apps. This lets GearView read battery levels before the respective devices are  connected to other apps. 

Battery Test Summary

GearView has a convenient battery test function that let's you see all your battery levels on a single page.

On the main dashboard, click the battery icon.

You will see the Batteries page.

Scanning for all battery powered Bluetooth devices starts immediately. 

In a few seconds, battery estimates are shown for all supported devices currently in range.

Click Rescan to find additional devices.

Click Done to return to the main dashboard.

Video

Here's a quick video showing a Battery Test in action:

Gear sound - Quick change

GearView plays a sound when you change gears. You can change the sound scheme and volume on the Settings page.  

If you want to make changes during a ride, you can use the sound quick change option.

On the main dashboard, click the Speaker icon.

The quick change panel is shown over the power history graph.

Click the sound scheme name to change.

Click the adjacent speaker icon to play a test sound. 

Use the slider to change sound level.

Click ⓧ to return to the power history display.

FAQ

Q: I can't hear gear changes

A: Make sure ring silencing switch is off.  iPhone or iPad:  When this switch is on, gear sounds are muted. 

Heart Rate Monitors and Zwift

Bluetooth heart rate monitors are great. Most allow a dedicated Bluetooth connection with an app like Zwift. But what if you also want to use that heart rate monitor with GearView and Zwift? Most heart rate monitors have only one Bluetooth channel allows only one app to get heart rate updates.

Heart Rate Relay to the Rescue

GearView has a feature called Heart Rate Relay that reads your heart rate and relays it to any app that connects to GearView.   

Working with Zwift

Here's a demonstration of Heart Rate Relay in action with Zwift.

1. Open GearView and connect to your Heart Rate Monitor.

2. Open Zwift and go to the Paired Devices page (like usual).

Your heart rate monitor is not normally shown since it is already connected to GearView.

📣 NOTE: You could have a dual channel HRM. In this case, it will be shown. Using the Heart Rate Relay feature to keeps a channel free for use with other apps.

Click Search in the Heart Rate box.

You will see the name of the iOS device that's running GearView.  It is sometimes followed by a 2 digit number.

Click on the iOS item shown (Device 35 in this example).

Heart rate is now relayed to Zwift from GearView. 

You will automatically connect to GearView the next time you open Zwift. 

Connected Devices Indicator

The ♡ in top right right corner of GearView shows when another app is connected and is receiving heart rate updates.

  

Video: Hear Rate Relay

Here's a quick demonstration of Heart Rate Relay with Zwift: 

GearView Support

 GearView support starts here

Bugs and Fixes

Sept 24, 2024 - No 2X11 Gear Display 

When SB20 configured for 2x11 gearing, 2X12 gears are shown.

Workaround: 2X12 will be shown.  Last gear cannot be selected. 

Status: To be fixed

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Sept 23, 2024 - Various Bugs:

1. No dark and tinted icons in iOS 18

2. Dashboard display colors too dim in light mode.

3. Data smoothing is too aggressive. Fast accelerations are missed.

Status: September 26, 2024 - Fixed in Version 1.5

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May 13, 2024 - Custom gear configurations do not work

When SB20 is configured for custom gearing, gear shifting is not displayed

Status: May 13, 2024 - Fixed in Version 1.3 

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May 10, 2024 - Gear change sound played repeatedly with FulGaz cycling app

Gear change sound played repeatedly with FulGaz cycling app

Status: May 11, 2024 - Fixed in Version 1.2 

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May 1, 2024 - Display issue with iPhone 15 and iPad Pro Max in landscape view

Description:

HR data and animation on right side of screen is cut off.

Status:  May 8, 2024 - Fixed in Version 1.1  

FAQ

Q: I can't hear gear changes
A: Make ring silencing switch is off.  iPhone or iPad:  When this switch is on, gear sounds are muted. 

Reporting a bug

There are two ways to report a bug:

1. Add a comment to this page

2. Send email to: support@GearView.online 

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GearView for iPad and iPhone is available in the Apple App Store. 

Have questions? Contact: support@GearView.online