Disingenuously asks to Rate 5 Stars – Push-Ups Counter & Trainer Review

Evaluation continuing, but does not look good. Proximity sensor doesn't always count push-ups. Touching screen with nose or chin usually works, but scary. "Cracked screen" graphics no help. Fascist inflexible software. Once workout started, no way to back out. No support for challenges amongst a group of friends. Possibly through MyFitnessPal. Will try, but my originally high hopes for this app are falling. ---+ No friend support I was motivated to try to use Runtastic's Push-up app, hoping that it had some sort of challenge between friends. As far as I can tell, it does not. When they ask you to invite friends, it is just for advertising. Possibly you can get "friendly challenges" by exporting Runtastic info to MyFitnessPal. But I don't remember MFP having FitBit comparable challenges the last time I tried MFP. And using two apps is a hassle, especially on iPhone. Probably easier to just enter manually. I will try MyFitnessPal again, to see if it makes Runtastic's Push-up app useful. But things don't look good. ---+ Third try: Cracked Screen? No... The proximity sensor method used by Runtastic misses many of my push-ups. So I have to move the phone right in front of my face, and approach very close. But I don't want to touch the screen with nose or chin. But then - oh god, is that a crack on my screen? Dear god no, I already had to replace the iPhone screen once (I think the last time I tried Runtastic). Thank goodness, no, not cracked. Runtastic's stupid graphical effect is to make it appear like the old record is being broken. Looks a lot like screen is cracking. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I have been trying to place the phone off to the side, close enough to sense my proximity but far enough not to touch. Hit and miss. Also: I very much dislike having the screen with numbers right in front of my eyes. Presbyopia means that it is coming into and out of focus. Nauseating. Normally when I do push-ups I use a blank floor or carpet. God, I want this app to be useful, but it was designed by a hellish idiot UX designer! ---+ Second try: use Session/Record Ok, my second attempt to use this app is a little better. If you just want to do push-ups, without their annoying default division into sets, use Session/Record. "Start Training" uses a hardwired progression of sets. Hit the gear in the recorded training session, and you can see the plan for sets and counts. Unfortunately, you can't change the plan, although you can skip forward. Session/Record is much less annoying. But still annoying. Ads everywhere (and people report still getting ads even after paying for Pro - this is one app that I would be careful about $$ with.) Overall, it has a "coach with a bullhorn" attitude. Some people may like that. I don't. Possibly it has a German fuhrerprinzip attitude. The English text definitely has the feel of being poorly translated, by a non-native speaker. Can you tell that it sets my teeth on edge? Still hopeful. I will try to get some friends to join up. I am hoping that my bunch of friends can do friendly challenges for push-ups in much the same way we do daily challenges for steps in FitBit. Unfortunately, there is no sign of such a "friends" challenge area, only the global leaderboard. On which I am #25,000 and some, with a measly 20 push-ups. Perhaps a usable friendly competition feature will become visible when I link to some friends. Or perhaps not - perhaps it is just a coach with a bullhorn. ---+ First try: Disingenuously asks to rate 5 stars After my first (recent) use of RunTastic Push-ups, asks me to "Rate 5 stars" or "rate later". It appears not to envision less than a 5 star rating. I am therefore writing this review. 2 stars out of 5. May improve later. I have great hopes for this app: using the proximity sensor to count push-ups. Much better than touching screen with nose - which hurts after a while. But, at least on first use, not that good. Really irritating voice. Worse, hardwires a workout pattern: Get Ready. 3-2-1 go. Push-up 1, push-up 2. Rest 1 minute. Touch screen to skip rest. And repeat. ... I just want to count push-ups in a row! I don't need your frigging coaching! I don't need a 1 minute rest after 2 push-ups! I don't have time for 4 minutes of rest just for the push-ups section of my workout! Crap crap crap bloody overweening user interface design Worse, it doesn't count reliably without touching nose to screen (on iPhone6+). I still have hope for this app. But suffice it to say that my first impression is not good.
Review by Krazy Glue on Push-Ups Counter & Trainer.