Device Linking
Specter on Apple Watch requires a one-time link to your iPhone. After that, the watch is fully independent — no phone needed during workouts.
- Open Specter on your Apple Watch
- Tap Link Device
- A 6-digit code appears on the watch screen
- On your iPhone, the Specter app shows a confirmation prompt with the same code
- Tap Confirm on the phone
- The watch receives your auth tokens and stores them securely in the Keychain
The watch handles its own token refresh. It works over cellular, WiFi, or Bluetooth relay. You never need to bring your phone on a run.
Recording a Workout
- From the home screen, tap an activity type:
Run Running with pace tracking Ride Cycling with speed tracking Swim Swimming Hike Hiking with elevation Walk Walking with pace Other Any other workout - The workout starts immediately — HealthKit begins recording and GPS activates
- You'll see live stats on screen (see below)
On first use, the watch will ask for HealthKit and Location access. Grant both for full functionality. If you deny location, stats will still be recorded but without a GPS route.
Live Stats During Workout
During your workout, the watch displays a 3x2 grid of real-time stats:
| Position | Stat | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Top left | PACE (or SPEED) | min:sec per km for running/walking/hiking, km/h for cycling |
| Top right | HR | Current heart rate in bpm (red) |
| Middle left | DIST | Distance in km |
| Middle right | TIME | Elapsed time |
| Bottom left | CAL | Active calories burned |
| Bottom right | Controls | Pause/resume and stop buttons |
Controls
- Pause (yellow) — pauses the workout timer and data collection
- Resume (yellow, when paused) — continues the workout
- Stop (red) — ends the workout and triggers save + sync
Post-Workout Summary
After you stop a workout, you'll see a summary with:
- Activity type and title
- Distance and duration
- Average pace (for running/walking/hiking)
- Average heart rate
- Calories
- Sync status — either "Synced" (green checkmark) or "Will sync when connected" (yellow)
Tap Done to return to the activity picker.
Offline Sync
Specter is offline-first. Every workout is saved to the watch's local storage immediately, regardless of connectivity.
- You finish a run in an area with no signal — the activity is saved locally
- You return home and the watch connects to WiFi (or your phone via Bluetooth)
- Specter automatically detects connectivity and uploads pending activities
- Both the stats and the GPS route are uploaded to your account
Manual Sync
- If you see "Pending: X activities" on the home screen, tap it to trigger a sync manually
- The watch needs an active connection (cellular, WiFi, or Bluetooth relay) for this to succeed
Stats (distance, duration, HR, pace, calories) and the full GPS route as a GPX file. The backend encrypts the GPS track with AES-256, strips device metadata, rounds timestamps, and obfuscates the start/end coordinates by 500m.
Activity History
- From the home screen, tap History
- View your recent activities — each shows type, title, distance, duration, and heart rate
- This list is fetched from the backend (requires connectivity)