{"id":333220,"date":"2025-12-08T21:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333220\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:56:08","slug":"coross-new-beta-update-adds-everything-its-watches-have-been-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333220\/","title":{"rendered":"Coros\u2019s New Beta Update Adds Everything Its Watches Have Been Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n We may earn a commission from links on this page.\n <\/p>\n

I like Coros running because they do nearly everything Garmins do, at a lower cost. But there have always been a few areas where they fall short, which I\u2019ve noted in my reviews<\/a>. Now, that seems to be changing\u2014the most recent beta firmware update adds a critical new feature while fixing some of my pet peeves.<\/p>\n

I tried out the new features through a public beta from Coros. You can sign up for beta access with these instructions<\/a> Coros posted on Reddit. (On iOS, you’ll install a Testflight version of the Coros app, which can then give you access to the firmware update. On Android, you’ll need to download the beta app<\/a>, then go here<\/a> to access the new beta firmware.) I tested these features out on a Pace 4<\/a>, and I’m mostly happy with them.<\/p>\n

Coros watches can now control music playing on your phone<\/p>\n

\"Media<\/p>\n

\n I have not loaded any media onto this watch, but here it’s playing a podcast from my phone.
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

In my reviews of Coros watches, I\u2019ve always docked a few points for how they handle music. Until recently, the watch could only play music files that you downloaded directly to it. That\u2019s fine if you want to run without your phone, but for me (and many others) it\u2019s an unnecessary annoyance\u2014a smartwatch really should be able to display and control what\u2019s playing on your phone. Garmin and Suunto have long had this capability, and Coros was the only major brand missing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s here. When you long-press the lap button to view your toolbox, you’ll see two different apps. The familiar \u201cmusic\u201d plays downloaded music, and the new \u201cmedia control\u201d option does exactly what you\u2019d expect: It shows the track information for whatever is playing on your phone, and it gives you buttons to play, pause, skip, or adjust volume.\u00a0Was that so hard?<\/p>\n

Workouts no longer end themselves while you\u2019re cooling down<\/p>\n

When I swapped my Garmin for a Coros this summer<\/a>, one of my biggest complaints was that Coros watches pause your workout once you\u2019ve completed all the steps. So if you have a 4.5-mile run programmed, but want to total five miles for the day, you have to remember to hit “resume workout” after the 4.5-mile run ends. I tend jog through that beep, thinking nothing of it, and then swear at my watch when I realize at the end that the last half-mile never got recorded.<\/p>\n

I prefer the way Garmin does it: After you complete a Garmin workout, the activity continues until you decide to manually stop it. Coros has apparently adopted that philosophy, as workouts now roll over into an open segment automatically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can now undo a lap button press<\/p>\n

\"undo<\/p>\n

\n Hit the button in the lower right to undo this lap segment.
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

During an activity, pressing the lap button starts a new segment of the workout (or advances you to the next segment if you\u2019re following a pre-written workout). I know I\u2019m not the only one who sometimes presses this button by accident, so an \u201cundo\u201d option is nice. Garmin watches added this feature about a year ago. Coros adds it with this update.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What do you think so far?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the undo isn\u2019t available for every lap button press. I do see it if I\u2019m doing an unstructured workout and mark a lap\u2014hitting the lap button again takes me back to the original lap in progress. But I don\u2019t see an undo function if I\u2019m following a workout that already has lap segments built in, or if I\u2019m doing a strength workout (where the lap button switches between work and rest).<\/p>\n

You can time your rests in strength workouts without choosing exercises ahead of time<\/p>\n

My most common way of using the strength feature is to start an unstructured workout, then use the lap button to mark the end of each set and the start of my rest time. This way, I can keep track of rests during the workout and I know how many sets I\u2019m doing. I might follow a pre-planned workout, but I never enter exercises from the watch during a workout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is simple enough on Garmin, but on Coros, the watch used to ask me to enter at least a body part for each exercise. So if I\u2019m doing five sets of bench press, I have to select \u201cchest\u201d each time I begin a set. This drove me up the wall, and I stopped using the rest timer at all\u2014which makes the strength feature nearly useless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the update, I can select a body part at the beginning of the workout, and that remains the active body part while I stop and start my sets. (\u201cFull body\u201d is an option, so I usually choose that one.) During the workout, hitting the start\/stop button brings up a menu where I can switch body parts should I care to do so. Suddenly,. using the watch during my strength workouts seems like a viable option, instead of annoying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We may earn a commission from links on this page. I like Coros running because they do nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,48,195,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-333220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gadgets","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}